Rachel McAdams, the star of hit movies like The Notebook and Midnight in Paris, has a new role in a movie about two Orthodox Jewish women in London—who happen to be in love with each other. The movie (which we can’t wait to see!) is called Disobedience, and she’s costarring with Rachel Weisz. The film is expected to be released in the United Kingdom next year.
At the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, McAdams said she tried to go undercover in Los Angeles’ Orthodox community but “that didn’t really work out so well,” because people realized who she was, according to the Times of Israel. Apparently, she was recognized at a Shabbat dinner–although she had previously gone to a Jewish grocery store unseen.
In the past, McAdams has been outspoken about wanting privacy–and wanting to be known for her art, rather than her appearance. For instance, she turned down a nude photo shoot, because she doesn’t want to be gratuitous, telling the Los Angeles Times:
I didn’t see any other way. It wasn’t something I could ever possibly see myself doing. I have no issues doing it for a part if it makes sense, if it’s not gratuitous and I think it’s adding to the story. But not as myself on the cover of a magazine about Hollywood’s most powerful young women.
She went on to say how she never saw herself as being famous—which is definitely part of why she guards her privacy:
I think it was sort of a vague idea in my mind when I was a kid, when you think, ‘What would that be like?’ But it wasn’t something I really meditated on or planned for in any way. I really thought I’d be doing theater in Canada. I’d grown up doing children’s theater there, and I always imagined myself being artistic director of a children’s theater company.
In many ways, her sense of privacy will definitely lend itself to her new role well—which we cannot wait to see.
