Rachel Weisz Filmography

Rachel Weisz is the actress version of Brazil. She is always primed to be the next big thing, but never quite crossing that finish line to say Nicole Kidman or Julianne Moore status.

Rachel tends to mostly pick projects that do horrible box-office. She is also rarely the lead in the films she does choose. She has had a couple of breakout hits (The Mummy franchise, The Favorite, Oz the Great and Powerful, The Bourne Legacy) but her filmography is filled with tiny films that gained great critical praise but simply have not been seen by anyone.

There is nothing wrong with that. She has shown that she is perfectly capable of saying no to an easy payday like she did with The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. She is however naturally funny when she is allowed to be and yet she often picks movies that simply do not take advantage of this innate crowd pleasing talent of hers.

What is Rachel Weisz’s best movie?

(Don’t say The Mummy, Don’t say The Mummy). I would say her best movie is The Mummy (Doh!). Okay, I know she has made better and certainly less popcorny films, but I have not seen any of them. Well, I have seen a handful, and they were all pretty awful.

If I had to pick a movie that I haven’t seen that looks both good and a lot of fun I would have to go with her most recent film The Favorite.

Rachel Weisz’s Worst Movie?

Thankfully, I don’t have to put myself out on a limb with Disobedience or The Fountain, neither of which I enjoyed. Because Rachel has been in some real stinkers.

The one I have seen that is horrible is Eragon. In Rachel’s defense, she plays a CGI dragon in the movie and is okay. But of course this is the worst movie, not worst performance.

Though I haven’t seen it, Rachel, her co-star and husband Daniel Craig and director Jim Sheridan all disowned Dream House. I guess we are supposed to assume the film is all co-stars Naomi Watts fault?

The trope that actors should never star in a movie with their spouses exists for a very obvious reason. The landscape is littered with well-meaning films where the lack of on-screen chemistry between actual husband and wife on screen drowns out the movie like an overactive dubstep beat. Dream House has the added burden of being a J-horror style Yūrei film coming out about five years after that trend dies a horrible death.

I think Dream House is our winner.

Rachel Weisz’s Best Performance?

Rachel won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for The Constant Gardener and was nominated for The Favorite (losing to Regina King in If Beale Street Could Talk) so both those performances would make any short list. She is excellent in The Mummy (Look sue me, she really is good) and her performance in Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea often gets high marks.

Rachel Weisz’s Worst Performance?

I have never seen Rachel Weisz give a bad performance with my own eyes. I also could not find an obvious choice where she notoriously blew it. (Even in Dream House they don’t blame her and Daniel). So Rachel’s worst performance, her refusing to do The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and forcing the recasting with Maria Bello.

What film haven’t you seen of Rachel’s that you know want to?

Well Dream House. I love a good train wreck. Her first film Death Machine looks like a B-Movie blast. Like I said above, The Favorite looks good. She has a couple of films I have seen but it has been a while and I don;t really remember them so Oliver Stone style history retold to modern conspiracy theories Agora is worth a rewatch. So is that Keanu Reeves comic book movie Constantine which provides our cover picture.

Anything Else learned, or you would like to add?

Rotten Tomatoes summary of Rachel Weisz includes the phrase ” whose name and dark looks effortlessly conjure up associations with Eastern European exoticism”. I confess I have never heard of Eastern European exoticism. I have heard of Indian exoticism or Middle Eastern exoticism or Thai exoticism, but Eastern European?

I mean, I understand the concept of exoticism is directly tied to where you are from (Thais find nothing exotic about Thailand, for example.) But still, it is a bit like describing Tilda Swinton’s Scottish exotism. Tilda might be exotic (Or an alien life form) but that is unrelated to Scotland (or Earth).

Plus seriously Rachel Weisz sports a posh accent in real life and is married to James Bond. Not exactly Exotic Eastern European material. I mean, even Milla Jovovich would be a stretch.

Death Machine (1994)

White Goods (1994)

Stealing Beauty (1996)

Chain Reaction (1996)

Going All the Way (1997)

Bent (1997)

Swept from the Sea (1997)

The Land Girls (1998)

I Want You (1998)

My Summer with Des (1998)

The Mummy (1999)

Sunshine (1999)

Tube Tales (1999)

This Is Not an Exit: The Fictional World of Bret Easton Ellis (1999)

Beautiful Creatures (2000)

Enemy at the Gates (2001)

The Mummy Returns (2001)

About a Boy (2002)

The Shape of Things (2003)

Confidence (2003)

Runaway Jury (2003)

Envy (2004)

Constantine (2005)

The Constant Gardener (2005)

The Fountain (2006)

Eragon (2006)

My Blueberry Nights (2007)

Fred Claus (2007)

Definitely, Maybe (2008)

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

Agora (2009)

The Lovely Bones (2009)

The Whistleblower (2010)

Page Eight (2011)

360 (2011)

The Deep Blue Sea (2011)

Dream House (2011)

The Bourne Legacy (2012)

Oz the Great and Powerful (2013)

The Lobster (2015)

Youth (2015)

Complete Unknown (2016)

The Light Between Oceans (2016)

Denial (2016)

My Cousin Rachel (2017)

Disobedience (2017)

The Mercy (2017)

The Favourite (2018)