Celluloid vixen Rachel Weisz has decamped from her leafy Primrose Hill residence to a Marsaxlokk farmhouse – and husband Darren Aronofsky is blogging about it, while editing his latest movie The Wrestler, in Malta.
The actress, 37, rented a four-bedroom villa near Marsaxlokk so her family – Henry, her 22-month-old son, and his father, film director Aronofsky – can be with her during the filming of her latest movie, Agora.
“On an island off of Africa we cut… soon back on an island off of New Jersey (Manhattan) but for now be happy it’s warm in March,” Aronofsky writes.
“There’s little to do but cut and stare up at the stars, so we should move quickly.”
He even found some time to sample the not-so-local food on offer. “There’s a Chinese restaurant on the main corner of the village we’ve found ourselves in. The first listing under poultry is: lemon chicken (not a good sign). There’s also 3 rabbit dishes. Let’s take a vote: should we try? Or should we stick to the local stuff?”
Stick to the fish – that’s why it’s called a fishing village.
Principal photography began 17 March on the big-budget historical Egyptian epic Agora by Academy Award-winner Alejandro Amenábar. The shoot on location in Malta will take about 15 weeks. Nearly 400 locals were employed preparing the largest set ever built on Malta for the movie, which has a €50 million budget. It is also the first film shot in Malta following new incentives for the film industry introduced by the government in December. Production will wrap up in July.
Weisz plays the real-life figure Hypatia of Alexandria, the Western world’s first female astronomer and philosopher. Her leading man is Max Minghella (Art School Confidential) as Hypatia’s slave, Davus, who is torn between his secret love for her and the freedom he could gain by joining the rising tide of Christianity.
Agora is Alejandro Amenábar’s second English-language feature after the global box office hit The Others.