“I just think he’s a genius”: the actor Ralph Fiennes considers his generation’s best
The late 1980s and early ‘90s saw a wave of prominent British actors who invaded America and shone brilliantly, and while Ralph Fiennes may have ended up being the most successful, he’s never failed to be complimentary towards his peers.
He first drew global acclaim for his terrifying performance as a Nazi in Schindler’s List, then proved he could be a romantic hero in The English Patient, a renegade hacker in Strange Days, a quirky monsieur in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and a tender-hearted doctor in both 28 Days Later and its sequel, resting any doubts about his versatility.
The actor has been so consistently great for so long that it’s become easy for him to be taken for granted, but Fiennes has a history of being incredibly blunt and honest when discussing his experiences, meaning that any comments he makes about his co-stars should be taken seriously, and when asked about who he considers to be the finest actor of the generation, he didn’t hesitate in naming Gary Oldman.
“I just think he’s a genius actor and I long to see him in a heavyweight role,” he told the LA Times, and added that he was particularly excited to see Oldman’s performance in the John le Carré adaptation Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.
Fiennes and Oldman share a similar history, as they were both veterans of the British stage who were lured into film roles, so while Fiennes started off in some more serious period dramas, Oldman was noted for what a cinematic chameleon he could be.
Whether he was playing an alcoholic poet in Prick Up Your Ears, a real-life killer in JFK, the titular role in Bram Stoker’s Dracula, or a ruthless, corrupt cop in Leon: The Professional, Oldman brought complexity to each performance and made the type of bold acting choices that many of his peers would be unwilling to do.
While he ended up courting more mainstream attention when he played supporting roles in the Harry Potter and Batman franchises, Oldman’s most acclaimed part was in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, where his performance as George Smiley was seen as a defining role and earned him his first Oscar nomination.
Fiennes’ desire to see Oldman recognised for his talent certainly paid off in the following few years, where not only did he end up winning the ‘Best Actor’ prize at the Academy Awards for his incredible transformation into Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, but he also landed a major television role on the spy series Slow Horses, which remains one of the most popular shows on Apple TV, earning him subsequent accolades as well.
Although Fiennes and Oldman played the roles of Voldemort and Sirius Black, respectively, in the Harry Potter films, they never got to share any substantial scenes together given how vast the ensemble was; however, neither actor has slowed down in the slightest, and the notion that they would get to interact with one another is something that nearly every film fan would want to see.
