007's love nest with Rachel... Craig and co-star share a cottage in the country
By SIMON CABLE
Hand in hand: Daniel Craig and Miss Weisz take a stroll in the Dorset countryside
Only months after saying that she wanted to be a Bond Girl, Rachel Weisz has got her wish.
The actress appeared hand in hand with 007 actor Daniel Craig in the Dorset countryside.
They are enjoying a Christmas break together at a secluded £1,000-a-week cottage after finally going public with their romance.
Miss Weisz, 40, grew close to 42-year-old Craig while the two British stars played husband and wife in the forthcoming thriller Dream House.
During filming in March, she said: ‘We’ve been getting on really well and yet I still haven’t had an offer to be a Bond girl – but if he asks me I’d definitely do it!’ As recently as four weeks ago, the couple were still denying they were an item.
Craig, who has an eight-year-old daughter with ex-wife Fiona Loudon, arrived at the bolthole last week in his £48,000 black Range Rover.
Licensed to beat the chill: Daniel and Rachel keep warm in woolly hats
Close: Daniel and Rachel on the set of the movie Dream House together in March
Miss Weisz joined him after flying in from New York and driving down in her Fiat 500. The actress has left her four-year-old son Henry in New York with her former fiance Darren Aronofsky.
Wrapped up against the chill, on Christmas Eve Craig and Miss Weisz held hands as they took a two-mile stroll before stopping at a delicatessen to buy food and heading to a pub, where they spent the afternoon together.
Last night they were back at the picturesque property, which boasts a cinema, sauna, gym and a roof terrace. Craig, who sported several days’ stubble, again refused to comment on their relationship.
It is believed the couple now have plans to spend New Year together in the UK. The actress announced last month that she had split from 41-year-old Mr Aronofsky after a nine-year relationship. They became engaged in 2005 but never married.
Miss Weisz, a Cambridge graduate who won an Oscar for her role in The Constant Gardener, had previously dated Men Behaving Badly star Neil Morrissey and Sam Mendes, now Kate Winslet’s ex-husband.
Craig had been engaged to film producer Satsuki Mitchell after proposing two years ago.
Tied: Daniel Craig had been engaged to film producer Satsuki Mitchell
He and Miss Weisz both own homes near to one another in north London.
There are no suggestions that she may move back to England from her New York home where she has been living near to her son.
It has also emerged that Craig, who has played 007 in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, has signed up to star in the next Bond film, scheduled for release in 2012.
There had been fears that he may have to cancel plans to star in the blockbuster after he agreed to play the lead male role in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo trilogy and Steven Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin.
Split: Weisz with ex-fiance Darren Aronofsky at the premiere of his new film Black Swan in September, two months before they went their separate ways