Rachel Zegler won a Golden Globe for her first major film role in WEST SIDE STORY. She made the newest HUNGER GAMES a hit. She will become a Disney princess with 2025’s SNOW WHITE. And now, she’s checking a career milestone off her bucket list: Broadway. In her COSMOPOLITAN Winter 2024 issue cover story, Rachel chats with her ROMEO + JULIET collaborator Jack Antonoff about all of it, from the intricacies of fame to her dream collaborator, and more.
On taking pride in her home state: “I love being from New Jersey.”
On meeting her Romeo + Juliet director Sam Gold, and her initial thoughts about the role: “I have always been aware of Sam, but I got an email one day that was like, ‘He’d really love to meet with you to talk about this production of Romeo + Juliet.’ And my initial thought was, I don’t know if that’s the right move for me because I had already done Maria and I felt like it had defined me for longer than I wanted it to. My agents were very much like, ‘Just take a meeting. Don’t let fear take you out of the running so soon.’ So I met with him for brunch.… I really believed in his vision and the fact that he believed in me so much said a lot. I didn’t believe in me the way that he did.”
On taking big swings as an artist: “An artist’s ability to stay curious about their own parameters is so important—and understanding that those borders don’t actually exist, that you can do anything as long as you have the courage to say yes.”
On whether coming to Broadway from film is less terrifying or more terrifying: “More terrifying. Because theater is held in such a high regard for actors, Shakespeare in particular. When I accepted the job, it was with an asterisk next to it going, ‘By the way, I’m scared sh*tless that people are going to think I’m a hack.’ They’re going to be like, ‘Let’s see what this girl who does film knows about doing eight shows a week.’”
On filming a scary underwater scene for Snow White: “For Snow White, there’s a famous scene where she falls into a lake, through a trapdoor-type thing in a forest. And we did it, and I got scuba diving training so that I could spend a long time underwater. But you learn how to use a breathing tube. I had this guy named Pete, who is ex-Navy, attached to me at all times, tethered to me. And essentially I spent…I want to say a total of 48 hours training. And then shot for two whole days. It was seven hours underwater. I’m in the dress and tied to a bed so that they could film it. I had a noseclip on, because you can’t really tilt your head back. They ended up not using that take. But now it doesn’t scare me anymore, the underwater stuff.”
On who she’s manifesting coming to see Romeo +Juliet: “Oscar Isaac. He’s my favorite actor of all time. Inside Llewyn Davis is my number one movie… I love folk music and I love Oscar Isaac and I love New York. And all three things are there.”
On the possibility of her returning to the Hunger Games universe now that there’s a new book coming out: “I would die at the chance to come back as Lucy Gray Baird, but I am not included.”
[Photo Credit: Leeor Wild for Cosmopolitan Magazine]
Previous post:
CFDA Fashion Awards 2024: Darren Criss in Christian Siriano Next Post:
Halle Bailey and Chloe Bailey at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball
CFDA Fashion Awards 2024: Darren Criss in Christian Siriano Next Post:
Halle Bailey and Chloe Bailey at the Chrysalis Butterfly Ball
-
On the Brink of Turning 70, Kris Jenner Shines on VOGUE Arabia’s September Issue
-
Lana Del Rey Covers W Magazine’s Fall Fashion Issue
-
SUPERMAN Star David Corenswet Covers VMAN Magazine
Please review our Community Guidelines before posting a comment. Thank you!
