In ‘Denial,’ the actress plays a real-life historian forced to take on a Holocaust denier

Rachel Weisz has had a busy month. After probing audiences to question the absurdities of modern coupledom in the indie hit The Lobster this spring, the Oscar-winning actress closed out the summer playing a woman of many lives in Complete Unknownand a grieving mother in The Light Between Oceans. Next up, in Denial (Sept. 30), she takes on a true story in which history was, essentially, put on trial.

Weisz plays the historian Deborah Lipstadt, who in 1996 was sued for libel by British author David Irving, who objected to an assertion made in her bookDenying the Holocaust that he was a Holocaustdenier. Because the English legal system places the burden of proof on defendants in libel cases, Lipstadt’s legal team took the approach of justifying Lipstadt’s comments, based on the fact that the Holocaust did, in fact, happen—making Irving’s claims to the contrary false. (It bolstered the case that he had a long history of anti-Semitic positions.)

For Weisz, who grew up in England but now lives in the States, the movie raised unsettling questions about the ways in which current events—from the U.S. presidential election to Brexit to the refugee crisis—echo frightening chapters in global history. She spoke to TIME about nailing Lipstadt’s Queens accent, filming at Auschwitz and the online trolls who won’t give up the argument that her latest film is rooted in conspiracy.

Read the full interview in our press archive.

The gallery was updated with HQ photos of Rachel during yesterday’s talk interview with Deborah E. Lipstadt.

Gallery link:
Public Appereances > 2016 > Sep 19 | TimesTalks With Rachel Weisz And Deborah E. Lipstadt

The gallery was updated with HQ photos of Rachel at the Denial Press Conference in Toronto. Take a look!

Gallery link:
Public Appereances > 2016 > Sep 11 | ‘Denial’ Press Conference

Third day of Toronto Festival, Rachel kept promoting Denial with the Variety Studio interview and portrait. Take a look at photos uploaded to the gallery.

Gallery links:
Public Appereances > 2016 > Sep 11 | Toronto International Film Festival – Variety Studio Presented By Airbnb, Day 3
Photoshoots & Portraits > 2016 > Session #002
Photoshoots & Portraits > 2016 > Session #003
Photoshoots & Portraits > 2016 > Session #004

Rachel Weisz, Timothy Spall and Tom Wilkinson star in Mick Jackson’s film about the legal battle between a Holocaust expert and a Holocaust denier.

It’s kind of incredible that in 2016, when so many movies that reach theaters are nothing but remakes, sequels or adaptations of one pop-cultural phenomenon or another, a new film has been made about Deborah Lipstadt, a professor and an expert on the Holocaust, and David Irving, the historian who sued her for libel after she called him a Holocaust denier in one of her books — because it is that rarity, a film about history and ideas and debate.

But that is precisely what Bleecker Street will bring to theaters on Sept. 30 when it releases Mick Jackson’s Denial, which is drawn from Oscar-nominated screenwriter David Hare adaptation of Lipstadt’s book History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. Starring Oscar winner Rachel Weisz and Timothy Spall, it had it world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday night.

For members of the Academy, who soon will be asked to consider Denial for awards, I think the most appealing thing about the film will be its performances: Weisz, with a wig and Queens accent firmly in place, is as strong as anyone could be as Lipstadt (I say this as someone who saw Lipstadt speak at Brandeis University shortly after the trial and before my graduation), while Spall, with his inimitable sneer, and Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson (as Lipstadt’s lead counsel) shine in supporting parts. But it’s a competitive year in both the lead actress and supporting actress categories, so nothing is a given. Oscar-winning composer Howard Shore’s original score also could attract attention.

Some, though, might find it a bit forced, since the idea of re-litigating the Holocaust in 2016, or even in 1996 (when most of the film is set), seems like debating the undeniable, at least to anyone who might go to an art house theater to see Denial. (The situation was different in 1961 when Judgment of Nuremberg was released and dissected a tragedy that largely had been swept under the rug up to that point — and the film was recognized with 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture.) Also hard to believe is England’s legal system, which, in libel cases, places the burden of proof on the accused, hence the U.S.-based Lipstadt’s appearance in a British courtroom in the first place. But, that being said, many Academy members will be pleased that Denial exists, in the hope it will result in fewer Irvings and more Lipstadts in the future.

