February 15, 2019
'Gay Rights!' Rachel Weisz on Playing Gay in Two Films Last Year
READ TIME: 4 MIN.
When Rachel Weisz walked the red carpet at the BAFTAs last Sunday night, a fan asked her if she would say the word "Gay Rights." When she did, a meme was born.
But such a request shouldn't surprise anyone who follows Weisz's career this past year in which she played lesbian characters in two 2018 films. In "Disobedience" she plays a woman who rekindled a relationship with an old girlfriend (Rachel McAdams) in London, shocking the orthodox Jewish community she is part of.
And in "The Favourite," she plays an advisor to Queen Catherine, an eccentric, 18th century British monarch, with whom she is also having an affair. She won the BAFTA for supporting actress that night and is nominated (along with co-stars Emma Stone and Olivia Colman) for an Oscar.
The New York Times spoke to Weitz earlier this week about her newfound role as a gay icon.
"'I think almost every other film I've done has been in relation to a man," said Weisz, who is married to Daniel Craig and is best known for roles in "The Mummy' and "The Constant Gardener," which earned her an Oscar. "It's unbelievably refreshing and invigorating for me to have now done two films opposite women."
Asked if it was gratifying for her to be in a film where she went toe-to-toe with two powerful women, she said: "I don't believe I've been in many films where I've been in deep conversations with women, let alone in bed with them! I really savored exploring those relationships. They're kind, cruel, sadistic, needy, vulnerable, Machiavellian, ridiculous and absurd. They have many, many things going on, which is what makes us human."
She also addressed agreeing to being put in the supporting actress category while Colman was placed in the best actress.
"Olivia told me, 'I must say how incredible it is that you and Emma agreed to that,' but I don't think either of us gave it a second thought. It was decided by people who are specialists in these things, and it seemed incredibly natural: Narratively, we're both supporting the queen, so she's got to be the lead," she said. "She is the center of England and the center of our lives – even if she desperately needs us to prop her up in the story, which is what my character thinks."
As for Colman calling her and Stone "her bitches" while accepting her Golden Globe last month, Weitz said: "I mean, it's just heaven, isn't it? She's got a potty mouth, and what you saw is the polite version. But she's delicious, and so full of love."
Straight actors (like Weisz) playing gay roles hasn't come without criticism. Those that think that straight actors shouldn't play gay roles received media scrutiny last year when Disney cast Jack Whitehall as the "first openly gay character" in the forthcoming Disney film "Jungle Cruise." This led the Independent to make a short survey of straight actors that have played gay roles.
"Since the turn of the century, no fewer than 25 actors have been Oscar nominated for playing LGBT+ roles,"
Add to this group Rami Malek who will likely win the Oscar in a few weeks for playing Freddie Mercury.
"Darren Criss, who won a Golden Globe for his role as Andrew Cunanan in 'The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story,' recently vowed to turn down queer roles in the future for fear of being 'another straight boy taking a gay man's role'", the Independent continued. "But Ben Whishaw wasn't on board. 'I really believe that actors can embody and portray anything," said the British actor, who is himself gay,'and we shouldn't be defined only by what we are.'"
And Weisz also weighed in on the issue.
"I see my task as not to tell the story I've lived,"
