Quotes by Ralph Fiennes

“[Is a fiction film particularly well equipped to do the kind of work we usually associate with investigative or advocacy journalism?] No, I dont think it can be, especially if it has to serve a dramatic narrative, ... Everyone asks questions about the polemical side of the film, but for me its also about a relationship between two people, their openness with each other, or their decision as a couple not to share, thinking theyre respecting each others privacy. People dont always tell each other what they need to know—not because theyve got anything to hide, like a love affair, but because they dont want to invade. Our ability to be honest with each other, to say, I want this or I dont want that, its all a distant cousin of what happens on the level of social policy, and its who we are, isnt it? Politics starts in the bedroom.”

“I veer away from trying to understand why I act. I just know I need to do it.”

“Im interested in the spirits of people,”

“You just want to find that little thing.”

“Justin isnt going to respond angrily ... hes going to carefully say, What was she doing?”

“The Constant Gardener”

“I dont think Justin changes,”

“Yes, its depressing when theres a lack of clean water and sanitation, ... But here are people living lives of vitality. I only felt welcomed.”

“Justin investigates his wifes death and what she was investigating and theres -- people are after him to stop him. They dont want the information to get out, and they will do anything to stop him.”

“Im interested in the spirits of people. In the theater, theres the acting part of acting -- and Im not saying that cant be great -- and theres the essence. To explore that essence, you need a key, a look, a gesture, an insight that unlocks the persons soul.”

One of the things that binds us as a family is a shared sense of humor.

Gardeners are good at nurturing, and they have a great quality of patience, theyre tender. They have to be persistent.

So much of movie acting is in the lighting. And in loving your characters. I try to know them, and with that intimacy comes love. And now, I love Voldemort.

Being an actor means asking people to look at you. I guess I accept that. But its a profession in which the job is to show another world and other people. You may access it through bits of yourself, and your imagination and experience, but actually, in the end, youre not playing yourself.