Ralph Fiennes's 'Samurai' Coriolanus

An article from the Wall Street Journal:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704709304576123994146133106.html?mod=googlenews_wsj



Ralph Fiennes's 'Samurai' Coriolanus
The English actor makes his directorial debut with a Serbian-set Shakespeare classic.


In 2000, Ralph Fiennes was cast in a double role by London's Almeida Theatre, playing two opposing Shakespeare heroes in repertory: Richard II and Coriolanus. A decade later, Mr. Fiennes, who was regarded as one of the great Hamlets of his time, is using a Shakespeare play as an occasion for another double-turn—this time as both director and star of a film version of "Coriolanus." The film has its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, with Mr. Fiennes in attendance, this Monday.

Coriolanus is a patrician Roman general turned consul, whose love of victory is only outmatched by his loathing of Rome's plebeian mob. Once a hero, then a traitor, he becomes a peacemaker at the bidding of his mother, Volumnia. Having betrayed Rome's betrayers, he ends up dying a traitor's death regardless.

Coriolanus is a "sort of samurai figure for me," says Mr. Fiennes, 48 years old, speaking from his London home. "He is not equipped to be a political animal." He sees "a Greek tragedy" at the heart of Shakespeare's play, in the relationship between Coriolanus and his mother, played in the film by Vanessa Redgrave.

"A man of war actually makes peace kneeling at his mother's feet. I have always found that profoundly moving."

The idea of turning the play into a movie "grew out of me when I was playing the part," he says, of the 2000 production. "I felt sad to stop playing it."

There were bumps along the way to the Berlin premiere, including a loss of funding at a crucial stage, and eventually a downsized budget, but Mr. Fiennes always believed the play "had very strong cinematic potential."

Mr. Fiennes decided to set the action in the present day rather than the ancient or Elizabethan past—"I was never drawn to doing a faithful Roman production," he says. And he decided to shoot the film in Serbia, whose capital Belgrade contains both imposing government buildings and urban dereliction.

"Belgrade offered us a rather bruised capital," he says. And the city's "fabric"—"its marketplaces, grain silos, and beaten up railroad tracks"—became an ideal reflection of Shakespeare's war-torn, impoverished version of Rome.

As a director, he says his "learning curve" came in the editing room.

"I have watched closely how directors have worked, but never in my life have I been through the editing process, where you have to relearn the film." Once "the adrenalin of shooting is over," he says. "You look at your raw material, and then a whole other process starts again. It took me a while to understand what the process was."

He credits his ability to direct himself to "a nucleus of people who gave me good feedback," especially the acting and dialect coach Joan Washington.

"Coriolanus" is another first—it's the first time Vanessa Redgrave has starred in a movie based on a Shakespeare play.

"I never dreamed of playing Volumnia," says Ms. Redgrave, speaking by telephone from New York City, where she is starring on Broadway in "Driving Miss Daisy." She actually had performed in the play before, in a minor role, in a 1959 production, starring Laurence Olivier as Coriolanus. However, Volumnia—whom Ms. Redgrave describes as "a military woman"—has a "mindset," she says, "so very, very different" from her own. "I was amazed when Ralph wanted me to play her," she says. "I wanted to work with Ralph, whom I admire immensely, and the play is an extraordinary play. [So] I accepted it."

Ms. Redgrave, who comes from a theatrical family and is a noted peace activist, says she had to put herself in "a very different pair of shoes."

"I began to understand where this lady came from. Nothing in my history could have helped, [but] somehow with my own instincts and thoughts, and with Ralph directions, I found this lady—at least I believe I found her."

Shakespeare's play has won fans on both the political left and right, who find what they are looking for by opposing either the patricians or the plebeians. Mr. Fiennes did not want to politicize his version in any way. "For me it's a parable about political and social dysfunction," he says, rather than an endorsement of one view or another.

Mr. Fiennes says he was inspired during the project by cinematic history's two great actor-directors, Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles, both of whom created notable film versions of Shakespeare plays. Does the precedent of their multiple attempts inspire Mr. Fiennes to make and star in another Shakespeare movie?

"I don't know yet," he says. "Maybe. I just have to help nurse this out into the world, and then take it from there."

"Coriolanus" also stars Gerard Butler and Brian Cox.

I'll quickly drop this in here because I'm not sure it deserves its own thread.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/columnists/article-1355791/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Ahoy-Samantha-Womack-set-star-South-Pacific.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Ralph Fiennes, who has the world premiere of his version of Coriolanus at the Berlin Film festival on Monday. The picture is a triumph for Fiennes, who not only plays the title role but directs. It’s his debut behind the camera — and it’s a ­stunning one.
The film’s set in an Eastern ­European country but it’s so bang up to date it could have been Egypt, and as bloody confrontations ensue, people shoot footage on their camera phones, and tweet updates. Vanessa Redgrave, Brian Cox, Gerard Butler and Jessica Chastain are all at the top of their game. I will return to this major film very soon.