Last Friday, we discussed the tabloid rumor that Rachel Weisz and Daniel Craig’s marriage might be falling apart. Star Magazine’s rumors were along the lines of “they haven’t walked a red carpet together in more than a year” and “Daniel might be fooling around.” Notably, I think, Daniel didn’t come to Cannes when Rachel was promoting projects back to back last month. So what’s happening? I have no idea. But Rachel did sit down for a lengthy interview with The Daily Mirror and she ends up discussing her marriage, her husband and much more. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
Rachel on her 20s: “I was often single and feeling alone in my 20s. I’d eat pizza at home by myself, rent movies, all the clichés…It was hard sometimes but you hope eventually you’ll find the right partner. When I was younger, I worried about so many things and it was hard for me to feel happy or understand what made me happy. Once you reach your forties, you know where to look.”
On her marriage: “I love to cook. Daniel is also very good at it. We always enjoy trying out different kinds of cuisine and having fun with that.”
She won’t do Botox or plastic surgery: “You have to be realistic about it and not fight it. I don’t worry about wrinkles but I’ve worked on my fitness since Henry was born and I pay more attention to my body than I did when I was younger. But overall, you have to find as many positive things as you can about getting older. Life is much less problematic for me today.”
Her start in modeling: “I enjoyed that time. I earned enough money so that I began feeling much more independent. When you see photos of models in magazines, you would never realise the amount of hours and stress that go into that job. You have to be very disciplined to succeed at it.”
Living in New York with Daniel: “I miss so many things about England. I still feel very English and love the TV and conversation. We have a distinct sense of humour and sprinkle conversation with innuendo and puns. You don’t get that in America!”
Whether she would ever be a Bond girl: “Never!”
You don’t get innuendo and puns in America? Um…don’t get me wrong, I think the British people have a grand tradition of word play and humor as well, but Rachel makes it sound like all Americans are dull and humorless conversationalists. To that I say… BALLS. As for the other stuff… I actually hope that Rachel and Daniel work it out, but I’m getting a vibe that they won’t be lasting a lot longer.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
She’s obviously not a Celebitch.
As a Brit and a regular follower of celebitchy I can honestly say the British sense of humour and the comments on this site are quite far removed! I’m not saying either is better or worse because I love British comedy and I love this site but I certainly don’t come here for the lols provided!
Oh yes! British children learn to deal with sarcasm and innuendo at a young age. Unfortunately in the modern world those things get you into trouble, which is a shame because I love a good verbal joust.
N.B. Yet you might be surprised just how similar the sense of humor can be.
In my own mutt example, both the extremely Southern US half & the English half of the family have almost exactly the same penchant for (or certainly complementary) dry-as-a-bone, pun-punking, absurd-seeking, word-play wooing, deadly droll, alliterative-adoring, stabbing-sly, parody-punching, classics-referencing, embarrassingly slapstick and anecdotal appreciation for serving it up and dishing it out cold.
There is a full spectrum a la Benny Hill-Monty Python-Eddie Izzard-My Word-C.Review et al range here as well – albeit not the loudest guest at the dinner party.
@ belle
Love it! I have had a growing desire to visit the Deep South for some time and your comments have just stoked the fire. Thanks!
Oh, brother.
Right? We’re f@ing hilarious.
“We both like soup.” – That’s what her conversation on marriage reminds me of.
Hahaha. Guess Bond isn’t such a great conversationalist?
Hahahahaha. I love you for the “Best In Show” reference, Jenns.
And talking……..or not talking……
I have no idea whether their marriage is on the rocks or not but they’re pretty private about it so she’s probalby just being private and deliberately bland here.
The way she actually worded her comment doesn’t really sound as bad as the headline suggested. I was expecting something kind of brutal, but was surprised when I read her actual comments. Looks like she was talking to a British magazine too; therefore, where she made her comment kind of makes sense. Her comment would have looked out of place in an American publication like Vogue, but to The Daily Mirror where she’s talking to another British person her answer seems fine. Seemed like she was playing to her own home crowd in this interview.
I agree. And their sense of humor is different, more dry.
