»RACHEL WEISZ ON CONFIDENCE
Wednesday, April 23, 2003 9:38 CDT

Rachel Weisz fills an important role in the con artist thriller Confidence. She's the babe. There's always got to be a pretty girl who causes trouble for the con man's perfect scheme. Since the audience never knows whether to trust her character, you might say she's playing a con on us, but Weisz believes all acting is a con.

"When you're acting in a movie, you feel like you're playing a con on the audience," Weisz said. "Actors are con men and con men are actors. We're first cousins I think. So, you may be playing a character who's acting but then people act, so you're going to be completely different when you're with your loved ones or your families."

A big plot point comes when her character dyes her hair red. The con men think this is bad luck. Weisz didn't find it a big deal to color her hair. "Well, the thing about having your hair a different color is that it doesn't change your DNA. It's how people respond to you, I guess. I don't notice anything particularly different about being red. I've been platinum blonde."

Weisz had only good things to say about working with director James Foley. "He's a card, I think. He's actually really one of my favorite people. He's very passionate about what he does and the atmosphere that he creates on the set is one of a lot of passion and everyone's at liberty behave how they like. He's the craziest person there, so you don't feel crazy trying stuff out. He's wild, so he creates a very libertarian kind of atmosphere where you feel like you can do whatever you want and not be criticized. So, he's a great joy. He's very smart. He's got a great sense of style."

Weisz has a slew of upcoming movies as well. Runaway Jury reunites her with Confidence co-star Dustin Hoffman. "Dustin plays a good guy in it. He plays this very benign, idealistic southern attorney. It's like a big courtroom drama."

But before that comes out, we'll see a smaller film first. "'The Shape of Things' comes out next in May. It's written and directed by Neil Labute. I play opposite Paul Rudd. It's very black comedy. It's like a romantic comedy but it's a Neil Labute romantic comedy. It's the ultimate date movie if you like and it's done on a student campus in California. I play a graduate student."

One project that is not happening is Marlow, which was listed on her IMDb resume. "'Marlow' doesn't exist. That's a mistake."

You will however see her in the Barry Levinson comedy Envy. "Beautiful warm, loving comedy. I play opposite Ben Stiller and Jack Black. It was amazing. It was gorgeous and it was very, very light. I get to play a valley mom married to Ben. We've been married for years. It was a gorgeous experience. I love them both. They're actors. They're working, learning their lines and concentrating, but they're very funny."