Oscar winner Rachel Weisz back in full swing
Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES—Twenty-two months after giving birth to her first baby, Oscar winner and self-professed tomboy Rachel Weisz is back full swing as an actress, juggling motherhood with roles ranging from boozy vixen to ancient philosopher. The 37-year-old British beauty recently wrapped production on “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of the best-selling novel “The Lovely Bones,” due next year, and is currently appearing in “My Blueberry Nights.”
Later this year, Weisz will be seen opposite another Oscar winner, Adrien Brody, and Mark Ruffalo in con-artist comedy “The Brothers Bloom.” Weisz began her postpartum return to acting in the summer of 2006, only weeks after giving birth to son Henry Chance, fathered by her filmmaker fiance Darren Aronofsky (“Pi,” Requiem for a Dream.”)
The result was a juicy supporting role in the art-house film “Blueberry Nights,” featuring Grammy-winning singer Norah Jones in her movie debut as a lovelorn woman on a journey of self-discovery.
Weisz portrays a character Jones encounters along the way — the seductive, hard-drinking estranged wife of an alcoholic cop, who is played by “Good Night, and Good Luck” star David Strathairn. The film marked the English-language debut of Hong Kong-based filmmaker Wong Kar Wai, who Weisz counts as one of her favorite directors, and afforded her an ideal chance to ease back to work after a brief maternity leave.
“It was 2 1/2 months after I’d had a baby, so it was kind of perfect,” Weisz said in a phone interview from Malta, where she is now shooting the historical epic “Agora.” “It was five, six days in Memphis (where her “Blueberry” scenes were shot) and working with one of my all-time heroes.”
MUDDLING THROUGH ON MALTA
Weisz said she brings her son with her on location but has had to adjust to demands of balancing diapers and directors. “You muddle through and figure it out and get exhausted and keep muddling through,” she said. “I just joined the ranks of millions of working mums out there and I have great respect for them because there is a lot of juggling to do.”