I don’t think you can make generalizations about a country of 300 million people.
And is she saying that their humor is preferable? Because I think of the old saying “Puns are the lowest form of humor.” I think they are eye-rolling.
Brits are funny, no doubt about that, but sometimes when you talk to them I get the feeling that they think they’re the only ones with a dry and sarcastic sense of humor.
From the people I know, people from Eastern Europe are the ones with the driest and most sarcastic sense of humor, by far, Often much darker than Americans or Brits.
But as I said, that’s just the people I know, you can’t paint an entire country with such a broad brush.
Yep. Totally agree. I’ve gotten myself in trouble quite a few times with punny dry humor. Add to the fact that im in deep south Louisiana where everyone is all about politeness and it’s a recipe for disaster with my oddball sense of humor. So many people to offend, so little time.
I thought the movie “fluff” was like the funniest thing ever, and my husband was all…”whaaaaa?”
Girlinbayou, you’re not alone! A few years ago I made the decision not to open my mouth around my humorless in-laws. It’s frustrating as hell for a few hours, but there’s no big family mess to clean up later.
(And I’m from Louisiana too! Coincidence?)
Franca, my parents came in the States from EEurope, and, yes, talk about dry sense of humor. Gallows humor, also.
I think it’s an anthropologists’ benchmark for understanding a culture, isn’t it, getting a joke? In my 20s I spent a few years in Honk Kong and I still remember how euphoric I felt, for a whole day, when my Cantonese was good enough to allow me to get a joke.
I don’t necessarily think generalizations can be made about whole countries of people, but humour, like literature, probably has certain conventions associated with it. And the “national humour” of one country might utilize certain conventions more so than the “national humour” of another country. I looked up British humour on Wikipedia, and I noticed that some of these conventions Weisz mentioned were listed there. Now I’m wondering if she came up with the conventions on her own or found them on a literature course at Cambridge where she studied.
I don’t believe Rachel wanted to offend Americans,she just was emotional. When you live in another country, you miss yours and usually you prettify everything. The humor is better,the food is better etc.
It’s human nature.
We definitely DO get conversations like that in America. She’s clearly not choosing to hang out with the right people, and whose fault is that?
Right? Find different friends.
But I think you have to be diligent to find people in the US that enjoy dark/dry humour. It’s not easy but can be done.
I know many people with that type of humor.
So do I. But I also know lots that wouldn’t get it at all.
EXACTLY. She probably lives in Los Angeles. Not exactly a hotbed for self-deprecation. With the exception of maybe Seth McFarlane, who is awesome and hot.
…..I think she and Daniel live par time in New York and she is talking more about NYkers.
And I am a New Yorker, just saying.
Lol
She hasn’t read the Hiddles and Batch post comments, apparently.
Or Cap’n Sexy or CHemBoy’s… Sheesh.
Less snide remarks and more self depreciation that’s the British sense of humour. For those one does not travel to a cumberbatch post!
Maybe it’s because I’m pmsing at the moment,but I get annoyed when we get painted as a bunch of humorless aholes. I fully understand that we don’t have a good reputation in the world community. A lot of that is our own doing. To say that all Americans are a bunch of humorless, dim witted people isn’t fair. She’s come out before and said we’re a bunch of low IQ morons. We do have a sense of humor clearly, look at our current presidential race. Donald Trump!! That’s hysterical! !!
I didn’t think she was saying Americans are dull and humorless. I think she was simply saying that English humour has certain identifiable traits to it, which it does seem to, if all of the analysis about Hugh Grant movies are anything to go by. English humour and American humour do appear to fit into different kinds of genres.
I’m usually the first one to oppose generalizing but I also took it this way. She didn’t say that American humour is worse, just different. People miss their home, the familiarity, it’s completely natural and it doesn’t mean they hate it everywhere else. In her case, one of the things she misses is the specific English humour and English people are actually known for having a kind of humour that doesn’t appeal to everyone, but if it does, they love it. I lived in England for a while and even though I come from a family, who loves telling dark, sarcastic, punny jokes, they are nothing like the dark, sarcastic, punny jokes I heard in England. Not better, not worse, just different. While conversing, English people tend to use a different vocabulary, include a lot of trivia specific to England, casually use words that would be deemed offensive anywhere else (like c-word) etc. and she won’t get these exact conversations in other countries.
