Joe Fiennes in Prague

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Joe Fiennes in Prague

Beitragvon RalucaV » 13.10.2006, 12:34

ja ja, ich bin total sauer, dass ich es nicht bewusst habe... :motz: :motz: :fertig:

*Following Franz Kafka*
[courtesy of Joseph Fiennes Connection] <http://josephfiennesconnection.com>

American Way magazine
October 1, 2006
By Mark Seal
Photography: Stephen Danelian

Running with Scissors' JOSEPH FIENNES has been a star since Shakespeare in Love. But in Prague, with its castle and labyrinth of shops and cafés, he can be something even better: a Franz Kafka character.

This month, Joseph Fiennes joins an ensemble cast in the film version of Augusten Burroughs's dark, funny, and emotional memoir, Running with Scissors, in which a young man (Joseph Cross) from a very strange family is sent to live with his mother's psychiatrist and that doctor's eccentric and extended clan. It's somewhat familiar territory for the 36-year-old Fiennes. After all, he's been part of an ensemble cast, not to mention an eccentric and extended clan, since he was born. Because he grew up with a novelist/painter mother, a photographer father, and five siblings and lived a nomadic existence in England and Ireland, it wasn't a stretch when In Style UK magazine referred to the brood as "the von Trapps of the art world". Joseph's older brother is, of course, Ralph Fiennes, star of Schindler's List and The Constant Gardener. Most of his other siblings are involved in the arts as well: his sister Martha is a filmmaker; his other sister, Sophie, is a film and documentary maker; and his brother Magnus is a music producer­ and a writer. (Only Jacob, his fraternal twin, has strayed from the family business — he's a gamekeeper and a conservationist.) But Joseph has stood out among the talented Fiennes pack ever since — after several years in the London theater community — he broke out as young Will Shakespeare in the Oscar-winning Shakespeare in Love. Fiennes also stands out among the talented Running with Scissors cast, which includes Annette Bening, Gwyneth Paltrow, Alec Baldwin, and Evan Rachel Wood. But it was another film — the historical epic The Red Baron, in which he plays Roy Brown, the Canadian pilot credited with shooting down the Teutonic top gun during the final months of World War I — that brought him back to the city he loves, Prague. "It's one of the most beautiful cities in Europe to work in," he says. Here's why.

*What was your first experience in Prague?*
I was shooting a film called Enemy at the Gates with a French director, Jean-Jacques Annaud. We were filming in Berlin, and I had a long weekend break. I had heard a lot about Prague, and I decided to take time out over the weekend and spend it there. I drove down, and because I'm a big fan of [director] Milos Forman — who filmed the movie Amadeus in Prague — I stayed in the Hoffmeister Hotel, which he loves, or so I've read. You drive down behind Prague Castle into the city. Suddenly, I drove over this hill, and the city is almost in a basin or valley. It was winter and snowy, and it was slightly­ covered in a dusting of snow, and some of the buildings were very dark. That was an amazing romantic contrast. It was like coming across this sort of fairy-tale city.

*Besides the Hoffmeister Hotel, where else do you stay in this fairy-tale city?*
I've stayed at Hotel Paris. It's very art deco, very simple. I wouldn't say it's cheap, but it's not as expensive as the hotels just up the road. In the dining room and in the bar, it has the most beautiful bit of art-deco style, murals on the walls and paintings. And it's pretty much in the center of the city, about a five-minute walk from the main square. I'm filming right now in a hotel that is called Hotel Praha, and it almost feels like a set out of Dr. Strangelove. It's a huge, Communistic building. It's kind of a fortress with 1950s, '60s design. It's rather beautiful in kind of a brutal way. I think architecturally it is wonderful, but it's not everyone's taste. If you are into that kind of architecture and you want to try hotels, it's impressive. If you are into architecture in general, Prague is great for that. If I get my history right, it survived the Nazi invasion and then the Stalin/Communist invasion. What is amazing is that, during that time, the architecture remained completely intact. So, it goes back hundreds of years, right up to the 1920s with the art deco.

*Where do you feel that sense of timelessness and survival the most?*
You have to talk about the Charles Bridge, which is a stunning bridge with about 20 to 30 statues that go along either side of it. From that point, you can see the castle that looks down on the city. I also remember that on one side of the bridge there is a wonderful wall that is dedicated to John Lennon. It's a wall of graffiti with a picture of John Lennon, and around it everyone has written graffiti in '60s hippie fashion. It still survives, and people still add to it today.

*People congregate on and around the Charles Bridge day and night, right?*
Yeah, but really the whole of the central city is very much Old Town, which has got an incredible clock face. It's made up of astrological charts and things. Old Town Square is really just the very heart of the city, a wonderful labyrinth of old shops and architecture that dates back to the twelfth century. Everyone hangs out there and, of course, along the bridge as well. The very romantic and beautiful thing about the bridge is that you can look up at the castle. Also, a trip to the castle is great; you have a vantage point and you can see the city. By either day or night, it is stunning. The area is fairly touristy, and I would say it's good for a beer, but if you really want to discover the city, I would go out some more and just get lost in the labyrinth of smaller streets.

