Was it a little strange to replace Rachel Weisz?
“I could never fill Rachel’s shoes. Rob Cohen, the director, said Rachel was like Audrey Hepburn and I’m playing her more like Katherine Hepburn. I’ve never been an ingénue. Instead of trying to fill Rachel’s shoes I just sort of made up my own shoes.” You really wanted the role didn’t you? “I felt like a 12-year-old kid in a candy store. It’s been my dream since I was seven-years-old to be an action adventurer. People started to know me as a more dramatic actress. But when I was asked, ‘What do you really want to play?’ I would say, ‘I want to be Indiana Jones.’ A month before my 40th birthday I finally gave up. I thought, ‘There’s not many roles for a 40-year-old female action hero.’ Two weeks later Rob Cohen called me and offered me the part.” How did you prepare for the role? “I trained in Japanese sword fighting. I worked on wires. I did fight training. The only mishap came when I was shooting a big old Winchester rifle. One day a cartridge came up and hit me right below the eye.
