Director Wes Craven passed away on Sunday. He was 72. Craven made his mark as horror director and directed horror classics as A Nightmare On Elm Street and Scream. Craven directed Rachel and co-star Cillian Murphy in 2005’s psychological thriller “Red Eye“. The movie celebrated it’s 10 year anniversary a few weeks ago, on August 19. We want to give our sincere condolences to his loved ones during this difficult time.

Craven continued to support Rachel’s career on social media, years after working together. Most recently he supported Rachel’s casting news in “True Detective” by tweeting “she’d be wonderful“. He also attended the “To The Wonder” Los Angeles premiere, alongside his wife Iya Labunka, back in 2013 where he was pictured with Rachel.

“Red Eye” received critical acclaim when it was released in 2005. It currently holds a certificate fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes with 79%, a 71 rating at Meta Critics and it’s a New York Times Critic’s Pick. The movie opened #2 during it’s opening weekend with a respectable $16,167,662 in the box office and it’s total world wide gross is $95,577,774.

Critics praised Rachel and co-star Cillian Murphy’s performance. Roger Ebert praise on Rachel stood-out by saying: “Casting directors, who know what to look for, will see that she brings more presence and credibility to her role than is really expected; she acts without betraying the slightest awareness that she’s inside a genre“. Craven was an innovative director and as Deadline notes “continued to stretch his creative boundaries with the 2005 thriller Red Eye, starring Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy and Brian Cox”.

During the press tour for the movie Rachel recalled being “flattered” that Craven knew who she was. She continued: “I was so excited he wanted me for Red Eye because the thriller is a genre I’ve never done before“. Craven revealed Rachel was “the only female actress we looked at” for the part of Lisa Reisert. A year after the theatrical release Craven even revealed there was a possibility of a sequel to the movie, however no concrete plans ever got the greenlit.

“When I sat down with her [Rachel] in a room, I thought, ‘That’s her.’ I loved The Notebook and saw this is an actress who can obviously do the first part of the movie where she’s falling in love and she’s beautiful. I looked at Mean Girls and I said this is somebody who can disappear into a role and be totally different. So she’s not just one thing in every role”
–Wes Craven, IGN

Rachel was cast in the 2007 indie film “Married Life“, starring alongside Chris Cooper, Patricia Clarkson and Pierce Brosnan, based on her performance in “Red Eye“. Director Ira Sachs revealed on the DVD commentary: “What I loved about Rachel McAdams, I knew her from Red Eye, that was the movie where I saw what I wanted to see and cast her based on that work, is that she has a certain mystery“.

“Red Eye” is, and will remain, one of my favorite performances by Rachel and this movie will always have a special place in my heart. I think it really showed Rachel’s versatility, (physical) acting ability and ability to carry a movie. I believe helped her get cast – and not typecast – in the years after her 2004-2005 breakout year.

Quotes are taken from our career information pages and the original sources can be found on the related pages