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It was a pleasant surprise to wake up and find Rachel is in Toronto promoting one of her latest movies, Denial. The gallery was updated with over 100 HQ photos from the event, take a look.

Gallery link:
Public Appereances > 2016 > Sep 11 | Toronto International Film Festival – ‘Denial’ Premiere

Rachel Weisz is committed to the truth in an exclusive clip from the new courtroom drama Denial, but she may not have the opportunity to bear witness.

Based on the 2005 memoir History on Trial, the film stars Weisz as Deborah E. Lipstadt, an American historian who was sued for libel for characterizing British writer David Irving as a Holocaust denier in a 1993 book. Because the burden of proof is on the defendant in English libel cases, it was up to Lipstadt and her legal team, led by Richard Rampton (Tom Wilkinson), to prove the essential truth that the Holocaust occurred.

In the clip, Rampton informs Lipstadt that he doesn’t think she should testify, because doing so could play into her accuser’s hands. (Irving is played by Timothy Spall.) Lipstadt, however, doesn’t intend to back down.

“This man hates me,” she says. “He’s coming for me. And when someone comes after you, you take them on.”

Denial is directed by Mick Jackson and will premiere Sept. 11 at the Toronto International Film Festival. The film hits theaters Sept. 30.

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Welcome to RWF a fansite dedicated to british actress Rachel Weisz.
My name is Claudia and I’m running this website and not so long ago I had another Rachel site named “Operation Beauty” which had to close due to lack of time.
As you may notice this site is far from being complete, still need to work on career pages and the press archive and proper header to create and images to upload but after months working on it I decided it was about time to launch. We open big style with a gallery that counts already over 12,000 images.
Nothing of this would have happened if not for the help from friends Kaci and Gabby, donating pictures, Ali for the enthusiasm in supporting this project and above all Kayla who made ALL OF IT possible, by donating the vast majority of photos in our gallery and the domain that goes with it.

So stay tuned for more updates, check back and also follow us on twitter @rachelweiszorg

Yours, Claudia

To celebrate the publication of John le Carré’s first memoir The Pigeon Tunnel this month, actor Rachel Weisz reads from the author’s 2001 novel The Constant Gardener. Weisz won an Oscar for her role in the 2006 film adaptation

Rachel Weisz is that rare combination of both actress and star, the kind of performer equally at ease in offbeat arthouse films like “Youth” and “The Lobster” as well as big-budget movies like “The Bourne Legacy” and “Oz the Great and Powerful.” It has remained fitting that the 46-year-old British-born Weisz won a best supporting actress Oscar for playing an enigmatic, predictably unpredictable woman in 2005’s “The Constant Gardener.”

So it also makes sense that in the new film “Complete Unknown,” directed and co-written by Joshua Marston, she plays a woman who completely reinvents herself every few years with an entirely new identity — and in the process has lost track of who she really is. She manipulates her way into the birthday dinner party of a man (Michael Shannon) who knew her before she set off on this wild life of adventure. Over a long evening, she begins to rediscover her true self.

Weisz will also soon be seen in “Denial,” directed by Mick Jackson and having its world premiere as part of the Toronto International Film Festival before opening in theaters Sept. 30. In the film, based on a true story, Weisz plays Deborah Lipstadt, a noted American historian who was sued for libel in a British court by a Holocaust denier. Co-starring Timothy Spall and Tom Wilkinson, the film is part courtroom drama, part defense of history over conspiracy and conjecture.

Weisz is also in the new “The Light Between Oceans” and will soon be appearing at the Public Theater in New York in a production of “Plenty.” She recently found a few minutes to get on the phone to talk about this busy time.

In a way, “Complete Unknown” explores what makes a person a person. As your character adopts these new identities for extended periods, at some point she loses track of her real self. Is there any connection there to acting? Do you ever feel lost in between characters?

No. Absolutely not. I totally understand why you ask that question, but there is absolutely no similarity between the story of the film and acting. When you act, it’s a transaction where everyone knows you’re suspending disbelief with another group of people and you’re telling a story that has a narrative, a beginning, middle and end. It’s a bit of momentary madness if you like, but you know it’s going to end and you’ll go back to your life. People have been putting on plays for thousands of years, it’s nothing strange about it. But this is … crazy, right? It’s a crazy thing to do.

Read full article in our press archive.