Miranda Otto Reveals Insights on Acting, Fandom, and Unexpected Gifts.

In a candid interview, the acclaimed performer opens up on topics ranging from her newest character as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons learned through theatrical mistakes and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Sea Creature for a Day

The most recent character portrays Queen 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 like an institution, and people go there specifically to spot it. It strikes me it’s cool that there’s a local fish that folks genuinely go and see and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Cinematic Favorite to Revisit

What film do you always return to, and why?

Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 comedy To Be Or Not To Be. I adore this film. When I was growing up, it would air on the ABC every now and again, and one time I videotaped it. I just thought it was so funny. It’s the legendary Carole Lombard and comedian Jack Benny. Not long ago 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 simply chuckled and laughed. It’s such great piece of comedy and all the actors in it are superb. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t as effective. But the original film is an exceptional farce, worth viewing regularly.

A Priceless Insight Gained Through a Fellow Actor

What’s the best lesson you took away from someone you’ve worked with?

Years ago I performed in A Doll’s House with Pete – now my spouse, but back then we were not a couple. We portrayed characters opposite each other and on opening night 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 recall looking at him, and he completely saved me, and then our performance regained momentum and proceeded splendidly. But I think the insight gained then was, first, always trust the people you’re working with. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and toward the people you’re with, you can rediscover your correct position somehow. It is a profoundly collaborative endeavor, performing live. And secondly, just to have a sense of fun about it. Occasionally when something goes wrong, things actually spark off in a wonderfully positive direction if you’re really present then. It can be a gift when things go absolutely the wrong way.

Heartening Exchanges with Admirers

Can you describe your most touching encounter with a fan?

There isn't just one specific meeting but when I meet fans of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I hear a lot of accounts about how that character meant to them when they were growing up … things that had happened in their lives and the extent to which Eowyn meant to them and was a form of support to them in those times.

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

The most detailed inquiry concerns always about the stew her character prepares for Aragorn. “Was the stew as terrible as it looked?” It’s become a running gag, the whole thing about the stew, and everyone wants to know the contents of the stew, and how was it made, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you believe she really is a bad cook? Fans seem, in my view, fascinated by the humour of that scene. And I go into great detail listing the components that constituted the concoction – as I recall the efforts made; such as put bits of red cotton to simulate the appearance like bits of veins in the meat. They went to extreme measures to make it look as unappetizing as they could.

An Awkward Celebrity Meeting

What’s been your most embarrassing celebrity encounter?

I was at a pilates class and another participant lying down doing pilates, and the instructor said to me, “Hello Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I attempted some joke about, “might you be a journalist?” Since Miranda is an uncommon moniker and often when I meet another Miranda, they’re a journalist. I wasn’t really identified her. And when she got up, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I didn’t know words. I was obliged to complete my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wanted to say: “Oh my gosh, I am aware of who you are!” 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 you've mentioned you saying otherwise – can you settle the matter definitively?

Yes – I was christened for a district in Sydney. My mother heard on the radio that they were opening a shopping centre at Miranda, and she thought seemed a pleasant choice.

Pandemonium on Location

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

While working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon I experienced the most chaotic set of my career, and yet the film turned out brilliantly. But the local crew operated in such a different way. The sense of time there is unique. In Australia, you normally have a schedule and must arrive on set by a certain time. But this was rather open ended – one would appear at one's convenience. It was a novel way of working for me. The elements were all coming together at the final moment, and at times the plan was unclear where they were shooting the next day the methodology. And then you’d be in during a scene and wondering, “What caused that sound that just interrupted the scene? Ah, it was the producer popping open a bottle on set, to start a party.” The result was excellent, but goodness, it’s a distinct approach to film-making.

A Secret Skill

What are you secretly good at?

I’ve always been good with numbers. I memorise numbers easier than I learn dialogue a lot of the time, I simply have a numerically-oriented mind. So I think if I hadn’t pursued acting, I likely might have entered a field something to do with numbers, like math or accounting.

The Finest Piece of Advice Given

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

When I was in secondary school, someone came to speak as we were graduating and stated, “don’t be afraid to fail” … an idea I consider is the best piece of advice, because you learn so much more from failure than you learn from triumph. Success, you never really understand exactly how it happened. Failure, the lessons are abundant.