An Interview Actor Ralph Fiennes

He’s a true icon of cinema – behind the camera as well as in front of it! – and if there was ever doubt over the genius of Ralph Fiennes, it’s well and truly blown away by The White Crow.

 

Available to rent now on Virgin Movies from €4.99, it tells the story of ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev defecting from the Soviet Union, and is a brilliantly tense and beautifully crafted film that’s won favour far and wide.

 

 

When the director and star was in town for the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival – where he also collected the Volta Award, the highest honour bestowed by the festival – we caught up with him, along with screenwriter Sir David Hare, to find out all about the magnificent movie. The full interview can be found right here – and here’s a sneak peak at some of the best bits…

 

ON COMBINING ACTING AND DIRECTING

“You could see that the part was lovely – the role of Alexander Ivanovich Pushkin, Nureyev’s teacher – but I didn’t actually want to be in the film initially. In truth, it was only finance that brought it about. It’s really hard doing both – I don’t want to do it again in a hurry!”

 

ON KNOWING WHAT TO LEAVE IN – AND WHAT TO LEAVE OUT

“There’s a mass of material about Nureyev. But that’s where the discerning nature of [scriptwriter] David Hare comes in; with his experience, he helped me to see what was dramatically useful. I have never worked with a writer more closely or more forensically.”

 

ON HANDING THE LEAD ROLE TO A NOVICE ACTOR

“It was a high stakes gamble. But I couldn’t make the film without a dancer. Dancers move and hold themselves in a certain way; even if an actor worked very hard, there’s just something in a dancer’s body.”

 

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