Rachel Weisz plays a 16th century Spanish Queen as well as a modern day woman dying of cancer in writer/director Darren Aronofsky's romantic film, The Fountain. In a movie all about love and life and the search for the fountain of youth, Weisz character Izzi is the film's very heart and soul.
Rachel Weisz Analyzes Her Character: “She's pretty brave, I would think. I think that she's just a pretty regular girl who is very romantic. She's very much in love, but she has this tragic thing that happens to her. I think she deals with it better than most of us would probably be able to.”
It was Hugh Jackman’s Idea… Although Weisz and Aronofsky were dating, the writer/director didn’t immediately turn to Weisz to star in the film. That suggestion came from Hugh Jackman. “There was just no question that I was going to be in the movie,” explained Weisz. “We didn't talk about it. It wasn't going to happen. It really was all Hugh's idea that I do the movie with him. It was Hugh who said to Darren, 'I think that Rachel would be really right for this.' So, I have Hugh to thank for the role.”
Aronofsky wasn’t crazy about the idea. It was only over a dinner together with Jackman and Weisz that Aronofsky warmed up to the idea. “I remember Darren saying that we were going to go out for dinner. I don't think that he really went into why exactly I was meeting Hugh. To me, it was very natural that I was just going to meet his actor. We all talked about me doing the role, talked to the studio, and then it all came together.”
Keeping Work Separate from Their Personal Lives: Weisz and Aronofsky didn’t live together during filming. Asked why, Weisz responded, “The Fountain is just such a big movie, and Darren just needed some space, I think, while he was making it. He needed to remain completely focused on making it. But he was seeing me all day, every day while we were making it, so we were still together. And, in retrospect, I think that it was probably a good idea.”
Working with Hugh Jackman; “It's a really romantic love story, and it's about two people who are really madly in love with each other. I think that we had a really great connection. We could really bond with each other when we were doing the scenes. All of our scenes when we're together are about two people who really love each other. It's a very sort of timeless and universal story. And, Hugh's definitely very sexy.”
The Challenge of Playing Someone in the Process of Dying: Weisz admits there’s a special challenge to portraying a woman dying of cancer. “Yeah, of course, because it’s an impossible thing to accept. It was a challenge – how do you get to a place where you actually believe – and I did get there but now I’m totally afraid and have no idea how I got there. But during that time I was dreaming about it and thinking about it so intensely, and I did get to a place where I believed… I was still frightened and there was one line where I had to say, ‘I’m not afraid anymore.’ And that was the hardest line I’ve ever had to say on any film or stage, or anything I’ve ever done. I meant it when I said it, but I was still a little bit afraid. But I think that was right for the character. She was very brave but had a little bit of fear, so it was a big challenge.”
Researching the Role of a Cancer Patient: Weisz visited hospices in order to get a handle on how to approach the part. “Hospitals are places we go where the doctors are tying to save our lives and they operate and medicate and everything else. Hospices, people go there when there’s nothing medicine can do for them anymore. I think the most inspiring thing was meeting the people who work there, because what they did every day was they got up and they went to work to help people die. It’s just the most mind-boggling job, but such an important one and such a brave one. Their perspective on death, because it was just a daily occurrence and what they were trying to help happen with grace and with dignity and with nobility… They would hold people as they were dying or play music, whatever these people wanted. The workers were very, very inspiring.”
The Release of The Fountain: Any weight Rachel Weisz believed Darren Aronofsky might be feeling regarding the release of The Fountain has been lifted. “It was never on my shoulders, it was never my weight - it was his. I just did my work during the shoot. It’s totally his project and I have nothing to do with the writing of it. My relationship to it is as an actress for hire. I watched the journey, but it wasn’t on my shoulders.”
Weisz added, “I wouldn’t say it was a weight on his shoulders. It was his passion and he was burning to tell the story. It’s very unusual; it’s very original. It’s not a genre picture. He needed a certain budget and he needed to make it in a certain way. It’s not an indie film and it defines genre. It was very hard to get the 30 million dollars to get it made. It was a challenge, but I don’t think it was a burden for him. He’s an artist and that’s the story he wanted to tell. He wanted to make the story.”
Page 2: Rachel Weisz on Playing a Queen in The Fountain and Updates on Some of Her Upcoming Projects