And a distinction should be made between “dry humor” and puns. I think punning is lame.
Right, this isn’t the first time she’s made a comment like this. I assume she’s wealthy enough to live wherever she chooses–it’s puzzling to me that she chooses to live in America, as she clearly has such disdain for Americans.
I don’t disagree with her. Different countries have different humor. It’s ok to hear that, accept it and not feel attacked. LOL.
The Brits are much drier, don’t freak out about profanity. Quite a few countries are much more pun heavy than we are as well. Don’t get me wrong, US has an appreciation for puns but they seem to be much more simple, obvious, IMO.
Agree, the American use of English tends to be more explicit, less nuanced or contextual, but there are regional variations.
“they” seem to be much more simple
All 300+ million of “them”?
I think that’s what Claire was saying, yes. All 300+ million of them. Because we can’t state anything without including a full survey of all possible variations and subsets of a set.
She wasn’t saying Americans are simple, she said American puns are more simple.
I love Rachel. It may be an irrational love because she’s in my favorite movie ever (The Constant Gardener) but there’s just something special about her. If she and Daniel are splitting, it’s sad but they’ve made it work for a long time in Hollywood years…
its quite common for british people to assume they are funny because of their nationality.
Congratulations, well done that woman, you have just managed to stereotype over 60 million people and all at the same time, that’s quite a knack you’ve got yourself there. Actually I think she’s talking rubbish, some of the funniest (and by far away the maddest people) on this site are from the States yes I’m looking at you mimif, Kiddo, etc, who all make me howl with laughter. Oh and yes I am a Brit, just in case you hadn’t noticed lol…
I agree. She’s talking rubbish.
LOL! Come on guys that was hilarious.
See these replies? THIS is what she is talking about. Mila makes an obviously sarcastic joke and other than korra, her comment is criticized, taken literally and dismissed. Yeesh
Okay, these comments are all hysterical! On one side we have brits and anglophiles up and down talking about how Americans should learn to laugh at themselves and not take jokes and such statements so seriously. On the other Americans disagreeing, taking offense, or not really giving a big whoop de do. But then we have a Brit up there responding to Mila with obvious offense taken over what Mila said. While I the American found it funny.
So no sorry Beeeege Rachel’s point isn’t really proven here by these specific comments.
I know exactly what she’s talking about. And you don’t get it in the U.S. And you needn’t be defensive about it. It isn’t an American sense of humor. Americans think Jud Apatow is funny.
Err…not all Americans.
We also think Jon Stewart is funny.
Right?! As well as Colbert, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Amy Schumer, the women from broad city, and insert hundreds of other comedians. I won’t disagree that Americans have a different style of humor than the Brits, but damn people our comedies are definitely more than just Apatow.
I think all of those people are funny (except for Apatow), but I do think their humour works differently from British humour. Neither sense of humour from either side of the pond is better than the other, just different. That said, a Welsh person would probably say their humour is different from an English person’s (I don’t know — I’m just guessing) just like a Southerner in the US might say their manners are different from a person’s manners in the North (hasn’t Reese Witherspoon said something like this? and probably gotten in trouble for it…)
@perplexed I don’t really care about the differences in humor. That’s something I won’t disagree with. Yeah there are differences. I’m not offended in the least by that declaration. I’m just annoyed with the need to always take a swipe at our intelligence and say we think Judd Apatow is funny. Come on. You know that’s a dig at American intelligence. We ALL know that is. It’s annoying when our comedies are more than just Apatow. He’s not the only representation of American humor jeez.
“You don’t get it in the U.S.”? Wow. What a blanket, incorrect, and condescending assumption.
You mean Judd Apatow films like Get Him to the Greek starring Russell Brand? Films which make millions in England?
Please, some American really awful comedies make a lot of money overseas, even in countries where english is not spoken.
I learned English when I was young, and have had contact and visited, so I know that double meaning, etc exist, not just silly comedies where they slap your face with cake. Not everyone does it like in my language, maybe some groups of people are more … I don’t know… puritanical? serious?
