Although she doesn’t share a lot in common with Summer, Weisz found it interesting to slip into her skin for a short period of time. “I’m pretty different from her, but I thought she was fun and very bold and very curious. She was interested in different things and she was pretty voracious. She had quite an appetite for things, so I’m very different from her but it was a lot of fun being her for a few days.”
Some parts require actors to do a great deal of research. According to Weisz, this wasn’t one of them. Weisz confessed she didn’t learn much about journalists in order to play one in Definitely, Maybe, which worked fine since the part didn’t really call on Weisz to get into the technical aspects of the profession. Instead, Weisz analyzed Summer’s motivations in order to find her way into the character. “I think she believed in telling the truth,” said Weisz. “You know, she was willing to tell the truth about a certain politician even though it’s going to mess up her relationship.”
Weisz doesn’t often venture into the world of comedy but has dabbled in it a couple of times before, most notably in another romantic comedy – About a Boy. Both About a Boy and Definitely, Maybe come from Working Title, a production company which has a track history of putting out successful romantic comedy movies. Noting it's been quite a while since she worked on About a Boy, Weisz pointed out there are big differences in the two pics including the fact Definitely, Maybe is set in New York.
“I had a really small role in About a Boy in England,” said Weisz of her work on that box office smash. “It was completely different. It was kind of a London film and this is American. I play an American character so it was very different. And tonally I think it was different from About a Boy… For me, the whole thing was pretty dissimilar and pretty new and refreshing, and unlike anything I’ve done before.”
Preparing to take on a role in a comedy is really no different to Weisz than how she approaches dramatic fare. “It just feels very different doing it, but you approach it from the same place. You just try to be true to your character. It’s the situation that’s funny and the character and the situation and the line. If you try and make it funny, it’s not going to be funny. It’s about committing to the seriousness of it,” explained Weisz. “I think it’s the same approach. It’s just not dark.”
And Weisz said the mood on the set reflected the film’s lighter tone. “The whole shoot was fun. It was really fun from beginning to end,” revealed Weisz. “We had a really delightful time making it. Adam Brooks who wrote and directed it, it was really important to him that we had fun during the whole shoot.”
