Rachel Weisz INSIDE THOUGHTS

THE OSCAR-WINNING ACTRESS BRINGS HER SIGNATURE DEPTH TO A 'SCANDALOUS' NEW DRAMA

- Jennie Noonan

When playwright and college theatre teacher Julia May Jonas wrote her debut novel, she had little sense of how widely it would resonate. Vladimir follows a late-fifties English professor who becomes fixated on a younger colleague when her husband is swept up in a sexual misconduct scandal.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, the provocative novel probed questions of feminism, power, morality and public reckoning, striking a chord with critics and readers alike and topping numerous best-of-the-year lists in 2022.

It wasn’t long before Netflix came calling to adapt the story for the small screen, with Kate Robin (Six Feet Under, The Affair) as showrunner and Rachel Weisz in the central role. “When I was writing the novel, I had a very blurry picture of what the narrator looked like. I certainly didn’t cast anyone in my head,” Jonas, who also executive produced the series, told The Hollywood Reporter last March, adding that the script’s direction shifted once Weisz was cast.

“She's so versatile, which is different than if you were writing for an actor that really only does one thing.”

The subversive eight-episode series (streaming from March 5) co-stars John Slattery as Weisz’s husband and Leo Woodall as the object of her obsession. Woodall, best known for The White Lotus and Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, says Weisz’s performance anchors the story.

“I have so much admiration for her. There's a very natural, charming kookiness about Rachel that is perfect for the protagonist,” he told Tudum. “You need the protagonist to be charming to be on her side.”