# data[].attributes.body
Would you say horror films are becoming more or less viscerally violent these days?

If anything, there may have been a period where the violence kind of waned and then reared its head again. For instance, the original Dawn of the Dead was so violent that it either didn’t get a rating or they didn’t even submit it for a rating — it was stomach-churning. Nowadays, there’s explicit violence in The Walking Dead, one of the most popular television shows, that is on par with the most violent scenes from Dawn of the Dead from 1978. It’s interesting to see how people are able to absorb some pretty extreme violence in mainstream entertainment.

# data[].attributes.body
I guess there were films like Alien and Jaws that were PG rated back then. It’s not like I snuck into Jaws— I saw it at the age that I was allowed to see it but it still gave me nightmares. I was just joking about it with my girlfriend the other day that Jaws made me scared to go in the ocean and I didn’t even live near the beach! And then Dirty Harry is another example. I know that I was much younger than I should have been when I first saw it. There were things in that movie that were really startlingly terrifying for me. The idea that the villain, I think his name is Scorpio Killer, would pay a man to beat him bloody in a really grizzly, violent scene just to frame up the policeman — it was viscerally violent!

# data[].attributes.headline
What is that experience like on stage where close ups aren’t possible?

# data[].attributes.subject
What is that experience like on stage where close ups aren’t possible?

# data[].attributes.body
You weight your expressiveness as an actor completely differently when you’re on stage! I love looking at old interviews with actors on YouTube and I saw an interview with Laurence Olivier, where he says he thinks in film the camera and thus the audience, goes to the actor — whereas in the theater, the actor goes out to the audience. And I think that’s quite simple but actually very true that physically, vocally, you are sending energy across a physical distance, filling a specific physical space and a specific moment in time. You are creating waves of communication through voice and gesture or even stillness, of course.

# data[].attributes.headline
“There’s a space which is full of the energy of what we’re doing, even if we stop and go still.”

# data[].attributes.subject
“There’s a space which is full of the energy of what we’re doing, even if we stop and go still.”

# data[].attributes.body
I did a film called Sunshine with him, and he has a very classical approach. I remember him saying to me that he felt that the close-up was the key element, that cinema is about the close-up on the human face, that thoughts and feelings are born on the face for the first time. And that always stuck with me how he looked for that when he was directing, for the virgin moment.

# data[].attributes.headline
Mr. Fiennes, what’s the best advice a director has given you on a film set?

# data[].attributes.subject
Mr. Fiennes, what’s the best advice a director has given you on a film set?

# data[].attributes.body
Well, I remember Steven Spielberg was incredibly informed about lenses and technical things, and that made him very instinctive in terms of how he directed: “Do it quicker, faster, something’s not right.” He is totally spontaneous, he doesn’t try to measure his direction but it’s very true, it’s very direct and for that reason, very exciting. Anthony Minghella was wonderful, gently guiding you over here, over there, wonderfully reassuring and very, very nurturing. But something I’ll always remember is working the Hungarian filmmaker István Szábo.

# data[].attributes.headline
Does witnessing that kind of thing make it harder to do what you do without ropes?

# data[].attributes.subject
Does witnessing that kind of thing make it harder to do what you do without ropes?

# data[].attributes.body
No, I mean, seeing what happened to this guy or even having known people that have died in accidents doesn't really make it easier or harder. I still don't want to die. You try to learn from accidents that happen. You try to take some kind of lesson from it, but ultimately you're still always doing your absolute best to not die in an accident. I probably have a more nuanced relationship with death now because I've thought about it a lot more. I've talked about death a lot more since appearing in the documentary, Free Solo.

# data[].attributes.headline
It seemed to suggest that you are some sort of psychopath! But would you say that you, or any extreme athlete, has less fear of death?

# data[].attributes.subject
It seemed to suggest that you are some sort of psychopath! But would you say that you, or any extreme athlete, has less fear of death?

