Rachel Weisz at 47: An Oscar and an Olivier – but I’m just getting going

The actress said she is currently playing one of the juiciest roles she's ever had 
Getting better: Rachel said she is improving the older she gets
Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty
Alistair Foster7 September 2017
The Weekender

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She’s an Oscar-winning actress with almost 50 films to her name but Rachel Weisz says she’s “just getting going” in middle age.

The star, 47, has lead roles in three forthcoming films, including as Sarah Churchill, the Duchess of Marlborough, in 18th-century drama The Favourite.

“The roles are more interesting,” she told Harper’s Bazaar magazine. “I’ve just finished The Favourite, playing the Duchess of Marlborough ... one of the juiciest roles I’ve ever had.

“I couldn’t have played that at 30. I feel like I’m just getting going. I’m better at my job and I’m beginning to fire on more cylinders.”

Juicy roles: Rachel Weisz talks securing good roles
Agata Pospieszynska, courtesy of Harpers Bazaar

Weisz started out in TV and on the stage in the Nineties and had her Hollywood break with The Mummy in 1999. She won an Oscar in 2006 for her role in The Constant Gardener and an Olivier award in 2010 for her turn as Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar.

Earlier this year she appeared in the film My Cousin Rachel, in which a younger man, played by Sam Claflin, 31, becomes infatuated with her. She said: “I think women in middle age look incredibly beautiful. It’s a different moment.”

Loved up: Rachel Weisz with husband Daniel Craig (Kevin Winter/Getty)
Kevin Winter/Getty Images

Weisz, who is married to James Bond actor Daniel Craig, has an 11-year-old son from her previous relationship with film director Darren Aronofsky.

Asked if fame was dangerous, she said: “I didn’t see it like that, maybe because I’m famous? Maybe some level of fame has blinded me to that element? There must be exceptions to the rule, but on the whole, I think fame is a choice.

Cover star: Rachel Weisz graces the front of Harpers Bazaar
Agata Pospieszynska, courtesy of Harpers Bazaar

“You can dress up like a famous person, with really big sunglasses and a blow-dry and high heels, but if I wash my hair and go out in a pair of jeans to pick my son up from school, people leave me completely alone. So it doesn’t really have a downside.”

The actress was born in Britain but has American citizenship. She was philosophical about the election of Donald Trump as US president but less so about Brexit.

She said: “Trump will serve his term; he might damage the Earth beyond repair, and women’s rights and the Supreme Court — there will be scars, but there will be a new president. But Brexit is final, right? That’s a death, it’s over. I don’t think you can go back.”

My Cousin Rachel premiere - in pictures

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Read the full interview in the Harper’s Bazaar October issue, on sale tomorrow. Also available as a digital edition.

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