GIRL ABOUT TOWN: Sam Mendes and Rebecca Hall 'split as she falls for co-star in bed scene'

By Charlotte Griffiths for The Mail on Sunday

Published: 18:40 EST, 11 July 2015 | Updated: 06:33 EST, 3 August 2015

View
comments

Actress Rebecca Hall seems to have a habit of getting closer to her colleagues than she ought to.

The daughter of legendary theatre director Sir Peter Hall started dating Sam Mendes after meeting him on a film set when he was still married to Kate Winslet.

Now she has been spotted cosying up to fellow actor Morgan Spector – her co-star in a Broadway play in which they played illicit lovers – after apparently splitting from 007 director Mendes.

Actress Rebecca Hall strolls through East Village with co-star Morgan Spector

She has been pictured strolling hand-in-hand with Morgan through New York and a few days ago they were seen walking together in the sunshine in East London.

It follows her relationship with Mendes, whom she met on the set of his 2006 film Starter For 10. She was subsequently accused of being the ‘other woman’ when Mendes – who directed American Beauty, Skyfall and the upcoming Bond film Spectre – split from Kate in 2010.

The Titanic actress was said to be unhappy about her husband’s closeness to the younger actress, especially when he cast her in two theatre productions. Kate’s suspicions were such that she insisted on sitting in on some rehearsals for the plays – and the marriage fell apart soon afterwards.

Sam, now 49, and Cambridge-educated Rebecca, 33, then started dating. But a source close to the actress tells me: ‘Sam and Rebecca split a good few months ago.

Close: Rebecca Hall and Morgan Spector in gripping and acclaimed drama Machinal

Since then, she’s started dating Morgan Spector. She fell for him when they played lovers on stage and they are now living together in Brooklyn, New York.’

The show, a gripping and acclaimed drama, was called Machinal and featured scenes of them in bed together in their underwear. It played on Broadway in March last year – the same time Rebecca was last pictured with Sam.

Rebecca and Morgan seem as relaxed in each other’s company offstage as they were on. They have been seen sharing a joke as they walked through the streets of New York’s East Village after lunching together at the trendy restaurant Il Buco. At the time, Rebecca was staying nearby at the luxury Bowery Hotel, where the couple were regularly seen together, according to staff there.

Last autumn, the pair attended a glitzy Mulberry party in New York’s Carlyle hotel, where Miss Hall wore a striking slinky black dress.

Rebecca and Morgan seem as relaxed in each other’s company offstage as they were on

A few days ago Rebecca, whose 84-year-old father founded the Royal Shakespeare Company and whose mother is opera singer Maria Ewing, was seen near Liverpool Street station with 34-year-old Morgan.

A film worker tweeted: ‘That moment you walk past Rebecca Hall and Morgan Spector... That was random.’ She later said: ‘I recognised them immediately.’

Rebecca found fame playing Vicky in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona and more recently was nominated for a Bafta for her performance in the BBC drama Parade’s End, in which she played Benedict Cumberbatch’s wife.

Members of her family declined to comment on her relationship, while Mr Mendes’s agent said: ‘We’ll not be commenting on this.’