How Leila George Perfected Playing Cate Blanchett in Disclaimer

We caught up with actors Leila George and Louis Partridge as their acclaimed new miniseries Disclaimer began streaming on Apple TV+. From masterful director Alfonso Cuarón, it’s a twisty, star-studded ensemble led by Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, whose journalist protagonist must revisit her past once certain long-lost events resurface in more ways than one. Playing a young Blanchett in a series of gripping flashback sequences is fellow Australian actress Leila George (Animal Kingdom).

“I would have loved to spend more time watching [Cate] and shadowing her on set, but unfortunately, I came to the project really late in the process, and she was wrapping up just as I was beginning, so I had about one day’s crossover to rehearse,” George told MovieWeb, adding:

“We all blocked through some scenes together, some of the major, more important scenes, just so that we could
see what her vision for those scenes were, and I could see some little mannerisms she was doing and, you know, what her posture was
and things like that, because she created such a fully formed, incredible character in this. And so yes, luckily, I got to see her for about half a day.”

“Mostly, I just relied on Alfonso’s guidance to kind of sprinkle things here and there, and discuss how much of her ‘in the past’ we wanted to stay like her ‘in the future,'” continued George. “And I also worked with a great dialect coach, William Conacher, and I think having the same sound was a really useful anchor for past and present.”

Related: Disclaimer Review: Stacked Cast & Crew Solidify Next Year’s Foremost Miniseries Emmy Contender

Shooting Those Heavy Scenes With ‘Trust’

Told in seven chapters, Disclaimer is based on the novel of the same name by Renée Knight. Acclaimed journalist Catherine Ravenscroft (Blanchett) built her reputation revealing the misdeeds and transgressions of others. When she receives a novel from an unknown author, she is horrified to realize she is now the main character in a story that exposes her darkest secrets. As Catherine races to uncover the writer’s true identity, she is forced to confront her past before it destroys both her own life and her relationships with her husband Robert (Sacha Baron Cohen) and their son Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee).

George was paired with Disclaimer co-star Louis Partridge for our interview, and viewers will eventually understand the significance of this pairing, as their characters share some of the series’ most groundbreaking and shell-shocking moments. Partridge spoke about how they were able to pull off such emotionally intense sequences behind the scenes:

“I think trust is the word… That is kind of the basis of it all. If we didn’t trust each other, if we didn’t have the same sort of goals in mind, it would have been very tricky. But I felt like I trusted [Leila], and yeah, we were quite upfront, I guess, about it all. There were no secrets. We knew what the journey was ahead of us.
We had these scenes to do, and so I think we just tried to joke about them where possible and make light of them
.”

Leila George echoed much of what Partidge vocalized about their process. “The most important thing was to feel comfortable with each other, and luckily, by the time we got to do those scenes, we’d already been working together for a few weeks, and so there was time to bond,” she said. “And Louis was just, you know, so respectful and sensitive. Everyone was. I think that if the atmosphere that you’re in is respectful and sensitive to the subject and what you’re doing, then everything else is kind of easy from there.” Disclaimer is now streaming on Apple TV+. Watch it through the link below:

Watch Disclaimer

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