Posted on: Friday, May 4, 2001

Movie Scene
Work keeps 'Mummy' star busy

By Samantha Critchell
Associated Press

Rachel Weisz is back on the screen today in "The Mummy Returns." Jim Cooper • Associated Press

NEW YORK — Rachel Weisz has no grand life plan.

When asked where she sees herself in five years, Weisz replies, "I hope to still be working and have a family. Nothing more exotic than that."

That doesn't mean the 30-year-old British actress won't be busy.

Weisz and Brendan Fraser, the stars of 1999's "The Mummy," are back for "The Mummy Returns," which opens in theaters today.

The sequel is set eight years after the first movie. Professional wrestler The Rock co-stars as a new villain, the Scorpion King, who battles the resurrected mummy Imhotep.

Working on the sequel was enjoyable, Weisz says, because it reunited the same "mob" of actors, director and crew.

Weisz also stars in "Enemy at the Gates" with Jude Law and Joseph Fiennes, and in "Beautiful Creatures," which were released earlier this year.

When she's not working, Weisz loves to travel, and her favorite place to visit is Italy.

She'll soon begin rehearsals for a London stage production of "The Shape of Things," and will play the object of Hugh Grant's desire in the film "About a Boy."

Q. Your "Mummy" character has become one tough lady. Would you call her a female action hero?

Weisz: I'm an adventurer, and I suppose I'm doing things that aren't traditionally female, whatever that means.

Q. How did you train for the film?

We learned the ancient Japanese martial art of Sai, where you have the two little swords that you have in your hands. It's technically a really difficult fight to learn. And we spent four or five months, (fellow cast member) Patricia Velasquez and myself, learning it, like in the mornings, in the evenings, before filming, after filming and lunch breaks.

Q. The necklace you're wearing has the initials "EP." Anyone special?

Elvis Presley. I got this at Graceland. I'm a big Elvis fan. Graceland is cool, kind of kitschy, but great fun.

Q. If I toured your home, what would I find?

You'd find I'm very messy. Very, very messy. You'd find chaos. I struggle to be tidy. I never throw anything out. I'm a hoarder so you'd find letters from when I was at school from my girlfriends.

Q. You describe yourself as a "devoted" Londoner. What makes someone a "devoted" Londoner?

Eating HP sauce, although maybe that's more English. It's a brown sauce you have with your eggs. It's really yummy. In east London, where it's a cockney tradition, they eat stuff like cockles and whelks — these crustacean things — and jellied eels. But I don't eat jellied eels.