Rachel Weisz is almost as feisty as her famously outspoken husband Daniel Craig

‘IT’S weird to me that women have to talk as if we are some tiny minority group,’ says Rachel Weisz, who stars in unconventional love story, The Lobster.

ACTRESS Rachel Weisz reveals her love for solitude, Colin Farrell’s love handles, and why she doesn’t care if people refer to her as Mrs Bond.

As far as love stories go, The Lobster is pretty out there. Was it the rabbits or Colin Farrell’s pot belly that clinched it for you?

I think my character loves his pot belly and the rabbits. And his soul. Colin (Farrell) is very soulful in it — and sensitive and compassionate and sweet.

He is. I thing I would probably overlook that pot belly, too.

But that pot belly is how most people look, isn’t it? It’s not grotesque or bizarre …

Says the woman who is married to Daniel Craig.

It’s just middle-aged spread.

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Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz arrive at the London premiere of The Lobster. Picture: Vianney Le Caer / Invision / AP

The Lobster imagines a parallel universe in which there are two camps — people who are prepared to make huge compromises to find themselves a mate and loners who reject that model, embracing a solitary existence instead. Who do you have the most sympathy for?

I’d probably have to say the loners because I had to play one, but while they seem to be rebels from the dominant ideology, it turns out they are a cult as well. In the end, I think I would have to create an alternative, a third way. There don’t seem to be any free spirits anywhere.

If you were single, which group do you think you would have aligned yourself with?

I like my own company. I don’t mind solitude. I don’t always need to be with someone. But it’s definitely lovely to be in a relationship and share your life with someone. Really, I don’t know where I would be if I hadn’t met my husband. It’s like an impossible question to answer.

Colin Farrell’s character wants to come back as a lobster. What animal would you choose?

I’d like to be a pony that is owned by a teenage English girl.

Presumably that’s because you think you would be exceptionally well looked after?

Exactly.

The Constant Gardener, The Lovely Bones, The Whistleblower … your list of credits is remarkably diverse. In that context, your breakout film, The Mummy, seems almost like an anomaly.

Not at all. I am very proud of that film. I have done other mainstream films such as Constantine, The Bourne Legacy, Oz The Great and Powerful, it’s just that none of them connected with people in the same way. The Mummy is just a very accessible piece of entertainment.

Actors often say that the roles they turn down are as important as the ones they accept. You said no to King David with Richard Gere, age 14. And no to Mummy 3. Any others?

Yes! There are lots of roles I wish I had said yes to, but I can’t say what they are because other people did them and that’s not fair on them.

Rumour has it that you turned down Bridget Jones, Daisy, the Cate Blanchett character in Benjamin Button, and Penny Lane in Almost Famous ….

(Groans) I have a long list.

Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz in a scene from Yorgos Lanthimos’ new movie, which is rated MA15+.

You recently took a side step into producing.

The first film I produced is coming out here in England next month. I am actually not in it. It’s called Radiator and it’s like the British Amour, starring Gemma Jones and Richard Johnson, who passed away recently, and dealing with end-of- life issues. It’s quite dry and brittle and funny.

So you are not necessarily selecting projects for yourself?

I am mainly producing stuff for myself but there wasn’t a role in this film for me and I really believed in the script (by first-time director Tom Browne). It was made for less than one hundred thousand pounds. I can’t recommend it highly enough.

There was a lot of criticism on Twitter recently of a British newspaper headline in which you were referred to as Mrs Bond. Were you surprised at the strength of the response?

There are more worrisome happening in the press than that. It really doesn’t matter one way or the other to me.

Rachel Weisz with her husband, actor Daniel Craig at The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo premiere in Madrid, Spain, in 2012. Picture: Carlos Alvarez / Getty Images

Industry commentators say 2015 has been a particularly good year for strong female roles. Is this being reflected in films you are being offered?

I actually have to take umbridge at this idea. You would never say there are strong roles for George Clooney or Matt Damon. What does that mean. Strong? That irritates me much more than being called Mrs Bond, to be honest.

Perhaps substantial would be a better description.

A film that tells the story of a woman’s life, where she is not just the girlfriend or the granny or the aunt, where you get to know her, where she has more than a couple of lines … It doesn’t seem like much to ask for. It’s very weird that women have to talk as if we are some tiny minority group — we make up 50 per cent of the population. It’s absurd to me but it is true.

Rachel Weisz is understandably upset at the roles women get in movies. Picture: Eamonn M. McCormack / Getty Images for BFI

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Originally published as Rachel Weisz is almost as feisty as her famously outspoken husband Daniel Craig