Michael Fassbender and Cate Blanchett on March 9.Photo:ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty
In the new espionage thrillerBlack Bag,Cate BlanchettandMichael Fassbenderplay Kathryn St. Jean and George Woodhouse, married British spies who aren’t always honest with each other out of necessity.
With national security information at stake, keeping secrets is just part of the job. Even something as seemingly simple as the location of a business trip may be off limits for discussion — those topics are referred to as being in the so-called “black bag.”
Cate Blanchett and Michael Fassbender in ‘Black Bag.'.Claudette Barius/Focus Features
Claudette Barius/Focus Features
“The weird thing about these characters is they work so closely with one another, and so they know operationally so much about one another and have a lot of information on one another, but yet they don’t actually know what’s going on with each other,” Blanchett, 55, tells PEOPLE.
“There’s an interiority to the characters that they have no idea about, no matter how many high stakes operations they’ve been involved in together, which is a very weird thing to play,” she continues.
Two pivotal dinner party scenes — during which George gets a close-up look at the people he’s investigating — take place in the Woodhouse-St. Jean home, a spectacular residence with a glass-walled garden just off the dining room.
Cate Blanchett on March 9.Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
“So it seemed to me a metaphor about the way they all lived their lives is that there was so much life, but it was entrapped,” says Blanchett.
Metaphors aside, “I had low-level anxiety for the health of the tree,” quips Blanchett.
The set — built at Pinewood Studios in England — was incredibly realistic and felt like a true home, adds Fassbender.
“We had a full house to walk around in,” he says. “You go up the stairs into the bedroom and our wardrobe-bathroom area — it was all built. And various people on the crew were like, ‘Oh, I want to take that oven and table and chairs.’ It was so beautifully designed.”
Black Bagis in theaters March 14.
source: people.com
