The incredible sex scene in Rachel McAdams and Rachel Weisz’s new romance Disobedience, about forbidden love between two girlhood best friends in an insular Orthodox Jewish community in North London, is undoubtedly what will keep everyone talking long after they’ve seen it. But what’s even more remarkable is just how convincingly and respectfully McAdams (as the still-practicing member of the duo) — and Alessandro Nivola as her husband — portray their characters’ lives of religious devotion. As McAdams explains in this clip of from a Grey Goose–hosted “Cocktails and Conversation” series at the Toronto International Film Festival, she actually “tried to go undercover in the Orthodox community in Los Angeles, and it didn’t go so well.” Shoppers immediately recognized her when she was milling around a grocery store right around Rosh Hashanah, and by the next day everyone in the community knew where she’d been shopping and at exactly what time. Still, she got a lovely Shabbat dinner out of it, learned all about honey cake and the importance of pomegranate, and of course got asked for a picture by a little boy — though no word if he’s seen The Notebook. Watch her tell the story here; it’s very cute.
