Fear can be wonderful or destructive! How to negotiate with doubt, with Joseph Fiennes
5/18/202650 min
Without something creative to pour himself into, actor Joseph Fiennes says he'd eat himself alive.
In this chat with Fearne, Joseph thinks about why if he doesn't have a challenge to wear him out, restlessness and doubt will take over entirely. They also explore the strange duality of loving your craft... but dreading the judgment that comes with it.
Joseph has played England football manager Gareth Southgate on stage, and now on TV; he draws parallels between their principles around negotiating fear and encouraging vulnerability in men.
Plus, Joseph explains what struggling with reading and writing taught him about knowing who he is, and reveals the hilarious reality of forgetting your lines mid-Shakespeare...
You can watch Joseph in Dear England on the BBC from May 24th.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsFearne Cotton· Host0:00
[gentle music] Hello, and welcome to Happy Place. I'm Fern Cotton, and this is the show that builds confidence through creativity. Today, I'm chatting to Joseph Fiennes.
Joseph Fiennes· Guest0:11
It's a very human condition, doubt. It's a beautiful condition, doubt, and fear too, but as long as it doesn't rule you. And I think that I certainly have it, but if I'm really connected, and if I'm really joyous in what I'm connected to, it kind of evaporates. But if I'm not connected, and I don't find a joy within the creativity, then it emerges. If I can't get to do that meditative, creative moment, I'm completely lost. I'm stressed. I'm gnarly. I kind of, you know, I'm prickly.
Fearne Cotton· Host0:42
I mean, what a treat to chat to Joseph Fiennes. I am so buzzed about this conversation. He's an actor that I've obviously grown up watching. I'm very much a Shakespeare in Love era person. I was a teenager when that film came out. But also, I'm riveted by people like Joseph, who have always remained, you know, firmly at the top of their game in the acting world, not only on the screen, but also in the theater. Um, I am fascinated by theater actors. I love going to the theater. I don't go that often, but I do love it. I haven't been probably for a couple of years now, but I'm weirdly going to the theater tonight to watch Dangerous Liaisons. Now, I like going to the theater because, for instance, like this evening, I know nothing about Dangerous Liaisons. I've not seen the film, the film adaptation that was out, maybe that was in