Rachel Weisz on graphic birth scenes and playing twins in Dead Ringers

Weisz said graphic birth scenes are "something we don't often see" in film and TV

Actress Rachel Weisz has said she "didn't want to be coy" about showing graphic birth scenes in her new TV drama, Dead Ringers.

"I think we felt it was something we don't often see," Weisz told BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

The Amazon Prime series was the brainchild of the Oscar-winner, who wanted to re-make David Cronenberg's 1988 film of the same name.

But this time, the lead characters - twin obstetricians - are female.

Jeremy Irons played the male versions in the film (itself adapted from a novel called Twins), while Weisz plays sisters Elliot and Beverly Mantle in the TV reboot.

Rachel Weisz plays the Mantle twins in the new TV adaptation of Dead Ringers

Weisz says the realistic scenes in episode one of the six-parter were something she and creator Alice Birch were keen to portray.

"Alice and I were really interested in showing birth in the first episode," she said. "I think we felt like it was something we don't often see.

"We're incredibly used to seeing violence and people being killed, death, blood... we're almost immune to that at this point.

"For me, I think it's a beautiful moment, it's kind of a miracle when a baby's born. We didn't want to be coy about it."

The sisters set up a birthing centre together but their ethics are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

'Shocking and upsetting'

"The first episode... is quite graphic and the show evolves after that. Beverly wants to change the way women birth, Elliot is a scientist and wants to break the boundaries of medical ethics... [and] work on fertility," Weisz told Woman's Hour.

But how difficult was it to film being two different people?

"You'd have to film one scene and complete it for Elliot and Beverley and so we'd start with Elliot as she's more assertive and she's more on the front foot and she sets the pace," Weisz explained.

"So we'd film Elliot, then I'd run into hair and make-up, costume, get changed and come back and shoot the other side of Beverly."

She had another actress, Kitty Hawthorn, a recent drama graduate, who played the opposite twin via an earpiece so Weisz could respond to the dialogue.

Describing Hawthorn as a "fantastic actress", Weisz said: "She was Beverly to my Elliot and vice versa."

Hawthorn also plays the twins' mum in episode four during a flashback scene.

The first episode of Dead Ringers was warmly received at the Cannes Film Festival

Weisz says working on the show has been "the most challenging and most joyful experience in my career".

She adds that many experts came to speak to the all-female writing team and they read lots of stories about women's birthing experiences.

"The high mortality rate for women of colour... we talked about that probably every day.

"A lot of the stories were shocking and upsetting but we met inspiring people who are trying to change the system, we fed all that into these two characters.

"Each character is so psychologically complex and layered. Professionally they're at the top of their game but their personal lives are massively dysfunctional."

Early reviews of the series have been positive and the first episode was also warmly received at the Canneseries International Festival.

You can listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds (Woman's Hour episode on Friday 21 April). Dead Ringers is available on Amazon Prime from the same date.