AceShowbiz - Cate Blanchett is "always" taken aback by her own fame. Despite being a staple in Hollywood for decades and nominated for an Oscar for her role in drama "Tar", the 53-year-old actress admitted that it always comes as a shock when she is approached in public.

"There is so much to do in the world and I have learned over the years to just focus on the task in hand, so if someone in the supermarket taps me on the shoulder, I am always surprised by it," she told The Sunday Express magazine.

Meanwhile, Cate - who won a BAFTA for her role as a revered conductress who finds herself accused of sexual abuse - went on to add that she believes the world is "monstrous" and approached her latest role remembering that at the heart of it, she is still playing someone who should be regarded as a person.

She said, "Well, for me personally, the world in which we live is monstrous. It enables, invites and often enshrines and rewards monstrous behaviour. It's very easy to say she is monstrous, but the film is much more ambiguous than that."

"It begins with a close up, not on a person, but on a mobile phone, an instrument of easy opinion and gossip as well as information. I'm the character, on the other hand, is enigmatic. In a way, I felt that I was playing a state of being, or a set of atmospheres, as much as I was playing a person."