But with a little posing power from Rachel Weisz, you’d be hard pressed to imagine the New York City metro as anything other than an impeccable high-fashion backdrop. In the latest edition of The Violet Files, the Oscar-winning actress takes advantage of New York’s Transit Museum for a cinematic-inspired shoot filled with a few darkly glamorous (and all-around sexy) looks from sheer black blouses with peeping bralettes to steamy slit maxis.

And accounting for the fact that this is The Violet Files, premier destination of all things luxury beauty and editorial, of course the Cambridge-educated star’s makeup is on point with perfectly arched brows, a subtle smoky eye, luminous skin and a punchy dark raspberry pout. In a word: Whew!

In between takes for the urban-themed shoot, Weisz took time out to dish to the mag on all the little things you might not know about the 45-year-old actress, who’s married to Daniel Craig. And firstly, she fessed up about who her ultimate girl crush (and apparently beauty icon) is.

“I admire Catherine Deneuve‘s hair in the Polanski film Repulsion, and I love everything she wears,” she tells the mag. “But I so don’t look like her; she’s so far away from me.”

What’s more, the critically acclaimed star also admitted that while she may be an extremely talented actress, it didn’t always come naturally for her.

“I was a bit shy, really, and terrible at auditioning… in fact, there was a moment when I thought I would do some kind of Ph.D.,” she revealed of acting during university. Now however, she’s come to terms with any self-doubt. “I like that feeling of being scared, of thinking, ‘I don’t know if I can do this, it’s too hard, it’s too complicated, it’s too unknowable.'”