Quotes from Catherine
Various quotes from Catherine over the years.
About Baz Luhrmann: "Baz was incredibly convincing. One time, we were listening to classical music. He said, 'You've really gotta forgive me for this.' He went off, and that night at the corroboree, he dressed up as an opera singer, with the whole gear, lip-synching way before it became popular. The drag was brilliantly done."
"Baz entered drama school as a fantastic actor. And through the process at NIDA became worse and worse. He became too self-aware."
"People imagined that he was uncontrollable, that he was scary, that he broke the rules."
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About NIDA: "My friend was really keen about the drama thing, but she chickened out at the last minute. I was there, so I went through with it. I got in! I had braces and plaits and looked about 12. I think they chose me because they saw potential. It had to be potential, because there wasn't much talent there."
"Ultimately, I think I was too young for NIDA. You get out what you put in, and I was so earnest, so serious."
"I did a lot of films early on and I was just so young and nervous and scared, and particularly straight out of drama school, a bit fucked up basically, from the experience of drama school. And it takes a while for you as a person to sort of get back your confidence and not take yourself so seriously. You know, it's hard to crack a smile after you leave NIDA, I must say, even in a scene."
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About theatre productions: "It's an art form that people aren't attracted to the way they are attracted to film-making. It's harder, it doesn't have the money or prestige. It's something you do for yourself."
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About Colin Friels: "We can sort of feel from each other what is going to happen, and that's why it's a bit exciting to work with Colin, because he can be surprising like that too; yet you feel safe in a scene."
"We didn't talk a lot together and we didn't spend a lot of time together. We just had something which was a bit more of an undercurrent in our friendship and our relationship, which I think made it read on screen. There was something between us which sort of connected us. It was great."
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About Sydney: "Sydney is a very hysterical city, so I find it very difficult to calm down here. You don't realise you're going mad until you get out of it."
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About (the play) Phèdre: "Sometimes with Shakespeare it’s difficult to unravel the speeches but Ted Hughes transforms it into this beautiful imagery, images that are taken from those very early Greek myths. The beauty of it is that people recognise it, it’s an archetypical plot... a woman declares her love for someone else and then her husband comes back. The big twist in the plot keeps people engaged."
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About Wentworth: "Doing Wentworth is a great opportunity to be part of a genuine attempt to re-imagine something for now. Their approach is very clever. I admired it."
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About her children: "I like that my son can be single-minded in pursuing an idea and that he's less influenced by the emotional air that surrounds him. Then I see my daughter and I'm amazed at the great job she does at negotiating complicated friendship groups, which can be power-based and full of drama and intense emotions."
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About (her partner) Jacek Koman: "We just don't work well together. Even though I admire him - I think he's an incredible actor - he's not for me as far as being on stage with. You look at him and it's embarrassing because there has to be a sense of you're not who you are."