Austin American-Statesman Article

February 20, 1998

Sensitive Fiennes has come a long way
By Bob Campbell

NEW YORK -- Only four years ago, film newcomer Ralph Fiennes stunned audiences as a vicious Nazi camp commandant in "Schindler's List." But it's already difficult to associate the sensitive English actor with his breakthrough role. It's as though Montgomery Clift had made his name playing Al Capone.

Films such as "Quiz Show" and "The English Patient," along with his sold-out, Tony-winning Broadway stint in "Hamlet," have revealed a Fiennes miles removed from gross, semi-psychotic SS Cmdr. Amon Goeth, who soothes his malaise by randomly shooting Jewish prisoners from his bathroom window.

In his succeeding films, as he does in person, the 34-year-old Englishman projects a refined yet almost desperate responsiveness. His recent portrayals retrospectively enhance the actor's efforts in "Schindler's List." Seen in the light of Fiennes' subsequent work, director Steven Spielberg's casting prescience and Fiennes' performing range become all the more striking.

It was important to Spielberg, says Fiennes, that Goeth have "a touch of the artist about him" -- so that audiences would perceive him as a damned soul rather than a mere mechanical thug.

Until recently, Fiennes and American audiences have approached each other with wary bemusement. Even the reception of "Schindler's List" had its disconcerting moments.

While bestowing on him the New York Film Critics Circle best supporting actor award for his genocidal Cmdr. Goeth, presenter Sylvia Miles stretched the boundaries of prize- giving bad taste by ad-libbing: "You can commandeer me any time." On Academy Awards night, Kathleen Turner thoroughly mangled Fiennes' name as she ran through the year's nominees in the same category. Americans are now beginning to accept that the correct pronunciation is "Rafe Fines."

Fiennes waves off those embarrassments with a small, gracious smile. Having already expressed a concern that acting "is a deeply neurotic profession," he's unlikely to let silly faux pas add extraneous layers of psychological muddle. The risk of inner conflict is built into Fiennes' high-wire acting style. He doesn't present himself as a hearty journeyman in the mode of Anthony Hopkins and Michael Caine, who both claim to build their characterizations around props, costumes and other outward cues.

"I have to work from the inside and the outside at the same time," Fiennes says. "I need to make an intimate connection with my characters. I don't bring them home with me from the studio, though. I'm not that far gone."

Fiennes' career as a film star got off to a fitful start. Neither Robert Redford's Oscar-nominated "Quiz Show" nor Kathryn Bigelow's $50 million "Strange Days" -- a sensational splash of a movie whose intense violence still bothers the actor -- drew large audiences.

Fiennes acknowledges that, during this uncertain time, the producers of the James Bond series "made a casual pass in my direction." He admits to having been tantalized by the role of 007, but he quickly decided the casting would be a mismatch. Fiennes was happy to concentrate on London stage productions of "Hamlet" and Anton Chekhov's "Ivanov."

Fiennes' status as art-house matinee idol was certified by last year's "The English Patient." Playing a lover, seeker and dying man, he mesmerized filmgoers and won a second Academy Award nomination -- this time for best actor. But Fiennes also has dipped one shy toe into multiplex waters.

This summer he'll be seen as unflappable London crime fighter John Steed, paired with Uma Thurman's superslick Mrs. Peel, in a big- screen version of the '60s British TV classic "The Avengers." Fiennes, always willing to take boldly inventive chances with Chekhov or Shakespeare, for once found himself intimidated by tradition.

"Patrick MacNee (the original Steed) was on the set," Fiennes says. "All he kept saying to me was, `Do it as differently from me as you can.' `Yes, fine,' I'd say. Then I'd ask for the bowler. The pin- striped suit. The umbrella. I couldn't imagine the character any other way."