Maybe she just needs different friends, or misses her original ones really bad.
P.S. I have found that among some groups, the medical doctors are usually people eco you not want to try to play a word game with, especial with double meanings and innuendos, they will win every time. In my experience, every surgery is a double meaning game of words, forget abut those series and movies where they are all serious doing surgery, nah!
That was said in jest, right? As an American I can just never pick up on things since I never developed a sense of humor.
Was that supposed to be funny?
Love her to pieces and yes, she’s still too good for Daniel, but I think I’d pull my hair out (the short ones), if I had to spend a day with someone who was punning all the time. Jeez. Give it a rest!
She’s also said that Daniel isn’t especially clever, conversationally.
Oh my gosh where did she say this???
I read that too, I forget where–she indicated that he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
I often find British humor to be mean spirited. So you can fuck right off, Rachel.
This comment is true British comedy!
I just came here to say I think she’s stunning.
The other day I was re-watching that movie… The mummy? She was stunning there. And still is.
Regarding her comments, well… I’m not american and I don’t know many americans so I won’t comment on that.
I’m a New yorker and rather profane/have dark humor/sarcastic and I have noticed most places I have lived other than NE (SE and now canada) find it rather rude, crude, and people are a bit well prudish IMO(they get offended so easily with things not even directedat them). I feel her, I still haven’t found my people either.
Yup, I definitely have to tone it down in general when I’m in the US. I really had to get used to how nice and polite people in the US are.
So does this mean I need to move to Europe? I’d love to live in the UK!
An Aussie friend of mine is living in Canada at the moment and has said the same thing! That she’s just joking around but the Canadians think she’s being serious or semi-serious and get a little offended. She’s definitely had to rein in her Aussie-ness which is hilarious because she’s actually Canadian by birth and moved here when she was 7.
Expat here in the UK. There is LITERALLY NO DIFFERENCE between the so-called “humour” of the Brits and Americans. It all depends on where you look. The difference everyone always refers to, and that the British seem to be so very proud of (perhaps rightly so) is largely due to the fact that they are allowed to show more on television over here in the UK then in the US. They get more creative freedom to run things that are a bit more “off the grid”
I think the recent “golden age of television” has been levelling the playing field quite a lot, and at the end of the day, you just have to find your people and hang out with them. I always bristle when I get asked if I “get” the British humour. As if it’s in a language thats so very difficult to understand that it might break my feeble American brain. Bitch, please.
All these Brits can’t stop insulting and making fun of America and American actors but they do come here to live, take the job opportunities and make tons of money.
The fact that all the comments here are upset that a Brit doesnt think Yanks get out humour shows how right she was to make this statement – you need to calm down a bit.
Learn to laugh at yourselves, it makes life so much funnier.
This from the country who brought us Keith Lemon. Or is it Lemmon….two m’s? There is funny and unfunny everywhere you look.
Keith Lemon is hilarious!
I love Rachel. However, I’m English and I feel as though I hear more about this distinct English humour than I actually experience it. Humour is subjective; there’s no ‘one size fits all’. I also have a lot of international friends whose humour I share and vice-versa. No doubt it’s the same for Rachel unless she exclusively hangs out with Stephen Fry or something.
I don’t imagine Rachel intended to offend anyone. What I got from the article is she is homesick.
Just like anywhere. I have a lot of british friends, and some are very funny, and others…not so much. I even make the funny ones laugh sometimes with dry delivery. The driest person I know (and one of the funniest) is Russian. It’s all subjective…
“Humour is subjective; there’s no ‘one size fits all’.”
Exactly. I’m glad someone said it.
For what it’s worth, as an American, I didn’t think Rachel was being offensive.
Didn’t she attend Cambridge? I could kind of see her hanging out with a different crowd because of that. The humour probably changes depending on class background. I do think of Hugh Grant’s sense of humour being very different from, uh, Noel Gallagher’s (who does make me laugh even when he’s being totally rude, obnoxious, and extremely direct rather than passive-aggressive.)
