Few actors have enjoyed as much critical and box office success as Ralph Fiennes.
He's become known for his compelling work in prestige and period dramas, has impressed
in comedies, horror movies, and he's also been the leading man in several unforgettable
romances.
Fiennes can now be seen in The Dig, which tells the incredible true story of the 1939
excavation of the Sutton Hoo site in Suffolk, England that forever changed our understanding
of history.
In the film, Fiennes portrays the reserved digger who first uncovers the truth of the
site, and the movie is yet another example of how much power he can pack into his performances.
To celebrate Fiennes' newest work, here's a look back at some of his most iconic film
scenes of all time.
Ralph Fiennes made his movie debut in 1992, but it was his work in Steven Spielberg's
Schindler's List that really put the actor on the map.
The film adapts the true story of Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist who saved the lives
of 1,200 Jewish people in Poland during World War II.
Fiennes stars in the film as the heinous SS officer Amon Goth, who oversees a concentration
camp and whose violence against Jewish citizens inspires Schindler to begin his rescue efforts.
Fiennes' portrayal of the brutal officer produces several searing scenes, including one in which
he discusses the true nature of power.
Göth believes that "control is power," while Schindler contends that mercy is actually
the ultimate display of strength.
Göth considers that to be a joke.
"I pardon you."
Fiennes' chilling performance earned him a BAFTA win for Best Supporting Actor, and he
was also nominated at the Academy Awards and Golden Globes for the role.
Ralph Fiennes' second Oscar nomination came shortly after the first thanks to his work
in The English Patient.
The romantic period drama features him as a badly burned hospital patient who tells
his story to his attending nurse.
Through flashback sequences, he is identified as Count Laszlo de Almasy , a man on a mission
to map out parts of the Sahara Desert whose team is joined by a wealthy British couple
named Katherine and Geoffrey.
Almásy becomes attracted to Katherine, and, during one of the most unforgettable moments
of the movie, he makes his intentions loud and clear without saying a word.
At a soiree with all of their companions, Almásy asks Katherine to dance, and she confronts
him about following her through the marketplace in Cairo.
"So why follow me?
Escort me, by all means, but following is predatory, isn't it?"
Even though his response is silent, Katherine seems to get the message, and it marks the
beginning of a very swoony dance between the two.
Fiennes would go on to play the leading man in other romance movies, but The English Patient
is an all-timer for the genre, thanks in no small part to Fiennes' passionate portrayal
of the titular character.
Although 2002's Red Dragon is the third film in the Silence of the Lambs series, it's actually
a prequel.
Fiennes stars as Francis Dolarhyde, a vicious murderer called The Tooth Fairy who aspires
to become the Great Red Dragon depicted in a 19th-century painting by William Blake.
He becomes the subject of an investigation by Will Graham, the former FBI agent who caught
Hannibal Lecter and comes out of retirement to profile this new killer.
Graham recruits tabloid reporter Freddy Lounds to print a taunting story about the Tooth
Fairy in hopes of getting the killer to expose himself.
The story definitely gets Dolarhyde's attention.
In one of the most indelibly violent scenes of the movie, Dolarhyde kidnaps Lounds and
makes sure he pays for the story.
Fiennes' performance in the role is completely upsetting and confirms that he can play all
ranges of villainy.
"I am the dragon, and you call me insane.
You are privy to a great becoming, and you recognize nothing."
Ralph Fiennes' ability to deliver some very dark humor can not be underestimated.
The 2008 film In Bruges features him in an extremely entertaining role as Harry Waters,
the boss of two hitmen named Ray and Ken.
After Ray accidentally takes out a child while carrying out an order, he and Ken are both
sent to Bruges by Harry, who later instructs Ken to assassinate Ray for his offense.
Upon learning that Ken has refused his order, though, Harry comes into town to take care
of business himself.
To obtain a weapon for the job, Harry visits a local gun dealer and learns that the dealer's
son, Eirik, has been partially blinded by Ray himself.
"Aye aye."
Eirik admits he tried to rob him, but Ray disarmed him and shot him in the eye with
his own gun, which was filled with blanks.
Harry doesn't hesitate to tell Eirik exactly why it is that his bum eye is his own fault.
