“I’m going to die”: the challenging scene Rachel Weisz called “really scary”
After making her film debut in 1994’s Death Machine, Rachel Weisz has gone on to deliver an excellent career defined by committed acting performances in a wide range of movie genres. The British actor has proven a dedication to acting that has her truly embody her characters, and the result has been an on-screen presence that simply demands attention.
Weisz has certainly shown that she’s capable of giving a performance of dramatic quality in the likes of The Constant Gardener, About a Boy and The Lovely Bones. Equally, she’s also detailed that she’s no slouch in an action movie either, with works like her Hollywood breakthrough The Mummy detailing her fearlessness.
However, even the bravest of actors are occasionally faced with scenes that can scare the living shit out of them, as Weisz found well in the 2005 superhero horror movie Constantine, directed by Frank Lawrence in his directorial debut. Keanu Reeves starred in the lead role as a dour exorcist with the ability to communicate with half-angels and half-demons and traverse the boundaries of Earth and Hell.
Weisz, meanwhile, portrayed Angela Dodson, an LAPD detective who investigates the mysterious suicide of her twin sister, whom she also plays. Remarkably, Weisz took on a third role as Mammon, the son of Lucifer, but even the triple role wasn’t as difficult for the actor as a scene in which Constantine has to down Angela to awaken her supernatural powers.
There’s a fear in Angela’s eyes as she’s dunked underwater and held there until real panic sets in, and Weisz once explained that the fear was all genuine. “It was scary, it was really scary,” she told Tribute. “Keanu was holding me down by the neck, I was thrashing about in the bath, and I guess there’s a moment where you’re not acting anymore. You’re thinking, ‘I really gotta get out of this bath, otherwise I’m going to die.'”
Evidently, there was an element of trust between the two actors whereby Weisz knew that she could rely on Reeves to pull her out if things did get hairy, and she gave a pre-agreed signal that things were getting too much. Weisz genuinely showed real bravery in taking on the scene, and Reeves admitted that his job was easy by comparison.
“Well, it was a challenge for Rachel,” Reeves had told IGN. “I just got to sit outside the tub and hold her down. You know what I mean?” The actor explained that his co-star proved that she was a “fighter” and that she had to do most of the “heavy lifting” in the scene. Amazingly, the scene had actually been shot several times, with Weisz spending “all day” in the water.
The commitment Weisz gave in the classic Constantine moment helped to deliver one of the film’s most anxiety-inducing scenes and proved the fearlessness of the actor in taking on difficult parts. Reeves signed off, joking, “And I was just there to support her and help her, which was great. I was supporting her. I was helping her by drowning her.”
Watching the scene again with a focus on the actor and not necessarily the character gives it a whole new level of fear and also shows the kind of chemistry and trust that was flowing between Weisz and Reeves. Check out the scene below.
