 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |
 |
|
Ralph first read Onegin when he was a student in drama school. He spoke about what attracted him to the role and why he always seems to play the tragic loser-in-love.
Ralph Fiennes: I loved the character of Onegin when I read it. I liked the journey that he went on from a cynical jaded man who wasn't really connected to his emotions until it was too late. And, I love the counterpoint with Tatyana. It sort of sat in my head, as it where, as something someday to realize in a dramatical form. One academic described Onegin as a love story in which nothing happens twice. I like that. I don't see [the characters] as losers. I've chosen parts where people go through a life passage or a rough time and they either survive it or they don't. They have more dimensions and they're more human. Human fallibility interests me.
Liv on getting the part and finding chemistry with Ralph.
Liv Tyler: This was something that I desperately wanted and I knew I had to play this part. I as a nineteen year old living in New York, lying on my bed reading the poem I was so moved by what it was about. This love and this affection. I completely understand what it was about. Waiting to hear was painful and then I got this great phone call. I screamed and dropped the phone. Such a beautiful challenge and at such a young age.
Martha: Liv had a quality from the very beginning. We were very excited. The decision to cast her was absolutely unanimous. She brought this quality that is Tatyana
Liv: You grow really close with the people that you work on a film with. There's so much in the material that you just look at it and read it; see it's so passionate. And Ralph's an amazing, gorgeous guy. There's just something that happens.
Ralph: It helps to like the person you work with. It's as necessary as feeling comfortable in the clothes that you're wearing, or the lines that you're saying.
Liv: It's not necessary, but it helps.
The film's winter scenes were filmed in St. Petersburg, giving the cast a chance to get a feel for the history behind the story:
Ralph: The Russians tend to be very nervous about how the West is going to portray their classics. They're afraid it will get the Hollywood treatment. My experience is that [Russians] are incredibly generous, incredibly open and incredibly affectionate and at the same time also incredibly nationalistic and incredibly protective of their culture. One of the things that bonded the incredible praise of the film is that it looks like a Russian film. This could not be made in Russia because [Pushkin] is so sacred. The most extraordinary thing is this story has never ever been filmed and it's the most read classic in Russia. After the Bible there's Pushkin.
Liv: They shot in St. Petersburg and I wasn't in any of those scenes but I went because I wanted to know what Russia was like. But, ultimately I feel you have to push everything aside and just feel and think·be in the moment. It's not about history but about the person.
Martha: The literary tradition we've borrowed from is very different. [British literature] has not the same depth of emotion that Russian literature has, not the same land mass, contrasts, weather. It's just very different. There's a lot to explore there.
Ralph: There's a great irony with Onegin. Pushkin died at thirty-six in a dual over his wife. I think in a lot of ways Pushkin was creating his own perfect woman with Tatyana.
Martha and Ralph assured everyone that working together was not a great collaborative experience (their brother Magnus Fiennes is the composer for the film). Ralph also promised that he hasn't avoided working with his brother Joseph, but that the opportunity simply hasn't come along. Could it be that a film starring Ralph and Joseph directed by Martha and composed by Magnus is in the works? Talk about star quality.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on September 19, 1999
EL STEPHO