While in New York to talk about the upcoming political thriller The Constant Gardener, an adaptation of the John le Carré bestseller directed by Fernando Meirelles, actor Ralph Fiennes talked a bit with ComingSoon.net about his upcoming role as the evil Lord Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the fourth movie in the series based on J.K. Rowling’s bestselling books.
Getting the part came about in a rather roundabout way, since Goblet of Fire director Mike Newell was originally slated to direct Constant Gardener. When he walked off the project to do Potter, he must have felt obligated to bring Fiennes on board, since they had wanted to work together on something for many years.
Fiennes says that he’s already committed to appear in the fifth film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which starts shooting in January. He knows that he’ll have a big fight with Michael Gambon’s Dumbledore in that. He hadn’t read the sixth book yet, but he didn’t believe Voldemort was in it very much, so he didn’t know how large a part he would play in the resulting film.
Of course, the question is whether Fiennes will stick around for the last movie, assuming that Voldemort will play an even bigger role in the finale. Considering that J.K. Rowling hasn’t finished writing it yet and no one knows who might end up directing it, would Fiennes be interested in returning as Voldemort? “I guess it’s always going to be like that,” Fiennes told ComingSoon.net “I have to say that I never know who’s going to direct me, but I think they’ve chosen [well]. Certainly Alfonso Cuaron lifted the whole filmmaking onto another level, and I think that Mike Newell is going to make a really strong film. I think as long as the producers are smart. I think probably the first two films were a little too saccharine and glib, even for Harry Potter fans.”
Fiennes said that some effects will be used to embellish Voldemort’s dramatic first appearance on the screen, and that he’ll have his own action figure. He’s also already dubbed his voice for the related computer game for Goblet of Fire.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire comes out on November 18, but in the meantime, you can see Fiennes in two far less evil roles in The Constant Gardener, opening August 26, and in The Chumscrubber, which is currently playing in select cities.
Source: ComingSoon.net
That picture isn’t actually what Fiennes looks like as Voldemort is it?
There have been several incarnations of the Voldemort look by Fiennes. This was just one. Nothing official has been released as of yet, but I’m am pretty sure that the real look in the film will be more to the visage of the book’s description. There are already several artistic interpretations out there on what Fiennes will bring to the role in the matter of appearance. I have already seen a couple of previews of the film, but the Voldemort character was not revealed in either. We will all know for sure in a few weeks when the coming attreactions hit the theaters and TV ads.
It looks like him as Heathcliff.