December 20, 1998
By Cindy Pearlman

Shakespeare said a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. A Fiennes by another first name is even sweeter. Joseph Fiennes - brother of Ralph- is far more light of heart than his sibling.

Joseph Fiennes stars as the lusty Earl of Leicester in the critically acclaimed period piece Elizabeth, in which he teaches the queen how to live it up a little. In his new comedy Shakespeare in Love, opening Friday, he plays Shakespeare suffering from writer's block while trying to pen Romeo and Juliet. The misery is lifted when he meets a beautiful local, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. She reacquaints William with matters of the heart - hence some very sexy nude scenes.

But filming those scenes wasn't a midsummer night's dream. "Oh, it's not as glamorous as one might think," sighs Fiennes. "Let's start with the fact that Gwyneth's boyfriend, Ben Affleck, is in this movie and he's a big guy. You don't want to get on the wrong side of Ben and say, 'Guess what? I will be spending the duration of the day in a bed with your girlfriend.'"'

A day? Try a week. Not that Paltrow is complaining. "You're dealing with a man who is so sensitive, and believe me, I've been around other actors who are not this level of gentleman," says Paltrow, declining to name names.

Is it hard to play the most famous writer of all time?

"In one sense, he's sacred ground to so many people, like academics and theatergoers," Fiennes says. "On the other hand, from the little research that I did, William Shakespeare was a blank sheet. No one really knows anything about him as a man."

"My mother told me that writing was one of the most isolating ways to spend a life. She felt that the huge amount of solitude put a shadow on a person, which is what I thought of when I played William Shakespeare."

He also came to a few other conclusions. "I figured Shakespeare was a genius who didn't quite know it. He knew he was a pretty damn good writer, but he was also a man who had to pay the rent. He's got writer's block. All of this indicated to me someone who was knocking out his plays to pay the rent. He was a survivor. He plagiarizes. He's like a leech."

The youngest of six children, including a fraternal twin, Fiennes moved a dozen times as a child to spots in both Ireland and England. His father was a photographer; his mother, a wordsmith.

"Being the youngest makes you long for more of a voice. You find that voice early in theatrics of the kitchen. I was the one screaming, 'Hey, where is my food?'"

Considering their genes, it's not surprising that most of his siblings are in the arts. Besides Joseph and Ralph, the lot includes a director and an artist. His twin, Jake, is a gamekeeper.

"I don't know what it is that made us all find careers of expression. Maybe it has something to do with my mother and father having careers that were creative. There was never a lack of stimulus in terms of literature or painting and drawing." He pauses. "I know I'm making it sound so romantic and bohemian. It wasn't. It was chaotic, dirty and noisy. I couldn't wait to get out. I guess that was the stimulus."

At 9 he was on his way, performing in theater at the Young Vic. Two years later, he was studying at the Guild Hall of Music and Drama in London, where he spent three years training for the stage.

He took a year off at age 17 to move to Italy and work construction. "I did restoration work on a 12th century villa. It cleared my head," says Fiennes. "When the house was finished, I came straight back and joined a theater group.

"Ever since I've been battling for parts," says Fiennes, who logged time at the prestigious Royal Shakespeare Company, and then as a dresser at the Royal National Theater. That's where he learned the wonders of "smelly pants, stinking socks and lots of egos."

While there were none on the set of "Shakespeare in Love," he did run into a few ghosts. Fiennes filmed in an English castle owned by a distant cousin. "I managed to persuade the film company to let me spend the night there. It was so scary. I'm sure it was haunted," says Fiennes.

He says fame also haunts him. The publicity that has surrounded his brother since Schindler's List leaves Joseph Fiennes a little nervous. "Choosing to come here today and talk is hard," he admits. "I keep thinking about what that costs in terms of your persona and how much you would like to keep your persona under wraps."

He throws his hands in the air and says, "Unfortunately, to a certain degree, you've got to let a little bit of it go. That's rough for me, because deep down I am shy," says Fiennes, a Londoner sans a significant other.

Of course, Ralph once claimed to be shy, and then ended up on the cover of Vanity Fair with no shirt, leather pants and wild hair. "That was just too many vodkas," Joseph insists with a laugh.

As for his own future, this Fiennes says, "I don't know where I'm going. Any job I've ever taken has not been about pursuing fame. The only thing I can do is respond to certain material. If that leads to a career, then so be it."