Company
February 1999
By Flic Everett

All it takes is one look at his chiseled jaw, hazel eyes and ruffled hair and a girl's a goner. Flic Everett met Joseph, another gaspingly gorgeous Fiennes boy. Time to start collecting the set me thinks...

Get talking to Joseph Fiennes and it doesn't take long for you to work out why the casting director of Shakespeare in Love - the much talked-about film that's tipped to win a bag full of Oscars this year and co-stars Gwyneth Paltrow - chose Fiennes for it's leading role. Think passionate writer of verse and Fiennes is your man. Intense he definitely is.

He doesns't banter. He doesn't deflect questions with a flip reply. He carefully weighs up each one as though you're asking for the answer to world peace. And he is oh-so-deeply serious about being an actor. But don't let that put you off. Because Joseph Fiennes is also disarmingly self-deprecating and unassuming.

Yes, he is the younger brother of Ralph, the icily mesmerizing star of Schindler's List and The English Patient but, surprise, it's not something he is panting to discuss. Suggest (gently) that Ralph's success may have been one reason for Fiennes - at 28, 8 years his junior - to be drawn into acting, and he is quick to shoot the idea down. "Not at all," he says firmly. "That's a very shallow way of looking at it. While I was training, I spent four years just being a dresser at the National Theater - picking up smelly pants and socks was a pretty good insight into the 'glamour' of acting. That was how I learned what it was really about."

In fact, Fiennes says, his name is recognized more often in connection with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, his explorer uncle [sic] who has a penchant for death-defying trips to the Arctic. "I had to go into acting on my own terms," he says. "I don't believe there is any point in going into anything if you don't believe in what you are doing."

Men In tights

Fiennes first hit us between the eyes as the sweet, kind-hearted new man in Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence. Then, in Elizabeth, he played the tortured Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the only man the virgin queen ever loved. Says Fiennes, "When I was offered the part in Shakespeare in Love a voice in my head said 'not another tights role!' But the two roles are vastly different. And I could see it was a brilliant script, full of wit, as well as appealing to a fresh audience who might not know everything about Shakespeare. It's not some literary biopic of this genius, it's a lighter slice of fantasy mixed with fact. I've always thought it's dangerous to do just costume drama, unless it's going to have a modern parallel, and this one did. Both films were right up to date in how they portrayed human beings." See what we mean? Deep.

Fiennes plays Shakespeare in the summer of 1593, a young man suffering a bad case of writers block - until he falls in love with a nobleman's daughter, Viola De Lesseps, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Their love scene, when they dance together for the first time, burns up the screen, and Fiennes has nothing but praise for Paltrow, who not only plays an Englishwoman, but one disguised as a man. "We got on brilliantly - she's a star and extraordinarily talented," he says warmly, "I can do an American accent, but I'm not sure I'd be able to do it in verse. Her status is huge."

But while Gwyneth has all the trappings of stardom - on the set of Shakespeare in Love she allegedly demanded a limousine to ferry her the 50 yards between her trailer and the set - fame doesn't sit lightly on Fiennes' shoulders. Told that one director has already described him as one of Britain's all-time great movie actors, Fiennes gets blushingly tongue-tied. "Well, ah, that's just someone's opinion, and it's very flattering," he says haltingly, "but you can't predict the weather, it doesn't always come true. As for being a heart-throb...In a year or two, it'll all pass. Even if teenagers do put up posters, they - and I - will soon get too old for that."

At this point the interview takes a turn towards the personal and Fiennes immediately becomes even more uncomfortable. While discussing the finer points of Shakespeare in Love he is easily chatty, now he almost starts stuttering. "The, um, the project an actor is connected with has to be seen by a wide audience, so ...I know I'm part of the publicity," he says, "I'm aware that I am a commodity, but I am wary of what is expected of me. I have no interest in discussing my private life, my inner thoughts, other celebrities...yet I'm aware that if I don't talk about it, people get even more curious. But I didn't really... count on this."

