Rachel Weisz says it was “liberating” to be directed by Cate Shortland in the “Black Widow” movie alongside Scarlett Johansson.
The Academy Award-winning actress makes her first foray into the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Melina Vostokoff, better known as Iron Maiden in the comics. She stars alongside Johansson as Black Widow and fellow MCU newcomer Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova. Describing the characters as “skilled assassins, and at least one is on the side of justice” in a new interview with The New York Times Style magazine, Weisz revelled in working with a female filmmaker.
Officially announced at Comic-Con back in July, “Black Widow” is the first Marvel film to be directed solely by a woman, following “Captain Marvel”, which was co-directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck.
“There is something that happens in a scene when a woman is across from another woman,” she says of working with Shortland on “Black Widow”. “It sounds really pompous but you are free from the history of ownership — I really mean that. It’s liberating.”
Weisz, 49, reveals she has long wanted to work with Aussie director Shortland after seeing her 2004 film “Somersault” with Abbie Cornish.
“(Abbie) is a beautiful, sexy girl, and a lot of it is about her sexuality. Cate didn’t shy away from that. But she wasn’t objectified,” Weisz explains. “Watching that, as a woman, you know immediately when a character is subject or object — she was always subject. I had never seen anything like it. For that reason, I never forgot it.”
