Rachel McAdams Talks SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS and Working with Terrence Malick

This week, we got a chance to speak with Rachel McAdams, who is currently promoting another project that we’ll be writing about later. But, in the meantime, we wanted to post what she had to say about revisiting her role as Irene Adler for a cameo in the upcoming Sherlock Holmes sequel, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, as well as working with Terrence Malick on an untitled film that is being described as “a powerful and moving love story.”

While McAdams said that she isn’t actually sure of her her role in the Malick film (meaning that she’s either being very coy, or that she only received her own script pages), she did admit to there being a bit of a love triangle involving her character. She also talked about the extensive preparation that Malick requires, and said that working with him was a wonderful and inspiring experience. Check out what she had to say after the jump.

Are you in the Sherlock Holmes sequel?

RACHEL McADAMS: Yes, I am.

Did you go back to England for that?

McADAMS: We do, yes. Can I say that? Am I going to get a phone call now? Yes.

Was it fun to get to play Irene Adler again? Were there things about her that you wanted to explore a little more?

McADAMS: Yeah. I just have a small cameo in this one, but it was nice to revisit. It’s why I’ve always thought I would like to do television. You get really intimate with your character. Often with film, I find that you’re just really getting to know a person. They’re just starting to sink in, and then you wrap the film. So, it was nice to get to bring her back and have time to meditate on her a bit more. I liked that exercise.

Is The Vow your next film?

McADAMS: We finished The Vow after Midnight in Paris, and then I went and did a Terrence Malick film after that.

Is that Terrence Malick film still untitled?

McADAMS: It’s still untitled, yeah.

What kind of role do you have in that film?

McADAMS: I don’t know. I’ll find out when I see the film. But, it’s a romance, as far as I can tell. It’s a bit of a triangle between Ben Affleck, Olga Kurylenko and myself.

Did you get to work with Javier Bardem on the film?

McADAMS: I didn’t. Our characters never meet up. He plays a priest. And, he was gone by the time I got there, so we didn’t even meet.

What was Terrence Malick like to work with?

McADAMS: He was wonderful and so inspiring. He has a very different way of working and I think it really services a real honesty and beauty in his films. It was a great experience, as an actor. You have to be very honest and very vulnerable, and take a leap and just hope someone will catch you, and he does. You can just let yourself go and let him take you where he’s going to take you, and trust that it will be interesting and compelling. You don’t have to do a lot, in a weird way. It was a great experience.

Since Terrence Malick hasn’t been interviewed or photographed in years, what was your expectation, going into that film? How do you know anything about him, other than just watching his movies? Did you have any preconceived notions?

McADAMS: You never really know anyone until you get in there and work with them. I find that with any film I do. But, he’s a very open, warm person. We spent a fair amount of time together before we got started. I got to know the town we were shooting in, as though I had lived there. There’s great preparation involved with him.