Rachel Weisz covered a recent issue of Porter Magazine to promote her version of Dead Ringers, which is now a miniseries on Amazon Prime. I never saw the Jeremy Irons movie, it looked too creepy for me, and I’ll probably skip this series too. Still, I like that it’s something Weisz put together herself, hiring a screenwriter and going into the meetings to sell it to Amazon. Weisz stars as twin sisters, both gynecologists, both dysfunctional in their own ways. Weisz had to act most of her scenes with herself, basically, using an earpiece to hear her performance as the other twin while she filmed scenes. Some highlights from her Porter interview:
Playing against herself: “Day one, it was a mindf–k. But by the end, it just became like breathing.”
No social media: “I’m not very technologically savvy; I would be really crap at it,” she says – and she doesn’t say much publicly about her relationship with her husband, Daniel Craig, or their life together as a family. It isn’t an intentional strategy, but rather a personal philosophy. “I suppose, for me, the words ‘private life’ mean just that: that you have a private life, which is the real-life stuff. And then there’s the fantasy stuff.”
She looks for complicated female characters: “Oftentimes, with roles for women in the past, I’ve found them very oversimplified, and I think that’s changing, which is really good. The thing I’m looking for is complicated characters. It’s interesting, complex writing.”
Selling it as a miniseries to Amazon: “You could explore it in this long-form way. I’d never done it, and I think it’s where some of the most exciting writing is happening…. It was a straight-to-series order, which is a really big deal, and I was just learning as I went. It’s been a long journey for me. It wasn’t the same as being offered a job with the script written – Alice and I developed the idea together and then she wrote an incredible script.”
On Brendan Fraser, her old costar in The Mummy franchise: “I’m really, really thrilled for him… that he’s had this new chapter. And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer, nicer guy.”
She still loves the Mummy franchise: “It’s beloved to me, too. I feel very much the same. When we were making it, we had no idea – we didn’t know if it was going to even sell tickets. Everybody in The Mummy was just brilliant, and it was just some alchemical thing in it, that it had charm, and charm is such a strange thing – it’s either there or it isn’t.”
It never really occurred to me that Weisz and her husband completely opt out of social media. I remember reading that someone had finally told Daniel Craig about the “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Weeknd” meme and he was like “wait, what?” I buy that they’re both tragically off-line, although I bet Daniel’s daughter (who I believe is her early 20s) probably tells them stuff. As for the Mummy franchise… I’ve literally never seen any of those movies! I realize that they’re being re-embraced by the youths, maybe I should finally check them out. Though I will absolutely pass on Dead Ringers. Sorry to Rachel.
I remember watching the original Irons film and it was creepy as hell, but he’s really good at playing creepy.
Raises hand hoping Weisz will be in the rumoured Constantine 2 with Keanu Reeves. Those two have great screen chemistry (Chain Reaction, Constantine).
I thought the Constantine 2 movies was in limbo after getting the green light? Have been waiting for years for a follow up as i loved the original movie – should also bring back Dijmon Jousan as Papa Midnite if/when it does get the green light.
I got rid of my twitter and my instagram and my Facebook and I feel a thousand times better
@Jillian Same and SAME. Getting completely off of Facebook and Twitter were mental-health game changers for me. Deactivating those accounts was so weirdly scary at the time, but so freeing in the long run. I have ZERO regrets. I do still have a stealth Instagram account, but I should deactivate that too because I never use it anymore.
Daniel Craig’s daughter is 31! It’s strange to think of him with a kid that old…
It is but he’s 55 and started young. He also has a 4-5 year old daughter with Weisz.
I love her. And it’s not just that she’s such a beauty. There is just something about Rachel Weisz that is just so compelling. Her series on Amazon looks fascinating. I hope it’s a good watch, since it will be rainy weekend here for me and I want to start watching.
I started it and it’s so good! Rachel Weisz is an amazing actor and you actually forget she’s not a twin and is playing both the characters because she’s so good in it. She even acts as the twin swapping with the twin and again, you believe it.
These remakes of Jeremy Irons movies Dead Ringers and Damage make me want to rewatch the Jeremy Irons versions.
Jeremy Irons made some damn good movies, he is very intense and does subtle creepyemotions very well.
I watched the Richard Armitage Netflix remake Obsession. Based on Damage, was embarrassed for him.
So, so awful.
RW is good in everything I’ve seen of her work.
I still think she and Keanu need to do more movies together. Great chemistry, and better vs. Keanu/Sandy B.
I do not see the attraction to Daniel Craig at all. He’s tall and fit but….that’s all I can say.
That Obsession series on Netflix was so bad it was funny at times, some scenes came across as hilarious, just a bit sad that wasn’t certainly intended. A train wreck and Armitage’s career will be plagued for years by the pillow scene.
Irons’ film was great though.
I love RW so much and have followed her since The Mummy movies.
Rachel Weisz forever. She is SO gorgeous. It didn’t help that she played the wild, estranged lesbian daughter of a rabbi with Rachel McAdams as her lover in the film “Disobedience.”