Miranda Otto: “It can be a gift when things go completely wrong” | film

Your latest role is the Squid Queen in The Pout-Pout Fish; If you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

The Blue Groper at Clovelly Beach – because it looks like an institution, people go there to see it. I think it’s great to have a local fish that people go to and see and talk about – it’s a special fish.

What movie do you always go back to, and why?

“To Be or Not to Be” by Ernst Lubitsch, 1942. I love this movie. When I was growing up, it would be shown on ABC every now and then, and I once videotaped it. I thought it was very funny. They are Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Recently, they were playing it at the Ritz [cinema in Randwick]It turned out that it was also a friend of mine’s favorite movie, and so we went and laughed and laughed and laughed. It’s a great comedy and all the actors are great. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s, but it was not a success. But the original film is a great comedy that should be watched regularly.

What’s the best lesson you’ve learned from someone you’ve worked with?

I’ve been doing a dollhouse for years with Pete [Peter O’Brien] – My husband is now, but at that time we were not a couple. We were playing opposite each other and on opening night I stumbled, I jumped ahead a few lines in the script. I didn’t know what I did [but] I suddenly realized that something wasn’t right. I remember looking at him, and he completely saved me from the situation, and then [the scene] I took off again and went really well. But I think what I learned in that moment is, number one, to always trust the people you work with. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and look at the people you’re with, you’ll somehow find where you’re supposed to be. It’s a community thing, acting on stage. and [secondly] Just to have a fun feeling about it. Sometimes when something goes wrong, things take off in a really great direction if you’re really present in that moment. It can be a gift when things go completely wrong.

What is your most memorable interaction with a fan?

It’s not just a specific interaction [but] When I meet Lord of the Rings fans, especially women, I hear a lot of stories about what Eowyn meant to them when they were growing up…things that happened in their lives and how important that character was to them and was kind of a help to them in those times.

What do Lord of the Rings fans ask you most about?

The most specific question is always about the soup [that Eowyn serves Aragorn in a scene in the extended cut of The Two Towers]. “Was the soup really bad?” It’s become a joke, it’s all about the soup, and everyone wants to know what was in the soup, how it was prepared, and do you think she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is? He is Bad cook? I think people are obsessed with the humor of this situation. I go into great detail in the description [ingredients] That made the soup—because I remember what they did; They even put pieces of red cotton to look like veins cut into the meat. They did their best to make it look as bad as possible.

What celebrity encounter saddened you the most?

I was in a Pilates class [in London] And there was a woman lying down doing Pilates, and the teacher said to me, “Oh, Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I made a little joke about, “Oh, are you a journalist?” Because it’s an unusual name and most of the time when someone is a Miranda, it’s a journalist. I didn’t really see who it was. And when she got up, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I didn’t know what to say. I still had to stay and do my class, and I felt so embarrassed. I wanted to say, “Oh my God, I know who you are!” I think it’s so amazing and I was so amazed that I couldn’t say anything.

It has been confidently claimed in numerous articles that you are named after Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s play. Storm, yet I read you saying otherwise – can you settle the matter once and for all?

Yes, it’s named after a suburb of Sydney. My mom heard on the radio that they were opening a mall in Miranda, and she thought that sounded like a cute name.

What’s the messiest thing that’s ever happened?

When I was working in Brazil [on 2013’s Reaching for the Moon] This was the messiest set I’ve ever worked on, and yet the film turned out incredibly well. But they work in a different way. The feeling of time there is really different. In Australia, you usually have a call sheet, and you have to be on set by a certain time. [But] It was kind of open-ended – you come to the set when you’re ready. It was a really different way of working for me. Items would come together at the last minute, and sometimes they didn’t know where they would be shooting the next day [or] How were we going to do that? And then you’re in the middle of the scene and you’re like, “What’s that noise that just interrupted the scene? Oh, it’s the producer opening some champagne.” [on set]Because he’s having a party.” It turned out great, but wow, it’s a really different style of filmmaking.

What are you secretly good at?

I’ve always been good with numbers. I often memorize numbers easier than words, I have that kind of brain. So I think if I hadn’t finished acting, I probably would have worked in something that had to do with numbers, like math or accounting.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

When I was in high school, someone came up to speak when we were graduating and he said to me, “Don’t be afraid to fail”… which I think is the best advice, because you learn a lot more from failure than you do from success. Success, you never understand exactly how it happened. Failure, you learn so much more.