Rachel Weisz has admitted she knew nothing about Greek scholar Hypatia, whom she portrays in Agora. The Mummy star told the Daily Mirror: “I must confess I’d never heard of Hypatia – I now know that she was heroine for the romantic poets in the 18th century, but I didn’t know anything about her.” But she said yes to the part because it “seemed too unusual, unique, wonderful and bold to say no to”. Rachel – who has three-year-old son Henry with her fiance, Oscar-winning director Darren Aronofsky – brought the family to Malta as she filmed Agora. “Henry wasn’t even in pre-school at that point, so he came with me,” she continued. “We rented a little apartment overlooking the sea and Darren worked on his film The Wrestler. We were a family and we went to work every morning. He went off to edit Mickey Rourke and I went off to battle religious intolerance in the fourth century.” She added: “Then we had dinner and put Henry to bed. It was kind of bonkers – but how dreamy!”

Source: The Press Association

Rachel Weisz didn’t know the back story to Agora. The British actress plays the lead character Hypatia in the film and admits the true-life tale of the female philosophy professor in 4th Century Egypt was not she was familiar with. She said: “The thing I couldn’t believe is that this is a true story. Everything that happens in the film is true – apart from her having the slave and the slave being in love with her, that’s a little Hollywood invention – but the fact that no has made a film about her is pretty extraordinary. “I’d never heard of her even. And she’s a remarkable, remarkable woman.” The 40-year-old star also thinks many people still continue to prejudice her for not being the kind of woman who wanted to settle down and have children. She told BBC News: “I think no would look at Leonardo Da Vinci and say, ‘Oh isn’t it sad that he didn’t have kids or a wife’ Everyone understands that he is busy. But when it comes to a woman – and I was the same I thought, ‘Ah, wouldn’t it be nice if she could be a mum and have a partner and get married’ – but I realised if it was man no one would really think that.”

Source: Contactmusic

Rachel Weisz leads an “ordinary life”. The Oscar-winning actress, who has three-year-old son Henry with director fiancee Darren Aronofsky, admits her home life is ordinary despite being in a showbiz relationship. She said: “Of course, it’s not ordinary to get dressed in frocks to walk down red carpets and travel all over the world and stay in five-star hotels. “I’m not working in a factory. But I drop Henry off at school, I pick him up. I try my hardest to keep everyone together. “I am interested in playing extra-ordinary women, but I have an ordinary life.” The 40-year-old Brit also admits she loves acting because there is always a new project for her to get involved in. She told Culture magazine: “That’s the great thing about acting. I can never imagine being satiated. It’s just like some math problem to figure out. I’m just getting started.”

Source: Contactmusic

Rachel Weisz has claimed that director Alejandro Amenabar rejected her idea to show the “deviancy” of her character in Agora. The Constant Gardner actress plays real-life fourth-century Egyptian philosopher Hypatia of Alexandria in the Spanish historical drama. Weisz told The Sunday Times: “There’s a style of acting that can come with period films where everybody just freezes up. “But they were drinking and f**king and doing maths or whatever else they were doing. They were just people.” She added: “I actually told Alejandro they should shoot a scene where she was looking at the stars and masturbating. “I suggested a PG version, where her hand just went out of frame, and you’re watching her come, looking at the stars. “He wouldn’t go for it. I begged him. I wanted to know about that stuff. What’s up? What’s her sexuality? Where’s her deviancy?”

Source: Digital Spy

Kate Winslet is reportedly angry that Sam Mendes is in touch with his ex-girlfriend Rachel Weisz. Winslet and Mendes announced their split earlier this year. However, the Daily Mail claims that Mendes, who is thought to be lined up to direct the next James Bond movie, has contacted Weisz to ask if she wants a role in the film. “As soon as Kate and Sam split, he was on the phone asking Rachel if she was interested in doing the movie,” a source said. “Rachel has always been persona non grata in the Winslet-Mendes household and Kate went ballistic when she heard that Sam wanted to hire her. “Sam has wanted to work with Rachel for ages, but Kate would not allow it. Although they ran in the same Hollywood circles, they avoided each other.” Weisz recently admitted that she would love a role in the new James Bond film.

Rachel Weisz was so pleased with her recent return to the London stage she’s vowed to “do a play every year” from now on. The British actress returned to her theatre roots with a starring role in a recent production of A Streetcar Named Desire, which won her a coveted Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress on March 21. And Weisz, who kickstarted her career in a student theatre group during her time at England’s Cambridge University, is adamant she will now try to leave time between movie roles to indulge her love of the stage. She says, “I’m greedy – I’d like to do film and theatre. It was eight years since I’d last been on stage and it was just too long a gap. I hope to do a play every couple of years – actually no: maybe every year. It’s the greatest feeling in the world being on stage and doing a live performance. It’s very wild and risky.”