The coronavirus pandemic may have slowed down Hollywood's day-to-day operations but it has been a busy month nonetheless for Cate Blanchett. Just last week, the two-time Oscar winner agreed to star in Eli Roth's adaptation of the popular video game Borderlands, and on Monday morning, Collider broke the news that Blanchett is in talks to join Jennifer Lawrence in Adam McKay's sci-fi satire Don't Look Up. But that's not all, folks!
On the heels of our Don't Look Up story, Variety has dropped its own scoop that Blanchett is set to star in writer-director James Gray's next film Armageddon Time, which is in the works at RT Features, the company behind Ad Astra.
The film is set in Gray’s hometown of Queens, New York in the mid-1980s, and draws on Gray's own experiences at the Kew-Forest School, a private school where Fred Trump served on the board and Donald Trump was once a student. The school’s principal will be a central character, though it's unclear if Blanchett will tackle that role or a different one entirely, such as the young protagonist's mother.
Gray will direct from his own original screenplay, and Rodrigo Teixeira (Call Me By Your Name) will produce, though it's unclear whether the film will be shot on location in New York, which has become a hotbed for the coronavirus. Teixeira called Armageddon Time an “intimate project” for Gray, who pitched him the idea during a lunch break on set of Ad Astra after bonding over a shared love of movie trivia.
Blanchett is clearly in high demand among Hollywood's top filmmakers, and once restrictions are lifted and it's safe for Hollywood to resume production, her team will begin figuring out her schedule going forward, as none of these new projects have firm start dates in place yet. Thankfully, she did manage to finish filming her role in Guillermo del Toro's Nightmare Alley with Bradley Cooper, Toni Collette, and her own Carol co-star Rooney Mara.
Blanchett currently stars on the acclaimed FX series Mrs. America, and you can click here to read Liz Shannon Miller's review.