We have revenge, hate and love. We're human and that's why Shakespeare survives 
Joseph Fiennes made Gwyneth Paltrow swoon in Shakespeare In Love, now he is making Jeremy Irons go weak at the knees as Bassanio in The Merchant Of Venice. Just don't say it's a gay thing.
Having played the bard himself in Shakespeare In Love, was it nice to appear in one of his works on film?
Shakespeare In Love was totally different. That was Stoppard's take, and Stoppard is just brilliant at taking those themes of cross-dressing or letters going missing, and playing on the wit and genius of Shakespeare. That was a romantic comedy, but I can't say this is. It's comical and romantic but I wouldn't call it a romantic comedy. The research I did about the man for Shakespeare In Love, though, certainly helps when I'm looking at his plays.
Is Shakespeare still relevant?
I have never seen Merchant Of Venice or a lot of what I do, as what people call costume dramas. I see them as modern plays, problem plays, and that's why Shakespeare survi because he's homing in on the human condition. As technology goes on, we believe that we're more sophisticated, but I think anyone that sees this film will see that these guys are as modern as we are. We have revenge, we have hate, we have love, we have all these simple emotions which plague us. We're human and that's why Shakespeare survives.
There's a gay undercurrent to the relationship between your character, Bassanio, and Jeremy Irons' Antonio. Is it usually played that way?
It's funny because today we love to pigeon-hole people in their sexuality - gay, straight, this, that. I don't know if that's the media or not, but we have an obsession with pigeon-holing people immediately. In Elizabethan times I don't think that was the case. I wouldn't say gay; I would say an absolute love between one man and another. I would say there's a manipulation from Bassanio's point of view, an abuse of this love, and it's something Antonio knows and maybe even likes. Again, it's the same with the anti-Semitic thing - I think to be hijacked by that you lose out on the rest of the human element.
What was Al Pacino like to work with?
He's great. Before the camera rolled he'd be ad-libbing lines in character. I loved that. You might be abusing each other in character, just before it began so that when it started rolling, you were already in that state. He was great at inviting other actors to join in on that and root around and find method in your process. He's very inspiring.
The Merchant Of Venice is released in UK cinemas on Friday 3rd December 2004.