# data[].attributes.body
I’ve had a couple of ex-girlfriends sort of accuse me of having a personality disorder! (Laughs) No, I don’t know. I've always been afraid of death. I've never wanted to die. Last year, I watched this guy die in Red Rock. It was this horrible freak accident thing. He fell and he cracked his head and basically just bled out. That was the first time I'd ever actually seen a climbing accident like that. It was kind of sobering — he was even wearing a helmet — it was a reminder of how dangerous climbing can be if things go wrong even when you have all the ropes on.

# data[].attributes.headline
In 2016 you got an MRI scan to determine if there was something in your brain that makes you experience fear differently than the rest of us.

# data[].attributes.subject
In 2016 you got an MRI scan to determine if there was something in your brain that makes you experience fear differently than the rest of us.

# data[].attributes.body
I mean, it wasn't exactly rigorous science but basically the results were just that through lots of exposure, I'd sort of desensitized myself to certain kinds of stimulus, which makes total sense. If you practice something you get better at it or you become less sensitive to it — so I saw the results as totally normal. That makes perfect sense to me.

# data[].attributes.headline
But there are of course other free solo climbers in the world, no? 

# data[].attributes.subject
But there are of course other free solo climbers in the world, no? 

# data[].attributes.body
Not a lot though. It's kind of out of vogue, people don't really do that much anymore because…

Because it’s insane?

I think some of that is cultural stuff. In the seventies and eighties, there were more people free soloing, it was slightly more common, and I think part of that is that climbing has gotten safer. Climbing used to be extremely countercultural and fringe, this niche outrageous activity. And now it's much more mainstream, much more accepted. I walked over to the climbing wall here in town today and a bunch of folks are on their lunch break climbing. These are not people who are part of a counterculture, you know, these are like, bankers and stuff in central London.

# data[].attributes.headline
Alex, what is it like to do something that no one else on earth has ever done?

# data[].attributes.subject
Alex, what is it like to do something that no one else on earth has ever done?

# data[].attributes.body
It’s satisfying, but the thing is nobody else is really playing the game of free solo climbing, so it's easy to win when no one else plays, you know? When you're just playing by yourself, anything you do is going to be something that has never been done before. It’s not just free soloing El Cap, I think I've done something like 35 or 43 solos that were the first time they'd been done, or they were new in some way.

# data[].attributes.headline
Do you take a lot of pictures when you’re not in your studio?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do you take a lot of pictures when you’re not in your studio?

# data[].attributes.body
I’m not the kind of photographer who always has a camera around his neck, always taking pictures of everything, with the fear of losing the moment. My life is full of pictures I didn’t take, or that I just took with my mind because I wasn’t fast enough with the camera. Maybe one day I’ll write a book about the pictures I didn’t take.

# data[].attributes.headline
Do you talk to the father or the mother?

# data[].attributes.subject
Do you talk to the father or the mother?

# data[].attributes.body
It depends. For Laetitia Casta I talked to the mother. Sometimes I talk to the father. But this has only happened a few times, not many times.

# data[].attributes.body
It works well. Their parents say, “Yes, why not?” They know my work, they know they are not erotic pictures or pornographic pictures. There’s nothing pornographic about it.

# data[].attributes.headline
Mr. Roversi, you have taken nude pictures of many of the most beautiful girls in the world. How do you convince them to take their clothes off?

# data[].attributes.subject
Mr. Roversi, you have taken nude pictures of many of the most beautiful girls in the world. How do you convince them to take their clothes off?

# data[].attributes.body
It was never a big problem because they are not girls working in a place where it’s unusual to be nude, like an office. It’s not so complicated because we have a confidence between us. Some guests said no, of course. Some said no because, “My boyfriend doesn’t want me to,” or “I’m too shy.” But sometimes they say this and then six months later she’s ready to do it. Then others are never ready. Then some come and ask me! And I think, “Oh, why not. Maybe it’s good.” So there are really no rules. Except when they’re too young, under 18, then I call the parents to ask their permission to take a nude of their daughter.