The actress Shares Insights on Her Career, Fandom, and Life's Gifts.

During a revealing conversation, Miranda Otto opens up on subjects as varied as her newest character as a regal sea creature to the invaluable wisdom gleaned from onstage mishaps and meeting admirers.

If You Could Be a Sea Creature for a Day

The most recent role is the monarch of the cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; supposing you had the opportunity to be a fish for a day, which one would it be and why?

Without hesitation, that particular fish residing near Clovelly beach – because it’s like an institution, and individuals visit specifically to spot it. It strikes me as remarkable that there’s a local fish that people actually seek out and discuss – it’s a special fish.

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 picture. During my growing up, it used to come on the ABC occasionally, and once I recorded it. I found it was so funny. It stars the legendary Carole Lombard and comedian Jack Benny. Not long ago they were showing it at a cinema and I discovered that it was the preferred movie of an acquaintance, and so we attended and just laughed and laughed. It is a masterful work of humor and the entire cast in it are superb. Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – that wasn’t successful. But Lubitsch's version is an exceptional farce, to be watched often.

A Priceless Lesson Gained Through a Fellow Actor

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

I was doing A Doll’s House alongside Peter O’Brien – my husband now, but at the time we were not together. We portrayed characters opposite each other and during the premiere I tripped up – I skipped forward some dialogue in the script. I didn’t know of my error but I abruptly sensed something wasn’t right. I recall glancing toward him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then our performance took off again and went really, really well. But I think the insight gained in that moment was, first, always trust the individuals in your scene. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and toward the actors sharing the stage with, you can rediscover your correct position somehow. It’s such communal thing, performing live. And next, just to have a lighthearted attitude about it. Sometimes when a mistake occurs, things can ignite in a really great way provided you are fully engaged then. It may become a gift when things go absolutely the wrong way.

Memorable Interactions with Fans

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

There isn't just one particular interaction but when I meet fans of Lord of the Rings, especially female fans, I am told numerous accounts about what Eowyn meant to them when they were growing up … events that occurred in their lives and the extent to which Eowyn meant to them and was some kind of help to them in those times.

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

The most specific inquiry concerns always about that infamous meal that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Was the stew as terrible as it looked?” It’s become such a joke, the entire episode involving that dish, and everyone wants to know what was in the stew, and how was it made, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you think she really is a poor chef? Fans seem, in my view, obsessed with the humour of that situation. And I go into lengthy descriptions describing the ingredients that made up the concoction – because I remember what they did; like they even put bits of red cotton to make it look like bits of veins in the meat. The crew employed great detail to render it as unappetizing as possible.

An Awkward Star Meeting

What’s been your most embarrassing celebrity encounter?

I attended a pilates class and another participant lying down doing pilates, and the instructor remarked, “Hello Miranda, this is Miranda.” And I attempted a lighthearted remark inquiring, “might you be a journalist?” Since Miranda is an uncommon moniker and often when someone’s a Miranda, they work in media. I wasn’t really identified her. And as she rose, it was Miranda Richardson. Then I was at a loss for words. I still had to stay and do my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wished to explain: “Oh my gosh, I am aware of your work!” I consider her talent is immense and I was simply too awestruck to utter a syllable.

The Origin of a Name

Articles have 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?

Indeed, I was christened for a district in Sydney. Mum heard on the radio that they were inaugurating a shopping centre at that location, and the name sounded like a nice name.

Pandemonium on Location

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

When I was working in Brazil for the film Reaching for the Moon that was the most chaotic set of my career, and yet the final product turned out brilliantly. But they just work in such a different way. The sense of time there is really different. Typically, you normally have a schedule and must arrive on set punctually. But this was sort of flexible – you come on set whenever you happen to be ready. It was a novel approach for me. The elements were all coming together at the very last minute, and sometimes they wouldn’t know where they were shooting the next day the methodology. And then you’d be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What caused that sound that just interrupted the scene? Ah, it was the producer opening some champagne on set, because he’s making a party.” The result was excellent, but goodness, it’s a distinct style of film-making.

A Hidden Talent

Do you have a secretly good at?

I’ve always been good with numbers. I retain numbers more readily than I memorise words a lot of the time, I’ve just got that kind of a brain. So I think had I not pursued acting, I probably would have entered a field something to do with numbers, like mathematics or accounting.

The Best Piece of Advice Given

What is the greatest piece of advice you have ever received?

During my time in secondary school, someone came to speak as we were graduating and they said, “don’t be afraid to fail” … an idea I consider is the best piece of advice, because you learn far more from failure than is gained from success. Success, you never really understand precisely why it happened. With failure, you learn abundant.