Blanchett prepared for end of career

The Australian star shot to prominence when she starred in the historical drama, which gained her an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.

She has gone on to make a series of major films, including starring in The Lord of The Rings movies and winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her turn as Katharine Hepburn in 2004’s The Aviator.

But Blanchett admits she expected her time in the spotlight to have faded by 2003.

She tells W magazine, “I remember him (husband Andrew Upton) saying to me after I made Elizabeth, ‘Sweetheart, you’ve probably got about five years.’ He was preparing me for the time when the work dries up.”