According to actor Ralph Fiennes, someone once joked that when meeting David Cronenberg for the first time, ‘You expect to meet a freak, and instead meet someone a bit like an L.A. gynecologist. He has something of a doctor’s clarity and precision about him.’

It is these qualities, says Fiennes, that made Cronenberg such a joy to work with on Spider, the 2002 feature about a shattered man haunted by a traumatic boyhood incident. Fiennes and producer Catherine Bailey had been trying to make the film for years.

‘We hadn’t gotten a director,’ the Oscar-nominated Fiennes explains, which prompted him and Bailey to send Cronenberg the script, adapted by Patrick McGrath from his novel of the same name. The filmmaker liked it and met with them in London to discuss the project.

‘Everything he said and every comment he made about improving the screenplay made complete sense,’ Fiennes recalls. ‘We were blessed by the clarity he brought to it, because the script still definitely needed some work, and he knew what he wanted to do. I just trusted him instantly. There was no indecision or uncertainty. I had one of the best experiences working with him.’

Cronenberg’s vision for the film resulted in a top-notch performance from Fiennes, something the director is noted for eliciting in his actors. As Rolling Stone’s Peter Travers wrote in his review, ‘Fiennes is at his best in Spider, rising to the challenge of a dark, demanding role.’

For his part, Fiennes speaks gratefully of Cronenberg’s relaxed approach on the set, which includes his willingness to give actors the space to flesh out their roles and his ability to recognize a good take.

‘He’s a watcher – he watches and sees how an actor develops [his character],’ the thesp says. ‘The best directors I know just let the actor start to play around, and then they’ll slowly come in with a suggestion. I always feel that the directors who get on your case very quickly are usually the least astute. I think the wiser directors – and he is one of them – understand that an actor starts something, and then subtly finds [his] way to adjusting things intuitively.’

Fiennes says he would like to join the ranks of Jeremy Irons (Dead Ringers, M. Butterfly) as a lead actor who has reunited with Cronenberg for a second project.

‘I like working with him,’ he says. ‘We’ve often talked about finding something else to do together, and I hope we will.’