🔗 Share this article

Through a thoughtful interview, Miranda Otto opens up on topics ranging from her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons gleaned from theatrical mistakes and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Sea Creature for a Day

The most recent character portrays the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; supposing you had the opportunity to be a fish for a day, which one would you choose and why?

Without hesitation, that particular fish found at Clovelly beach – since it is like an institution, and individuals visit specifically to spot it. It strikes me it’s cool that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and discuss – it’s a special fish.

A Film Staple to Return To

What film do you always return to, and why?

Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 film To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this picture. During my growing up, it used to come on television every now and again, and one time I videotaped it. I just thought it was hilarious. It’s Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Not long ago they were playing it at a cinema and it turned out that it was the preferred movie of a friend of mine, and so we went and simply chuckled and laughed. It’s such great piece of humor and the entire cast in it are fantastic. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t as effective. But the original film is a brilliant comedy, worth viewing regularly.

A Priceless Insight Gained Through a Co-Star

What is the most valuable 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 were playing opposite each other and during the premiere I tripped up – I jumped ahead some dialogue in the script. I didn’t know of my error but I suddenly realised something wasn’t right. I recall looking at him, and he completely saved me, and then the scene took off again and proceeded splendidly. But I think the insight gained in that moment was, first, always trust the individuals you’re working with. When you lose where you are, by looking and look at the actors sharing the stage with, you will find where you’re meant to be in some way. It is a profoundly communal thing, performing live. And secondly, to maintain a sense of fun about it. Sometimes when a mistake occurs, things can ignite in a wonderfully positive direction if you’re really present in that moment. It can be a gift when things go completely the wrong way.

Heartening Interactions with Fans

What’s been your most touching encounter with a fan?

It’s not a single particular interaction but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I am told numerous accounts about how that character meant to them when they were growing up … events that occurred in their lives and the extent to which Eowyn meant to them and was a form of support to them during those periods.

What do you get asked about the most by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most specific inquiry concerns always about that infamous meal her character prepares for Aragorn. “Was the stew really that bad?” It’s become such a joke, the entire episode about the stew, and everyone wants to know the contents of the pot, and its preparation method, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is a bad cook? People are, in my view, obsessed with the humour of that scene. And I go into great detail describing the ingredients that constituted the stew – as I recall what they did; like they even adding pieces of red cotton to simulate the appearance like blood vessels in the meat. They went to extreme measures to make it look as unappetizing as they could.

A Cringeworthy Celebrity Encounter

What was your most cringeworthy celebrity encounter?

I attended a fitness session and there was a woman lying down doing pilates, and the instructor remarked, “Hello Miranda, meet Miranda.” And I attempted some joke about, “might you be a journalist?” Since Miranda is an uncommon moniker and most of the time when someone’s a Miranda, they’re a journalist. I wasn’t really identified her. And when she got up, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I was at a loss for words. I still had to stay and do my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wished to explain: “Oh my gosh, I am aware of who you are!” I consider she’s so fabulous and I was just too starstruck to utter a syllable.

The Origin of a Moniker

It’s been confidently claimed that you were named after Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet you've mentioned stating otherwise – can you settle the matter definitively?

Yes – I was christened for a district in Sydney. Mum learned via broadcast that they were opening a shopping centre at Miranda, and she thought sounded like a pleasant choice.

Chaos on Location

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

When I was working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon that was the least organized set I’ve ever worked on, and yet the film emerged brilliantly. But they just work in such a different way. The sense of time there is really different. Typically, you receive a schedule and must arrive on set by a certain time. But this was rather flexible – one would appear at one's convenience. It was a novel approach for me. All aspects were all coming together at the very last minute, and at times they wouldn’t know where they were shooting the next day the methodology. And then you’d be in during a scene and be like, “What was that noise that disturbed the scene? Ah, it was a crew member popping open a bottle during filming, because he’s making a party.” The result was great, but goodness, it’s a distinct approach to film-making.

A Hidden Talent

Do you have a secretly good at?

I naturally possess an aptitude for numbers. I memorise numbers more readily than I learn dialogue often, I simply have that kind of a brain. So I think if I hadn’t pursued acting, I probably would have worked in involving numbers, like mathematics or accounting.

The Finest Guidance Ever Received

What is the greatest piece of advice you have ever received?

During my time in secondary school, someone came to speak as we were graduating and they said, “have no fear to fail” … an idea I consider is supremely valuable counsel, since one gains so much more from setbacks than you learn from triumph. With success, you never really understand exactly how it happened. Failure, the lessons are so much more.