This week Murtada welcomes Kate Halliwell, writer for The Ringer and host of the  Tea Time podcast to discuss Ocean’s 8 and the period post Carol (2015) which they both consider to be Blanchett’s peak celebrity and pop culture power.

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Follow along the film is streaming  on HBO Max.

What is the film about?

From imdb: Debbie Ocean gathers an all-female crew to attempt an impossible heist at New York City’s yearly Met Gala.

What year did it come out?

2018

Who does Cate play?

 Lou Miller, second in command to Debbie Miller. The Pitt to Bullock’s Clooney. Butch femme, loves motorcycles and wears a mean jumpsuit and leather pants.

How is Cate introduced? 

6 minutes in tampering with the vodka while Judge Judy plays in the background. 

 Box Office: Domestic = $140,218,711 Int’l = $ 157,500,000

Metacritic : 61 RT: 69

Topics discussed:

1- Ocean’s 8

• BDE – was that created just to describe Cate’s energy in this film?
• The paparazzi photos during shooting – Cate and Rihanna in Central Park, that cute dog dancing – were better than the movie!
• Hustlers is the movie we hoped Ocean’s 8 would be
• Who’s the mvp : Anne Hathaway or Cate’s wardrobe? 

• Cate’s wardrobe; props to the costume designer Sarah Edwards for getting it right and perhaps reflecting an edgier more downtown side of Cate’s IRL aesthetic.
• The chemistry between Cate and Sandra. 
• What scenes did we like? What seemed off? 

2- Cate’s post Carol’s celebrity power

• The memes, the devotion, the hive, the conspiracy theories… it’s a movement.
• Harold they’re lesbians!
• Cate as a fashion icon, how she understands the red carpet is performance why she gets many abuzz when she glides down a carpet or releases a magazine photo shoot.
• What is the peak pop culture moment for Cate post 2015?

1) the Carol press tour late 2015 into 2016

2) Presiding over the Jury at Cannes May 2018

3) The Ocean’s 8 press tour (that Today Show interview with Sarah Paulson, the many suits she wore to all the press events) May-June 2018

4) Lip-synching at a drag show in NYC February 2017 to Dusty Springfield’s You Don’t Own Me

5) Even fellow celebrities are stans; from Gillian Anderson to Val Kilmer

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