Ralph Fiennes: the interview

I last saw Ralph Fiennes outside a brutalist block of flats in the Serbian capital of Belgrade looking every inch the Balkan warlord – shaven-headed and flanked by military police. This was the set of his directing debut: a violent, all-action modern interpretation of Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, in which he stars alongside Vanessa Redgrave and Brian Cox as the flawed Roman general. In London, 18 months later, Fiennes is back to a more familiar look – swept back hair, cardigan and pensive expression.

In Serbia you looked like a man on a mission, totally focussed.

‘Yes, I suppose I was. I survived on adrenaline for the eight weeks of shooting. On the very last day, I started to get a bronchial cough that took ages to shake off.’

You played Coriolanus on stage in 2000. Did you think about casting another actor for the film?

‘No, I was unapologetic about that. I wanted to play the part again. I felt there was unfinished business. And some actors feel sort of possessive about a part. It’s silly, because these are great roles – they need to be reinterpreted. But it never left me. And I had a growing belief that this had cinematic potential.’

How so?

‘It’s contemporary in lots of ways, about politics and war. All the shit going down in the play – people dissatisfied, authoritarian leaders, political manipulation and politicking – this is the world we live in. Whether it was an election here, turmoil in Burma or Greece, or war in Chechnya or Afghanistan. And it’s a very uncluttered story. If you strip away the difficult passages, you’re left with a dynamic, visceral tragedy. It doesn’t take any prisoners. It has no lyricism. I like that. I’m attracted to that toughness.’

Why this obsession with Coriolanus? As tragic heroes go, he’s possibly the most unlikeable in the canon. His contempt for the Roman people is pathological.

‘I kind of like his unlikeability. He’s a soldier who has been conditioned since he was a young man. Some of this is in the screenplay, but he was a fighter at 16 years old. He only ever feels complete when he’s fighting. The experience I had on stage was that audiences resist him at first. Then they see him as someone trying to hold true to something and being brought down. So against their instinct they sympathise with him.’

It’s a bitter message. Coriolanus is brought down because he won’t negotiate with the people – but they’re depressingly fickle.

‘Isn’t it nihilistic? It’s bleak and despairing, but there’s a terrible honesty in it. It’s numbing: the pity of it, the waste of it. It’s the only Shakespeare play ever banned – just before World War II in France. It was thought to be too right wing. I do think it’s a mistake to make a political message of it. I believe Shakespeare is saying that at one extreme you’ve got Coriolanus, a brilliant war leader who should not be allowed near politics. At the other, you’ve got the changeability and fickleness of the people.’

You’ve set it in the modern day. The Romans are dressed in high-tech gear. The enemy Volscians have Che beards and bandanas.

‘Rome is what I call a power state in this film. It’s suggestive of Russia or the US or China. The Volscian people are like a smaller, older community fighting for independence. The world I’ve tried to create with the writer John Logan is like Russia and Chechnya or Russia and Georgia. Other things feed in, like the Irish/British conflict.’

Actor-directors often talk about neglecting their performances. Did you feel that?

‘At times, yes. When you’re acting, you don’t have any qualms about saying: “This doesn’t feel right. Can I do it again?” The director is a parent who reassures the child: “It’s great, don’t worry.” Being parent and child at the same time wasn’t easy.’

Everyone’s talking about Vanessa Redgrave’s performance as the domineering matriarch. Did you begin casting with her?

‘One hundred percent. Vanessa has always moved me massively. There’s something about her that makes me almost emotional. I think she’s one of the most extraordinary actors there is. She and Brian [Cox, playing a wily political fox] sort of anchored it.’

Alongside these top-drawer theatre actors, you cast Gerard Butler as Coriolanus’s nemesis, Aufidius. Why?

‘You have to have someone who is a real contender as Aufidius. People have to think: Is he going to beat the shit out of Coriolanus? And Gerry has an amazing physical charisma.’

Were there experiences as an actor that made you think: Yes, I want to direct?

‘Working with someone like Steven Spielberg on Schindler’s List was thrilling. I’ll never forget the focus and energy coming off Steven. And in a very different way, someone like Anthony Minghella on The English Patient – just a different person, much quieter, with a nurturing way, very collaborative.’

And you don’t feel demoted now, on the set of Skyfall or Great Expectations – just a mere actor?

‘Not at all, it’s fascinating to go back. But I did come out of it thinking: yes, I would like to direct again.’

Coriolanus opens on February 25