ONE ICON AFTER ANOTHER ROLE IN ``VERONICA GUERIN'' EARNS BLANCHETT BEST ACTRESS NOD.

Byline: Glenn Whipp Film Writer

Cate Blanchett made her name playing Queen Elizabeth I, so we know she's not intimidated by history. But it's one thing to play the Virgin Queen and quite another to play a modern-day woman who's practically considered a saint in Ireland, a woman who was brutally murdered and whose death remains something of an open wound seven years after the fact, a woman whose family and friends would be coming to the Dublin premiere and looking at Cate Blanchett says. ``And here I was pretending to be this woman. I just Blanchett and, at least in Blanchett's mind, judging her every gesture and facial expression.

``I stepped out of the car at that premiere and saw all her family and friends and colleagues and realized that's who my audience would be,'' thought: 'I'm going to run into the bathroom and kill myself.' ''

The woman is Veronica Guerin, which is also the name of Blanchett's movie. Somewhat improbably produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and indelicately directed by Joel Schumacher, the film tells the story of journalist Guerin's investigations into Dublin's drug trade and how her reporting led to her death but helped (along with other events) change Ireland's laws. It is also the role that earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a drama.

Guerin remains a huge subject of interest in Ireland, so much so that one in four people saw ``Veronica Guerin'' when it opened there last year.

``The story has a very deep meaning for the Irish people,'' says Gerard McSorley, a Dubliner who plays Guerin's ruthless criminal nemesis in the movie. ``Knowing that, what Cate Blanchett did took a hell of a lot of balls and courage. She was working with a cast and crew that was 99 percent Irish. She was scrutinized - and she passed the test.''

Such scrutiny doesn't seem to bother the 34-year-old Blanchett. If it does, she's a glutton for punishment, since she's just finishing playing another icon, actress Katharine Hepburn, in Martin Scorsese's Howard Hughes biopic ``The Aviator.'' Truth be told, playing Hepburn has knocked Blanchett for a bit of a loop. It's one thing to play a journalist or a queen, quite another to play one of her own, arguably the greatest actress of the past century.

``Yes, well, I simply had to forget about the legend and focus on the function of the character in the story,'' Blanchett says. ``Marty kept telling me I was playing a character named Katharine Hepburn, which is all well and good, I suppose, but at the same time I had to approximate that energy, that life force that she had. That's no small task.''

Blanchett does like a good challenge. And if the finished product hasn't always matched the initial promise of the movies, critics haven't held her feet to the fire. The Aussie-born actress has struggled since 1998's ``Elizabeth'' to find another defining role, starring in a host of movies - ``Pushing Tin,'' ``The Gift,'' ``The Shipping News,'' ``Charlotte Gray'' and ``Heaven'' among them - that were met with critical and commercial indifference.

In addition to ``Guerin,'' Blanchett has been seen in the last few months in ``The Missing,'' a Western directed by Ron Howard. Blanchett plays a tough frontier woman who joins forces with her estranged father (Tommy Lee Jones) to find her kidnapped daughter. (She is also be seen in ``The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,'' the third part of the epic trilogy, in her small role of Galadriel, the elf queen.)

``The Missing,'' though, is Blanchett's biggest studio movie since ``Bandits.'' Still, she maintains that the film's commercial prospects weren't - and never have been - a consideration.

``Picking projects has never really been a science for me,'' Blanchett says. ``I don't develop my own movies. I prefer to do things that interest me where I'm at in my life. I like the spontaneity that comes from never knowing what might be around the corner. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. But I couldn't do it any other way because, for me, the exhilaration that comes from working like that is a necessary part of my work.''

Says Bruckheimer: ``She is a tour de force. The energy, the intelligence and the passion she brings to a movie is incredible. Seeing her work and the amount of research she does, it's no surprise that she's considered one of the greatest actresses working today.''

Although it might not seem like it, Blanchett has actually cut back on work since giving birth to her son, Dashiell (or ``Dash,'' after her husband's favorite writer, Dashiell Hammett), two years ago. Blanchett recently found out she's pregnant again (she's three months along), and from comments she has made about family (``the more the merrier''), you get the feeling she won't be stopping at two.

Even had Blanchett's movies found more of an audience, you probably wouldn't know that much more about her. She, Dash and writer-husband Andrew Upton live quietly in London. Having been a small part of the ``Lord of the Rings'' movies, Blanchett does occasionally get recognized by Tolkien fanatics, but for the most part she revels in her anonymity. (``Keep the hoopla to a minimum,'' she says.) The only other subject that draws her out as much is her son's rather advanced musical tastes.

``After Joe Strummer died, we were playing the Clash a lot, and we were so pleased we found something other than the Wiggles that our son asks for,'' Blanchett says, adding that the Red Hot Chili Peppers are in heavy rotation as well.

The toddler also took a liking to horses while Blanchett was filming ``The Missing'' in Santa Fe, a fondness shared by his mom.

``I learned how to ride ... I had to, and by the time we started making the movie, I was able to say to Ron (Howard), 'I could say the line here or I could turn the horse around and then say it,' you know, give him all kinds of options,'' Blanchett says. ``I was so proud of myself. And I had my birthday while I was there, and my husband, Andrew, made a joke that he was going to give me a horse as a present. I thought, 'How nice. But where are we going to put that in London?' ''

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

glenn.whipp(at)dailynews.com

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Cate Blanchett's role in ``Veronica Guerin'' earned her a Golden Globe nomination for best actress in a drama