Ralph Fiennes shares advice for the next Voldemort actor: 'Practice your long, flowing robe walk'

Ralph Fiennes, an actor who has earned critical acclaim recently for his roles in Conclave and 28 Years Later, may also be remembered for his role in the original Harry Potter movie series. Fiennes played the lead antagonist for the series, Lord Voldemort, for five of the movies, starting with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

He-who-shall-not-be-named is a character that requires a great deal of aura to portray. The evil, the power, the presence that he exudes are bar none. This energy puts fear in the other characters, something that really comes through the movie screen. Fiennes knows this, given his exemplary portrayal throughout the series.

Yet, instead of offering wisdom on how to cover these potentially challenging features of the Dark Lord's character, he decided to highlight a more comedic approach. Specifically, it was all about that robe. That famous, flowing robe.

Ralph Fiennes offers robe management class

Ralph Fiennes seems to have had some difficulty with the robes he was expected to wear as part of the Harry Potter film series, and he is hoping his advice can ward off challenges for whoever plays the role in the television series. Evidently, fashion advice is more important to the role than any of us could have imagined.

"Make sure you can handle the long, flowing robes, and don't trip over them," Fiennes said in a recent interview with Entertainment Tonight. "Practice your long, flowing robe walk."

Comical as this comment may be, it is also true. Long robes are far more challenging to manage than one thing. Just look at how many people trip and fall at their graduations! Do that as an actor, and the cast will never let you live it down. A sprawled-out Voldemort is not very intimidating.

The robes are not the only part of the ensemble that gave Fiennes fits, though. The tights were also quite a nuisance. The original ones were made out of one piece, which "kept getting lower and lower throughout the shooting day and became uncomfortable."

He finally requested individual tights, which acted as a sort of garter belt, for Fiennes to wear. "So I enjoyed teasing the stunt guys by lifting up my robes and showing them my garter belt," he said. It is awesome that someone who plays such a dark, terrifying role can have such great humor about his experience.

It is still unclear who will actually play the character of Voldemort, but the decision is expected soon, given that filming is expected to start around the end of the summer. Whoever plays the role, whether they ask Fiennes to return, offer the spot to Cillian Murphy, or bring someone else in altogether, at least they will have their "robe etiquette" planned out ahead of time, thanks to the wise advice of the former Dark Lord.