The Scotsman Article

August 23, 2002

Actor on flying visit to city film festival
By William Lyons

THE Oscar nominee Ralph Fiennes touched down in Edinburgh last night to promote his latest film - and wasquick to praise the city, describing it as "stunning" and "fascinating".

Attending the Scottish première of Spider, in which he plays a mentally disturbed man who is released from psychiatric care into a boarding house close to where he grew up, the star of The English Patient lamented that he did not have enough time to fully enjoy the festival.

"Edinburgh is a stunning city which fascinates me and I have totally fallen in love with it," he said.

"The festival is a unique event, I only regret not having more time to spend watching the shows, especially the comedy."

Spider, described by critics as Samuel Beckett confronting Sigmund Freud, is directed by David Cronenberg and co-stars Miranda Richardson, Lynn Redgrave, Bradley Hall, John Neville and Philip Craig.

Fiennes said he enjoyed playing David Clegg, an acute schizophrenic who is nicknamed Spider and has been institutionalised for more than 20 years, because he is fascinated by madness.

He added: "I have a fascination with being able to imagine what other people are feeling and thinking, so this was a very interesting character for me to play.

"I thought the symptoms of schizophrenia would be twitches and spasms, but I ended up developing my own interpretation, which was endless muttering.

"I really believe all of us have a little madness in us and I think the film touches on that."

Fiennes admitted that it was difficult not to take the part home with him because he plays such an intense character.

Catherine Bailey, the script-writer, said: "We would meet in the bar afterwards and I could see homicidal madness in Ralph's eyes - I kept telling him to shake it off."