Joseph Fiennes, famous for his role as Fred Waterford in the Handmaid’s Tale, is set to play England manager, Gareth Southgate, in a play called Dear England, written by James Graham. The plot of the play is not a biography of the man himself, but rather a study of Southgate’s work in reforming the laddish culture of the locker-room and his efforts to give the players agency, speaking out when players faced racist abuse. Fiennes thinks that Southgate understood that post-Brexit and pandemic England is not the same England that he grew up in, and that players and their identities within a team are always changing. The play will be funny, but a challenge as it may be difficult to make Southgate’s story into great drama. Fiennes has previously taken on patriarchal roles and is relieved to step into Southgate’s shoes. The Mother, Fiennes’ recent Netflix film, was quite disappointing. The scene where Fiennes’s ex-SAS arms smuggler murders the unborn child of his pregnant victim was particularly difficult for Fiennes to film. Fiennes also speaks of his concerns about playing Michael Jackson in 2016, and the difference between having a voice in television versus in film projects.
