Ralph Fiennes has revealed he almost turned down the role of Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise because of ‘misplaced snobbery.’
The 62-year-old actor portrayed the antagonist in five of the films based on J.K. Rowling’s books, but has sense revealed he originally turned his nose up at the opportunity.
The actor was interested in the part until his sister told him how important it was.
Fiennes told The Hollywood Reporter at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival recently: ‘I hadn’t seen the films in order to dislike them, I just hadn’t seen them and I hadn’t read the books. I was aware of their big success. I think I was probably guilty of a sort of totally misplaced snobbery of witches and goblins and things.’
But things changed for Fiennes when he told his sister that the producers of the hit films were interested in casting him as Voldemort.
He continued: ‘I was resistant, until I told my sister Martha that I’ve been asked to play this Voldemort person. She said, “Voldemort, you’ve been asked to play Voldemort? You have to do it! Ralph you don’t realise, you don’t realise.”‘
Despite his initial hesitance, Fiennes brought depth and nuance to his portrayal of the villain.
He told The Guardian of the role: ‘Young Voldemort was an orphan and denied any kind of parental affection or love, so he’s been an isolated figure from a very young age.
‘But I always think there has to be the possibility of good in someone, too. It might have been eroded, repressed, suppressed or somehow distorted within him after he was really damaged.’
Fiennes’ ability to become completely immersed in a character previously earned him an Oscar nomination for his role as Nazi war criminal Amon Goth in Steven Spielberg’s 1993 historical epic Schindler’s List, and more recently in Conclave.
He said: ‘Conclave was one of those things where I had a feeling of that connecting to the part – you don’t know how it’s going to turn out, but it’s good when you have that feeling.
‘There are parts where you feel like that would be fun to do, that’s not really me, but it’ll test me, like In Bruges – that character’s a long way from my lived experience, but a great part, and some parts are closer to your lived experience.
‘Clearly, I’m not a priest, but I felt there was something – yes it functions as a political thriller, but there’s a search for who is the right leader of a faith that has the right qualities of a spiritual leader.’
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Fiennes added: ‘The Pope is real, the Pope exists. So whoever the Pope is is important in our world, so there is a meaning there that resonated with me, and I felt Lawrence is the part who has to guide the Conclave with real integrity and wisdom.
‘And in the course, he’s carrying conflicts himself, and he weakens a moment and his own ambition comes forward. But I think there was a sort of poetic harmony in all the elements.’
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