We're not sure Rachel knows it yet, but she's about to become really quite
famous. Kate Winslet
PS: I have NO IDEA where this interview comes from, but it's everywhere
on different rw fansites on the internet.
movie-star-style famous. She's booked back-to-back to star in films for
the next year but expects us to believe
her when she says: 'Every day I worry it might all end. I might never get
another job, ever again!' We don't
think so. I'd like to thank you for making me listen to Led Zeppelin for
the last two hours (at NW's cover shoot).
I think I've lost the use of my left ear, though. Rachel: (Laughing) I
love rock music. Do you find it really
horrible? Was everyone dying in there? I'm sorry. Your mouth says 'sorry'
but your eyes are laughing. Before
my good will runs out, tell me about your film, Amy Foster. Rachel: It
was a real girly movie. It's such a
beautiful story - nothing happens, no car chases, no special effects -
it's just this romantic, emotional story
about a woman who doesn't care what anyone thinks about her. I'd love to
be like that. What, abused,
ostracised, falsely accused and tragically widowed? The only reason to
be jealous of Amy is Vincent Perez, your
co-star. Rachel: Yes, he's unspeakably beautiful, almost too beautiful.
At first I couldn't look him in the eye but
after a few days, you don't notice it so much. Even when you were filming
the 'doing it in a pool of water in a
candlelit cave' sex scene? It made quite a splash with me. Rachel: It was
quite funny actually, because the
moment where I lost my virginity, I actually had to lose it to the cameraman
- there wasn't room for Vincent to
be there. So I climbed up onto the naked cameraman's knees and lowered
myself onto his lap. I suppose if
you shag in water, there are none of those sticky 'Who sleeps in the wet
patch' moments? Rachel: (Pretend
laugh) Hmm. So, are you and Vincent still close? Rachel: By the end of
filming we were very close. We've seen
each other since but, he's got a life, I've got a life, you just know that
you can't carry that intimacy over into
reality. OK, back to acting for a minute. You've worked with Keanu, Vincent
and Ewan McGregor. Tell me the
Ewan giving you head story ... Rachel: (Laughs throatily) That was a few
years ago in a BBC costume drama
called Scarlett and Black. In the last episode, Ewan gets guillotined and
the last shot is of my character - who is
a bit potty - unwrapping his head on her lap. Because they couldn't get
a prosthetic head, they had to cut a hole
in my skirt and Ewan had to lie under the skirt for hours with his head
between my legs, sticking out of a box. I
feel faint at the thought. Are you still in touch with him? Rachel: No.
From what I've read it sounds like you're
big buddies with Keanu Reeves (Rachel made Chain Reaction with him). You
said some unbelievable things
about him, like: 'He's cleverer than some of the Dons at Cambridge.' Rachel:
I realise now that I was a bit
over-hysterical about him at the time. I was in a gushy mode and also I
was getting really sick of everyone
saying he was just a himbo. He's not, he's very bright, but obviously he's
not cleverer than any don. I think he's
quite happy with people thinking he's stupid, so I don't know why I was
doing his PR for him. It was a bit over
the top, wasn't it? Tell me, what did Keanu smell of? And Ewan? And Vincent?
Rachel: I think when I was working
with him, beer. And whisky. I can't remember Ewan's smell. It was probably
something healthy and male and
sweaty. Vincent just smelt French, velvety and French. So, you were a model
at 14 and then went into acting.
Was it a natural transition? Rachel: No. Modelling's got nothing to do
with acting. It's just about making clothes
look good. It wasn't a natural progression. I think I was very bad when
I first started - I was shit in Chain
Reaction - I wasn't a natural at first. Why didn't you give up then? Rachel:
Because I really wanted to get good
at it. Why? Rachel: I just love it. More than anything in the world. I
wake up totally excited about work. It's
more or less all I think about. I'm obsessed with it, really obsessed.
Acting for theatre is particularly exciting.
It's like a drug that fills your veins. So what brings you down? Rachel:
Watching rushes at the end of a day's
filming can be abysmal. We all have mirror faces - so you never look at
all how you think you look. You say
that but your face in Amy Foster was amazing. You conveyed all these emotions
with your expressions. Do 'sad'
for me. Rachel: To make your face sad, you just feel sad and then your
face becomes sad. I don't even have
to think about a sad thing. I can feel sad in a second. (In a tribute to
her acting, or my crap question, she
instantly looks suicidal.) You obviously do serious; what about funny?
Rachel: I'm doing a comedy at the
moment. I love it. It's called My Summer with Des, it's a football thing
and Des Lynam's in it. I play an angel
who's sent to cheer up Neil Morrissey. He plays God and is really depressed
so we just have lots of sex and
watch football all summer. How will you relax him for the sex scenes? Rachel:
I'm just going to look at him in
the eyes and make him calm down. I'm sure a former model, naked, smouldering
at him will really help.
Talking of erections, do you want to do the baby thang? Rachel: I do. I
have very bourgeois fantasies: house,
kids, lovely husband. I'd love to do that. I feel very fertile. But I don't
think I'm going the right way about it at
the moment ... Too much work? Rachel: Yeah, no-one would want to marry
me right now because I'd never be
around. Can you be a drama queen? Rachel: Oh yeah. In relationships. I
can just be very difficult. I can also be
downright evil. If a man in the street: 'Cheer up love,' or 'Smile, love,'
I'm instantly evil. There was one time I
was in a greengrocer's and he said: 'Cheer up love, it may never happen,'
and I turned round and said:
'Actually, my brother just died.' I don't even have a brother! And he just
went: 'I am so sorry.' He was obviously
gutted. (At this moment her father, a Hungarian inventor, rings up and
they chat for five minutes.) So what do
your parents really think about your success? Rachel: They're very proud.
Particularly since they've seen a
preview of Amy Foster. They're very harsh critics and they've often said
to me: 'That was shit, you were crap,'
but this is the first time my father said to me: 'I think one day you'll
be a good actress.' If you were me and
you'd come to interview you, what would you have asked yourself? Rachel:
Well the question I always ask
myself is: 'What would I do if I didn't act?' So, Rachel, what would you
do if you didn't act? Rachel: I don't know.
I think about it all the time. You know, you try to think of lik an alternative
fantasy, like would I be happy just
cultivating the most beautiful rose - that's what a friend of mine always
says - but that wouldn't make me
happy. So the answer is 'nothing. There's nothing I would do if I didn't
act.' I've only ever wanted to make films
and now I am. So, right now, I'm sorry to say, I'm very satisfied. It's
gross, isn't it?
So if you have got something to do with it or the magazine who printed
it, please don't sue me! :)