🔗 Share this article

During a revealing conversation, the acclaimed performer delves on subjects as varied as her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons learned through theatrical mistakes and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Fish for a Day

The most recent role is the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

Straight away, that particular fish found at Clovelly beach – because it’s like an institution, and people go there specifically to spot it. It strikes me it’s cool that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and talk about – it’s a special fish.

A Film Staple to Revisit

Which movie do you repeatedly watch, and why?

The 1942 film To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this picture. When I was childhood, it used to come on the ABC occasionally, and one time I videotaped it. I just thought it was so funny. It’s Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Not long ago they were playing it at a cinema and it turned out that it was also the favourite film of an acquaintance, and so we attended and simply chuckled repeatedly. It is a great piece of comedy and the entire cast in it are superb. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t as effective. But the original film is a brilliant comedy, to be watched often.

The Best Insight Learned From a Fellow Actor

What’s the best lesson you took away from someone a colleague?

Years ago I performed in A Doll’s House alongside Peter O’Brien – now my spouse, but at the time we were not a couple. We portrayed characters opposite each other and on opening night I tripped up – I skipped forward some dialogue in the script. I was unaware of my error but I abruptly sensed something wasn’t right. I remember looking at him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then the scene took off again and went really, really well. However, I believe what I learned in that moment was, firstly, always trust the individuals you’re working with. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and look at the people sharing the stage with, you can rediscover where you’re meant to be in some way. It’s such communal thing, performing live. And secondly, just to have a sense of fun regarding it. Sometimes when a mistake occurs, things actually spark off in a wonderfully positive direction if you’re really present then. It can be an unexpected boon when things go absolutely the wrong way.

Memorable Interactions with Admirers

Can you describe your most memorable encounter with a fan?

There isn't just one particular interaction but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, particularly women, I am told numerous accounts about how that character impacted them when they were growing up … events that occurred in their lives and how much that character meant to them and was some kind of help to them during those periods.

Which questions get asked most frequently by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most detailed inquiry concerns invariably regarding the stew her character prepares for Aragorn. “Did that stew taste really that bad?” It’s become a running gag, the whole thing about the stew, and all fans wish to know what was in the stew, and its preparation method, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is a poor chef? People are, in my view, obsessed with the comedy of that scene. And I provide lengthy descriptions describing the ingredients that constituted the concoction – as I recall the efforts made; such as put bits of colored thread to simulate the appearance like blood vessels in the meat. They went to extreme measures to render it as bad as possible.

A Cringeworthy Star Encounter

What was your most embarrassing run-in with a famous person?

I was at a pilates class and there was a woman on a mat exercising, and the teacher said to me, “Hello Miranda, meet Miranda.” And I attempted a lighthearted remark about, “oh, are you a journalist?” Because it’s an unusual name and most of the time when I meet another Miranda, they’re a journalist. I hadn't properly identified her. And when she got up, it was the actress Miranda Richardson. Then I was at a loss for what to say. I was obliged to complete my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wanted to say: “Oh my gosh, I do know who you are!” I think she’s so fabulous and I was simply too awestruck to utter a syllable.

The Source of a Moniker

It’s been confidently claimed that you were given your name from Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet I’ve read you saying otherwise – can you clarify this once and for all?

Indeed, I was christened for a district in Sydney. Mum heard on the radio that they were opening a shopping centre at that location, and the name seemed a pleasant choice.

Pandemonium on Set

What was the chaotic thing that’s ever happened on set?

When I was working in Brazil for the film Reaching for the Moon I experienced the least organized set of my career, and yet the film emerged brilliantly. But the local crew operated in a distinct manner. The sense of time there is really different. In Australia, you normally have a call sheet and you have to be on set by a certain time. But this was sort of flexible – you come on set at one's convenience. It was a really different way of working for me. All aspects were all coming together at the final moment, and sometimes they wouldn’t know the next location or the methodology. And then I would be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What caused that sound that disturbed the scene? Ah, it was the producer opening some champagne on set, because he’s making a party.” It turned out great, but goodness, it’s a distinct approach to film-making.

A Hidden Talent

Do you have a secretly good at?

I’ve always been an aptitude for numbers. I memorise numbers more readily than I learn dialogue a lot of the time, I’ve just got that kind of a brain. So I think if I hadn’t ended up in acting, I probably would have entered a field something to do with numbers, like mathematics or finance.

The Finest Guidance Ever Received

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

During my time in high school, a speaker addressed us as we were graduating and they said, “have no fear to fail” … an idea I consider is the best piece of advice, since one gains so much more from failure than is gained from success. Success, you never really comprehends precisely why it happened. With failure, the lessons are so much more.