Cate Blanchett is addressing the current state of the “Me Too” movement.
The 57-year-old actress spoke out during a conversation at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival alongside moderator Didier Allouch.
During the conversation, Cate said she felt #MeToo got “killed very quickly,” via Variety.
“There are a lot of people with platforms who are able to speak up with relative safety and say this has happened to me, and the so-called average woman on the street is saying #MeToo. Why does that get shut down?” she went on to say.
“What [the movement] revealed is a systemic layer of abuse, not only in this industry but in all industries, and if you don’t identify a problem, you can’t solve the problem.”
“I’m still on film sets and I do the headcount every day, and it is still, you know… there’s 10 women and there’s 75 men every morning,” Cate added.
“I love men, but what happens is the jokes become the same. You just have to brace yourself slightly, and I’m used to that, but it just gets boring for everybody when you walk into a homogeneous workplace. I think it has an effect on the work.”
The conversation was part of Cannes’ “Rendez-vous with…” series, which are meetings between the artists and the public of the Festival. Here’s a synopsis of the event:
This year, Cate Blanchett will take part in the discussions on Sunday May 17th, at 2:30pm, offering the Cannes audience a special opportunity for a unique conversation.
Cate Blanchett’s rich and varied performances in films such as Tár, Carol, I’m Not There, Blue Jasmine and Elizabeth have earned her two Oscars, four BAFTAs and four Golden Globe Awards. First attending Cannes in 1999, she served as Jury President in 2019, and also headed up the jury at Venice in 2020. Cate Blanchett has received a number of honours throughout her career including the BFI Fellowship, Kubrick, Goya, AACTA and Donostia Awards. She has been named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France and Companion of the Order of Australia.
She co-leads production company Dirty Films with Andrew Upton and Coco Francini, and has founded the Proof of Concept program supporting women, trans and non-binary voices, as well as the Displacement Film Fund for refugee filmmakers and those telling stories of displacement. As in 2025, she will host a panel at the Festival de Cannes 2026 announcing the next cohort of artists it supports.
Back in 2018, Cate joined 82 women in a silent protest of Cannes, with the number of participants referring to the amount of female directors who compete in the film festival, compared to the 1,866 male directors.
See all the photos of Cate Blanchett at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival on Sunday (May 17)…
In other news, Cate Blanchett will play Martha Stewart in a biopic.
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