Growing Into the Role : Movies: Ralph Fiennes gained weight--and critical praise--for his role as a brutal Nazi work-camp commandant in ‘Schindler’s List.’

Ralph Fiennes had agreed to meet for morning coffee at the august Savoy Hotel, but when the appointed hour arrived, he was glowering in the foyer. He was dressed smartly in leather jacket, striped shirt and bolo tie, but this ensemble did not please the Savoy; its impenetrable dress codes dictated he must don a formal coat. We agreed to decamp to the more relaxed Waldorf, 200 yards down the street.

“The Savoy offered me one of their jackets, but I wasn’t about to do that,” muttered Fiennes as we strolled along the Strand. “Honestly, this kind of thing just makes me want to pack up and move to the States.”

That would be music to Hollywood’s ears. In the wake of his stunningly powerful performance as the brutal, sadistic Nazi work-camp commandant, Amon Goeth, in Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” the British Fiennes is a hot property. Best supporting actor awards from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics’ Circle, and a Golden Globe nomination in the same category, have only intensified the heat.

“It was a remarkable experience working with Steven,” says Fiennes, visibly relaxing after being ushered to a table at the Waldorf. “I feel as though he’s touched a tender human nerve in all of us with this film.” Fiennes also talks of “the huge bond of loyalty and friendship” that now exists among Spielberg and his “Schindler’s List” stars (Liam Neeson, Ben Kingsley and himself) after the grueling five-month shoot in Poland.

Fiennes (whose name is pronounced Rafe Fines) is a friendly, soft-spoken 30-year-old with impeccable manners, a shy smile, a slim frame and fair hair that flops boyishly over his forehead. It is almost impossible to square his demeanor with that of Amon Goeth, a man capable of randomly shooting Jewish prisoners with a rifle from the balcony of his villa overlooking the work camp. As Goeth, Fiennes summoned up a look of chilling cruelty around his eyes; he wore his hair slicked back and strutted around with a huge paunch.

“Steven didn’t get involved in motivation or in my interpretation of Amon Goeth,” recalls Fiennes. “He wasn’t dictatorial or autocratic. He trusted, and the trust built. But he did tell me not to make Goeth a cliched Nazi, and he thought I should certainly put on weight.”

So Fiennes started eating three full meals a day before shooting began, washing down dinner with a few pints of Guinness. He accelerated the process by consuming a weight-enhancing substance made of vegetable fats and eventually gained 25 pounds, most noticeably around his stomach and jowls.

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“Everyone makes cracks about this being like De Niro putting on the pounds for ‘Raging Bull,’ but I think the decision was justified,” Fiennes says. “Goeth was a man with a sense of his own incredible power, the power to let people live or die. And powerful men often carry a paunch around with them in a way that demonstrates that power. It makes them more expansive, it creates extra space around them. There’s something almost phallic about it.”

Fiennes may have seemed a left-field choice for such a rich role as Amon Goeth. Until now he has been best known in Britain for stage work--in a three-year stint at the Royal Shakespeare Company, he played Henry VI and Triolus. He then played Lawrence of Arabia in a British TV film called “A Dangerous Man” and starred as Heathcliff in Paramount’s ill-fated remake of “Wuthering Heights,” which was never released in America.

“I liked him as Lawrence,” says Spielberg. “He took a lot of chances, especially with Peter O’Toole looming above the part like a guillotine. I asked to see a print of ‘Wuthering Heights’ and thought it was a difficult part he pulled off.

“Also, Ralph has a charm which can cut off and become deadly calm. Goeth was such a nasty man, as evil as any of the icons of German Nazism--and Ralph as Goeth looks you in the eye and makes your blood run cold.”

Fiennes believes Spielberg saw elements of Goeth in his portrayal of Heathcliff: “I made him more vengeful and malevolent than he was in (Emily Bronte’s) novel.”

The next time Fiennes is seen by film audiences, he won’t be brutal or vengeful. Immediately after wrapping “Schindler’s List” in Poland, he flew to New York to play the celebrity 1950s TV quiz contestant Charles van Doren in Robert Redford’s movie for Disney, “Quiz Show.”

“Charles van Doren was thin and angular, so of course I had to lose the 25 pounds immediately,” he says ruefully. “Redford got me a personal trainer.”

In addition to the two films he made last year, Fiennes also was married in 1993, to British actress Alex Kingston. The future looks rather rosy too.

“I’ve already read scripts which have ended up going to Tom Cruise and Daniel Day-Lewis. I can see the ingredients that go into a star role. But one has to be really careful. Having just played two psychologically intriguing roles, I’d like to follow them up with something that offers the same kind of challenge.”

Fiennes is still wrapped up in “Schindler’s List,” though. “Working with Steven was so stimulating,” he said. “You felt you could take risks. I remember saying as much to Ben Kingsley one day after we’d seen the dailies. Ben said, ‘Yes, and just look at where Steven’s putting the camera. We’re in good hands, you know.’ ”