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Rachel Weisz’s Defining Moment

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Youth
“My first day of filming was a night shoot at 3 a.m. I had a three-page monologue where I berate my dad, played by Michael Caine,” says Weisz, who stars in the moody drama about an aging orchestra conductor. “Paolo [Sorrentino, the director] covered us in mud and placed a camera above my head; he told me we would do the monologue in one shot. I had no idea in advance; normally a scene like this would be covered at many angles. But Paolo is not normal, he is extraordinary. We hadn’t rehearsed—I had just met Michael—and it was my character’s defining moment. I just let go and surrendered to the strangeness of the shot. Sometimes it is best to be out of control and completely not in charge or conscious of how things will go.”

Weisz wears a dress by Dior.

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