Sunday Herald Australia
22 July, 2001
By Lawrie Masterson

The battle of Stalingrad was one of the turning points of World War II. Now it has been brought to the big screen in a film some critics are comparing to "Saving Private Ryan".

Before starting his research for his role as Danilov in Enemy At The Gates, Joseph Fiennes knew little about the Battle for Stalingrad. The conflict was one of the defining moments of World War II, with Germany's failure to take the city marking a turning point in the war. The Soviet resistance to the Nazis helped shape the political landscape for the rest of the 20th century.

"It was a whole learning curve for me," says Fiennes, who plays a Soviet propagandist whose task is to turn a simple soldier from the Urals, Vassili Zaitsev, into a national hero.

The film is set in 1942 and '43 and is based on a true story. "I knew that it was a pivotal battle, that it was a battle which brought about the beginning of the end of World War II. But what I was constantly reminded of by the research and playing Danilov was the horrific and extreme conditions these young boys, some just 14-year-olds drafted in from the farmlands, were subjected to.

"Some had never seen a gun and they were drafted into this inhuman atmosphere and that was always a stark reminder to me of just the nature of war and how abhorrent it is."

Co-starring Jude Law as Zaitsev, Rachel Weisz as Tania - the woman with whom both men fall in love - and Ed Harris as Major Konig, the German sniper sent to track down Zaitsev in what becomes a personal duel within a war, Enemy At The Gates is from the Academy Award-winning French director Jean-Jacques Annaud.

It is somewhat ironic that Fiennes is playing a character who would today be called a publicity spin doctor.

The British actor, 31, loves making films and has three up for release this year. But, apparently, when the camera stops, so does his enjoyment. Rather than bask in the media attention that accompanies the launch of most movies these days, Fiennes gives the distinct impression he would much prefer to be doing something else - undergoing a root canal procedure, perhaps.

"I'm a shy kind of guy and I'm not very good at revealing too much," he allows in something of an understatement. "I'm sorry. You should try this. "I guess I understand that we're all involved in propaganda and, for good or for bad, having played Danilov I now understand its power even more. So it kind of assists me in understanding how press and propaganda assists the opening of films," Fiennes says.

"I am involved in an industry which is, in terms of entertainment, full of fabricating heroes and full of manipulating, so, in that respect I guess I do participate in a world not too dissimilar (to Danilov's), but which I like to think is more positive."

Joseph and his twin brother, Jacob, are the youngest of seven Fiennes children. The family includes another hugely talented actor, Ralph, two directors, Martha and Sophie, and a musician, Magnus.

"We're all close and we're all uniquely individual in our passions and pursuits," Fiennes says. "The eldest (foster brother Michael) is an archaeologist and my twin is a gamekeeper, so it's a wonderful and great collection."

Fiennes left home at 17 to pursue his career. He first worked as a dresser at the National Theatre in London and then received a grant to attend the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, from which he graduated in 1993. He made his West End stage debut the same year in The Woman In Black, spent a couple of years with the Royal Shakespeare Company and his first film was Bernardo Bertolucci's Stealing Beauty (1996).

His breakout role on screen came two years later, opposite Cate Blanchett in Elizabeth, before a starring role in Shakespeare In Love. While that film was taking the box office by storm and picking up a brace of nominations at the Academy Awards three years ago, the man who played the title role was working at the Royal Court Theatre in London, playing to audiences of a few hundred in a contemporary play, Real Classy Affair.

"It certainly raised my profile from an unknown, jobbing actor, and that's always nice," says Fiennes, "but I think I understand that the media coverage which surrounds a film and the immense exposure can be the most dominating factor.

"It was a moment full of wonderful frenzy, but I decided to go back to the theatre because it was so very busy."

Fiennes says that after Shakespeare he withdrew from publicity. "But I was naive in thinking that the work can speak for itself and what was brought home to me is that it needs the assistance of publicity." He says he was not too well versed in that, but found he was happy to talk about the project in which he was involved, but not political beliefs or his private life.

"Obviously there's a fine line and it's difficult to judge that because the less you say, the more people want to know. So it's difficult," Fiennes says.

"Film has been a privileged by-product of my passion to act in the theatre. I went to youth theatre for two years and trained at drama school for three years with a view to working in the classics, be it Shakespeare or the modern classics, but film was not on the agenda.

"For me, as a theatre actor, it's all about the written word. In film, what's been wonderful to learn is that it's what's not said that's important. It's almost like the syntax is visual and I love the difference between these two disciplines."

"Enemy At The Gates" opens on Thursday.