Cate Blanchett set to star in Sweetsick

Cate Blanchett is set to star in and produce Sweetsick.

The 56-year-old actress will play a mercurial character in the upcoming movie, which will mark the directorial debut of Alice Birch.

The director said in a statement: "I could not be more excited to be making my debut feature as a director with such an extraordinary team of filmmakers and collaborators."

The 38-year-old screenwriter is thrilled to be working with Cate and producers Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Theo Barrowclough and Lee Groombridge.

Alice - who has previously written TV shows such as Succession and Normal People - continued: "I am in the safest hands with Tessa Ross and her brilliant team at House, and am so proud to be working with Searchlight and Film4. To have the peerless Cate Blanchett at the centre of it is thrilling."

Tessa Ross is also delighted to be working with Cate and Alice.

She said: "We’re all very big believers in Alice Birch and it’s been wonderful to see that the fantastic team she’s gathered around her, not least the amazing Cate, feel the same way — all drawn in by her bold, beautiful vision."

Filming will begin in the UK and Greece this autumn, with Cate's Dirty Films banner producing the project. Additional casting for the film will be announced shortly.

Cate is widely recognised as one of the best actresses of her generation. However, she previously confessed to feeling "quite dislocated" from film fans.

The Hollywood star told Extra: "I often feel as an actor quite dislocated from the audience.

"When you’re working in film, you don’t know how many people have seen it. How they’ve seen it, if they’ve enjoyed it, and often you don’t get the figures, so you don’t know how many bums on seats there are.

"Whereas when you’re in the theatre, you know not only how many people are there, whether they leave, or whether they fall asleep, or whether they’re engaged. It’s a more fluid, direct experience and engaged experience with an audience, which I love."

Prior to that, Cate admitted that she missed the cinema experience amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The veteran actress remains fond of the cinema experience, despite the rise of streaming platforms.

She told the BBC in 2022: "Personally, I miss sitting in the dark with strangers and I miss that about going to live music, to going to the theatre and to going to the cinema."

Despite this, Cate expressed hope that cinemas could still see a revival in their fortunes.

The movie star said: "Maybe I'm wildly optimistic, but I still hope that when things get a little more stable, I think people will crave to see things large and big in a cinema, so what looks like a disastrous situation for cinema could actually be a positive."