B.L. You did an outstanding job in Spider. You play three parts in this film and I have to say, when we see you in your second character, I didn't even realize it was you until about 10 minutes in.
M.R. This is what we like, it's good to hear that I did my job well.

B.L. You get this script, and even before you realized that you were going to play multiple roles, what was your initial reaction?
M.R. Probably that there was more humor in it than actually comes across in the end, I mean there still is some humor in it. One of the characters that I play, Yvonne, really made me chuckle. She was quite extreme. The bottom line was that it was fun to get a chance to play quite wildly different people in this.

B.L. I think that you play "mean" really well, you are very good at it. At the end of the day it must be more fun to play the bad guy instead of the good girl.
M.R. Well I don't know, I think you have to find the interest in the good girl. You have to find out how they work a bit and I actually found in the end it was a bit more interesting playing Mrs. Clegg than Yvonne because she's a bit more complicated and she's unable to change her situation and you feel sorry for her, I hope. She is so out of control of her life and her destiny. Whereas Yvonne makes her destiny every day, you know, "Another day, another dollar." She just goes with it.

B.L. How difficult is it for you as an actor to be in one mindset of a character and then have to change into another one?
M.R. It was back and forth with the character changes and sometimes, but very occasionally, I would do two in one day. I never did the three in one day, I don't think. There's a very physical change so you can actually see it happen. I find the makeup process like a kind of meditation. You can see something evolving and it's very helpful for all of the physical stuff. I also find that each character has her own physical movement or mannerism that helps me get into that role. With Yvonne it was a little grin that she had or her laugh. I also found that shoes were very important and how I felt in those. I loved Yvonne's shoes, they were great, those little kitten heels.

B.L. Were they hard to walk in?
M.R. No, I had it mastered by the end of the shoot.

B.L. What did you find unique or special working with director David Cronenberg?
M.R. I think that you are very aware of just how much he trusts you. We're all excited and we are all going for the same thing. There's not a huge amount of discussion, he's not one for large amounts of rehearsal. I think he'd much rather rehearse on film than do something separate. I found that there were times when I had to grab him and say, "I really need to rehearse this," and then he'd be fine about that. I think he just wants to get on and do it. It was a very relaxed set. It was lovely to work with him and this cast.

B.L. Speaking of the cast, my goodness, could you ask for better co-stars than Ralph Fiennes and most of your scenes were with Gabriel Byrne.
M.R. His character is much more free with Yvonne than he was with the wife and playing those two characters for me with him was great. Gabriel was wonderful to work with and we had an amazing time together. I didn't really get to work with Ralph too much but we did see a lot of each other the set and he is truly a gentleman.

B.L. Plus Ralph playing Spider, he is really on the outside looking in at everything that is going on. It's quite fascinating to watch.
M.R. You know from Spider's viewpoint there's a kind of contempt towards Yvonne and she is fresh meat, if you like. Spider's worst nightmare is that Yvonne will take over from his mother and will invade his home and his life. So again, it was interesting to be able to play these different roles from other points of view of the other characters in the film. It was quite a challenge for me.

B.L. This year we also saw you in The Hours opposite Nicole Kidman, playing Virginia Woolf's sister. How did you enjoy working on that?
M.R. That film was a long time coming. I worked mainly with Nicole but I was there and gone in a flash really. I had about 10 days and I was bewildered by the whole experience. It was quite a complicated read but a wonderful read. I remember doing a lot of walking through the garden. Nicole and I spent many an hour (no pun intended) in the garden. It was lovely.