Cate Blanchett’s Sizzling Return to Television in Alfonso Cuarón’s Searing New Psychological Thriller Disclaimer Uncovered in September Issue of emmy Magazine

Cate Blanchett, star of Disclaimer, the highly anticipated Apple TV+ series from Alfonso Cuarón, is emmy magazine's September issue cover story. Exclusive interviews with Blanchett, an executive producer on the series, and writer, director and executive producer Cuarón reveal the process from script to screen wasn't a smooth one. "It was a long journey," Blanchett says. "It was like trying to build a 30-story building on a match head." The September issue of the award-winning official publication of the Television Academy is on sale Sept. 7.

In the cover story "Truth Be Told," two-time Emmy-nominee and two-time Oscar-winner Blanchett reveals her return to television with Disclaimer was an instant "yes because of Cuarón. "This was 100% about working with Alfonso," she says. "I was like, 'I'm going to do it. It doesn't matter what it is.'"

Five-time Oscar-winner Cuarón, who solely wrote and directed the series, conceived the adaptation of Renée Knight's 2015 bestselling novel of the same name with his leading lady in mind. "When I decided to start writing the script, I was only looking at Cate," he says, "from the get-go."

In the seven-episode limited series, premiering Oct. 11, Blanchett plays Catherine Ravenscroft, a wife, mother and respected journalist whose privileged London life unravels with the literal turn of a page when she arrives home and spots a book on a table. Titled The Perfect Stranger, it opens with a cryptic disclaimer: "Any resemblance to persons living or dead is not a coincidence." As Catherine pores through its contents, she's shocked to discover that the author has exposed her darkest secret: Twenty years earlier, while on holiday in Italy with her preschool-aged son, she had an affair with a younger man and was indirectly responsible for his death.

In Catherine's frantic dash to track down the source of the book (Kevin Kline), calm her incensed husband (Sacha Baron Cohen), and care for her troubled son, Nicholas (Kodi Smit-McPhee), she's forced to confront what really happened during those days when she was purportedly frolicking in the sun. To add to the intrigue, multiple characters narrate each episode. "The perspectives are based on who holds the power," Blanchett says. "And a lot of the time, the power is not in Catherine's hands, which I found quite an upsetting thing to play. For years, she couldn't explain the situation to herself or to other people; and then she wasn't given the chance to unpack it."

Blanchett was tasked with internalizing her character's long-buried secrets until Cuarón filmed the last episode, which is highlighted by a climactic scene that spanned more than 40 script pages. "Because the story is told from so many perspectives, you have to hold on to that tension like a violin string," she says. "The narrative isn't shared with the other characters, so it's not like there's a big catharsis. Not everyone gets the chance to get these things off their chests."
As she points out, "I didn't realize how tense the whole thing was until I got to the end."

Disclaimer is a dizzying display of taut suspense and sexually charged drama that unfolds at a rapid pace straight through to its shocking climax.

Blanchett thinks viewers will be entranced by the unfolding of this suspenseful series. "What Alfonso has constructed is this delicious dance because we're playing with audience expectations. If you go back and watch it a second time, maybe you'll see things that you can't right now because all these other narratives are there."

Additional feature highlights from the September issue include:

• In "Medical History," honoring the 30th anniversary of the hit drama series ER, which ran for 15 seasons (1994-2009), emmy shares reminiscences from showrunner John Wells, former NBC Entertainment president Warren Littlefield and key cast members about the good, the bad and the bloody behind the landmark program.
• In "Law of Returns," Kathy Bates talks about her lead role, at age 75, in Matlock. Her character, Madeline "Matty" Matlock — a lawyer returning to the workforce as a senior — is neither sweet nor helpless. Some dismiss her because of age or treat her as if she's invisible, but Matty uses their oversights to her advantage. "Nobody sees us coming," she says in the first episode, premiering Sept. 22 on CBS. "How often does a 75-year-old woman get to be the head of a series?" Bates asks, "and, in such a wonderful role?"
• When Miami Vice premiered 40 years ago, it revitalized cop shows; TV music; and, of course, the city where it all went down. In this emmy oral history, cast and crew, including Don Johnson, Philip Michael Thomas, Edward James Olmos, and showrunners Michael Mann and Dick Wolf, revisit the show that made pastels cool in "Gritty in Pink."

About emmy
Emmy, the official publication of the Television Academy, goes behind the scenes of the industry for a unique insider's view. With wide-ranging, inclusive subjects representative of the Television Academy membership and the medium as a whole, emmy showcases the scope of television and profiles the people who make it happen, from the stars of top shows and artisans behind the cameras, to programming trends and technological advances. Honored with dozens of awards for editorial excellence, emmy is published 12 times per year and is available on selected newsstands and at TelevisionAcademy.com for single print and digital copies as well as subscriptions.

Download the press release here. 

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Stephanie Goodell
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