The star of The Mercy talks to Elizabeth Day about action women, anti-Semitism, and the riskiest sex scene of her career

On her way to meet me in a north London pub, Rachel Weisz stopped off for a Brazilian wax. The beautician told Weisz she reminded her of someone. “She said, ‘You really look like an actress’. And I went, ‘Oh, OK. Who?’ And she went, ‘Salma Hayek’.” Weisz breaks into laughter. “I said, ‘Oh, thank you. What a fantastic compliment’.”

Weisz is so often referred to as “an English rose” that it’s become a cliché, yet the comparison with the 51-year-old Mexican star is not as absurd as it sounds. When Weisz first went to Hollywood in her early 20s, she often auditioned for the same roles as Hayek.

Film producers noted her light-green eyes, high cheekbones and dark hair and, she says, put her in the Hispanic category “because I looked ‘exotic’ is what they said”. Occasionally, she would even be asked to adopt “a cod-Mexican accent”, something that now, “would be completely un-PC”.

At 47, but looking a decade younger, Weisz is naturally reserved and finds the whole interview process slightly absurd. You can see her thoughts forming before she speaks, a slight wrinkle appearing on her forehead as she searches for the right word. She has a habit of stopping her own answer mid-sentence if she decides she doesn’t like the question.