I tend to think of British humour as being more self-deprecating, but now that I think about it properly I can see that also changing depending on class (again, think of the difference of between Hugh Grant and Noel Gallagher. I don’t think the latter is really self-deprecating but still funny nonetheless. And he’s not even a comedian…. )
THANK you.
I just see her take as she prefers dry humor and American humor is more direct. I prefer dirty humor – my mind is always in the gutter. However, celebs should be careful about making blanket statements re an entire culture or country. If the company she keeps in the states aren’t humorous or if the humor isn’t dry enough, I’m sure there are some here who would fit her preference. That said, I can’t help but think Daniel isn’t a very humorous guy. She may think so because she loves him and they get eachother, but he just seems way too intense and serious to be any kind of funny. I don’t care for dry humor, especially from wealthy people who seem to think catty remarks fall under dry humor. I’m all for sarcasm – this site lives for sarcasm as do I, but not if it’s constantly at others’ expense as in a bit of a superiority complex. Not cool – not Weisz. See what I did there?!
she’s made similar comments before. i remember she said she was lucky aronofsky was a cultured american, because americans can apparently be quite ignorant of anything outside the US. as someone who has lived in many different countries, I can safely say you get ignorants pretty much everywhere. so yeah.
I don’t know, I am an American and I must say a lot of Americans don’t know basic US geography outside their region much less understanding of anything outside of the US (some now not all, but sadly that includes most people I know).
I must have misread the articles about all of the cultured Europeans throwing bananas and making monkey noises at black players at football matches. I forgot ignorance was limited to America.
Yes, ell. Ignorance is a state of being in every nationality.
sorry, but as someone in her 20s who’s in a relationship, I still spend tons of time by myself, eating pizza and renting films (well, more like watching something on my laptop but either way), and it’s bloody well great. I love my alone time, and I think you should cherish it.
I can’t with women who can’t do single.
Another starlet who needs to get over herself. Yawn.
She looks like a tall, pale, humorless glass of boring to me. Pun that.
I love Rachel. She’s beautiful, talented, and charming. But my goodness. I totally believe the Arnofsky/Portman rumors because those two are the same creatures. They could be sisters. Pretentious, beautiful english rose types with an inflated sense of their own intelligence. Although Weisz is a far more talented actress. And they totally did the EXACT same Oscar campaign. Does anyone remember Weisz’s???
Because she’s complimenting her own countrymen and probably feels nostalgia for the place she grew up in, I find her comments a lot less weird in the context of idealizing what she misses about her home.
When Americans Portman or Paltrow try to talk about how the British or French engage in conversations unlike their American friends, I don’t get it. And then I wonder what Portman and Paltrow have in their arsenal to contribute to the conversation….(do the British and French people secretly laugh at them?)
I don’t care about her comments here. I’m so confused as to why the similarities between her and Portman and that whole Arnofosky/Portman love triangle aren’t brought up. It’s good gossip. I mean seriously. Portman’s oscar campaign MUST have been influenced by Weisz. No one finds the similarities between the two fascinating?
And yeah. Rachel is pretentious, that’s my general opinion of her and I still like her. The only reason she gets away with her pretentiousness is because she’s low key, the original, boring, and she speaks with a level of sophistication that Portman doesn’t. Or as Niles said on the Nanny, “We’re British, we can say anything and people think it’s Shakespeare.”
I keep wondering why Portman’s kid looks so much like Weisz’s. But I have no proof to back up any gossip I’ve read.
She’s right, they have a sense of humour that you just don’t find elsewhere in the world. I fall in love with it every time I visit the UK. Americans can certainly be funny but its not quite the same, especially with your average, casual conversation.
Ha, American living in the UK and I find Brits here to be insanely dull and humorless. I would love it if I could find somebody here who could pull some wit out of their arse.
Oh dear perhaps you don’t get their jokes? Or perhaps they are dull and humourless.
If her name was not under the picture, I would not recognize her, fillers to the max.
> We have a distinct sense of humour and sprinkle conversation with innuendo and puns. You don’t get that in America!”
