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In a candid interview, Miranda Otto reflects on topics ranging from her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons learned through onstage mishaps and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Sea Creature for a Day

The most recent character portrays the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

Without hesitation, the blue groper residing near Clovelly beach – since it is like an institution, and individuals visit specifically to spot it. It strikes me it’s cool that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and discuss – it’s a special fish.

A Cinematic Staple to Return To

What film do you repeatedly watch, and why?

Ernst Lubitsch's 1942 comedy To Be Or Not To Be. I love this film. When I was childhood, it would air on television occasionally, and once I videotaped it. I found it was so funny. It’s the legendary Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Not long ago they were playing it at a cinema and I discovered that it was the preferred movie of a friend of mine, and so we attended and simply chuckled repeatedly. It is a masterful work of humor and the entire cast in it are superb. The director Mel Brooks did a remake in the 1980s – which was not as effective. But Lubitsch's version is a brilliant comedy, to be watched regularly.

A Priceless Lesson Learned From a Fellow Actor

What’s the best lesson you took away from someone a colleague?

I was doing A Doll’s House with Pete – now my spouse, but at the time we were not together. We portrayed characters opposite each other and on opening night I stumbled – I skipped forward a few lines in the script. I didn’t know what I’d done but I abruptly sensed something wasn’t right. I remember looking at him, and he completely saved me, and then the scene took off again and went really, really well. However, I believe what I learned in that moment was, first, always trust the individuals you’re working with. If you don’t know your place, by looking and toward the actors sharing the stage with, you will find your correct position somehow. It’s such communal thing, performing live. And next, to maintain a sense of fun about it. Occasionally when something goes wrong, things can ignite in a really great way provided you are really present then. It may become an unexpected boon when things go absolutely awry.

Heartening Exchanges with Fans

What’s been your most memorable encounter with a fan?

There isn't a single particular interaction but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I hear a lot of accounts about how that character meant to them when they were younger … events that occurred in their lives and the extent to which Eowyn meant to them and was some kind of help to them during those periods.

What do you get asked most frequently by Lord of the Rings fans?

The most detailed question is invariably regarding that infamous meal that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Was the stew as terrible as it looked?” It has evolved into such a joke, the whole thing about the stew, and everyone wants to know what was in the pot, 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, I think, obsessed with the comedy of that scene. And I provide lengthy descriptions describing the components that constituted the concoction – because I remember what they did; like they even adding pieces of colored thread to simulate the appearance like bits of veins in the meat. The crew employed great detail to render it as bad as they could.

A Cringeworthy Celebrity Encounter

What was your most embarrassing run-in with a famous person?

I attended a pilates class and another participant on a mat exercising, and the instructor said to me, “Hello Miranda, meet Miranda.” And I made some joke inquiring, “oh, are you a journalist?” Since Miranda is an unusual name and most of the time when I meet another Miranda, they work in media. I hadn't properly seeing who it was. And when she got up, it was the actress Miranda Richardson. Then I was at a loss for words. I still had to complete my class, and I experienced intense awkwardness. I wanted to say: “Oh my gosh, I do know your work!” I consider her talent is immense and I was just too starstruck to utter a syllable.

The Origin of a Moniker

It’s been confidently claimed that you were given your name from Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet I’ve read stating otherwise – can you clarify this once and for all?

Indeed, I was named after the Sydney suburb. My mother learned via broadcast that they were inaugurating a mall at Miranda, and the name seemed a nice name.

Pandemonium on Location

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

When I was working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon I experienced the least organized set of my career, and yet the final product emerged brilliantly. But they just work in a distinct manner. The sense of time there is unique. In Australia, you normally have a schedule and must arrive on set punctually. But this was rather flexible – you come on set at one's convenience. It was a really different approach for me. All aspects were all coming together at the very last minute, and sometimes the plan was unclear where they were shooting or how we were going to do it. And then I would be in the middle of a scene and wondering, “What was that noise that disturbed the scene? Ah, it was the producer opening a bottle on set, because he’s making a party.” The result was great, but wow, it’s a really different approach to film-making.

A Secret Skill

Do you have a secretly good at?

I naturally possess an aptitude for numbers. I retain numbers more readily than I memorise words a lot of the time, I simply have that kind of a brain. So I believe had I not ended up in acting, I probably would have entered a field something to do with numbers, like mathematics or finance.

The Best Guidance Given

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

During my time in high school, a speaker addressed us when we were graduating and they said, “don’t be afraid to fail” … which I think is the best piece of advice, because you learn so much more from failure than is gained from success. With success, one rarely comprehends exactly how it happened. With failure, you learn abundant.