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The Whistleblower

Coverage by Nobuhiro Hosoki

Story : The experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a cop from Nebraska, who worked as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposed a U.N. sex scandal that was covered up.

Opens August 5, 2011 (Limited 8/5)

Runtime:1 hr. 52 min.

Press Conference with Rachel Weisz

 

(Q) : Can you talk about why you were were attracted to "The Whistleblower" script?

(Rachel Weisz) : Kathy [Bolkovac] is not ordinary. She’s extraordinary. I guess it’s my favorite genre of movies, although I really shouldn’t call it "genre," because I can only think of two films like "The Whistleblower." "Silkwood," starring Meryl Streep and "Erin Brockovich," starring Julia Roberts — both stories about "ordinary women," moms, who just David-and-Goliath-style see injustice and they just go after a huge corporation or organization. I get goosebumps watching those movies because these women are heroes.

When you talk to Kathy about it, she just says, "I was just doing my job. I was a police officer, and I was there to report crimes. I found crime, and I went after it." I just found that so intensely moving that she didn’t think she was doing anything extraordinary. She was just literally doing her job, but no one else was. And that’s what makes her an extraordinary woman.

(Q) : When did you meet the real Kathy Bolkovac?

(Rachel Weisz) : We met a week into filming. Kathy Bolkovac came to Bucharest with Jan, her husband, whom Kathy meets in the movie. And we went for dinner. I basically hung out with her every spare moment that I had, asking her questions. As an actor, that’s a great experience.

(Q) : So you didn’t have a problem with Kathy being around while you were filming "The Whistleblower"?

(Rachel Weisz) : No. It was based on Kathy’s life. It was great to meet her, absolutely great. What better source material to have? It was fantastic. I talked about her childhood, about having kids, about being a mom, about a being a cop. It was wonderful. Hopefully, there are a certain few moments in the film where I got her sense of humor.

(Q) : What surprised you the most about working with Vanessa Redgrave?

(Rachel Weisz): The blueness of her eyes. She has the bluest, most beautiful eyes I’ve ever looked at. They’re just incredible. She’s a very powerful.

(Q) : Did you meet any rescued sex slaves as research for your role in "The Whistleblower"?

(Rachel Weisz) : No. I’ve never met an individual who’s been trafficked. I did a lot of reading and saw documentaries.

(Q) : Is it true that you initially turned down the role in "The Whistleblower"?

(Rachel Weisz) : When I was first offered the role, I was very pregnant. And I read it, and I thought it was one of the most incredible stories and scripts that I had ever read, but it was too challenging and traumatic and engaging at that moment because of my physical state. I couldn’t get my head around it, but I just couldn’t forget it. I suppose I was haunted by the story. And it kept going back to my mind. And I think after two years, I called the executive producer Amy Kaufman, and I said, "Hey, that script ‘The Whistleblower.’" And she said, "Yes?" And I don’t know the details, but it was embroiled somewhere.

(Q) : If you could choose one scene from "The Whistleblower" that encapsulates your experience, what would it be and why?

(Rachel Weisz) : I don’t know. That’s a really great question. I don’t know if I can think of a scene that encapsulates the experience. I’m thinking of the scenes I shot with Jan, but that’s the romance part of the story. The raid the big emotional scene. We shot it at the end of the film. In the script, it was written that Kathy Bolkovac breaks down. As an actor, you never know if it’s going to happen or not.

It was a six-week shoot, and it was all I had been thinking about for five weeks. At that point, the story becomes kind of real to you. We shot that scene many, many times, and it just kept happening. I don’t know if that makes any sense. It wasn’t a woman breaking down seeing horrific crimes. She’s used to that. That’s her job. It was the injustice that her fellow peacekeepers were perpetuating. They were perverting the course of justice.

The sex trafficking victims have been traumatized and they’re too scared to leave, even when a police officer is putting out her hand and saying, "Come with me," they’re too frightened to leave. That is an extraordinary thing to get your head around. For me, it was.

(Q) : What was it like filming "The Whistleblower" in Eastern Europe?

(Rachel Weisz) : Everyone had passion to be there. No one was doing it for any other reason. So it was six weeks of filming, and it’s a huge amount of story to tell in six weeks. On a studio film, it would be four to five months. It was very, very hard work, but everyone was full of adrenaline and passion. It was a very fiery experience.

(Q) : How did making "The Whistleblower" affect you personally?

(Rachel Weisz) : How did the role affect me? I’m immensely moved and inspired by what Kathy did. And to know that there are real heroines and heroes on planet Earth, I’m inspired by it. Obviously, I learned a lot about an issue that I didn’t know very much about. How did it affect me? As an actor, it’s part of your technique. Probably the most important part of my technique is learning how to switch on and off. You would have kind of a mental breakdown if you didn’t know how to do that. I have a child.

You have to be able to go deep into something, and then switch off immediately at the end of the day. So that’s the only way you can remain sane. It makes you better at your job, because otherwise you’d bee too exhausted and drained and traumatized to do your job if it really took you over. It’s a skill that you learn.

(Q) : What’s next for you?

(Rachel Weisz) : I have a film coming out at the Toronto Film Festival called "The Deep Blue Sea," set in the 1950s, with Tom Hiddleston. Right now I’m filming in Detroit with director Sam Raimi, doing "Oz: The Great and Powerful", the prequel to "The Wizard of Oz." James Franco is the Wizard. It’s how the Wizard became the Wizard of Oz.

End.