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On the Phone
Rachel
McAdams
The rising star, who dropped
out of sight for three years, talks
about love, infidelity, her new movie
and what exactly she's been up to.
BY MONICA COLLINS
JUST WHEN RACHEL McADAMS was be
ing touted as the next Julia Roberts, the
Canadian-born actress dropped out of sight
in 2006 and bought a house in Toronto. She
had generated lots of buzz in blockbusters such as
Wedding Crashers with Owen Wilson and Vince
Vaughn, Mean Girls with Lindsay Lohan and The
Notebook with Ryan Gosling. She and Gosling be
came a red-carpet couple before their romance ended
last year. (He reportedly now keeps company with
Michelle Williams, Heath Ledger’s ex.)
McAdams’ sabbatical from Hollywood means that
she has not appeared on the big screen since 2005.
Although vague about why she took a break, Mc-
Adams suggests that she was not getting offers for
projects that appealed to her. “I did wonder if I
would ever work again, but I tried not to think about
it,” she admits. “I did what I needed to do and hoped
it all would work out.”
McAdams says she was motivated to return to
movies by the script for Married Life, a new retro
noir film about marriage and its discontents. Mc-
Adams plays Kay, an enigmatic beauty caught be
tween a married man with murder on his mind
(Chris Cooper) and his bachelor best friend (Pierce
Brosnan). And she’s now back in LA shooting State
of Play, a political thriller with Russell Crowe, Ben
Affleck and Helen Mirren.
USA WEEKEND recently caught up with her on
the phone (and by e-mail). Here are excerpts:
How did Married Life entice you from your time off?
So many scripts are halfway there, but this was fully
formed. The interesting thing about Kay is that
26
USA WEEKEND • March 14-16,2008
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McAdams went platinum, above,
for the role of Kay in the new
movie Married Life. She starred
with Ryan Gosiing in 2004 s
The Notebook, lower right, and in
the 2005 blockbuster Wedding
Crashers with Owen Wilson.
there’s something ghostly about her, floating on
the edges of these people’s lives. Yet she was the
catalyst. I really liked that.
Do you imagine marriage as a minefield of secrets, as
suggested in Married Life!
You never really know the person you’re sleeping
beside. You have a right to your secrets, but that’s
very difficult when you’re supposed to be some
one’s partner.
At 31, you've never been married. Would you like to
be married and have children?
I would love to have kids someday; I actually can’t
imagine not having them. My parents have been
married for 36 years. They [Lance, a mover, and
Sandy, a nurse] have a pretty honest, straightfor
ward relationship that I hope to have myself
In Married Life, you're a bleached blonde. What's your
natural color?
Venetian, which is a nice way of saying dirty blond.
I like to be able to roll out of the bed and stay out
of the salon.
Speaking of staying out of the salon, what did you do
during your sabbatical?
I bought a house in Toronto. I spent time there
with my family members and friends. I traveled to
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How do you live green?
I don’t own a car. In Toronto, my bike is my car.
You decided against appearing on a Vanity Fair cover
with Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson when
you found out that nudity was involved. Do you have
any regrets?
No. I think at that time, it was the right decision
for me.
What about nudity in films?
Nudity for fictional characters is as normal and
mundane as eating breakfast. What bothers me is
our culture’s obsession with nudity. It shouldn’t be
a big deal, but it is. I think this overemphasis with
nudity makes actors nervous. There’s the worry
about seeing one’s body dissected, misrepresented,
played and replayed on You Tube. E 3
Europe. I started do
ing yoga. Actually, I
really got into yoga
Kundalini and love
it. I also started a web
site with friends [green
issexy.org].
How involved are you
with the website?
I noticed that you’re
identified simply as
"Rachel" on it.
Two very good friends
and I run, design and
research the content
for the site, so it’s prac
tically a full-time job.
And we have other full
time jobs, too. Megan
is also an actress, and
Didi’s a musician, but
we are all passionate
environmentalists.
MARRIED LiEE JOSEPH LEDERER, 2007 MARRIAGE PRODUCTIONS LLC/COURTESY SONY PICTURES CLASSICS; TH£ NOTEBOOK. WE DOING CRASHER S: NEW LINE CINEMA