Ralph Fiennes Goes Off Script

The distinguished actor chats to Eva Mackevic about his latest passion project, The White Crow, working with Anthony Minghella and the importance of kindness. But he’s not too happy about it.

My shirt is soaking wet. It’s not a particularly hot day though, and—no—I haven’t been caught in the rain or sprinted to the office—I’ve been on the phone to Ralph Fiennes for the last half an hour. He called me from New York, where he’s taking a few days off from filming, and from the moment I answered the phone and heard a frostily composed: “Hello, Eva. This is Ralph Fiennes,” I knew I had my work cut out.

I’m on the phone to Ralph to discuss his third directorial venture, The White Crow—a biographical drama about the world’s most prolific ballet dancer, Rudolf Nureyev, detailing his life from the poverty-stricken childhood in eastern Siberia to his dramatic defection from the USSR in 1961. In addition to directing the film, Ralph also plays Nureyev’s teacher, Alexander Pushkin, performing the role entirely in Russian.

The film, he tells me, wasn’t an easy one to make, especially from a financial perspective. “It was extremely difficult. A lot of drama is made on TV now, and this was a film with a lot of scenes in Russian and French, which is a tough sell because English-language movies are more commercially attractive in the market place. I also wanted an unknown dancer who could act the role. I suppose people were looking for global names which help to sell a movie. Not having any always makes it hard.”

It is a tad odd then that far from relishing the opportunity to sing the praises of his pet project, Ralph sounds bored and annoyed, as if he’d rather be getting his teeth pulled than having this conversation with me right now.