Ralph Fiennes visits Moscow

The famous British actor, Ralph Fiennes, spent his last weekend in Moscow, though having little time to rest, while working a lot during his promotional tour supporting the Coriolanus drama release in Russia scheduled for January 26, 2012.

A graduate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and two-time Oscar nominee came back to Russia. For the first time this famous British actor known as Ralph Fiennes visited our country at the end of the last century, when he was able to make the first contacts along with some new Russian friends.

Since then his star career has made a significant leap forward, thanks to his role of Amon Göth in the film Schindler’s List (1993), directed by Steven Spielberg, as well as the image of Lord Voldemort appearing in several episodes of the fantasy movie saga featuring Harry Potter (2001-2011).

Ralph Fiennes himself prefers not only blockbusters, but also relatively niche films like The Constant Gardener (2005) or even the historical drama named The Duchess (2008). Meanwhile, he is known not only as an actor, but also being a famous celebrity of the UK theatrical stage, where he became really popular for his respective attitude to the works of William Shakespeare (1564-1616).

Some time ago he had the opportunity to participate in making of the US-British drama based on the Russian classics – Onegin (1999), which was originally written by a poet named Alexander Pushkin, where the actor got his first production experience. However, it was only the beginning of his talent’s development moving further in various directions. This time, he appeared as a director, shooting himself in the lead role in a conjunction with Scottish actor – Gerard Butler. Here the new adaptation of one Shakespeare’s tragedy comes. Coriolanus was originally written in 1605-1608, and in 2011 it has received some modern ambiance with tanks, guns and intrigues plotted in Rome set in the times of an alternate reality.

This film before coming to Russia made a triumphant march through the planet, starting his way in the list of the main competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival (2011), and then became the opening picture of a similar event in the east – 2011 Belgrade International Film Festival. After the Premiere, many felt that the director Ralph Fiennes with his debut has created something very special and demonstrated himself as a gifted leader of the creative process, damning public vices that have existed for a long time and still live these days.

His arrival to Moscow was a real gift for movie fans, who have waited for this day since last December, when the company Top Film Distribution, working on the Russian, Ukrainian and CIS countries markets, announced its intention to bring the celebrity to Moscow. A famous actor and a newly-born director arrived to the Russian capital on January 21, 2012.

The same Saturday Ralph Fiennes was provided with a luxurious limousine – Rolls-Royce Ghost (2010) with interior presented in red leather for a totally comfortable trip through Moscow’s roads. There was nearly no time for leisure activities, and the tight schedule was planned to the minute up to the moment of his departure. On the first day this foreign visitor was awarded a statuette featuring the legendary Rolls-Royce brand, which is well-known around the world representing the prestige of this British automobile manufacturer.

He received the trophy called Spirit of Ecstasy in Moscow. It was cast from pure Silver by English jewellers. Also he got a chance to visit his friends, dine quietly and explore the Russian capital a little bit. The visit continued the next day starting from the early morning on the January 22, 2012. The actor made ready for his new Press Conference with Russian journalists, hoping to avoid any Harry Potter questions, but still willing to answer them all. He was ready to talk about anything including his life and work. During a Photo Shoot he was calm and confident unlike some other always rushing whimsical celebrities visiting Russia.

The same evening, the UK star Ralph Fiennes relocated to the Formula Kino City movie theater located in the Afimoll City (Presnenskaya nab., 2) trade center, where a crowd of fans was already waiting for him hoping to get a signed autograph. The organizers of this event calculated everything well to provide some time for this session, where the smart ones had come earlier to get a better place. Alas, not everyone had a dream come true that day, because there were so many people from all sides, but still a lot of them went home carrying their long-waited autograph.

After spending some time with the fans he continued his way to the premiere’s stage of the Coriolanus (2011) film in Moscow, where he made a welcome speech addressed to the crowd. Some Russian celebrities came to see the movie, including the award-winning director Pavel Lungin, actresses Vera Glagoleva and Ekaterina Volkova, singer Alexander Buynov, a local political activist Irina Khakamada and many others.

Then all the guests encountered another surprise from the Top Film Distribution company, which was a splendid localization of this motion picture to Russian, built on the classical Shakespeare’s style. It is difficult to describe this in text, but it is much easier to understand, when watching this movie in a theater.

The next morning the actor and director Ralph Fiennes flew away back home. Below we are sharing with you the most notable moments of his Press Conference tied in to the Coriolanus film premiere in Moscow. Here the British celebrity was speaking about his latest projects, the long road of the movie around the world, future creative plans, career and life preferences.

The Summary of the Press Conference with Ralph Fiennes

• The actor is ready for many changes to create an ideal role, including a challenge to learn the Russian language, even though he has no doubt of being voice-overed by the local movie distributors;

• Director Ralph Fiennes several times wanted to fire actor Ralph Fiennes from the set, but later on the leading cast member tried his best to improve and pleased the strict director with working hard;

• The ideal social structure doesn’t exist, according to Ralph Fiennes. Everywhere there are its drawbacks, but his new film aims to show that they can happen at any times, in spite of how developed a society can look;

• Ralph Fiennes has chosen for his adaptation the Shakespeare’s drama named Coriolanus, because he repeatedly played it on a theatrical stage considering it being one of the best this playwrighter ever created still staying the director’s favorite;

• British actor admits that Lord Voldemort is the neat character for a role in the story of young wizard named Harry Potter, and there is no other, who can compare with him or substitute him. He also enjoyed the feel of holding a magical wand being able to use powerful spells;

• New projects of Ralph Fiennes are still much of a mystery, according to the strict NDA terms coming from the Producers not willing it to go public yet. However, there is already a revealed secret: the actor played a small role in the upcoming sequel to James Bond franchise, entitled Skyfall (2012);

• You should not believe all the gossips and rumors distributed over the Internet. Whatever the tabloids wrote about what Mr. Fiennes dinner, evening stops at local performances or anything about him being filmed in Russian movies more often than not will not be true and authentic unless confirmed officially;

• Ralph Fiennes music preferences are extremely diverse. Although the actor enjoys classical music the most, for example, J.S. Bach (1685-1750), who he named himself, still at the right mood he can plug in an album by Moby as well as much more intense tracks recorded by the famous British rockers from the Led Zeppelin band;

• Ralph Fiennes praised the work of his Russian-Ukrainian partners and gave them a huge compliment for their ideas and efforts in localizing the film for the Russian market. He also showed a special respect for the Russian literary classics, noting that would be happy to take a part in one of the new movie productions featuring it;

• Coriolanus has spent nearly a year traveling to the Russian and U.S. cinemas, because that was the choice of its Western producers. As it usually happens with the festival works, they decided to hold it on, obviously, expecting the audience to get some additional interest in its social message considering all the economical turmoil and social contradictions that have been happening all over the world in the recent months.

Ralph Fiennes came to Moscow to show Coriolanus