00:00I had to wear tights under the robes.
00:03I remember teasing the crew or the stunt team
00:05by provocatively lifting my skirts
00:09to show them my wonderful legs with the garter belt on.
00:13That's me being cheeky.
00:15I'm Ralph Fiennes, and this is my life in pictures.
00:19This is taken in the south of England
00:21in the county of Dorset.
00:22I'm the eldest of six children.
00:25I'm here with the stripes, and that is Jacob,
00:28that's Joseph, that is Sophie,
00:31that's Martha, and that's my brother, Magnus.
00:33I can hear my dad going, come on, look at the camera,
00:35yes, look at me, that's it, smile.
00:37I can hear his voice.
00:38We were very much an arts family.
00:40My mother, whatever any of her children did,
00:43she was encouraging, do it, do it,
00:46but she was very strong about do it thoroughly.
00:49Don't just skim the surface
00:50of anything you're interested in.
00:52She'd get expensive drawing paper in, big sheets,
00:55and we were allowed to take a sheet and start a drawing,
00:58but if we didn't finish it, she would get frustrated.
01:01You didn't finish it, you started drawing,
01:03but you haven't finished it.
01:04You must finish it, I can't,
01:06you can't just take a clean sheet of paper every time
01:09and not finish the drawing,
01:10so I guess she instilled in us a sense of,
01:12you have to be tenacious and keep going and not give up.
01:17This is, I think, a well-known still from Schindler's List.
01:20It's Liam Neeson playing Oscar Schindler
01:22opposite me playing Arnold Goert.
01:24I seem a bit chubby,
01:25because I think I was trying to put on a bit of weight.
01:27The real Arnold Goert was very heavy.
01:29I bought what they called rapid weight gain powder.
01:32I think it was for people who had real issues
01:34with keeping any flesh on anyway.
01:37That was a thing that tipped me
01:38to having a soft, paunchy belly.
01:42When I look at this, I think of my friendship with Liam.
01:45He had been around the block with films,
01:46so he sort of had a wonderful, caring, supportive,
01:49kind of older brother quality.
01:52I think when you're there for someone on set,
01:53you just want to give them your full focus and energy
01:56if you're off camera for them.
01:58You want to go, now I'm here.
02:00You want to help and say, how can I help you?
02:03You want to be present, and that's what I felt from Liam.
02:05Look, all you have to do is tell me what it's worth to you.
02:10What's a person worth to you?
02:11No, no, no, no.
02:13What's one worth to you?
02:15He was wonderfully supportive.
02:17He's a dear friend.
02:20That's with J. Lo,
02:21shooting Made in Manhattan in Central Park.
02:23It's a Cinderella story.
02:25It was rom-com writing.
02:26It was light.
02:27I think I felt a little bit at sea sometimes.
02:29Now, who is this Republican senator?
02:31My antennae for things American, I think,
02:34got better since,
02:35but then I think I was kind of sometimes
02:38a little bit lost.
02:39Why are you dressed that way, Caroline?
02:41The woman you thought was a guest on this floor
02:44is the maid on this floor.
02:46Is this true?
02:48Yeah, it is.
02:49This would never happen at the Four Seasons.
02:52I was friends with Natasha,
02:54and it was incredibly devastating to all of her friends.
02:56Of course, to her family,
02:58that she died so tragically and so young.
03:00I have a lot of happy memories
03:01of spending time with Natasha and Liam.
03:04She was a wonderful, kind, open, generous host,
03:07wonderful actress,
03:08and I really valued her friendship.
03:12Here's my younger brother.
03:14Here, I'm just looking at this picture,
03:15trying to remember where it was.
03:16He looks like he'd like to get away from my grip.
03:19I've got my arm around his shoulder.
03:20He looks like, get the fuck off me, right?
03:23I would, if he was here, we would have a laugh.
03:25He's a brilliant actor.
03:27Master Shakespeare.
03:28The same, alas.
03:30Why alas?
03:31A lowly player.
03:32I thought you were the highest poet of my esteem.
03:34Oh, I am him too.
03:35One day, I hope we do a film together.
03:37I have no idea what kind of film it would be.
03:39It would be nice if it wasn't serious.
03:41He's far too handsome.
03:46We know that this is Voldemort
03:48from the last confrontation with Harry Potter.
03:51Drink up!
03:57It went on for days, I think, shooting that.
04:00David Yates was directing,
04:02and I loved working with him
04:03because even though the films were huge and successful,
04:06he never stopped being very precise,
04:08very detailed about every element.
04:10I never felt him being general.