*Prague Castle is actually a sprawling complex that includes other landmarks, like the St. Vitus, St. Wenceslas, and St. Adalbert Cathedral. You could spend several days there, it seems.*
The Prague Castle is fantastic. There are lots of amazing art deco stained-glass works up there. There are some wonderful boutiquey hotels that are cheap and cheerful, and they look over the city. And the castle is spectacular at night. There are little restaurants and bars in that area, as well, but you have to have a strong pair of legs with good calf muscles. A lot of people congregate there. It's a very beautiful, several-minute stroll out of the city.

*Where to next if you're strolling through the city?*
There is the Mozart museum, in a villa where he stayed while visiting Prague. But obviously because I'm dedicated to theater, I'm a huge Franz Kafka fan. If you are in Prague, you have to take a bit of Kafka with you to read; I think his writing and work is synonymous with the city. You should not fail to view the New Jewish Cemetery, where Kafka is buried. It's a beautiful and very moving cemetery, a very potent spiritual­ landmark. Try and find his grave, which is not too easy, but I am sure there are guidebooks that tell you where it is. It was kind of curious to me, because, through drama school, I had read his work and a lot of his plays. So it was great to be in the streets where he walked, to visit the city where his brain was teeming and his pen was racing.

*What should you read on the way there, to get into the proper frame of mind?*
I would read The Metamorphosis.

*Okay, now that we're well read, we'll need some coffee and highbrow conversation. Where would you send us?*
I remember the beer. They have beer on tap pretty much everywhere you go. But, yeah, there are a lot of coffeehouses. The most famous one is Café Slavia, an art-deco landmark with a great view of the river. Then there's Dahab, a tearoom that was recently opened by a man known as "Prague's king of tea," who imported varieties of tea to the city after the 1989 revolution. Café Louvre is an inexpensive restaurant/café in a French style. Then, there's Municipal House Café, another great art-deco coffeehouse. In all of them, you get that sense that people are going out and catching up over a quick cup of coffee and then an evening of beer. It has a wonderful social vibe.

*Café Slavia is the coffee shop that Czech president Václav Havel frequented while in office. Did you come across any other cultural landmarks?*
The City of Prague Museum is worth the visit. When it was still Czechoslovakia, it was one of the richest countries in Europe in its heyday, and certainly the collection of art really tells you how wealthy the country was during those times. Also, I remember Letná park was a beautiful, huge park.

*Kampa park is another one, I believe, closer to the Charles Bridge.*
Yeah, I think there is a part of the bridge that opens up into more of the countryside along the same side as the castle. You get these wonderful, huge vantage points if you are strolling up to the castle.

*That sounds like a lot of walking. How do you get around otherwise? *
If you've got the time and a little bit of money to spend, you can ride in these wonderful cars. I think they might be old, 1920s-era Mercedes, open-top cars with beautiful woodwork. They look like what the gangsters might have had in the '20s.

*Where would you go for dinner?*
You can't go wrong. There is a restaurant/hotel called Valdstejnská Hospoda, originally called the Three Storks. It's literally at the foot of the bridge. It's very beautiful and fairly plush, but it has real character and atmosphere to it. You should check that out; it's a beautiful restaurant. You have to book in advance. [It's currently closed for one year for construction.] Restaurant Flambée may be best known for the fact that it is a stone cellar. I remember you go in on ground level, and it looks fairly nondescript. Then you go downstairs, and it has almost a feel of being in a crypt or something, with these wonderful candles. It's a little bit more modern, with contemporary food and great beer, but in a fantastic old cryptlike setting.

*Have you done any shopping during your visits there?*
On either side of the bridge, you have the center of Prague, and you can just get lost in a wonderful, small labyrinth of shops. On the side of the bridge the castle is on, just at the foot of the bridge is this wonderful shop, Skopku, where I bought some artwork, more like glasswork, like Bohemian glass vases, which had been blown, and they are very exquisite. They are more crystal in really beautiful colors. It is really an amazing shop. I think all through Prague are great crafts.

*What about nightlife in Prague? What does that tend to be like? *
There are downsides. To me, the downside is the enormous number of drunken youths who celebrate what we call "stag nights". Prague is the capital of stag nights. So be prepared for a lot of lads who are wearing crazy uniforms and shouting till the wee hours of the morning, because they are all celebrating or pushing some poor groom to drink far too much before his wedding day — and the same with the girls. You do get parties of boys and girls [who are] a little bit noisier and happily cheerful. But I must confess that I've done it too. I was there one time, and I remember being disappointed that Brazil knocked out England in the World Cup. My last memory was being in a bar and drowning my sorrows since we didn't get through to the semifinals.
I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your main connection to the switchboard of the souls...
RalucaV
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