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During a revealing conversation, the acclaimed performer opens up on subjects as varied as her latest role as a regal sea creature to the profound lessons gleaned from onstage mishaps and meeting admirers.

Given the Chance to Become a Sea Creature for a Day

Your latest character portrays Queen of the Cuttlefish in The Pout-Pout Fish; if you could be a fish for a day, which one would you choose and why?

Straight away, the blue groper residing near a specific shoreline – since it is like an institution, and people go there to see it. I just think it’s cool that a resident aquatic creature that people actually go and see and talk about – it holds a unique status.

A Cinematic Favorite to Revisit

What film do you always return to, and why?

The 1942 comedy To Be Or Not To Be. I love this picture. When I was growing up, it used to come on television occasionally, and one time I videotaped it. I found it was hilarious. It stars the legendary Carole Lombard and Jack Benny. Not long ago they were playing it at a cinema and it turned out that it was also the favourite film of an acquaintance, and so we attended and just laughed repeatedly. It is a masterful work of comedy and the entire cast in it are superb. The director Mel Brooks remade it in the 1980s – which was not as effective. But Lubitsch's version is an exceptional farce, worth viewing regularly.

The Best Lesson Gained Through a Co-Star

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

I was doing A Doll’s House alongside Peter O’Brien – now my spouse, but at the time we were not a couple. We portrayed characters opposite each other and on opening night I tripped up – I jumped ahead a few lines in the script. I was unaware of my error but I suddenly realised things were off. I recall looking at him, and he expertly rescued the moment, and then the scene took off again and went really, really well. However, I believe the insight gained then was, firstly, consistently rely on the individuals in your scene. If you don’t know where you are, if you turn around and look at the people you’re with, you will find your correct position somehow. It’s such communal thing, performing live. And secondly, just to have a lighthearted attitude regarding it. Occasionally when a mistake occurs, things can ignite in a really great direction provided you are really present then. It may become an unexpected boon when things go completely awry.

Memorable Interactions with Fans

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

There isn't just one particular interaction but when I encounter devotees of Lord of the Rings, particularly women, I am told numerous stories about how that character meant to them when they were growing up … things that had happened in their lives and how much that character meant to them and was a form of support to them in those times.

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

The most specific question is always about that infamous meal that Eowyn serves Aragorn. “Was the stew really that bad?” It’s become such a joke, the entire episode involving that dish, and everyone wants to know the contents of the pot, and its preparation method, and in your opinion she’s a better cook now, or do you believe she really is a bad cook? People are, in my view, obsessed with the humour of that scene. And I go into lengthy descriptions listing the ingredients that made up the concoction – because I remember the efforts made; like they even put bits of red cotton to simulate the appearance like bits of veins in the meat. They went to great detail to render it as unappetizing as possible.

An Awkward Star Encounter

What was your most cringeworthy celebrity encounter?

I was at a pilates class and there was a woman lying down exercising, and the teacher said to me, “Hello Miranda, meet Miranda.” And I attempted a lighthearted remark inquiring, “might you be a journalist?” Because it’s an unusual name and often when I meet another Miranda, they’re a journalist. I wasn’t really identified her. And when she got up, it was the actress Miranda Richardson. At that point, I was at a loss for what to say. I was obliged to stay and do my class, and I experienced so embarrassed. I wanted to say: “Oh my gosh, I am aware of who you are!” I consider her talent is immense and I was simply too awestruck to say anything.

The Origin of a Name

It’s been confidently claimed that you were named after Prospero’s daughter in Shakespeare’s The Tempest, and yet I’ve read you saying otherwise – can you settle the matter definitively?

Yes – I was christened for a district in Sydney. Mum learned via broadcast that they were opening a mall at Miranda, and she thought seemed a nice name.

Pandemonium on Set

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

When I was working in Brazil on Reaching for the Moon that was the least organized set of my career, and yet the final product emerged incredibly well. But the local crew operated in such a different way. Their concept of time there is really different. In Australia, you receive a schedule and you have to be on set by a certain time. But this was sort of open ended – you come on set at one's convenience. It was a novel way of working for me. The elements were being assembled at the very last minute, and at times they wouldn’t know the next location the next day the methodology. And then I would be in the middle of a scene and be like, “What was that noise that disturbed the scene? Oh, it’s a crew member popping open some champagne on set, because he’s making a party.” It turned out great, but goodness, it’s a distinct style of film-making.

A Hidden Skill

Do you have a secretly good at?

I naturally possess good with numbers. I memorise 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 worked in involving numbers, like mathematics or accounting.

The Finest Guidance Ever Received

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

During my time in high school, someone addressed us when we were graduating and stated, “don’t be afraid to fail” … an idea I consider is the best piece of advice, since one gains far more from failure than is gained from success. With success, you never really understand exactly how it happened. With failure, the lessons are abundant.