22/05/2002 - A schizophrenic Ralph Fiennes in David Cronenberg´s latest nightmare, Spider

In David Cronenberg´s Spider, British thespian Ralph Fiennes plays a man imprisoned in the web of his troubled psyche. Spider, screened in competition in Cannes, is based on Patrick McGrath´s 1988 novel about a man who has suffered from schizophrenic hallucinations since childhood, and is convinced that his father (Gabriel Byrne) murdered his mother (Miranda Richardson) for the love of a prostitute.
«Spider is a unique individual whose memory has been polluted to such a degree that he doesn't know who he really is any more. Quite often so-called normal people cannot agree on something they have just seen and in the same way, it's extremely difficult to give a precise definition of schizophrenia,» says Cronenberg.
«I wanted to portray the gradual stratification of Spider´s visions in a way that was believable to the spectator. Spider´s world is made up of multiple realities and memories that are so vivid that he thinks they are real,» continues the Canadian director who had nothing but praise for Fiennes' personification of Spider. «All we did was rely entirely on Ralph's considerable acting skill with just one tiny little stratagem: I asked him to stutter. We realised that this speech defect was the perfect metaphor for Spider´s mental confusion.»

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(Translated from Italian)