Hollywood star Cate Blanchett eats at Osteria Oggi, while here for the Adelaide Film Festival

Oscar-winning actor Cate Blanchett, here for the Adelaide Film Festival, has been spotted out and about – but one salon refused to bump their loyal clients for the star.

Hollywood star Cate Blanchett, in town for the Adelaide Film Festival, hasn’t been hiding away in her hotel room. She was seen having dinner at Osteria Oggi with State Theatre Company’s artistic director Mitchell Butel, The New Boy film producer Georgie Pym and screenwriter, showrunner and director Tony Ayres.

Meanwhile, while we’re talking about Cate the Great, I hear that manicure and pedicure gurus at MediPedi got a call from Britain on Friday requesting an appointment for a VIP.

When they explained they were fully booked, the caller revealed said VIP was one Cate Blanchett. While I bet MediPedi was very flattered, I hear they were unable to take care of Cate’s talons. They didn’t want to bump any of their own loyal clients.

Extraordinary film industry

Captivating on the red carpet, Cate Blanchett is enchanted by South Australia’s “extraordinary” film industry and her latest “powerful” project.

The Oscar-winning Australian actor was the guest of honour at the Capri Theatre at a sold-out special screening of Tar, in which she stars and is also executive producer, as part of the Adelaide Film Festival.

Dressed by Louis Vuitton in a red, pale blue and cream outfit accessorised with a gold-ear cuff, again by the French fashion house, Blanchett also took part in a Q&A for the 700-strong audience after the screening on Friday night.

Thrilled to be at the event, Blanchett was also excited about the reason she is in SA.

Blanchett has just started working on The New Boy, written and directed by Indigenous filmmaker Warwick Thornton.

“We got talking over the pandemic and we just kept chatting and he said ‘Sis, I’ve got this story’,” she said.

With Blanchett again starring and co-producing, The New Boy is set in an outback monastery in the 1940s, during the Second World War.

Cate Blanchett on the red carpet at Capri Theatre in Goodwood, SA, for the screening of Tar which is screening as part of the Adelaide Film Festival. Picture: Emma Brasier

Cate Blanchett on the red carpet at Capri Theatre in Goodwood. Picture: Emma Brasier

The actor is in Adelaide for her film Tar, screening as part of the Adelaide Film Festival. Picture: Emma Brasier

“This young Indigenous orphan arrives to the monastery and just throws everyone’s spirituality out the window,” Blanchett said.

“It is a really, really interesting, powerful story about Indigenous and Western spirituality.”

Blanchett said The New Boy marked her third time filming in SA.

“I applaud the South Australian Film Corporation,” she said. “They have been extraordinary partners with filmmakers, not only in Australia but internationally. And the locations – you can’t find them anywhere else in the world. I think that’s why people are coming here and will continue to come here.”