February 1999
By Justine Elias

Joseph Fiennes played two very different sixteenth-century men in his first two lead film roles: the young princess's lover in Elizabeth and the Romeo-ish, yet-to-be brilliant Shakespeare in Shakespeare in Love (both 1998). They are two men so enraptured by the idea of grand passion that they neglect a few essentials, like telling the women in their lives that they're already married. "It's not that they deny it," says Fiennes, mock-innocently. "It's just that they were never asked."

No one ever forgets to ask the twenty-eight year old Fiennes about the nature of relationship with his brother and fellow actor Ralph. (Five of the Fiennes siblings - Ralph, Martha, Magnus, Sophie, and Joseph - work in the musical and dramatic arts; Joseph's twin Jacob, is a gamekeeper and foster brother Michael an archeologist.). Inquiries about Ralph cause Joseph to become skittish; one senses his need to make a name for himself just as his Will Shakespeare seeks to get out of Christopher Marlowe's shadow.

Although lately he seems to have specialized in portraying dreamy, self-dramatizing historical swains,Fiennes says he is ready to move on to roles challenging that romantic ideal. He is particularly proud of his recent work on the London stage in A Real Classy Affair, in which he played a smooth-talking, brutal hipster, someone who might be described cynically, as a man's man - "cutthroat, self-centered, abused and abusive."

I've always been cast as these mooning lovers," he says, grimacing. "They're wonderful characters, but they're all in the same category. I think it takes a while for people to see that you've got more facets." As to what those facets are, Fiennes acknowledges he's still figuring things out. "Have men changed for the world? Or has the world changed for men? I don't know," he says. "You become a man from a boy, so I've been so absorbed in leaving teenage traits behind that I haven't really discovered how the world might have changed for men."

His screen image, at least is about to be updated: In the spring, he starts in The Very Thought of You (formerly Martha, Meet Frank, Daniel and Lawrence), a contemporary romantic comedy about three boyhood friends who become involved with an American woman (Monica Potter) in London. Cast once again as a character who borders on female fantasy - the contemplative, aloof lover - Fiennes says he coveted one of the flashier male roles in the film, that of a vain former child star. "I don't know why they didn't see me that way," he says, then ponders, "so, do you think I still look young enough to play Romeo?" As if he doesn't know it, he could probably play Juliet, and nobody would bat an eyelid.