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The moody English actor (pronounced, as he insists with an icy glare, Rafe Fines) has certainly captured the imagination of the film industry.
He's built up an enviable reputation for playing complex, enigmatic characters - like the sadistic Amon Goeth in Schindler's List, the heart-broken aristocrat in The English Patient and a shy clergyman in Oscar and Lucinda.
Yet in person he is not a physically imposing man. There's almost an air of frailness about him with his icy blue eyes and thinnish face dominated by a strong nose.
But that's part of his appeal. On screen, he seems to shape himself into the character so well that you lose sight of the actor.
Whether he manages to do that in his latest venture, the re-make of the 1960s cult television series The Avengers, remains to be seen.
The much-hyped and long-awaited big budget production is reportedly so lame that film company Warner Brothers are not showing previews for the critics.
This is Fiennes' first real venture into light comedy (complete with heavy financial rewards). He takes Patrick Macnee's role as the dapper, pin-striped, bowler-hatted English gent John Steed.
There's a certain Fiennes-like theatrical flair to the character of John Steed, and Fiennes' leather-clad sidekick, Emma Peel, is played by willowy American actress Uma Thurman.
The appeal of this remake of the cult television series is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, says Fiennes, who refuses to discuss rumours that he had to be coerced into taking the role.Ê The appeal of this remake of the cult television series is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, says Fiennes, who refuses to discuss rumours that he had to be coerced into taking the role. Ê
"This is a comic thriller. I think we're saying in this film 'isn't it bizarre that Steed can be involved in a long, drawn-out fight, yet remain so immaculate throughout'?"
One of the bonuses of the Warner production, filmed at Shepperton Studios near London, is that Fiennes got to be outfitted by Savile Row tailors.
"We spent ages going through various pin-stripes and weights of cloth. I'd never been to Savile Row tailors in my life, and I must say, it's addictive," he admits.
All this success, including two Oscar nominations, takes a toll. He's notoriously cagey about his personal life following his divorce from Alex Kingston and affair with Francesca Annis.
"I really don't think I'm shy, I think I give that impression because I'm naturally defensive," he suggests.
His next venture is an adaptation of Pushkin's obscure Eugene Onegin in which he'll play a murderous Russian aristocrat. It will be directed by his sister Martha.
"I've been working on this for a very long time. I used to think I had to swear off period pieces, but I have to go with what feels right. Period pieces are really about today. We like to see ourselves through a prism, another way of life. It's almost easier to look at ourselves that way."
Fiennes certainly didn't come from a theatrical or privileged background. His father was a tenant farmer turned photographer. His mother Jini was a novelist, who published under the name Jennifer Lash. She died in 1993 of breast cancer and the family buried her themselves in a blue coffin. Ralph is one of six children.
He recalls: "It was a very hand-to-mouth existence. My parents were broke. But we did have an environment at home whereby there was always encouragement to do whatever you wanted to do. The fabric of the family life was so strong."
The arts have drawn several of the family. Ralph's younger brother Joseph is establishing himself as an actor. Martha and another sister are in the film business and another brother is a musician. Initially Ralph Fiennes went to London's College of Art and Design to study to be a painter, but it was there he became drawn to acting. Ê
"There were so many things I could do. But I thought 'I really love theatre'. Acting is a big part of my life. Since I was a child I've always been thrilled by escaping into the world of a film or a play."
Fiennes studied at RADA and then joined the National Theatre. In 1988 he began four seasons with the Royal Shakespeare Company and in 1991 he had his first role on British television. It was his performance in the television film A Dangerous Man, Lawrence of Arabia, in 1992 which caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who cast him in his breakthrough film Schindler's List.
"I've been lucky in that since I left drama school I've been in work," he concedes. "What's depressing is that with the money, comes people's idea of your being, well, a film star."
He doesn't like having his private life in the media - especially with the ending of his marriage to 34-year-old actress Alex Kingston whom he met while at RADA. The couple were together for eight years. In the meantime Fiennes has become involved with actress Francesca Annis, who is nearly 18 years his senior. They starred together in a 1995 stage production of Hamlet, with Annis playing his mother.
Fiennes certainly likes to keep a low profile in public. "The best way
to win, is not to play at all." And with that, he's gone.
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© EL STEPHO
Added to the RF Reading Room on September 13, 1998
EL STEPHO