The 34-year-old actor will be playing the widow, Edith Pretty, while
Fiennes will play Basil Brown, a local archaeologist who works with the widow only to see himself pushed aside by museum curators.
Charles laughed as
Fiennes, who plays M, explained they had been filming a scene in which his character gives Bond a "good dressing down".
Fiennes, who directs and also plays the part of an influential ballet instructor in Rudi's life, Pushkin, has been mulling over this story for about two decades, since he read author Julie Kavanagh's 2007 biography, "Nureyev: The Life." His long study is evident in the final product, which powerfully blends the sublime transcendence of an artist's intellectual awakening with the exciting tension of a political thriller.
Fiennes plays Nureyev's tutor with a softly spoken and sad dignity, and although the star's defection attempt is agreeably staged with belated tension, this is a world away from the slick and sexy antics of 007.
The Cairo International Film Festival honoured
Fiennes with the Faten Hamama Outstanding Achievement award, before the film's screening.
Professor Gianni Angelini carried out an emergency bypass op on
Fiennes after the explorer had a heart attack on a flight in 2003.
Nor does
Fiennes, who also edited Bloodligbt and Bami, identify anyone who appears in the film.
BRITISH actor and director Ralph
Fiennes has received a Serbian passport from the Balkan country's president after he was granted citizenship earlier this month.
Fiennes presents readers with a comprehensive examination of the histories of both England and France and the role his own ancestors played in the lead-up to and definitive battle between the armies of EnglandAEs King Henry V and the Dauphin of France at Agincourt.