Ralph Fiennes Doesn’t Remember His Voldemort Laugh
Most villains are known for having an evil laugh, but actor Ralph Fiennes has said that he can’t remember why or in what scene he gave Lord Voldemort his! The laugh from the final Harry Potter film, as the Irish Examiner writes, has since turned into an Internet meme:
The strange sound produced by the spine-chilling villain when he believes he has killed the boy wizard went viral and became a popular [I]nternet meme, but to the star, it was just a spontaneous outburst.
Fiennes admitted to his lack of memory of the laugh while speaking to philosopher Slavoj Zizek at a School of Life event held in London:
I can’t actually remember what that scene was or why I did it.
He explained what he could, however:
It wasn’t useful going into it as evil. I just thought, ‘I want to destroy Harry Potter. He is really annoying me and the world will be a better place without him in it’.
On a more serious note, Fiennes also discussed what the Irish Examiner termed “his disdain for political correctness”:
I feel lost sometimes. I don’t always know how to find clarity in these questions of political correctness; it’s a real pain in the arse. I find myself getting caught up in it and then realise this is mad, because we all have things we need to express. We are in this time where we are super sensitive to offence, and I am not sure this is always healthy for language; we have taken on this sense of guilt and need to apologise.
He spoke of the power of the arts to provide hope in the current political climate as well:
I find hope in seeing artists and directors bringing something out of themselves that people relate to and reach out to and want more of.
Fiennes is currently directing The White Crow, a film chronicling the early life of Soviet ballet dancer Rudolf Nureyev. It stars dancer Oleg Ivenko and actress Adele Exarchopoulos.
What do you think of Voldemort’s laugh? Do you agree that art can be used as a source of hope? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
