Who was William Shakespeare? There are as many theories as there are academics, as many fractions as there are experts. When I was preparing to play him in the film Shakespeare in Love, my starting point was that he was an incredible observer of the people around him, sokaing up their characteristics like blotting paper. The key is that William Shakespeare was Everyman; politically his views ranged across the board, in religious matters, he was non-comittal, sexually he was able to inhabit all points of view. He could deal with everyone from street urchins to monarchs, and he had the same problems as his characters. Being aware of his own doubts and contradictions made him intensely human.
One of my favorite speeches is "The Seven Ages of Man" from As You Like It, in which he describes the parts we all play through out lives--from mewling infant through lover, solider and wise man to second childhood. Shakespeare's canon seems to reflect the stages of his own life, from the brilliantly crisp verse of Romeo and Juliet, through the middle difficult period of Measure for Measure and the man suffering from depression in Hamlet, and then the ebullience and transcendence of The Tempest. His life is set out for us in his works, in the same way that a chronological exhibition of Rembrandt's portraits, with their shimmering beauty and extraordinary vision of human frality, would chart the progress of that artist's life.
Despite the huge thrust of technological advance since the Elizabethan era, the human condition Shakespeare wrote about remains timeless. We still fall in love and get angry and avaricious; we are materialistic or fanatical or seek spirituality. Here was a man who understood all the pain of being human, yet loved life and humour and fun. Put simply, he was one of the greatest-ever literary humanists.
Joe Fiennes
Craig Ferguson: Oh my Lord, oh my Lord, I can feel my buttocks tingling. [laughter] And I'll tell you why: it's a great show tonight. From The Great Raid, Joseph Fiennes is here. [shows picture of Joe; black and white headshot] He is pretty, isn't he? He's going to make me look bad when he comes out: I'm all wrinkly and gnarlly and he's going to be all "hmmm". [laughter] Yeah, he's pretty alright, and a good actor. I hear he's ok though. [laughter] He's very nice, he's very nice, you'll see when he comes out! [shows photo again] By the way, he's black and white in there but he'll be in colour when he comes out. [laughter] Craig Ferguson: My first guest has starred in movies such as Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth; you can see him in a new film, The Great Raid, which opens August 12th. [clip from the movie; Joe as Gibson and the Japanese officer] Craig Ferguson: Blimey! Please welcome Joe Fiennes, everybody. [Joe enters to a lot of applause; they shake hands and sit down. Applause gets louder.] JF: [gestures thanking applause] Wow. Craig Ferguson: Are you worried... are you worried that your popularity may be waning? JF: [laughs heartily] Craig Ferguson: You're doing alright. JF: Thank you, all my family are here. Thanks for coming. [more applause] Craig Ferguson: Have you ever worked with an owl before? JF: I haven't, but I'm up for it if there's one here. Craig Ferguson: [shows owl] I have Hooty, the plastic... I don't even want to do it. [Joe laughs] Listen, tell me about The Great Raid film because it looks fantastic. Is it a true story? JF: Yes, it's a true story. It's little known. There are two books; one called The Great Raid, the other called Ghost Soldiers, and really, the film surrounds the events in 1942, Pacific War, when General McArthur had to pull his American troops out of the Pacific. And he left thousands of US troops, as well as the Filipino resistance, to fight the Japanese Imperial Army. And the character I play is called Major Gibson; he's one of these thousands of men that are caught up in these POW camps. The camp which the film concentrates on is called Cabanatuan. This camp would have housed about 12,000 troops, American and Filipino. Craig Ferguson: Did you meet any of the guys that were in the camps? Are they still around? JF: They are; I watched many footages of documentaries of these guys... Craig Ferguson: Many footages?? JF: Many footages... is there such a word? [laughs] There is now. Craig Ferguson: Listen, if I get the plastic owl, you get many footages. It's alright. [Joe laughs] JF: But it's an extraordinary event. These guys survived the most torturous years in the camp, against Geneva Convention and human rights. Craig Ferguson: And you play an American soldier? JF: I do, Captain... Major Gibson. Craig Ferguson: How are you with the American accent? Cause I'm great at it. [audience laughs] JF: Near bad. Oh, that was Scottish. [laughs] I'm alright. I've had three or four attempts now, and the last attempt was Running with Scissors. That's a film I made with Gwyneth Paltrow... back with her again. Craig Ferguson: You were with her in Shakespeare in Love, weren't you? JF: That's right. Craig Ferguson: You did a lot of running in that film... JF: It was exhausting! [audience laughs] Craig Ferguson: You ran up and down with those tights on, you never stopped! [audience laughs] JF: Slippery boots, big flouncey shirts, it's not easy... That's