Transcribed by Beate, checked by Bobbi

Joe: Hello. Nice to meet you.

Interviewer: Are you used to girls crumbling in your presence these days?

Joe: No, I'm not. Heaven, no. I am not at all! I welcome it! Bring it on. ;)

Interviewer: (laughs) Bring it on, okay. So the sex symbol status then is not something that - that occupies your mind all the time?

Joe: No, not at all. There's lots to go around.

Interviewer: You are doing quite a different film now, from where we were almost used to seeing you in - out of the tights and corsets...

Joe: Yeah.

Interviewer: And um, something a little bit darker.

Joe: Into designer suits and gold watches, um...

Interviewer: Very large.

Joe: Yeah, he is a kind of wonderful character. Sean Deeny, dodgy accountant, and the film is a sort of high-octane Le Carré meets Carry On I think...

Interviewer: Yeah.

Joe: Headed by Rhys Ifans.

Interviewer: Yeah, excellent.

Joe: And it was a great time we had. Was about a year ago I think we did it.

Interviewer: Was it?

Joe: Yeah.

Interviewer: It is a brilliant cast, Rhys Ifans of course from Notting Hill, Tara Fitzgerald, Sadie Frost...

Joe: Yeah.

Interviewer: And the excellent Steve Berkoff is on.

Joe: Yeah - the barking Berkoff.

Interviewer: What was it like to work with him?

Joe: He is fantastic, he is really great! I had known him already from I don't know basically from his work, I think all us students at drama school took on his work. So it was great to meet him finally, yeah.

Interviewer: Are you finding now you are fulfilling quite a few ambitions?

Joe: The main ambition is just keeping employed so I am fulfilling that which is nice and meeting - yeah, wonderful actors.

Interviewer: So you like playing badies?

Joe: I LOOOVE them! He is not bad, he is just misunderstood.

Interviewer: You wouldn't want him as a mate though, would you, really?

Joe: As a mate but not an accountant, no. I wouldn't trust him with my accounts, but um...

Interviewer: Or your girlfriend...

Joe: Or my girlfriend... But he is ..., I think villains are generally misunderstood. They are a kind of bruised romantics.

Interviewer: So you thought he is an all right person?

Joe: Yeah, and I think you have to identify with them if you're gonna tackle them. Yeah, no, he's good fun, he was great.

(short break)

Interviewer: We've got the lovely Joseph Fiennes on the show. I met your brother Ralph late last year.

(Joe gives a cute little laugh)

Interviewer: You are - what is it with your family, where do the genes come from?

Joe: I don't know.

Interviewer: You're all SO talented.

Joe: Oh THANKS!!! I don't know where, I guess it - maybe it's the Mama and the Papa just had a good chemistry, I don't know, maybe it's just the sort of strange upbringing.

Interviewer: Have you ever been in direct competition with him for a role?

Joe: No, because I am the youngest. He is the eldest. There are seven of us.

Interviewer: Oh my God...

Joe: I am 29, and... we wouldn't go for the same parts, 'cause I would probably lose out every time.

Interviewer: (laughs) So no big sibling bust-ups?

Joe: No, not at all. In fact, quite the opposite. He's just done a film with my sister Martha, called Eugen Onegin which is a ...

Interviewer: Wonderful film!

Joe: ...collaboration between her and Ralph and also my other brother Magnus who composed the music for it. So yeah, it was great and I was filming Shakespeare in Love at the same time in Shepperton as they were filming Eugen Onegin, so it was great.

Interviewer: Otherwise you could have been in the film, couldn't you?

Joe: I tried to! But I was - I jumped from one set to another. I tried to sneak in, but the period costume didn't quite work with the Russian Pushkin theme so I just had lunch with them (laughs).

Interviewer: Where do you live? Have we lost you to the Americans, are you going all show business?

Joe: No, everyone keeps asking me this, no, not at all! I love Europe and this is my home.

Interviewer: What do you make of it in LA?

Joe: It's good to breeze in and out, and there is an incredible amount of energy and enthusiasm and um... we are all a bit cynical here and it's kind of refreshing but to tell you the truth I love cynicism so I'll always come back here. But it's good, it's good fun, it's nice.

Interviewer: Are you always gonna pick sort of roles that you consider either arty or worthy or are you gonna go for the big blockbusters, you know, with all the millions?

Joe: Yeah, blockbusters with the millions, that sounds very appealing! ;)

Interviewer: And you get the girl at the end?

Joe: Yeah, why not? I've always envisioned that stuff when you've got that revenue in the big blockbusters. ;) No, I mean, to be honest, I am very happy in Europe, and there are some wonderful European directors that I'd love to work with, so, yeah, I am happy here.

Interviewer: Alright, Joseph, thank you so much for talking to us.

Joe: Nice to meet you.