The Gold Coast Bulletin
Edition 1WED 14 AUG 2002, Page 016
Playing it tough

IT would be enough to make British actor Joseph Fiennes, on the Gold Coast for prisoner-of-war flick The Great Raid, fall in love with Shakespearean acting all over again.
Fiennes was brilliant opposite Gwyneth Paltrow (both pictured) in Shakespeare In Love, in an exhausting dramatic part where he played the young bard unable to write and in need of romantic inspiration.
CC wonders whether Fiennes, much liked on the Pimpama set by Aussie extras, is yearning for a return to the safety of the stage in Britain.

My film insider says: "When he arrived, they made him part of a special group of 14 which went into training.
"Five of the Japanese on the set spent two days beating them up and being horrible to them."
To clarify that, it was a different rehearsal of sorts, in which Fiennes was prevented from sleeping in the camp as the Japanese extras continued to beat sticks around him.
"They didn't hit them. But they woke him up every half hour and gave him punishment. They had to collect rocks and sticks," says my insider.
American Benjamin Bratt has missed out on the punishment because he plays a ranger who tries to save the prisoners.
But everyone on the set is working long hours, with filming now into the second week, the cameras rolling at 5am and shutting down around 5pm each day.
Of Fiennes, my spy says: "He's a really nice person. He often hangs around with all of the crew. He's one of the boys."
Despite the tough conditions, the Aussies in the crew are enjoying the feed they get each day.
Says my spy: "It's great food. The catering company is really looking after them."
Hopefully, not too much so, because the film is about prisoners of war.