Cate Blanchett: Look forward to more refugee stories

Actress Cate Blanchett has opened up about the casting criticism around her series "Stateless", and admitted that this was not the "only way to tell this story".

Jul 9, 2020, 11:02 pm ISTNewsIANS

Actress Cate Blanchett has opened up about the casting criticism around her series "Stateless", and admitted that this was not the "only way to tell this story".

There are several critics who have questioned the choice to make a show about refugees by casting white people for three of the four main characters. The mini-series is about a flight attendant who mysteriously ends up at an immigration detention center in a desert in Australia with a passport identifying her as German.

While acknowledging the criticism, Blanchett encouraged people to watch "Stateless" all the way through, reports usatoday.com.

"We're in no way saying this is the only way to tell this story," Blanchett said.

"I look forward to many more refugee stories being told on television, film or documentary. It is very much about trying to capture a wide audience, because often the reality is that you start talking about refugees and asylum seekers and the global displacement crisis ... and (people) turn off because it's too huge. So we wanted to create a sense of, 'It could be me, it could be you,' and so often, that is the white experience. But then you get inside the series, and there's a multi-various array of characters," she added.

The 51-year-old, who has worked and travelled overseas as a goodwill ambassador to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) since 2016, shared that she hopes she has captured the "profound resilience" of refugees in "Stateless".

On the work front, she is also seen in the role of Phyllis Schlafly in the series "Mrs America". It tells the story of the movement for the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, and the backlash led by conservative Schlafly. The show will soon air in India on Star World.