Boston Herald
December 28, 1998
By Stephen Schaefer

Snow White had the seven dwarfs and vaudeville the Seven Little Foys, but moviegoers will have to be content with two Fiennes.

Joseph, the youngest of seven Fiennes, definitely bears a resemblance to his elder, internationally famous brother, Ralph (The English Patient). And he is having a double introduction on screens this holiday season.

In the sumptuous Elizabeth which charts the rise of the young Elizabeth as the queen of England, Fiennes is the callow aristocrat who becomes the monarch's great but unworthy love.

In this week's Shakespeare in Love, Fiennes is center stage as William Shakespeare, sharing scenes with an impressive cast that includes Gwyneth Paltrow, Shine Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush (also in Elizabeth), Dame Judi Dench (who is the elderly Queen Elizabeth here) and Boston's own Ben Affleck.

"I auditioned for Shakespeare when I was in the middle of filming Elizabeth, but they're so entirely different beasts," says Fiennes. "One is a historical take and the other is fantasy.

" Shakespeare in Love is not about the costumes and the age - it's totally modern in that respect. This is sexy and vibrant, funny and full of pathos."

Fiennes' Shakespeare is not the playwright for the ages, a monumental talent who helped define a monumental era, but a youthful, robustly romantic aspiring playwright, not yet famous, who is struggling with writer's block as he fiddles with something called Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate's Daughter.

For the 28-year-old actor, Shakespeare arrives alongside increasing recognition for his stage work in London. Soon, he will no longer be "Ralph's younger brother," but simply Joseph Fiennes.

Yet, if starring in a movie that's being bruited as the sleeper of the season (and a possible Best Picture contender in the Oscar sweepstakes) is enough to make anyone a bit giddy, Fiennes is earnestly trying to appear nonchalant.

"I don't look at this as a launch for a movie career but just another wonderful opportunity," he says.

Like winners on Oscar night, he's quick to thank the team that made this star-making turn possible: "great writing from (award-winning playwright and screenwriter) Tom Stoppard, a formidable director (John Madden of last year's Oscar-nominated Mrs. Brown) and a dynamic cast."

Fiennes doesn't see Shakespeare as requiring any sort of degree in English lit, drama or even Romeo and Juliet, the romantic tragedy Will writes as he learns what love and being lovesick really means.

"You don't have to be smart to see Hamlet, or any of Shakespeare's work, or Shakespeare in Love," Fiennes says. "Shakespeare wouldn't have survived the test of time if that was the case. This isn't a film for academics because it has such pertinent resonance to our social structure.

"Shakespeare is something to look at, a mirror we can use to readdress ourselves, our faith, our age, our politics. This film is humanized to such a degree that it invites you in and seduces you with the whole Elizabethan age, which is so vibrant."

Playing someone like Shakespeare, whose reputation lives on like so few have, was "daunting," Fiennes concedes. "He's sacred ground - but so fundamentally unknown, he's a blank sheet of paper."

All we really know, the actor points out, "is that he left a table and chair in his will. So to look for a profile, you look at the plays and his sonnets. But that's tricky and it's full of contradictions. He could be Catholic, Protestant, we don't know. Like his understanding of women, of courage, or his sexuality. He's enigmatic in that sense.

"Tom Stoppard has humanized him and allowed everyone to bring their own idea with them."

The son of a professional photographer, Fiennes' earliest memories are living in southwest Ireland for four years, beginning when he was just 4 years old, while his father worked for the Irish Tourist Board.

A nonidentical twin, Joseph initially pursued art studies before turning to acting. "I went to art school and then to Italy for six months where I worked as a builder doing restoration work on a 12th century villa. It was great!"

He returned to London for two years' apprenticeship in a youth theater. "After that I trained for three years" and then he began getting jobs, primarily onstage.

The family is certainly artistic. His sister, Marta, has just directed Ralph and Liv Tyler in a film adaptation of the classic Russian love poem, Eugene Onegin, for which his brother, Magnus, composed the music.

"I have another brother who's an archaeologist, a sister who's a producer and my twin Jake is a gamekeeper on a private estate where he rears chicks and pheasants."

As private as his brother, Ralph, Joseph, who is single, tends to avoid reading what's printed about him.

"What is sad is the angle of a lot of press is the gossip," he moans, adding that, "it's a chicken and egg thing. Is it the readers who want the gossip? Or journalists who want to give it to please their editors? I don't know where it lies, but it isn't where the work lies. It's to do with marketing (movies and celebrities) and money and it's not on the agenda for me."

Needless to say, Fiennes is close-mouthed about his romantic life. If he could, he'd be as enigmatic as that Will Shakespeare.