Cate Blanchett joins TV series to play an equal rights activist

Two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett has become the latest Hollywood celebrity to switch to TV, signing on to star in the new limited series Mrs America. Created and written by Mad Men coproducer Dahvi Waller, the nine-episode series will feature Blanchett as conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly, who led the fight against the movement to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment.

The ERA is a proposed amendment to the US Constitution stating that equal rights may not be denied on the basis of one’s sex. The amendment was passed by the US Congress in 1972 but failed to win the backing of enough states. “Through the eyes of the women of that era — both Schlafly and second wave feminists Gloria Steinem, Betty Friedan, Shirley Chisholm, Bella Abzug and Jill Ruckelshaus — the series explores how one of the toughest battlegrounds in the culture wars of the Seventies helped give rise to the Moral Majority and forever shifted our political landscape,” the production company stated.

Mrs America will mark Blanchett’s first role in an American television programme. She said, “I am extremely excited about delving into the material as there couldn’t be a more appropriate time to peel back the layers of this recent period of history, which couldn’t be more relevant today.”

Other Hollywood A-listers who have made the jump to television in recent years include Meryl Streep, Tom Hardy, and Julia Roberts.

I am extremely excited about delving into the material as there couldn’t be a more appropriate time to peel back the layers of this recent period of history. CATE BLANCHETT ACTOR

PHOTO: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS Cate Blanchett has strong political views