In 'Vladimir,' Rachel Weisz navigates steamy fantasies and an unraveling reality

London — It’s been astir six months since Rachel Weisz wrapped filming connected “Vladimir,” and she’s inactive unsure however to sermon her quality connected the series. The unnamed protagonist, known successful the scripts arsenic “M,” was truthful complexly drawn that Weisz is present struggling to externalize the acquisition of playing her.

“This is the archetypal clip I’ve spoken astir it to anybody,” she says, sitting astatine a array successful Goodfare, a edifice successful London’s Camden, connected a frigid greeting successful aboriginal January. “I whitethorn beryllium a small creaky.”

It’s a fewer days aft the vacation interruption and Weisz, 55, is preparing to commencement accumulation connected a caller film, “Séance connected a Wet Afternoon.” Despite that, she hasn’t afloat near M behind. As an enforcement shaper connected the series, she was progressive successful the edit, inactive ongoing astatine the clip of our interview. Today, aft a meandering backmost and distant astir the character, she admits, “I accidental I inactive request to stitchery my ain constituent of presumption connected her.”

“Vladimir,” an eight-episode constricted bid premiering March 5, is based connected playwright Julia May Jonas’ 2022 caller of the aforesaid name. Both the caller and the bid halfway connected a lit prof (Weisz) who teaches astatine a wide arts college. Her hubby (John Slattery) is nether probe for misconduct astatine the schoolhouse arsenic she becomes infatuated with a caller workfellow named Vladimir (Leo Woodall). Jonas wrote the aviator respective years agone without a peculiar histrion successful caput for the pb character, who narrates the caller arsenic if she were delivering an ongoing monologue. Weisz had work the publication — it was recommended to her by a person — earlier she was sent the script.

Rachel Weisz arsenic M, a lit prof who becomes infatuated with the titular character, played by Leo Woodall.

(Netflix)

“It was a damn bully portion of writing, the caller and the pilot,” she says. It led to a gathering with Jonas. “Ultimately, I deliberation I was truly intrigued astir getting into the tegument of this character,” Weisz adds. “I thought it would beryllium challenging and hopefully fun.”

As M’s beingness goes farther disconnected the rails, she becomes much obsessed with Vladimir, often indulging successful torrid romanticist fantasies astir him, which the assemblage sees successful juxtaposition to the much mundane reality. She yet crosses lines astatine enactment and astatine home, each portion narrating her unraveling straight to the viewer.

“The caller is precise internal,” Jonas says, speaking aboriginal implicit Zoom from New York. “So it was about: How bash we instrumentality that interior dependable and construe it to the screen? One of the ways was her nonstop address, but we wanted to twist what that instrumentality usually does for an audience. In astir nonstop addresses, the histrion tells you the information astir what’s truly going on.”

But that’s not what ever happens here.

“I wanted to flip that to wherever she’s talking to idiosyncratic and she’s ever trying to massage the information oregon sometimes outright lie,’” Jonas says. “She’s a wholly unreliable narrator.”

Throughout the series, M confides successful the camera, an antithetic method that draws its inspiration from Jonas’ theatre background. Weisz remembers doing a Neil LaBute play successful the ‘90s successful which she broke the 4th partition but had ne'er done truthful onscreen. The histrion says she did person an assemblage successful caput erstwhile speaking to the camera, but it would beryllium “reductive” to overexplain it.

“There was idiosyncratic I was imagining,” she says. “On set, we called it my peculiar friend. The different actors had to unreal it didn’t happen. It wasn’t truthful overmuch choreographed arsenic it was breaking retired of the country and chatting to my peculiar person and past going backmost into the scene.”

It yet became 2nd quality for her and the cast, she says.

“It was truly absorbing watching Rachel and each the creators progressive navigate that,” Woodall adds, speaking separately connected Zoom from London. “She did a truly singular occupation astatine staying wrong a country portion besides having to pivot and present a monologue and past travel consecutive backmost into the scene. It was a caller situation for me, but I thought it was going to beryllium much hard than it really was.”

“There was idiosyncratic I was imagining,” says Rachel Weisz astir breaking the 4th partition with her quality connected “Vladimir.” “On set, we called it my peculiar friend.”

(Sophia Spring / For The Times)

The episodes are snappy, astatine astir 30 minutes each, and the code of “Vladimir” often leans much comic than serious. Weisz tends to gravitate toward play — her past bid was a remake of David Cronenberg’s “Dead Ringers” — but she has flexed her comedic muscles successful the past, notably successful Yorgos Lanthimos’ satirical movie “The Favourite.” She doesn’t spot herself arsenic a peculiar comic histrion contempt the galore laugh-inducing moments successful “Vladimir.”

“For me, everything was intensely serious,” she says. “It was astir committing to her world and what she cares astir and what matters to her and however she’s trying to person herself that everything’s conscionable fine.”

She pauses. “I wouldn’t cognize however to beryllium funny,” she affirms. “It’s not my wheelhouse. I was alert that determination was a batch that was ridiculous, but beingness is often truthful ridiculous, isn’t it? Things are going precise incorrect successful her beingness with her hubby and everything. It gets harder and harder for her to toed that enactment arsenic she tries to unreal it’s not going wrong.”

Weisz mostly relied connected her “imagination and Julia’s words” to represent the character. She’s known a batch of professors implicit the years, particularly erstwhile she lived successful New York City, which helped. She understood that contempt the character’s misbehavior successful the bid — similar breaking into her boss’ bureau — she’s decently bully astatine her job. “Times are changing and her hubby is successful this heavy situation and her estimation is connected the line,” Weisz says. “But I deliberation she thinks she’s a beloved teacher and an esteemed professor.”

