Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams have 'natural chemistry’ in Disobedience 

Sebastian Lelio was delighted by the "natural chemistry" expressed between Rachel Weisz and Rachel McAdams in new film Disobedience. 

The Chilean filmmaker, whose last movie A Fantastic Woman won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film earlier this year (18), has adapted Naomi Alderman’s 2006 novel about forbidden lesbian love in London’s Orthodox Jewish community for the screen. 

Weisz, who is of Jewish heritage herself, stars as the daughter of a rabbi in the story, while Lelio later cast McAdams as her lover Esti - and he was delighted to discover that the two actresses were perfectly suited to their roles.  

“When I saw them together for the first time in person I was over the moon because I could see it, and I didn’t have to force anything, they were just great,” the 44-year-old director told HeyUGuys.com. 

Explaining how his intuition led him to cast the Mean Girls star, he also recalled: "I’ve always admired Rachel Weisz and that’s one of the reasons I said yes to this project, but then when we had to think about who could interpret Esti, then I thought Rachel McAdams could be the right choice. I just had a strong feeling that they would be great together and would have great chemistry.” 

Lelio's tale of forbidden love in a tight-knit religious community has earned rave early reviews after receiving a limited U.S. release - with some critics even tipping it as an early awards contender. 

However, the modest director believes all the credit for any success should go to his two leading ladies rather than him - and he thanked them for really throwing themselves into their roles.  

“I think they were very generous and very brave and they gave everything for these characters,” he added. “I’m very grateful.” 

Disobedience debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival last September and will hit cinemas across the world later this year.