Which is odd, considering the thrashing Ralph received from the press when he left his wife Alex Kingston, star of Moll Flanders, for fellow actress Francesca Annis. "My job is when I turn up and someone shouts action," Fiennes continues, "But now everyone's brought up on the idea of celebrities, it's the Hello! Culture, and with all due respect to those who do that, I find it all really cheesy. We're so boring, and our lives are no more interesting than anyone who reads about them." Oh really?

Which is why he won't talk about his girlfriend of seven years, actress Sarah Griffiths, although the length of their relationship alone is enough to suggest Fiennes isn't your average actor. "It's difficult - actors are nomads, and you have to accept that way of living but there can be stability within that, if all parties involve understand the situation," he says, sounding like a red-tape civil servant in his desperation not to take his girlfriend's name in vain.

Acting must be hard work. "No, not at all," says Fiennes, "You're ferried about in a chauffeur driven car to lovely hotels where everything is paid for, and you're fed. I'd like to say it's hard but it's not. The main difficulty is seeing friends, or your partner. If you're working in Belfast for 15 weeks, drinking down the pub with the lads isn't really on the agenda."

So, what does he do? "Well, I wouldn't go down the pub with the lads anyway," he admits, "I do very mundane, boring things. They wouldn't appeal to anyone. If I told you, I'd embarrass you, myself, everyone else..." Good God, what could he be referring to? "I draw a bit...no, I won't say anymore, It's too dull."

The family way

Fiennes has a creative family history. "My mother was a writer and a painter, my dad a photographer, and I'm sure some work passions filter down," he admits, "Most children either reject or embrace their parents attitude to work and interests, and I think that's what I did, consciously or subconsciously. Although I wasn't around acting a lot when I was young, I think I might have sneaked into the cinema once or twice, or peered into a theatre through some cracked windowpane."

In fact, at one time, Fiennes thought about making drawing his career. "I guess I never felt it was possible to do the thing you love," he says, "Acting didn't seem like work to me, it was what I was passionate about. I suppose I felt I should pursue something such as art, something that didn't have the same importance to me."

When he did follow his instincts, it was a revelation - he loved it so much he didn't even suffer stage fright. "No, I loved it all!", he says, "The adrenaline provided that sharp focus you need but it never tipped over into negativity. There have always been plays I've loved and never wanted to end, and others I couldn't wait to finish. But I learned more from the ones I couldn't wait to get out of I'm sure."

And now? Is a life in Hollywood beckoning? "I've been to Los Angeles a few times. It's a city built on achievement - there's a great positively that you don't find anywhere else," he says, "English people find it strange and foreign because it's all about business, but if you've got an idea, someone will listen, they're not cynical at the first hurdle. I don't get any stimulation from it though - I don't want to live there."

Fiennes lives in a flat in London, somewhere to call home after nearly 30 years of moving from place to place. "My parents wanted to travel around, so I went to a different school every one or two years, which didn't prove brilliant academically," he says, "But it was an adventure."

He has a twin, Jacob, who couldn't have distanced himself further from acting. "He's a gamekeeper in Norfolk," says Fiennes, "He's always loved wildlife and the land. I don't get to see him much now, because of work, but we make sure we get together, the whole family, as often as we can."

Fiennes' fame is assured because his talent is undoubtable and his looks scream Hollywood heart-throb. However, he plans to head back to theatre land as soon as possible. "That's where my passion lies, with the written word, not so much the visual feast of film," he says, "but the pay difference between theatre and film is considerable. Film gives me the chance to choose the work I want, which is a far greater privilege than just being able to but a chair or something."

"I don't believe I've changed. I may be getting a few more better paid jobs, but that's about it. It takes years to establish yourself, and then you have one big film and everyone calls you an overnight success. You think, 'Christ, I've been sweating and crying for seven years.' But in the end, you have to follow your passion."

Passionate words. "Yeah - I could tell the interview was coming to a close, so I came up with something a bit special," Fiennes says, allowing himself an appealing flash of sarcasm.

By now it's 8pm, but this Oscar-tipped actor isn't about to preen himself for a luvvie party. Instead he's going to spend the evening learning his lines because he's on set tomorrow. "The film's called Rancid Aluminum. I play an accountant." Proof, if any were needed, that Joseph Fiennes isn't interested in the trappings of fame. For him, acting is everything.