Rachel Weisz, who played Melina Vostokoff in Marvel Studios' Black Widow, pointed out that she felt upstaged by one group of her "co-stars" during the film's production: the pigs.
During a press conference attended by CBR, Weisz discussed how she felt about playing the stone-faced mother figure of Natasha Romanoff and Yelena Belova. "On the page, I just thought she was a really unusual character," Weisz said. "I loved her relationship with her pigs. And shooting that family scene where the family gets back together in Russia after 20 years was just completely a delightful thing. We were upstaged by the pigs most days."
Weisz is speaking on a scene in Black Widow where Natasha (Scarlett Johansson), Yelena (Florence Pugh) and Alexei Shostakov (David Harbour) reconvene with Melina in the mountains. The three discuss their plans to find and eliminate the Red Room, responsible for the brain-washing of Black Widow assassins. Melina, who designed the formula that allowed the mind-control to be possible, demonstrates the extent of the technology by stopping her pet pig (also named Alexei) from breathing against its will. As Natasha protests, Melina relents and allows the pig to breathe again.
Weisz also commented on what it was like work alongside her co-stars Johansson, Pugh and Harbour. "I love stories about women, directed by women," she said. "I love playing opposite women, and I really loved playing opposite the Red Guardian/Alexei as well, so I don't want to leave him out. I mean, I like stories about people, but it was wonderful to tell a story with three complicated, strong women." While the film focuses on Natasha Romanoff as the central hero, all four actors are featured prominently throughout the film.
Continuing, she spoke more on the humor of the production and what it was like to play a character that was fairly serious. "It was really unlike anything I've ever done," Weisz said. "It felt incredibly intimate and incredibly emotional. I had to just steel myself most days to stop laughing at David Harbour because he's one of the more eccentric, original funny people on this planet. So yeah, it was really lovely. Also, what I liked about Melina was that she has absolutely no sense of humor -- like, none."
Weisz appears alongside her human co-stars -- Johansson, Pugh and Harbour -- in Marvel Studios' Black Widow, which is now playing both in theaters and on Disney+ Premier Access.