By Mark Burger

Actor Ralph Fiennes emerged from obscurity with a stunning, Oscar-nominated turn in Steven Spielberg's Schindler's List in 1993. Now his younger brother Joseph is doing likewise, in Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love, two diverse films set in 16th-century England. But after back-to-back Elizabethan films, actor Joseph Fiennes believes that it might be time to spend a little time in more modern surroundings. "It might be a break to go to another century," he said with a smile. "(Not wearing) tights might be a bit refreshing - maybe just normal Levis."

Both Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love put nontraditional spins on their respective icons: Elizabeth purports that the Virgin Queen might not have been virgin, with Fiennes playing her lover, Lord Robert Dudley; Shakespeare in Love presents Fiennes' young Bard as a neurotic playwright (complete with 16th-century analyst) who is suffering from writer's block.

Of Elizabeth, Fiennes said, "I maintain that the whole idea in that time of what 'virgin' meant might have been something different. I certainly think what the film does rather cleverly is to put it on a more spiritual plane." Nevertheless, Fiennes said, "any play which arouses debate... is good and healthy, so I'm all for it. Enrage the academics, definitely!" When asked to compare the two Elizabeths he has acted with (Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth, Dame Judi Dench in Shakespeare in Love), Fiennes was diplomatic. "They both bring different facets," he said, then he paused and smiled. "That's a tricky question. I don't think I would readily jump into bed with one; she's a bit more forceful. They are two such different projects. One is Cate, charting the ascension to the icon; one is Judi playing the icon - but both so differently."

Although the Fiennes brothers are in the same profession, they discuss their careers "very little," he said. "Anything that's not job is probably more refreshing."

Actor Colin Firth, who plays Lord Wessex in the film, also co-starred in the 1996 Oscar-winning epic The English Patient, wherein his character's wife has an affair with the character played by... Ralph Fiennes. "I've lost women to somebody called Fiennes more than once now," he said jokingly.

In Shakespeare in Love, Lord Wessex is betrothed to Viola De Lesseps (Gwyneth Paltrow), though her heart - and her virtue - belong to the young Shakespeare. "She's been plucked - and not by you," warns Dench's imperious Elizabeth I to Wessex. Wessex's rivalry with the young playwright comes to a head during a rollicking swordfight that both actors greatly enjoyed playing out. Fiennes at first jokingly boasted that he would have won had it been a real swordfight, then amended his statement. "I don't know, actually," he said. "He had a mean look in his eye!" "He said that, did he?" Firth asked later. Then he laughed. "He'd win. I would not know what to do with a sword if someone came at me." Playing the comical antagonist was a refreshing change of pace for Firth. "The pressure is really off when you know your character is ridiculous and repulsive," he said with a laugh.

Another character that audiences will find ridiculous is Henslowe, the impoverished theatrical impresario who nervously supervises the inaugural production of Romeo and Juliet. Henslowe is played by Geoffrey Rush, who won an Oscar playing real-life pianist David Helfgott in Shine (1996) and has been nominated for a Golden Globe for his work here. Shakespeare in Love reunited Rush with Fiennes, with whom he appeared in Elizabeth. "It was great, because we didn't get to do that much together on Elizabeth," Rush said. "We got to work a lot on this and it was fantastic."

Tom Wilkinson plays Fennyman in the film, and, like Firth, he has worked with both Fiennes brothers. Joseph "does a great job," Wilkinson said. "He's got a big future."

In Elizabeth and Shakespeare in Love, Fiennes finds himself sharing the screen with some notable actors. In addition to those in Shakespeare in Love, there were Richard Attenborough, Christopher Eccleston and John Gielgud in Elizabeth (although Fiennes had no scenes with the latter). Pretty heady company for an actor a few years short of his 30th birthday and with less than a handful of films to his credit. "It's funny," Fiennes said. "The most daunting, dynamic people that you watch and respect are always the people who are the most warm and generous and kind and easy to communicate with. That's why I'm stalking Geoffrey (Rush)... just the joy to be with him," he said with a laugh. "I think it's important not to dwell on how daunting it is too much," he said, "or else you're a shivering wreck in the corner. There's also an opportunity to learn and watch, and that's the great thing - to share a scene is to observe and pick up tips."

Following his older brother's footsteps from theater to screen was "never on the agenda," said Fiennes, whose stage credits include such Shakespearean staples as Troilus and Cressida and As You Like It. "But I don't see them as separate entities. My craft is acting, whether it's radio, video, cinema, theater. That's what it encompasses. I don't separate them."

Having played two real-life characters in a row, Fiennes was asked whether research helped him prepare for either of them. "It did on Elizabeth; it didn't on this," he said. "I think I have to embrace (this) story in its own right. It wasn't a very serious, academic take on Shakespeare - 'Who was the real Shakespeare?' I dipped into numerous books, and for every academic and his theory, there's another one in the next chapter who cancels his theory out quite eloquently. At the end of the day, it's a can of worms. "So I looked and I embraced Shakespeare in this sense of just being a wordsmith who knew he was gifted and talented, who's knocking out plays to pay the rent, who has writer's block, and needed inspiration to draw on. "I looked at him as a leech - as someone who needed copy," he told a roomful of journalists. "Rather like you guys! You need copy. That's what you want. You're drawing it from me!" After the laughter subsided, Fiennes put his hands up in mock surrender. "No, no - you're gorgeous. Nevertheless, he needs copy. He needs to please the editor. He needs an angle, and it's love - profound love - that (does it)."

If Fiennes has one predominant hope about the film, it's that audiences don't shy away from it because it is a period piece and it involves William Shakespeare. "Certainly at school, there's the resemblance of a very stuffy, academic icon," Fiennes said. "I think the brilliance of Tom (Stoppard, a co-screenwriter) and John (Madden, the director) getting together and humanizing him to such a degree that he was accessible. "He was 28, 27, when he wrote Romeo and Juliet," said Fiennes, 27. "He must have been going through the same feelings that I've been going through. He must have known what it was to fall so acutely in love to write something like Romeo and Juliet. "So he was human, and I think that's what the script does," Fiennes said. "It's vibrant and sexy, and modern in that sense, and funny."