Miranda Otto Shares Perspectives on Acting, Fandom, and Life's Lessons.

In a candid conversation, the acclaimed performer opens up on subjects as varied as her newest character as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons learned through theatrical mistakes and fan interactions.

Given the Chance to Become a Sea Creature for a Day

The most recent role is the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

Straight away, the blue groper found at a specific shoreline – since it is a local landmark, and individuals visit to see it. It strikes me it’s cool that a resident aquatic creature that folks genuinely go and see and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Cinematic Staple to Revisit

What film do you repeatedly watch, and why?

The 1942 film To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this picture. When I was growing up, it would air on television occasionally, and one time I videotaped it. I found it was hilarious. It stars Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Recently they were showing it at the Ritz and it turned out that it was the preferred movie of a friend of mine, and so we attended and just laughed repeatedly. It is a great piece of comedy and all the actors in it are fantastic. The director Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t successful. But Lubitsch's version is a brilliant comedy, to be watched often.

A Priceless Insight Gained Through a Fellow Actor

What’s the best lesson you took away from someone a colleague?

I was doing A Doll’s House alongside Peter O’Brien – now my spouse, but back then we were not together. We were playing opposite each other and during the premiere I tripped up – I skipped forward a few lines in the script. I didn’t know of my error but I suddenly realised something wasn’t right. I remember looking at him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then our performance regained momentum and went really, really well. However, I believe the insight gained then was, firstly, always trust the individuals in your scene. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and toward the people sharing the stage with, you will find your correct position in some way. It is a profoundly collaborative endeavor, acting on stage. And next, to maintain a lighthearted attitude about it. Sometimes when a mistake occurs, things actually spark off in a wonderfully positive direction if you’re fully engaged in that moment. It can be a gift when things go absolutely awry.

Heartening Exchanges with Admirers

Can you describe your most touching interaction with a fan?

It’s not a single specific meeting but when I meet fans of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I am told numerous accounts about how that character impacted them when they were younger … things that had happened in their lives and how much that character 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 question is invariably regarding the stew that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Did that stew taste as terrible as it looked?” It has evolved into a running gag, the whole thing about the stew, and everyone wants to know the contents of the pot, and how was it made, and in your opinion her skills improved now, or do you believe she really is a poor chef? People are, in my view, obsessed with the comedy of that situation. And I provide lengthy descriptions describing the ingredients that constituted the concoction – as I recall the efforts made; such as put bits of colored thread to simulate the appearance like bits of veins in the meat. They went to extreme measures to make it look as bad as they could.

An Awkward Star Meeting

What was your most embarrassing celebrity encounter?

I attended a fitness session and another participant on a mat exercising, and the teacher remarked, “Hello Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I made a lighthearted remark inquiring, “might you be a journalist?” Because it’s an unusual name and most of the time when I meet another Miranda, they’re a journalist. I wasn’t really seeing who it was. And as she rose, it was Miranda Richardson. At that point, I didn’t know what to say. I was obliged to complete my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wished to explain: “Oh my gosh, I do know your work!” I think she’s so fabulous and I was just too starstruck to utter a syllable.

The Source of a Name

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

Indeed, I was christened for a district in Sydney. Mum learned via broadcast that they were inaugurating a shopping centre at that location, and the name seemed a pleasant choice.

Pandemonium on Location

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

When I was working in Brazil for the film Reaching for the Moon that was the least organized set I’ve ever worked on, and yet the film turned out brilliantly. But the local crew operated in such a different way. Their concept of time there is really different. In Australia, you receive a schedule and you have to be on set by a certain time. But this was rather open ended – one would appear whenever you happen to be ready. It was a novel way of working for me. The elements were being assembled at the final moment, and sometimes the plan was unclear the next location or the methodology. And then you’d be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What caused that sound that disturbed the scene? Ah, it was the producer popping open some champagne during filming, to start a party.” The result was excellent, but goodness, it’s a distinct style of film-making.

A Secret Skill

What are you secretly good at?

I’ve always been an aptitude for numbers. I memorise numbers more readily than I memorise words a lot of the time, I simply have a numerically-oriented mind. So I think had I not ended up in acting, I likely might have entered a field involving numbers, like mathematics or finance.

The Finest Piece of Advice Given

What’s the best piece of advice you have ever received?

During my time in secondary school, a speaker addressed us when we were graduating and stated, “have no fear to fail” … an idea I consider is supremely valuable counsel, because you learn so much more from setbacks than is gained from triumph. Success, you never really understand exactly how it happened. With failure, you learn abundant.