Cate Blanchett Accepts San Sebastian Donostia Award From Alfonso Cuarón, Quips at George Clooney Message and Speaks of ‘Uncertain Times’

variety.com:

Jamie Lang Loud screaming could be heard two blocks away from the imponent Kursaal building in San Sebastián on Saturday night as Cate Blanchett arrived at the city’s prestigious international film festival to receive the event’s highest honorary prize, the Donostia Award.

Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón, who recently worked with Blanchett on Apple TV+’s “Disclaimer,” introduced the Australian actress and producer with a loving speech praising her “insatiable thirst for knowledge, just causes and art.” The filmmaker added that the actress refused to move to London for the long shooting period the series required and chose to drive four hours back and forth to continue nurturing her family life and “fulfill her role as a mother.” “Cate has been a tireless voice in her call for compassion towards 114 million refugees,” continued Cuarón, highlighting Blanchett’s activism and work towards causes such as climate change and Indigenous rights.

As the actress took to the stage to collect her accolade, the director cued up a message from Blanchett’s friend and longtime collaborator George Clooney, recorded while the actor was at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month to premiere another Apple TV+ outing, Jon Watts’s “Wolfs.” “I want to say that there’s acting as a profession, and then there’s acting as an art,” said Clooney, going on to rank Blanchett alongside Marlon Brandon, Catherine Hepburn, Meryl Streep and Robert de Niro. “Catie, I feel lucky that I had the chance to work with someone who is so gifted and kind, and I am proud to call you a friend,” added the actor before jokingly saying the reason he couldn’t make it to the ceremony is because he was drinking and had no pants on — a quip to the video only showing his.