Prison thriller Cell 221 and Rachel Weisz’s historical drama Agora were the big winners at Spain’s Goya Awards on Sunday night (February 14). Cell 211 scooped a massive eight trophies at the ceremony in Madrid, including Best Film, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Director for Daniel Monzon and Best Actor for Luis Tosar. Agora, which stars Weisz as a female philosophy professor in Roman Egypt, picked up seven prizes with nods for Best Special Effects, Wardrobe and Best Original Screenplay. Danny Boyle’s Slumdog Millionaire was chosen as best European film.

Rachel Weisz has joined the thriller Dream House, starring opposite Daniel Craig and Naomi Watts. Universal Pictures will distribute. According to Variety, Jim Sheridan is directing from a David Loucka script. The film tells the story of a successful publisher (Daniel Craig) who quits a job in New York City to relocate his wife (Rachel Weisz) and two daughters to a quaint New England town. But as they settle into their new life, they discover their perfect home was the murder scene of a mother and her two children. And the entire city believes it was at the hands of the husband who survived. When Will investigates the tragedy, his only lead comes from a neighbor (Naomi Watts) who was close to the family that died. As Will and Ann piece together the disturbing puzzle, they discover that the story of the last man to leave Will’s dream house will be just as horrifying to the one who came next. Production already began in Toronto. The film will be produced by Morgan Creek’s James G. Robinson along with David Robinson and Daniel Bobker & Ehren Krueger, and will be executive produced by Mike Drake. The screenplay was written by David Loucka. Universal Pictures will distribute the film in North America. Universal Pictures and Morgan Creek International will distribute internationally. Source: Movieweb.com & ComingSoon.net

In a bid to attract high-end customers to its flight service, British Airways (BA) has put together a brand new offering for travellers, making key improvements to beds, mattresses and their surroundings. BA revealed its contemporary improvements at the same time as a number of other competitors announced their decision to instead focus on economy travel in a bid to attract more individuals while also keeping their heads above water during the downturn. None other than Rachel Weisz, the blockbuster actress, was brought in to promote the launch of the design, which is supposedly inspired by classic British luxury car brands including Jaguar and Aston Martin. BA explained that the first-class seats fold into a flat bed, providing 60 per cent more shoulder room and a leather-bound writing desk/dining table conversion, a USB port for personal electronics and even a personal wardrobe. Source: Silentnight.co.uk

Rachel Weisz says cuddling her son helps her deal with stress. The British actress — who raises Henry, 3, with fiance Darren Aranofsky — had some traumatic storylines to cover in her new movie The Lovely Bones and she says her family were the best antidote to a bad day filming. “When I was making The Lovely Bones I had the perfect way to de-stress after an emotionally difficult day. Henry my son was a little one-year-old bubby when we were shooting it, so having a little one to go home and cuddle every night and play with was the perfect way to de-stress. “You just forget any of the bad fictional things you have been thinking about all day Henry is so beautiful he takes your mind off anything.”

“I’m totally into stories that are about characters and what it is to be human, that’s what interests me,” said Rachel Weisz, who plays a mother whose daughter is abducted and murdered in The Lovely Bones. In Bones, she continued in a one-on-one interview at the Four Seasons Hotel in Los Angeles, “My character is just a human who doesn’t cope too well under duress.” And for this Oscar winner, however intense a role may be, it’s just work. “As an actor you have to imagine all sorts of things,” the English actress said. As Abigail, “I imagined that I was a young woman in the 1970s. I imagined that I was American. Neither of those are bad things. You imagine beautiful things. You imagine ugly things. That’s my job.” Weisz, the mother of a 3-year-old with her partner Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler), doesn’t worry about taking a role home or becoming depressed because of it. “I just don’t think in that way, that something is too dark or problematic to go to. I immerse myself in something, but I’ve learned to come out of it.” As a mother, that’s just being practical. “I can’t go home to my kid in a state of despair and tears. It’s a skill that you learn like one might learn to juggle. You learn to turn things on and off.” Even though Bones is the story of a girl’s rape and murder, told by the deceased victim Susie (Saoirse Ronan), Weisz also found “very beautiful, uplifting things about this film, and I knew that going in.” And even though she is skilled at turning emotions on and off, there was something she took away from the set. “You know what? The uplifting theme of the film (and the book), which to me is that life is a treasure and precious and a miracle, I guess that was the thing that made me feel that I want to go hug my son tighter when I get home.” Source: BostonHerald.com

Rachel Weisz and Jude Law are the toast of London’s West End after picking up the top prizes at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards. Oscar-winner Weisz landed the coveted Best Actress trophy for her portrayal of Blanche Dubois in a production of Tennessee Williams classic A Streetcar Named Desire. Law was honoured with the award for Best Shakespearean Performance for his leading role in Hamlet, which he later reprised on Broadway. Mark Shenton, chairman of the Critics’ Circle, the body which votes for the awards, insists the pair proves Hollywood stars can flourish in the theatre as well as onscreen. He says, “Celebrity casting is viewed a little suspiciously, but Jude Law and Rachel Weisz proved they can still cut it.” The other main prizes went to Mark Rylance, who was named Best Actor for his role in Jerusalem, which also took the award for Best New Play, while Spring Awakening was crowned Best Musical at the ceremony in London on January 26.