it, right there. Craig Ferguson: That's acting, though. JF: It's not easy... [laughs] Good British drama school training. Craig Ferguson: Cause you went to drama school in Britain. Did you go to RADA? JF: I turned RADA down. Craig Ferguson: But RADA is the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts. JF: It is... Craig Ferguson: Very posh. JF: It is, and that's why I wasn't accepted. [smiles] Craig Ferguson: Did they turn you down? JF: I think it was mutual. [laughs] But I went to another very good school, called the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, that has produced some wonderful people like Orlando Bloom and Ewan McGregor amongst others. Craig Ferguson: Did you ever get in fights with Orlando Bloom and Ewan McGregor? JF: [laughs, looks incredulous] No, no... [laughs] Craig Ferguson: I didn't think you had, but thought it best to get that out of the way, because everybody is thinking it. [Joe laughs again; audience laughs] JF: No, they're good boys. Craig Ferguson: So you studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama... JF: That's right. Craig Ferguson: Did they teach you about film, or do you just make that up when you turn up on the set? JF: No, we had television. We had like one term of television, we did a lot of radio, but no film. So... Craig Ferguson: Would they teach you to do something like this to do? [points at his own set] JF: No... Craig Ferguson: With a plastic owl? JF: [laughs] No, I missed that term at drama school, I think. Craig Ferguson: You were lucky. I learned to do this online. [Joe and audience laugh] So you first became famous with the American audiences in Shakespeare in Love and Elizabeth, two period pieces, and this film now is set, you know, 60 years ago... JF: When am I going to do a modern piece? Craig Ferguson: What about science fiction? JF: [smiles] I'd love to, I'd love to. The funny thing is, with all these projects that I choose, I really believe that their context is really modern; that ultimately, putting aside the costumes and the time they were placed, they're dealing with sort of dynamics and human conditions which surround us today, so I see them as modern as anything... hmm... as sci-fi today. Craig Ferguson: Well, what about zombies, are you interested in a zombie movie? [audience laughs] JF: Having said that, I would love to do a zombie movie. Craig Ferguson: A zombie movie or a vampire movie? What about that? JF: I'd love that, zombie, 'cause you don't have to remember your lines; they sort of mumble... [audience laughs] Craig Ferguson: You wouldn't play the zombie though... JF: No? Craig Ferguson: You would play the young doctor. JF: Who becomes a zombie? Craig Ferguson: Eventually, eventually! Don't give away the end of the movie! [Joe and audience laugh] JF: Ok... [laughs again] Craig Ferguson: Eventually you become a zombie, but you would probably investigate the zombies. JF: Yeah. I kinda like the sound of that. [audience laughs] Craig Ferguson: Do you live here? JF: I live in London, I travel a lot here, maybe two times a year... Craig Ferguson: You're going to have to move to L.A. if you want to make the zombie movie. JF: Do you think? Craig Ferguson: Yeah, they don't make good zombie movies in Britain. JF: [looks disappointed] I'll tell you... getting off the plane after a 12-hour flight, I am sort of like a zombie. Craig Ferguson: So you live in London and you come over here just for the films? JF: I do come out for promotions and I just did this film with Gwyneth, Running with Scissors, which, hmm... it was funny, it was weird, because in Shakespeare in Love I unwrapped her, with this sort of wonderful sequence, this sensual sequence... Craig Ferguson: Oh yes, I remember... JF: ... and now I'm stabbing her with a pair of scissors. [audience laughs] My career... zombie is looking kind of good because my career is going downhill... [audience laughs] Craig Ferguson: If I may be so bold, zombies is the way to go. JF: I think it's the future. [smiles] Craig Ferguson: That's the future for acting, I think... so what movies would you go see if you... JF: I love sort of world cinema, and I love Pasolini, Rossellini, I love Russian filmmakers, Tarkovsky... anything with subtitles. Craig Ferguson: Anything that no one else has seen. [laughter, Joe laughs] It would probably be a good thing. Have you ever made a film in Russia? JF: I haven't, my sister has. She made a film on the novel, hmm, the poem, called Eugene Onegin. [pronounces with Russian accent, looks proud in a boyish way] You know that one? [audience laughs] A little bedtime reading... and she shot it in St. Petersburg, beautiful place. Craig Ferguson: St. Petersburg, I've heard, is the Paris of Russia. JF: [thinks for a second] Venice, it's got canals... but could be, could be Paris... [audience laughs] Craig Ferguson: It's like the Canali - Amsterdami - Venici - Paris, all adjacent to Scandinavia... JF: [laughs] That's the one. Craig Ferguson: But that's too long, so let's just call it St. Petersburg. JF: [laughs] Craig Ferguson: Listen, the movie looks fantastic... JF: Thank you very much. Craig Ferguson: ... I'm really looking forward to seeing it, it is a fascinating story. It was lovely to meet with you. Joe Fiennes, everybody.
[applause, they shake hands]