Blanchett Critiques Certainty in Tokyo

Cate Blanchett accepted Japan’s Praemium Imperiale award in Tokyo on Wednesday, using the ceremony to challenge the prevailing attitude of unthinking certainty. The two-time Oscar winner argued that creative doubt, rather than confidence, serves as the primary engine for artistic exploration and change.

The Japan Art Association presented the honor, which recognizes lifetime achievement in painting, sculpture, architecture, music, and theater or film. Each recipient receives a medal, a testimonial letter, and an honorarium of 15 million yen, a sum that converts to just under $100,000. Blanchett joins a list of past laureates that includes Federico Fellini, Akira Kurosawa, Martin Scorsese, and Judi Dench. Ang Lee was the most recent Hollywood figure to receive the prize in 2024.

Japan’s Princess Hitachi handed the medal to Blanchett at the Meiji Kinenkan in the Moto-Akasaka district. The other four recipients announced this year are American artist Jenny Holzer, British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy, American architect Daniel Libeskind, and Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who serves as a U.S. international adviser for the prize, attended the press conference.

Blanchett described acting as a profession that risks becoming a quagmire of literalness if practitioners stop questioning their work. She stated that her artistic starting point is the gap between what a character says and what they fail to convey. She emphasized that this inability to fully communicate is a feature, not a bug, of her process.

“The doubt that I will ever fully communicate is always with me. And as a woman that doubt is often interpreted as a lack of confidence. It is not. That doubt is my artistic starting point,” Blanchett said. She noted that this uncertainty allows her to hear, see, and sense nuances that certainty would obscure.

Clinton, who helps recommend candidates through the international advisory network, argued that the prize declares artists and culture essential pillars of society. She cited the need to bolster the arts amid threats to democratic values and the rapid transformation brought by artificial intelligence. Clinton called for preserving human imagination while managing the risks of new technology.

Blanchett’s visit to Japan continues with appearances at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, which runs through Nov. 4. She is scheduled to join filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof and Shahrbanoo Sadat for a Q&A on Friday regarding five shorts from the Displacement Film Fund. Later that day, she will appear with directors David and Nathan Zellner to discuss their alien comedy Alpha Gang, in which she stars.