04:13I could imagine a director under pressure
04:15on a movie that size being,
04:16yeah, yeah, get that, get that shot,
04:18that's great, we've got it, great, move on.
04:20But never, David Yates was just wonderfully,
04:22I could think, Rafe, it could be a bit more like this,
04:24and yeah, just give me this more incredibly precise,
04:29even when I'm going, argh!
04:31Even stuff that's nonverbal stuff.
04:34I think when I'm playing Voldemort,
04:36I'm trying to access something without empathy.
04:39It's about power and control
04:42and manipulating of people for power.
04:45It's a real, almost erotic pleasure
04:47in how I can control you.
04:49I know I have the power to do it.
04:52You have no chance.
04:53Michael Gambon, who played Dumbledore,
04:56is a great, great actor,
04:57but he was known to not take something too seriously,
04:59and he would fart about and take the piss,
05:03take the mickey of the subject matter, you know?
05:05Being a bit campy between takes,
05:07with his hands on his hips,
05:09oh darling, I went in, that sort of thing.
05:12And while you battled,
05:13he had long since fallen on his knees!
05:17I'm wearing these long, silky robes.
05:19I had to wear tights under the robes.
05:21The tights would work their way down,
05:24so the gusset of the tight would be around my knees.
05:27And to get under the robes to hoik the tights up
05:29was a big thing,
05:31and it would be a bit of a pain in the arse.
05:32And then I said, why don't we cut them?
05:34And I put a garter belt on.
05:36And so I did sometimes,
05:39I remember teasing the crew or the stunt team
05:41by provocatively lifting my skirts
05:45to show them my wonderful legs with the garter belt on.
05:50That's me as M, no time to die.
05:52The Prince of Wales, as he was then, visited the set.
05:55The atmosphere changes when royalty visits a film set.
05:59Even if they don't button them up,
06:00literally there's a bit of internal buttoning up
06:02that might go on.
06:03Of course, you know, royalty provokes
06:05a spectrum of responses to people who say,
06:07oh, f***ing Prince of Wales is coming, what a pain.
06:09To other people, oh, did you see him?
06:12What was he like?
06:13Mostly it's warm.
06:15I mean, he's very charming to meet and easy.
06:19I realise that it's written that I'm related.
06:21I don't know that I am.
06:22You could say everyone's related if you care.
06:25So I don't really know about that.
06:27I don't think it's true,
06:29but if it is, it's probably very tenuous.
06:32So if I look at this picture,
06:33the first thing that strikes me is my deep connection
06:37and friendship with Juliette Binoche.
06:39It's a picture from the last scene of the film,
06:41coming together, reunion.
06:44I'm very moved looking at this picture.
06:46It sort of symbolises for me my very deep friendship
06:49and collaboration with Juliette.
06:51That's what I get from this picture.
06:53We worked together on a difficult production
06:55of Wuthering Heights.
06:56We've had the curse, if you like,
06:57of famous literary roles,
06:59which had been done many times and quite successfully.
07:02So it was difficult creatively,
07:04but not in terms of our sense of trust.
07:07And an alliance, I think, was formed.
07:12So when we were doing English Patient,
07:13we had that as credit in the bank.
07:16I'm still here.
07:20You'd better be.
07:22Don't depend on it, will you?
07:27That little bit of air in my lungs,
07:30each day, it gets less and less.
07:33When she laughs now about me being prone,
07:35covered in latex and not able to move,
07:38and she could be free to walk around and administer to me.
07:41And that was a happy experience for us, very much.
07:44And since the English Patient, we've stayed friends.
07:46We've both have done theatre work.
07:48We've come to see each other.
07:49And I've got to know her over the years,
07:51her kindness, her openness, her freedom, her courage.
07:55I find her very inspirational.
07:57What will the people say when they see I have returned alone?
07:59That I led all their men to their deaths.
08:02This film came about because the director,
08:04Uberto Pasolini, said to me,
08:06I want you as Odysseus.
08:07I said, okay, I think I'm too old.
08:09He says, no, you're the right age,
08:10but who should play Penelope?
08:12I think it should be Juliet.
08:14And I went, yeah.
08:15So Juliet teases me.
08:16He said, you always say, Uberto chose.
08:18You didn't want me.
08:19And I said, well, for as soon as he said your name,
08:22I wanted you, but that was the way it went.
08:24I am Odysseus' wife.
08:26Odysseus is dead.
08:28Not to me.
08:29This is a great still,
08:30because it sort of sums up our bond, I think,
08:32as two friends, two actors.
08:34It's meaningful to me.
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