Honestly, there are few actors who get me churned up like Ralph Fiennes. The English Patient had a profound effect on me when I was a teenager, and my residual attraction to Ralph lasts to this day. It’s the voice. It’s the eyes. It’s the talent. And he just seems like the kind of man who would ruin you and ruin himself just to be with you. That’s hot. Of course, Ralph is a bit older now – he’s 49 years old. He’s still incredibly sexy (to me), but he’s also witty, funny, eccentric and weird. Anyway, Ralph has two new interviews, likely to promote Coriolanus, and they amused me. I loved what he had to say about Maid In Manhattan!!! Here are some excerpts from his Details interview:

DETAILS: You reportedly indulged in some rock-star behavior [after the success of Schindler‘s List]. Did sudden fame go to your head?
Ralph Fiennes: I don’t think so. I think that what you call “rock-star behavior,” lots of people have indulged in. It doesn’t mean that you’ve let everything go to your head. You’re under pressure, you play, and it gets noticed and written about. When I read about quote-unquote “rock-star behavior” now, I think I was in the beginner’s category.

DETAILS: Did you ever hit a fallow period? That stretch when you did Maid in Manhattan?
Ralph Fiennes: I’ve never felt fallow in the sense that there’s been no work. People would say, “When are you going to play something lighthearted? You always play dark, serious types or bad guys.” Then Maid in Manhattan came along. I enjoyed making it and have huge respect for J.Lo, who was, I think, terribly good in it. But that sort of light comic thing is probably not my strength.

DETAILS: You have played a lot of villains. Do you get a kick out of that?
Ralph Fiennes: I don’t feel I’m playing villains all the time. I feel I’ve also played some very benign people. Voldemort in Harry Potter is kind of the high-profile villain. Of course the guy in Schindler’s List is a bad guy. No way around that one.

DETAILS: You once said you enjoyed it when a child on set who saw you dressed as Voldemort started crying.
Ralph Fiennes: I wasn’t trying to scare him, but he saw me—I didn’t look like the Voldemort on the screen, but the child cried. The little boy in me was happy to have scared someone. Not in a serious way—of course not.

DETAILS: Would you ever like to have kids?
Ralph Fiennes: Not at the moment, anyway. I haven’t made any firm decisions. But I can’t say right now that I have a huge parental urge.

DETAILS: Do you worry that being domesticated would put a damper on your creative drive?
Ralph Fiennes: I’m not very good at being domesticated. I’ve tried. The domestic life I find claustrophobic—the rituals and habits and patterns. I’m the eldest of six, and we’re all close in age, and that probably informs my reluctance to go there again. . . . This is a rather personal area. I don’t really want to be explaining the way I live.

DETAILS: This is very personal, but do you regret the 2007 Qantas incident, when you were caught leaving an airplane bathroom with a flight attendant?
Ralph Fiennes: I’m not going to comment on that. I’ve never commented on that.

DETAILS: Somewhere down the road you might become Sir Ralph. How would you feel about that?
Ralph Fiennes: I don’t know if actors should be Sirred up. I don’t know. . . . I’m leaving you with an ambivalent silence.

[From Details]

Ralph adores “J.Lo”. Did anyone else laugh because he actually referred to her as “J.Lo”? Not Jennifer. Not Miss Lopez. J. LO. Hilarious. Also – he doesn’t want to talk about the time that he boned a stewardess in an airplane bathroom. I know some of you were grossed out by that, but honestly, if Ralph wanted to bone you in a bathroom, wouldn’t you? I would.

Anyhoodle, Ralph also did the newest Proust questionnaire for Vanity Fair. This is also a lovely piece – you can read the full thing here. My favorite parts are when he cops to being “too controlling and a bit obsessive-compulsive” and his greatest regret is that he didn’t spend more time with his parents while they were alive (aw). His most marked characteristic is “Staring too hard and too long at people, but then zoning out midway through a conversation.” And he hates “Being late, being unprepared, junk food, Facebook, and Twitter.” It’s a good piece!

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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