Cate Blanchett’s long-standing relationship with Giorgio Armani never fails to impress. Last night at a Cinema Society screening of her new film, Truth, at the Museum of Modern Art, Blanchett wore a languid long-sleeved red silk dress—flown straight in from Milan, where it was shown on the runway just last week. Mary Mapes, the Peabody Award–winning journalist and former 60 Minutes producer on whose life Truth is based, pointed out how her style is pretty different from Blanchett’s. “Well, I broke my ankle six weeks ago,” she said as she lifted a trouser leg and revealed a black orthopedic boot. “So I knew I’d be wearing black tonight!” Jokes aside, she said the thought of Blanchett playing her in a film is a dream come true. “I don’t think there’s anything you can compare it to,” Mapes told us. “It’s ridiculous! For months and months, I thought it was a practical joke.”
After all, the role is not an easy one to play. Mapes was at the center of what is now referred to as the Killian documents controversy, when her 60 Minutes team ran a controversial report about President George W. Bush’s time in the Texas Air National Guard. “But there’s really nobody I would rather have played this role,” said Mapes. “And I think a year before the presidential election, it’s a perfect time to talk about truth, politics, and what it’s like to be a journalist. The film examines the Internet and how we talk to each other, because that was a huge issue for me at the time.”
After the screening, the party moved a couple blocks over to the Armani store on Fifth Avenue, where Roberta Armani hosted an intimate reception. It’s a given at this point that yes, Blanchett can nail a red carpet, and yes, she looks great in Armani, but the actress proved to us that there’s nothing more stylish than intelligence. While staying mum on her own political leanings, she did have this to say: “American politics doesn’t just stop at American shores. It affects us globally. The American presidential race has massive global ramifications—and I hope it doesn’t become a popularity contest. Because who sits down and runs and leads this country has an enormous impact not just on our global economy, but our global morality.”
