La Repubblica della Donne
25 September, 2001
By Silvia Bizio
(Translated by Luciana)

Joseph is no longer the "young Fiennes". At the age of 30, he surprised Venice as a Macedonian cowboy; now he plays the seducer in a thriller by Kaige. Beware, brother Ralph.

Another Fiennes is becoming truly big. Joseph, Ralph's little brother, has made a name for himself and given his contribution to an English family's coat of arms. This family of French origin has become a part of the international show business aristocracy. Like Ralph, Joseph avoids the image of a big star and dedicates himself to difficult projects like Dust, Milcho Manchevski's controversial movie which opened in Venice. He says: "I play the role of an American cowboy at the end of the XIXth century, who's involved in Macedonian's fight for independence against the Ottoman Empire. Some have described this movie as a Sergio Leone-style spaghetti-western, or the work of a reincarnated Peckinpah: in my opinion, it is a far more complex political film. I am a sort of biblical avenger with a dose of romanticism. I shoot while Turkish, Greeks and Albanians attack from everywhere. If the story sounds crazy, it is all very fair. Because it is crazy."

Another movie due to be released soon is the thriller Killing me Softly, in which Joseph Fiennes stars opposite Heather Graham: it is the acclaimed Chinese director Chen Kaige's debut in the English speaking cinema, and the actor plays the role of a fascinating, mysterious mountaineer with whom a London scientist falls in love: "It is the classic man "who comes from nowhere" and changes everything".

Not long ago, he was referred to as the young Fiennes: but now that he turned 30, the youngest of six (between brothers and sisters) actors, directors, musicians, with a father who's a photographer and painter, and a mother who was a writer, Joseph has become a protagonist in the adult world. After the success of "Shakespeare in Love" (1998), which revealed him to all the world as the romantic Bard who seduces Gwyneth Paltrow, Joseph is famous in England as well as abroad. He played a role in Martha - Meet Frank, Daniel and Laurence and in the colossal Enemy at the Gates, about the siege of Stalingrad. Always alternating with a lot of theatre in London, which he defines as "my natural habitat". In this sense, his career is not very different from Ralph's: a background in classical theatre, a solid culture, switching quickly from the screen (in big or independent productions) to the stage. "And if I have something to do for TV I will not refuse", says Joseph. "English actors are not used to so many distinctions, we do a bit of everything: the important is to act, to work, never to sit without having anything to do". However, he is more accessible than brother Ralph, and has an unhibited sex appeal that is never excessive. Sometimes, he seems to live in another age: Joseph is a man of his time. He's been acting since he was at school, but he was unknown until Shakespeare in Love. "That movie was an extraordinary experience", he remembers, "a turning point and a lesson from which I learned a lot, not only about acting, but also about the machine that involves the cinema". Hollywood has made him so many offers since then, but he, educated at the prestigious Guildhall School, has chosen to stay in his London. "I don't mean to be disrespectful, but there aren't many good screenplays over there. The interesting things are measured with a dropper: Killing me Softly is a rare gem, at least on paper. Let's hope it has the same splendour on the screen".

In the meantime, he has broken up with his long-term girfriend Rachel Griffith (sic); he's been seen with Naomi Campbell, but especially with the actress Catherine McCormack ("Braveheart"). Reserved, he does not confess, but he concedes: "I do prefer to date an actress, because it is great to be with someone who understands our anxieties. I am not saying that acting is harder work than others professions, but it involves a lot of rejection. For each role you get, there are twenty for which you have been refused. You have a successful movie, but you don't know if you will ever get to have another one. It gives you a lot of strength to have someone who shares your insecurities".

He likes the female company, but this summer he preferred to travel alone. "I like to travel around the world, explore, leave my work environment, find new things and met new people. I have been in India twice, in Central America, and I have travelled all over Europe. And the Balkans. I would like to travel around Patagonia by bicycle. I observe life beyond my own, without looking for anything specific. This is a small world, and we are here for such a short time".

Joseph's mother, Jili Fiennes (sic), who passed away in 1993, was a writer (her pen name was Jennifer Lash); his father is a painter and photographer. A bohemian and semi nomadic group. "I had a strange and privileged education", he says. "Unusual but functional. Our parents have always encouraged us to express ourselves through art, as well as their friends, actors, musicians, sculptors. There wasn't a day when something creative didn't take place at home. I had a wonderful childhood and adolescence, interesting and chaotic. It was a great introduction to acting: an actor's life is like a gypsy's, and I've lived in this atmosphere since I was a child."

Any rivalry with big brother Ralph? "Never", guarantees Joseph, Joe for the friends. "Ralph is almost ten years older than me: we have never disputed the same roles. And thank God, we are not alike at all".