To play M, Weisz had to beryllium wholly connected her side. She knows it’s mostly important to beryllium capable to support the idiosyncratic you’re playing, but she besides says the quality felt “psychologically true.”

“It’s precise hard to bash thing if it doesn’t consciousness similar that,” she says. “The penning is the opening of my occupation and this was truthful good written. But I wouldn’t beryllium capable to play idiosyncratic unless I could wholly beryllium successful their constituent of view.”

Jonas says what makes M compelling is that it’s hard to enactment a statement connected her oregon cognize what to expect.

“Vladimir” is an adaptation of Julia May Jonas’ novel. The writer says M is hard to pin down.

(Sophia Spring/For The Times)

“Is she right? Is she wrong? Is she psycho? Is she sane? Is she brilliant? Is she each of those things? Or nary of them? You can’t pin her down,” Jonas explains. “And that’s what makes her truthful breathtaking to watch. You’re not rather definite what the prime is that she’s going to marque adjacent different than being profoundly astute and good read.”

“Vladimir” began shooting successful July 2025 successful Toronto, which stood successful for an undefined wide arts assemblage town. It was deliberately changeable portion Weisz’s young girl with hubby Daniel Craig was retired of schoolhouse for the summer. Although the histrion felt tethered to the quality portion connected set, she could easy dissociate astatine the extremity of the day. She’s repeatedly keen to clarify that she’s thing similar M adjacent arsenic she defends her, arsenic if she’s dilatory realizing conscionable however unhinged the quality comes disconnected successful the series.

“I profoundly empathize with her and recognize her,” Weisz says. “But I near her erstwhile I got home. She’s similar a projection of what a spectator mightiness privation to unrecorded out.”

Jonas adds, “It’s allegorical successful nature. What if I could conscionable instrumentality this antheral and concatenation him up? It’s making that literal for america to watch. It’s astir that pistillate id heavy wrong of us.”

Both Woodall and Jonas were struck by Weisz’s intuitive attack to the character. Woodall and Weisz didn’t sermon M’s narration with Vladimir during filming.

“She loves arsenic overmuch spontaneity arsenic possible, and she loves to not truly cognize up of clip what the actor’s going to do,” Woodall says. “For idiosyncratic who’s arsenic good established arsenic she is and truthful beautiful, it was truly amusive to spot her let herself to beryllium the butt of a gag and look ridiculous. Some of the scenes that we shot, we would finish, and she would burst retired laughing. She leaned into it and had a batch of amusive with it.”

“Rachel is wholly surprising,” Jonas adds. “The archetypal clip I’d spot a country I’d think, ‘Oh, that’s not however I wrote it astatine all.’ And past I would spot it a 2nd clip and I would recognize what she was doing. That’s what makes her truthful alluring arsenic an actor. She’s comic and absorbing and a small off-key but afloat committed, and you ne'er cognize what she’s going to bash next.”

Weisz has ever wanted to beryllium an actor, but she didn’t recognize it could beryllium a vocation until college. She’s drawn to penning and to singular voices. “I loved joining hands with Julia’s imagination,” she says. “I emotion writers. I’m not 1 due to the fact that it’s excessively solitary, but they’re my favourite radical to beryllium with.”

“She’s comic and absorbing and a small off-key but afloat committed, and you ne'er cognize what she’s going to bash next,” says Jonas astir Weisz.

(Sophia Spring / For The Times)

She tends to prime projects based connected the script, but different she isn’t picky. Weisz has done everything from quirky indie films to prestige play to high-octane enactment to Marvel. She won the Oscar for supporting histrion successful 2006 for “The Constant Gardener” and was nominated again for “The Favourite.”

“In the opening of my career, I conscionable did immoderate occupation I got truthful I could wage the rent,” she says, shrugging. “I wasn’t picky. Now I’m successful this luxurious presumption wherever I tin take things. It’s truly astir the quality and writing, if it appeals to maine oregon if it seems it would beryllium absorbing to unreal that story.”

Since our interrogation successful January, Universal Pictures confirmed the accumulation of “The Mummy 4,” which volition diagnostic Weisz and Brendan Fraser reprising their roles arsenic Evelyn and Rick O’Connell (Weisz didn’t look successful the 3rd installment). Prior to that announcement, though, Weisz is cagey astir the film. “They’re earnestly talking astir it,” she says. “Brendan’s been precise involved. It sounds precise interesting.”

Being funny successful a quality oregon a communicative is what yet drives Weisz. Her show successful “Vladimir” wholly eschewed vanity and alternatively fixates connected what makes this pistillate spell disconnected the rails. M wants truthful severely to power her ain communicative and is incapable to look the world of her life, but she’s besides a talented writer and prof who wants the champion for her family.

“People are contradictory,” Weisz says. “They tin beryllium superb astatine their jobs and person a precise messy idiosyncratic life. This is idiosyncratic who is human. I cognize it’s precise heightened and ridiculous, and it is successful the genre of comedy, but it’s precise true. Humans tin person these monolithic contradictions.”

Although Weisz instinctively understands M, questions linger. She hasn’t decided whether M is complicit successful her husband’s misbehavior (“That’s a hornet’s nest,” she says) and she’s not definite what happens to the quality successful the end. Even during the editing process she’s struggled to spot M from the outside. “I conscionable spot her,” she says. “I don’t spot maine determination astatine all.”

As the interrogation wraps, Weisz worries I won’t person what I need. Did she accidental capable astir the series? Did she overly support her character?

“I’m inactive aligned with her constituent of view,” she acknowledges again. “I deliberation she’s — I was going to accidental I deliberation she’s reasonable, but that mightiness not beryllium rather the close word.”

The histrion laughs. “I americium alert that is not the close word.”