Joseph Fiennes looks incredibly cute in a pair of tights. After starring in two period pieces in a row, the upcoming Shakespeare In Love and Elizabeth, you can't help but think the 28 year old actor must be partial to pulling a pair of pantyhose. Running his fingers through his matted brown hair, he laughs " I've heard people are beginning to talk! I looked like I had a pair of giant tomatoes stuffed down the front!" he jokes, in his plummy accent.

You'll remember Joseph from Martha- Meet Frank, Daniel & Laurence, in which he played a sensitive soul battling to stop his two best friends killing each other as all three fell for Martha. In his latest movie, he starts as a young William Shakespeare who's suffering from writer's block. He meets and falls in love with Viola de Lesseps, played by an English accented Gwyneth Paltrow, and their relationship unlocks his creative juices, allowing him to write his masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet.

It was five years ago, as a drama student that Joseph first auditioned for the role of William Shakespeare. It was against the rules at London's Guildhall School of Music and Drama to audition for professional roles, so Joseph had to sneak out. If all had gone to plan, he'd have starred opposite Julia Roberts. But, as it turned out, the production was put on hold until last year, when Joseph was given another chance to try out for the part of the worlds most famous writer.

"The script tracked me down," he says, flashing a toothy grin. " I think I was far too young to play the part back then. I was in my first year of drama school and I was lucky enough to have an agent who would send me out to auditions. Even if I nailed the part, I wouldn't have been equipped to perform!"

How was it working with Gwyneth?

"I've only worked with two American actresses. Liv Tyler was the first, on Stealing Beauty. Gwyneth has an extraordinary ability. She plays my muse and originally appears as a boy because in Elizabethan times all actors were male. Even so, all the crew - myself included - managed to fall in love with her. She is genuinely stunning, drop-dead gorgeous, but also generates a warmth and an empathy. I'd need God knows how many takes to get it right, but she could nail it [snaps fingers] in two. That was glorious to watch and learn. She's very natural and spontaneous."

This film has an all-star cast, with Geoffrey Rush, Ben Affleck, Colin Firth and Judi Dench. Was that intimidating?

"A part of it is, because you want to do it right, but it's kid of like a club too. It's like the Masons. You know, you have the handshake and you're in there, so it doesn't matter how starry people are. There's an immediate empathy. Personally, I find nothing more exciting. I feel lost when I'm at home, but when I go into a theatre, I'm at home with a family. I feel that's my purpose."

Did you have to practise Shakespeare's handwriting?

"Yeah. I learned a bit of calligraphy and it was great fun. I was amazed how many quills I went through and how disgusting my hands were. Jeez, the speed a which he churned out his plays - the ink stained my hands for a good month!"

Did you feel any pressure playing Shakespeare?

"Initially yes, because he is sacred ground for a lot of people. So there is this sense of, 'Oh my God! How do I portray this sacred icon?' And then the flipside to that is no one really knows anything about him. The only real information that I've read, apart from the sonnets and the plays, is that he left a chair and a table to his wife, Anne Hathaway. Here was a guy making loads of money and he only passed on a table and a chair! But that's about the extent of what we know, so it's all down to people's perceptions from reading his sonnets or watching his plays. I wanted this to be a respectful portrayal of Shakespeare and not just a cartoon idea o the long floppy hair and goatee. I wanted to go for something a little less cheesy and obvious."

Your brother Ralph has played Hamlet. Now you're playing Shakespeare, is that a touch of one-upmanship?

[Chuckles] "No I don't look at it like that. I though Hamlet was an extraordinary production. But um, no. Not at all."

Has being Ralph's brother been a help or a hindrance?

"Well, it can throw a spotlight on you, but in another sense it can put pressure on you as well. You still have to stand on your own two feet at the end of the day. So no, it hasn't been a problem at all for me."

Are any of your other siblings actors?

"There are seven of us, but it's only Ralph and I who are the actors in the family. All the others, apart from my twin brother Jake who's a gamekeeper, are in the arts. Martha is a director, Magnus a musician, and Sophie is a commercials producer."

Where does the acting bug come from?

"We were lucky enough to be born into a creative environment, and it must have filtered through to all of us. Our mother was an inspiration. She encouraged everyone in the family to invest time in what they wanted to do, regardless of what it was. She was always encouraging us, pushing us to express our most creative aspects."

What do your parents do?

"My father is a photographer and my mother was a novelist and painter. She died from breast cancer during my last year at drama school. I miss her all the time, of course I do. But, in a different sense, she's ever-present because of the books and warmth she's left behind."

You've made two period films. Are you concerned about being stereotyped?

"It did cross my mind [puts on a snooty voice]: "Oh yeah, Joe Fiennes, he only makes films if he can wear tights." It's a bit of a scary idea, but these two films are so completely different to each other. One film is a narrative based on historical fact, and the other is a complete fantasy. It's a sort of fantastical idea of what this young playwright was like, and the world that he lived in was like. In that respect, they're completely different."

So there's no chance of catching you in another pair of tights anytime soon?

"I'll do anything where I have to pull on a pair of Levi's!"