"Basically, if you're robbing a man and you're only carrying blanks and you allow your gun
to be taken off you, and you allow yourself to be shot in the eye with a blank - which
I assume the person has to get quite close to you - then yeah really it's all your fault."
Almost every scene featuring Ralph Fiennes as Voldemort is iconic.
But one that's guaranteed to give audiences goosebumps every time is the moment when Voldemort
hears Harry Potter approaching in the Forbidden Forest in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows:
Part 2.
Harry has learned that he is one of the many horcruxes that ensure Voldemort's immortality.
In order to kill that part of Voldemort's soul, Harry will have to sacrifice himself,
and Voldemort turns in surprise as he senses Harry's arrival.
Upon seeing him, Fiennes perfectly delivers one of the most iconic lines in the entire
series.
"Harry Potter.
The boy who lived, come to die."
Wes Anderson's 2014 dramedy The Grand Budapest Hotel features an all-star ensemble cast,
but Ralph Fiennes stands out as Gustave H., the concierge of the resort where the film
gets its title.
Gustave is known for seducing elderly women of wealth in the hotel, including Madame D.,
who mysteriously dies and wills him a famous Renaissance painting titled Boy with Apple.
Madame D.'s family is immediately suspicious and sics the police on him, leading to one
of the all-time funniest police pursuit scenes in cinematic history.
In the film, Gustave and his lobby boy, Zero, are informed of the police's presence, and
though he tries to play it cool as his arrest warrant is announced, he can't help but begin
to nervously babble:
"I knew there was something fishy.
We never got the cause of death.
She's been murdered, and you think I did it…"
"Hey!"
Instead of going forward to declare his innocence or mount a defense, though, he abruptly takes
off, causing the five cops in capes and cartoonish caps to sprint after him.
For his role in the film, Fiennes netted his fifth Golden Globe nomination and a BAFTA
nod for Best Leading Actor.
The 2016 comedy Hail, Caesar! from the Coen brothers features Ralph Fiennes as acclaimed
director Laurence Laurentz, who helms a film with a terribly miscast lead actor in Hobie
Doyle.
Hobie has a thick southern accent and has trouble delivering even the simplest lines
without slathering them in country gravy.
"I'll partner you in Bridge.
Why the pout?"
"HUH!
Would that it were so simple."
At first, the director looks incredulous about what he's just heard.
But instead of throwing a fit or embarrassing his actor, he pulls Hobie aside and calmly
attempts to coach him on how to properly pronounce the words.
"Would that it were so simple."
"Would that it t'were so simple."
"Would that it were so simple."
As they each repeat the line back to each other with very different cadences, Laurence
can't help but lose his cool as the tension escalates, and what results is a darkly funny
little freakout.
"Would that it were so simple."
"Would that it t'were so simple."
"Keep your hand down, now.
Would that it were so simple.
Trippingly."
"Would that it t'were so simple.
Trippingly."
"No, don't say trippingly, say the line trippingly."
In The Dig, Ralph Fiennes stars as Basil Brown, the determined excavator who uncovers a massive
piece of history under the mounds of Sutton Hoo.
He's hired by the landowner, an intrepid widow named Edith Pretty, because she knows these
piles of earth likely contain valuable secrets about the past.
With a small team and few resources, Basil painstakingly finds what looks to be the framing
of an ancient ship that served as a burial chamber for a wealthy Anglo-Saxon.
The implications are monumental, as the tomb could shed some light on the mysterious civilization.
Once word of their discovery gets out, expert archaeologists from the government descend
and take over, much to Basil's dismay.
In one pivotal moment from the movie, Basil returns to his home in frustration.
Although he has been invited to continue the dig alongside these newcomers, Basil knows
they will likely claim credit for his findings.
But his wife May puts a poignant end to his pity party, by asking whether he has dedicated
his life to this work in hopes of fame.
"I do it 'cause I'm good at it. 'Cause that's what my father taught me and what his father
taught him.
'Cause you could show me a handful of soil from anywhere in Suffolk, and I can pretty
much tell you whose land it's from."
"There you go."
With that, Basil's entire purpose has been renewed, and he returns to find out what other
treasures lay beneath the dirt.
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