She is right. When I moved to the US I slowly trained myself to stop using sarcasm or any kind of sub-text. Americans don’t know what it is and don’t expect it . And then you are the one who ends up looking like a fool.
I sort of understand this. You just have to learn to use the sarcasm in such a way that people don’t realize you’re being sarcastic. Dunno if that makes sense. I live in the South. If you learn to deliver it well, it will either slide right over the ears of those you’re offending, because they won’t get it, but won’t get the insult, and people who do get it will laugh like crazy. Sarcasm with a warm country feel.
I have lost my mind.
Can we just talk for a second about the elephant in the room? The humour thing, I think most of us can all call Shenanigans on that…but let’s talk about the whole “I’ll never have plastic surgery or botox” crapola.
Girl is FULL of fillers, and has had a NOSEJOB. At least one. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a beautiful and talented actress, but why lie? Why address it at all if you want to be discreet about it? In this day and age, if you want to get a little something something done, why not? Especially when you are in the public eye? But this whole celebrity thing “oh I look like this because I drink a lot of water, wear sunscreen, and do yoga” is an insult to the collective intelligence of ..well…everyone.
http://celebritysurgerynews.com/rachel-weisz-plastic-surgery/
Um… you seem unnaturally affected by Rachel, her looks and her words. Calm down. She didn’t have nose job, even this hilarious website concludes itand if she had anything, it was only Botox which is not plastic surgery. Jeez. Talk about intelligence , humor and else.
Actually, she goes to the one of the most famous comestic derms in NYC – Dr. David Colbert. But I am sure – she just goes to get her moles checked…
Yeaaaaaaaah… I live in Chicago, home of the greatest improv and sketch comedy in the world.
If you dislike our sense of humor, stop watching our comedies. I say that as an immigrant. American humor is hysterical.
All the Americans here need to understand something to their nationality when it is transmitted abroad. Maybe not so much now with a 24 hour news cycle, citizen journalism and social media but definitely in pre internet days, we only got fed a few American stereotypes and frankly, none of them are positive.
I think these stereotypes linger somewhat, like a fart in a lift.
Some of them are: the dumb American tourist, camera, loud shirt, pointing at a map of Austria and looking for Sydney.
The vacuous, plastic surgeried La la land blondes etc etc
Not your fault! Blame the media!
But that tourist is every tourist everywhere.
Seriously, American, German, Swiss, Australian, English, Indian, tourists everywhere look the same. (The english look the reddest though)
Talk about yourself. Who are “we” who actually heard thse “bad” things and didn’t see Americans alive? Nonsense. Where I come from there was abundance of Americans, both working and visiting, no need to base my opinion on media. You sound like you are desperately trying to please the American friends speaking for all Europeans – something we haven’t asked you to do.
Different kinds of humor are going to work/not work in different countries with different historical experiences.
I think Rachel is certainly pretentious but I get what she is saying. Americans certainly do get the sarcasm and puns in a statement, but in Britain (my area of Britain anyway) that one punny statement will lead to a punny reply and then witty pun upon pun back and forth like a tennis match for an entire conversation can be the result, in the US after the first witty statement and perhaps a witty reply the game just stops. I think she’s talking about a natural relevant free flowing ‘witty conversation’ which can last for an entire dinner if there are enough like minded guests. If you have never been in one of those conversations then it’s impossible to understand what she is really talking about. It’s certainly not a universal phenomena in Britain and you do need people with a certain level of education and sharp mindedness in play but it does exist , sadly less so now. Perhaps such conversations do exist in the US as well it’s just that neither Rachel or I have come across one.
….You should go on reddit then. That shit gets old so fast. But then again us Americans are just simple.
Phenomenon! Because I’m a humorless grammar totalitarian.
Intelligent people in the US love to “volley” in the way that you are describing as well. I don’t come across it often but when I do, it’s almost orgasmic. 😍 😉
I’m, she clearly hadn’t hung out with my family! Bad puns everywhere.
His head is enormous!
I think it’s just the way he’s posing in front of her – they look like they have quite similar sized heads here: http://www.celebitchy.com/244485/rachel_weisz_on_daniel_craig_i_love_being_married_to_daniel_its_very_grounding/