Ralph Fiennes needs no introduction. The director and actor has been promoting his new film The Invisible Woman at the New British Film Festival, which is on in three Russian cities until 9 November 2014. The British Council's Anna Safronova related questions from our Facebook fans in Russia to Mr Fiennes. You can read his answers here.
Which character from Russian classical literature would you like to play and why?
Well, for a long time, when I was a bit younger, I wanted to play Prince Myshkin [protagonist of Dostoyevsky's The Idiot]. I love this character, I love his simplicity, his purity.
Now I think I’m definitely on the older side, but I saw a wonderful Russian actor, Sergey Makovetskiy, play an older Onegin [from Pushkin's Yevgeniy Onegin], so this fascinated me, this idea of the older Onegin, who is a pensioner in his sixties. So maybe I’d find a character and take him out of his time. It’d be good. So I’m gonna go for the old man Yevgeniy Onegin.
If you had to switch lives either forever or temporarily with one of the characters you’ve played, who would it be?
I love playing Monsieur Gustave [From The Grand Budapest Hotel, where Ralph Fiennes played Monsieur Gustave]. If I could be M. Gustave, I would always have these wonderful one-liners and funny things to say. So that’s my choice. He’s a bit lonely, but I can live with that.
If you were a director in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, who would you choose for the role, out of today’s actors?
There’s a wonderful young Irish actor, Domhnall Gleeson, who is the son of Brendan Gleeson, and I’ve admired his work on film and think he can do anything. I would love to see him play Hamlet.
If you were asked to play the role of God, what would he be like in your interpretation? How would he look like?
My interpretation of God? He would be like a beautifully turned-up barman in a bar. He would listen to all the problems of the people who came to drink at the bar. He would listen, he would offer some advice, he’d make perfect martini, and everyone would come to this bar, because this barman God will take care of everyone, give them hope.
How important to you is your role as a UNICEF ambassador? What impact do you want to make personally?
I’m technically not an ambassador at the moment, but I have a connection with UNICEF. The time I was an ambassador was very important to me. I learned a lot and it mainly gave me a greater understanding of the extraordinary work UNICEF was doing.
There are many aid agencies doing extraordinary things, but I think I understood that they were making a difference. And if in a tiny way, and I mean a tiny way, I could represent them and help them, I wanted to do that.
What is the most daring or bravest move you’ve made in your career?
I don’t know if anything is particularly brave that I’ve done, but I think it felt quite daunting to present myself as a director of [Shakespeare's] Coriolanus, knowing that it was very hard to sell. Shakespeare’s dialogue on screen is not a commercial proposition. The play is famously not friendly to audiences. I mean, it has no lyricism -- there’s no Romeo and Juliet love affair going on. And so that felt a bit mad, and I would say that deciding to commit to that -- making it work -- felt like something different.
Is there any particular film or book that you keep coming back to?
I looked at that question and I thought: no, there isn’t, because I like to read something new or watch a film that’s new, and I’m hungry to have new experiences in reading or in films that I’m seeing.
Another question is from an eight-year-old girl. She just started to appreciate Harry Potter and was wondering how Voldemort breathes without a nose?
How does he breathe? Well, the truth is that I was allowed to keep my nose, and they digitally removed it afterwards. It’s not actually makeup, it’s a digital effect. So I have to say I was able to breathe.
And an ambitious question – what is it that attracts you to Russia?
Well, you know, it’s hard to put it into just a few words, because the experience of going to another country is that it changes over the years. I’ve been very lucky that I’ve made some friends here and kept close friendships. As I get older, things seem different, and of course, the country has changed. But I can’t help feeling that, since coming here [in 1997] with Ivanov [play by Anton Chekhov], something stirred in here. I can’t say more than that, except that I feel it and I don’t want it to go away.
Is there any question you’ve never been asked in an interview, but you actually really want to be asked this question?
No. I find interviews hard, and I’m always happy when they stay that too. So I’ve enjoyed talking to you, but I’m happy it’s finished.
If you could do us a favour, could you say hello to Moscow, say something about the film?
Hello Moscow, my name is Ralph Fiennes. I’m very happy to be here to present this film, Nevidimaya Zhenshchina [The Invisible Woman in Russian], I hope you’re going to see it. Much love.
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