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JODI APPLEGATE, co-host:
Welcome back to LATER TODAY. If you loved Ralph Fiennes in "The English
Patient," you're in luck. He's back
on screen in another wartime romance called "The End of the Affair," And
once again he's fallen in love with
another man's wife.
(Clip from "The End of the Affair" shown)
APPLEGATE: Ladies and gentlemen, Ralph Fiennes. Hello.
Mr. RALPH FIENNES ("The End of the Affair"): Hi there.
APPLEGATE: Good morning. Thanks for being here. Make yourself at home.
Mr. FIENNES: Thank you.
APPLEGATE: It's so nice to have you here.
Mr. FIENNES: Thank you. It's good to be here.
APPLEGATE: Thanks for joining us. So other than getting to spend lots of time in very close proximity with the lovely Julianne Moore, what attracted you to this role?
Mr. FIENNES: Working with Neil Jordan, the director, and also the script, which is adapted from I think one of Graham Greene's--probably his best novel, a very short novel, but it distills, you know, the nature of love, and jealousy and faith.
APPLEGATE: Apparently a lot of people had told you in the past, having read this novel, that it was a perfect role for you. Why do you think they were making that association?
Mr. FIENNES: I don't know, really. I don't know. I think that the--the--he's a writer, and he's possessive, and perceptive about himself. And he's able to look at his own emotions and his own jealousy and be quite articulate about them. He's also--he's a very passionate man, and quite complicated. And I think there's something about a lot of Graham Greene's characters, they're quite alone and trying to find their way, often confronting lots of moral problems within themselves. And I suppose that's--those are the kind of parts that I'm--I am interested in.
APPLEGATE: Because you're like that?
Mr. FIENNES: No.
APPLEGATE: No?
Mr. FIENNES: No, I think sometimes people can think you can play a part not because you are the part but because you have qualities as an actor that will transform themselves to be the part in quite a good way. I think when someone says you should play something doesn't necessarily mean that it's because you are the character.
APPLEGATE: Which is good, because otherwise as an actor you would be doomed to playing yourself all the time...
Mr. FIENNES: Yeah.
APPLEGATE: ...which wouldn't be much of a adventure for an actor, I suppose.
Mr. FIENNES: No, I never think I'm--I never think that I'm playing myself, ever. In fact, I remember once I was on stage, and I was playing this character who was very upbeat and was always making jokes and in situations he makes a fool of himself. And then it was a benefit evening, and I had to go out after the curtain call and make an announcement to the audience, as myself, saying, could you please put money in the buckets. And I completely felt terrified.
APPLEGATE: Did you remember your line, put money in the buckets?
Mr. FIENNES: No, I didn't. I was all hesitant. I couldn't be heard.
APPLEGATE: That's interesting. Well, in the film, your character and Julianne Moore's character are attracted to one another almost instantly. There's like a magnetic attraction between the two.
Mr. FIENNES: Yeah. Yeah.
APPLEGATE: What explains that?
Mr. FIENNES: I don't know what--can you explain that ever between two people. I don't know that you ever can. I think it's something that happens between two people and...
APPLEGATE: Are we having it right now, Ralph? Could we--could we please be left alone? The exit's right there. Tell us about your next film, "Onegin." I know that your sister, Martha, directed it, and it's something very important to you. Tell us a little bit about that.
Mr. FIENNES: Well, this is a film based on a novel in verse by the Russian writer Alexander Pushkin, and I read "Onegin" when I was a student.
APPLEGATE: Didn't we all? Maybe not here in the US.
Mr. FIENNES: No. Not many people do read it, because it's not--outside Russia, Pushkin is not known at all. I was just--I was--someone said, you should read this, because I was in a Chekov play at my drama school, and I read it, and I just became obsessed with this story. I don't know why. I just sort of carried it around as a--one day as a part that I would like to play. And I discussed it with my sister, just as an idea really, and it snowballed from there, and eventually after a long, long time we got financing for it and were able to make it.
APPLEGATE: Are you going to do a comedy? I'd like to see you in a comedy. I know that my wishes aren't really the guiding principle in your career, but I think you'd be great in a comedy.
Mr. FIENNES: Yeah, well, I haven't--you know, I think comedies are--comedy's really hard to do, and I think that there are very few really good comedy scripts around, and if there are I haven't seen them.
APPLEGATE: Well, Woody Allen and whoever else is out there, send those scripts right to Ralph Fiennes. It would be terrific to see...
Mr. FIENNES: I'd like--I'd like to do a comedy.
APPLEGATE: Terrific. Well, it's such a pleasure to meet you.
Mr. FIENNES: Thank you very much.
APPLEGATE: Best of luck.
Mr. FIENNES: Thank you.
APPLEGATE: The film is called "The End of the Affair." And we will be right
back, after this. Stay tuned.
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© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on December 6, 1999
EL STEPHO