5 MINUTES WITH: RACHEL WEISZ

Film3Sixty talks to Rachel Weisz about her upcoming projects including 360, a multi-stranded tapestry that tracks a dozen characters across the globe and teams the actress with Jude Law as a couple with marital woes. It’s her second time working with Brazilian filmmaker Fernando Meirelles, who directed Weisz to her Oscar-winning performance in The Constant Gardener.

What was the appeal of doing 360 for you?
Rachel Weisz: Fernando. I would do anything with him. I really like him and I love working with him. He’s a great director to work with. We had such a good experience on The Constant Gardener. I’d go and make tea for him if he asked me.

It’s also a reunion of sorts with Law, who you starred opposite in 2001’s Enemy At The Gates…
RW: It was! That was really nice. Last time we worked together was in the mud of Stalingrad. That was a long time ago. We just had a few scenes together on 360. I think we only shot together for one or two days but it was fun.

You’ve been busy lately. You also worked with Terrence Malick on To The Wonder, which has been accepted into the Venice and Toronto Film Festivals. What was that experience like?
RW: Unlike any other experience I’ve ever had… There isn’t really a script on a Terrence Malick film. You don’t know what the story is, you don’t really know who the other characters are. I knew I was Ben Affleck’s sister and that he was in love with two different women but otherwise I didn’t really know what was going on.

What is it like being on a Malick set?
RW: We only shot in daylight and it’s hard to explain but you would have to walk on an axis to keep pulling the camera in certain directions and he’d just throw lines at you and you’d just say them. It’s very, very weird! You just have to surrender to it. It’s not like, “This is my character and these are my lines and I can prepare them.” You just have to show up and see what happens.

Almost random, then?
RW Not almost random… actually random! He’s looking for a random moment that will make it into the poem that is a Terrence Malick movie.

Sam Raimi has also cast you as one of his witches in Oz: The Great And Powerful, along with Mila Kunis and Michelle Williams. How was that?
RW: It was a lot of fun. Very different. I’ve never done anything like that before, that sort of heightened fantasy.

Does your character Evanora turn out to be the Wicked Witch of the West?
RW: I can’t say but that becomes a bone of contention – who’s the more wicked, my character or Mila’s? I’ll leave it for the audience to judge. Mila is such a firecracker! She’s a true original, really spunky and sparky. I’ve never met anyone like her. We’ve got a lot of great scenes together.

You often play women who are put through the emotional wringer. Are there any limitations in terms of what you’re willing to do on camera?
RW: Not that I’ve come across. I just turn down things that don’t grab me. I haven’t turned something down because I thought it was morally revolting or anything. I’m sure there’s stuff out there. Bestiality, maybe. That might be a bit far.

Words: Matt Mueller

360 is released in UK cinemas 10 August 2012