Ralph Fiennes offered ballet star acting masterclass

Young ballet dancer Oleg Ivenko went through acting bootcamp with Ralph Fiennes after the Schindler’s List star picked him to play Rudolf Nureyev in his new film.
The Tatar State Ballet company dancer was cast following a nationwide search throughout Russia to find the man who would play the ballet icon in The White Crow and director Fiennes then spent weeks with his leading man giving him a crash course in acting.
“We employed two casting directors in Russia to do a big sweep, which ended up with four or five candidates and I identified this young Ukrainian dancer, Oleg Ivenko,” the Oscar nominee tells WENN.
“I felt he had a latent acting ability and he is a strong ballet dancer, who has a physical proximity to Rudolf Nureyev. I pushed him to understand the best screen acting is rooted in being really present and in the moment. You’re reacting and listening, so the thing to get him to feel is, ‘Don’t show me you’re angry or shy or irritated or whatever; just feel it, be it. Have it inside’.
“I said, ‘If you really have it or are close to having it, it will reveal itself’.
“It sounds quite simple, but it’s hard to be really present, and the beauty of his work is that he is very present. It’s an uncluttered performance. He was very generous and allowed me to steer him a bit, but he has a real pure screen acting instinct.
“In the end, I felt we were comfortable with each other quite quickly and there was a good working relationship.”
The White Crow, which details Nureyev’s early life in central Russia in the 1940s, his student years studying dance in St. Petersburg, and his decision to defect to the West in 1961, was released throughout Europe earlier this year (19). It hits cinemas in the U.S. next week (26Apr19).