Ralph Fiennes is no stranger to portraying a villain. From his chilling performance of the Nazi war criminal Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List to Miss Trunchbull in the Matilda musical, Fiennes definitely knows how to bring a bad guy to life.
With his acting talent and particular skill at executing malevolent characters on the screen, he was a natural choice for the role of one of the evilest figures in fantasy literature: Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter franchise. However, the actor was reluctant to star in the film at first.
Other actors did portray Voldemort at different stages of his life throughout the series, including Christian Coulson who played a young Voldemort (then known as Tom Riddle) in Harry Potter and the Chamber Secrets.
But in our opinion, no one can do the character justice like Ralph Fiennes. Here’s why he didn’t want to star in the franchise, to begin with, and what made him change his mind.
The Character Of Voldemort
For those who aren’t familiar with Harry Potter (if you exist), Voldemort is the story’s ultimate villain. Each year, he returns in some form to battle it out with his nemesis, Harry Potter.
Referred to as He Who Must Not Be Named by those in the wizarding world, Voldemort’s goal is to achieve pure-blood dominance by ridding the world of Muggle (or non-magical) people.
Ralph Fiennes, who portrays Voldemort, doesn’t appear in the movies until the fourth film, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He returns in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but is absent in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
Of course, he has most screen time in the final installments of the franchise: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Parts 1 and 2.
It Took Two Hours To Apply His Makeup
Voldemort has a very specific scary look, owing largely to the fact that when Harry first meets him, he’s essentially been resurrected from the dead.
He has deathly white and veiny skin, no hair, and snake-like slits where his nose should be. In the books, Voldemort’s eyes are red, but the filmmakers decided to keep Ralph Fiennes’ eyes blue, which makes Voldemort seem more real and more frightening.
According to Looper, it still took up to two hours a day to prepare the actor for the part. The makeup team had to be as quick as possible because Fiennes only had a limited amount of time every day to shoot his scenes with the child actors, who legally weren’t allowed to spend the entire day on set.
Why Ralph Fiennes Turned Down The Role
Now we can’t imagine anyone else playing Voldemort, even though he was portrayed by Richard Bremmer (and voiced by Ian Hart) in the first film. But Ralph Fiennes wasn’t always sold on the role.
According to Cinema Blend, this was because he hadn’t seen the films or read the books and therefore didn’t feel a connection with the role or understand the magnitude of it.
“The truth is I was actually ignorant about the films and the books,” Fiennes explained in an interview (via Cinema Blend). “I was approached by the production. Mike Newell was directing the film that they wanted me to be in … the first time Voldemort was going to appear physically. Out of ignorance I just sort of thought, this isn’t for me … Quite stupidly I resisted, I was hesitant.”
What Made Ralph Fiennes Change His Mind?
In hindsight, Fiennes is glad to have been part of something as successful and impactful as the Harry Potter franchise.
But before he could have predicted how things would go if he did accept the role, he chose to join the project for another reason: his sister’s children, who let him know what a big deal it would be to play Voldemort.
“I think the clincher was that my sister Martha—who has three children who were then probably about 12, 10 and 8—she said, 'What do you mean? You’ve got to do it!'” Fiennes recalled (via Cinema Blend). “So then I rewound my thinking.”
Ralph Fiennes Was Able To Empathize With Voldemort
Given that he’s purely evil, it seems like it would be difficult for any rational human being to empathize with Voldemort. However, in order to bring the character to life, Ralph Fiennes analyzed his pain and tried to understand where he was coming from.
"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," Fiennes said (via The Guardian). "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."
The actor added that he could “understand” his character’s loneliness: “He's all about acquiring power and controlling and manipulating a lot of people," he said. "It can be thrilling and quite freeing to play, because all the rules disappear.”
Ralph Fiennes’ Effectiveness As Voldemort
According to Looper, Fiennes was so scary when he was in makeup and costume to the children on set that he actually made a little boy cry. This alone shows how much of an impact the actor had as Voldemort.
It definitely reinforces how lucky fans of the franchise are that the actor accepted the role in the end.
