Cate Blanchett on Donald Trump's presidency: It's 'absurd and ridiculous'

The Australian actor Cate Blanchett has described Donald Trump’s ascendancy as “absurd and ridiculous” during a spot on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where she was promoting her Broadway debut in The Present.

After sitting down for the interview, the actor took gum out of her mouth, placed it on the desk in front of her, and began moulding it into a penis. “The phallus seems an appropriate symbol for this country right now – with tiny little balls,” she said.

In a following segment, a recurring game titled Emotional Interview, the conversation between Fallon and his guest was interrupted at random points with emotions or situations which the pair had to wrap into their interview – and which, for Blanchett, resulted in a running anti-Trump tirade.

After one prompt – “gives bad advice” – Blanchett advised the audience to give all their savings to Trump.

For another – “uses too many metaphors” – Blanchett brought up the Chekhov adaptation she’s now starring in. “I’m on stage at the moment and it’s really great to be doing something about midlife crises, because it’s absurd and ridiculous – almost as absurd and ridiculous as a man who has filed for corporate bankruptcy four times who is running the largest economy in the world. I mean, it’s almost as crazy as that.”

“I feel like a giraffe in space,” replied Fallon, who stayed neutral on the US president throughout.

The Present, which stars Blanchett alongside an all-Australian cast, is directed by her husband, Andrew Upton, with whom she co-ran Sydney Theatre Company for five years.

“I’ve been sleeping with [him] for 20 years in the hope that he would cast me in the role,” she said. “The casting couch is alive and well.”

The actor is also spending her time in New York to film parts of Oceans Eight – an all-female Oceans Eleven spin-off featuring Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Sarah Paulson, Elizabeth Banks, Mindy Kaling and Helena Bonham Carter.