🔗 Share this article

In a candid interview, Miranda Otto reflects on subjects as varied as her latest role as Queen of the Cuttlefish to the invaluable wisdom learned through onstage mishaps and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Fish for a Day

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

Without hesitation, the blue groper found at Clovelly beach – since it is like an institution, and people go there to see it. I just think as remarkable that there’s a local fish that folks genuinely seek out and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Film Staple to Return To

Which movie do you repeatedly watch, and why?

The 1942 film To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this picture. During my childhood, it would air on television occasionally, and one time I videotaped it. I just thought it was so funny. It’s Carole Lombard and comedian Jack Benny. Recently they were playing it at a cinema and it turned out that it was also the favourite film of a friend of mine, and so we went and just laughed and laughed. It is a masterful work of humor and all the actors in it are fantastic. The director Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – which was not as effective. But the original film is an exceptional farce, worth viewing often.

The Best Lesson Learned From a Fellow Actor

What is the most valuable lesson you learned from someone a colleague?

I was doing A Doll’s House with Pete – now my spouse, but at the time we were not together. We were playing as scene partners and on opening night I tripped up – I jumped ahead some dialogue in the script. I didn’t know what I’d done but I suddenly realised things were off. I recall glancing toward him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then the scene took off again and proceeded splendidly. However, I believe what I learned then was, firstly, always trust the people in your scene. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and toward the actors you’re with, you will find where you’re meant to be in some way. It’s such communal thing, performing live. And next, to maintain a lighthearted attitude regarding it. Sometimes when a mistake occurs, things actually spark off in a wonderfully positive direction provided you are fully engaged then. It can be an unexpected boon when things go absolutely awry.

Memorable Exchanges with Fans

What’s been your most memorable encounter with a fan?

It’s not just one specific meeting but when I meet fans of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I am told numerous accounts about what Eowyn meant to them when they were younger … events that occurred in their lives and the extent to which Eowyn signified for them and was some kind of help to them during those periods.

Which questions get asked about the most by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most detailed inquiry concerns invariably regarding the stew that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Was the stew really that bad?” It’s become such a joke, the whole thing involving that dish, and everyone wants to know what was in the pot, and how was it made, and do you think she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is a poor chef? People are, in my view, obsessed with the humour of that situation. And I go into lengthy descriptions listing the ingredients that constituted the stew – because I remember what they did; like they even adding pieces of red cotton to make it look like blood vessels in the meat. The crew employed extreme measures to make it look as unappetizing as they could.

An Awkward Celebrity Meeting

What’s been your most cringeworthy celebrity encounter?

I was at a pilates class and there was a woman lying down doing pilates, and the instructor said to me, “Oh, Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I made a lighthearted remark inquiring, “oh, are you a journalist?” Since Miranda is an unusual name and most of the time when someone’s a Miranda, they work in media. I wasn’t really seeing who it was. And when she got up, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I didn’t know words. I was obliged to stay and do my class, and I felt intense awkwardness. I wanted to say: “Goodness, I am aware of your work!” I consider she’s so fabulous and I was just too starstruck to utter a syllable.

The Origin of a Name

It’s been repeatedly stated that you were given your name from Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet you've mentioned you saying otherwise – can you clarify this definitively?

Indeed, I was named after a district in Sydney. Mum learned via broadcast that they were opening a shopping centre at Miranda, and the name seemed a pleasant choice.

Chaos on Set

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

When I was working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon I experienced the most chaotic set I’ve ever worked on, and yet the final product turned out brilliantly. But they just work in such a different way. The sense of time there is unique. Typically, you receive a schedule and you have to be on set punctually. But this was sort of flexible – one would appear whenever you happen to be ready. It was a really different approach for me. All aspects were all coming together at the very last minute, and sometimes the plan was unclear where they were shooting the next day how we were going to do it. And then you’d be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What caused that sound that just interrupted the scene? Oh, it’s a crew member popping open a bottle during filming, to start a party.” The result was excellent, but wow, it’s a distinct approach to film-making.

A Hidden Skill

What are you secretly good at?

I’ve always been good with numbers. I memorise numbers easier than I memorise words often, I simply have a numerically-oriented mind. So I believe if I hadn’t ended up in acting, I probably would have worked in something to do with numbers, like math or accounting.

The Finest Piece of Advice Ever Received

What is the greatest piece of advice you have ever received?

During my time in secondary school, someone came to speak as we were graduating and they said, “have no fear to fail” … which I think is the best piece of advice, because you learn far more from failure than you learn from success. With success, one rarely understand exactly how it happened. With failure, you learn so much more.