Ralph Fiennes credits J.K. Rowling for helping to bring Dickens to the screen

Ralph Fiennes appeared on The Andrew Marr Show this weekend (February 2), where he talked more about his upcoming movie, The Invisible Woman. In the interview, he spoke of how his role as Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter movies had given him prominence as an actor and helped him bring both Dickens and Shakespeare onto the screen.

Ralph told Andrew Marr that it is difficult to get funding as a director. The experience, he added, is completely different to the one as an actor, where you have to wait for roles to come in. Ralph agreed that there was

“no question that playing Voldemort and the huge success of the Harry Potter franchise, […] no question that that definitely helps. […] Harry Potter certainly helped.”

Andrew Marr commented that “it’s a very strange thought that thanks to J.K. Rowling we can get Dickens and Shakespeare on screen.”

If you are in the UK, you can watch the full interview on Iplayer here. The interview starts 33 minutes into the show.

Ralph spoke to MuggleNet about directing, The Invisible Woman, and Fantastic Beasts last October at the New York Film Festival. Check it out here.

What do you think of the way that Ralph credits his role in Harry Potter as having such a huge impact on his current work?