Today Show Interview Transcript

Actor Ralph Fiennes discusses his new movie, "Red Dragon"

Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter may be locked up in prison, but his protege is certain to terrify moviegoers when "Red Dragon" opens this week. A tormented soul named Francis Dolarhyde turns into a mysterious Tooth Fairy At a Full Moon. Ralph Fiennes is Francis, Emily Watson is the friend who cannot see his flaws.

(Clip of "Red Dragon")

LAUER: Ralph Fiennes, good morning. Welcome back.

Mr. RALPH FIENNES ("Red Dragon"): Good morning. Thanks.

LAUER: A lot of people probably didn't read "Red Dragon" the book, so they're not all that familiar with Francis Dolarhyde. So why don't you sum up--what is his basic problem here?

Mr. FIENNES: He is a psychopath. He's a serial killer. When we meet him--when we hear about him in the beginning of the film, we know he's killed two families. He--as we get to know him, we realize that he has a history of an unhappy childhood. He also has a cleft palette, so he has a scar, a hare lip. And my--my feeling is this is someone who's been so humiliated as a child and has felt so insecure about how he looks, that the terrible things that he's doing are--are ways of empowering him, of him feeling good about who he is.

LAUER: He is vicious, he is brilliant, and it's scary how good you are at playing him. So--so where do you go to find a guy like Dolarhyde? Where do you go in your experience--who do--what do you read?

Mr. FIENNES: Well, I started off--I read some books about serial killers, with different cases, FBI cases. There's a lot of books you can--that document in detail. It's very disturbing reading, you know, finding out in detail what these people like Dolarhyde have done. Also, there are writings by serial killers....

LAUER: That's right.

Mr. FIENNES: ...which I found particularly helpful. In fact, Edward Norton gave me a book of these writings. Because they are in the first person. They're a very good way to get inside the the head of--of the way these people think and their attitude to the outside world. And there's often a sense of injustice or their sense of vulnerability. And so it--it gave--gave me a more human element, a more human dimension.

LAUER: One of the things--when I passed you in the hallway here coming into the studio--you are not a big guy.

Mr. FIENNES: No.

LAUER: You're rather slender.

Mr. FIENNES: Well, I've shrunk.

LAUER: No--but--but I will say that in the movie you have much more of an impressive physical appearance.

Mr. FIENNES: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

LAUER: And in the book he's described as someone...

Mr. FIENNES: In the book, he--in the book, he...

LAUER: ...who's menacingly physical.

Mr. FIENNES: ...he's very--I mean I--in the book he's described as a body builder.

LAUER: Right.

Mr. FIENNES: And I--I'm quite slight, and so it was hard for me to get on any muscle weight at all. But I did what I could to--to put on some bulk.

LAUER: Tell me about the relationship between Dolarhyde and Lecter.

Mr. FIENNES: Basically, Dolarhyde is a fan of Lecter. He has a whole scrapbook, a whole--a journal, if you like, of cuttings from newspapers which he's--about Hannibal, what Hannibal Lecter's done. He--he adores--he worships Hannibal Lecter.

LAUER: And Lecter is somewhat of an admirer of him because of the kind of perverse nature and his personality. And in a twist, he actually tips off Dolarhyde to this FBI agent who's trying to track him down.

Mr. FIENNES: Well--well, the FBI using Lecter to find Dolarhyde. In fact, Lecter does--turns the tables and then he uses Dolarhyde to get at--at Graham, Norton, the FBI guy.

LAUER: One of the things that I was thinking about watching the movie is you don't get to do any scenes with Anthony Hopkins.

Mr. FIENNES: No, that was my--that was a frustration.

LAUER: I mean, it has to be. I mean, here you've got Hannibal Lecter...

Mr. FIENNES: Yeah.

LAUER: ...who's, you know, one of the great villains ever in movies...

Mr. FIENNES: Yeah.

LAUER: ...and while you're playing a great villain opposite him, the two never meet.

Mr. FIENNES: I know. Well, I'd love to--I'd love to work with Tony, I think he's a great actor. And as soon as I read the script, I could see how I was not going to have any scenes with him. But I have scenes with great actors, Emily Watson, who's fantastic, Philip Seymour Hoffman, who I get to do horrible things to.

LAUER: Yeah, that--that's a good lead for me, because one of the ways the FBI uses to try and spook or get out Dolarhyde is to plant fake stories in the tabloids.

Mr. FIENNES: Yeah. That's right. That's right.

LAUER: Philip Seymour Hoffman is the tabloid reporter. And here's what happens when Dolarhyde gets a hold of him.

(Clip of "Red Dragon")

LAUER: It's a good place to cut that scene. Real quickly, Ralph, any hesitation doing the third installment in this series?

Mr. FIENNES: When I picked up the script, yes. But when I read it, it's a great adaptation by Ted Tally, who did "Silence of the Lambs." It's a--it's a page-turner, I couldn't stop reading it.

LAUER: You are compelling in the role. Ralph Fiennes, good to have you here.

Mr. FIENNES: Thank you.

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