J.Lo and Fiennes (Ray-Fi) 'Maid' for each other

By Jeannie Williams

She's a superstar singer/actress; he's English theater royalty. She's a multiplatinum record seller; he won a Tony for Hamlet. She's a romantic; he calls himself a skeptic. She's bubbly; he's reserved. But Jennifer Lopez, 31, and Ralph Fiennes, 39, star as lovers in Maid in Manhattan, which opens Friday. She's a hotel maid; he's a would-be Senate candidate. But these opposites definitely attract.

Q: So are you an odd couple?

Lopez: I'm Jenny from the block.

Fiennes: I'm Ralph from the block!

Lopez: (Laughing) See? The same exact thing.

Fiennes: People just decided I'm theater royalty. I'm not. I didn't have a private-school education or anything like that.

Lopez: I did. For 12 years (Catholic schools).

Q: Ralph, did Edward Norton (his Red Dragon co-star) really call you ''Ray-Fi'' when he heard you would work with Jennifer, as in J. Lo?

Fiennes: It was funny. It's such a relief to me. I've always had to struggle with the pronunciation of my name (it's Rafe). I suddenly feel there's light at the end of the tunnel. With Ray-Fi, I don't have to explain why it's Rafe and not Ralph, and it's ''Fines'' and not ''Feens'' or ''Feeney.''

Lopez: Ralph has solved one of his biggest problems. I'm glad I had something to do with it.

Q: Ralph, had you heard Jennifer's music?

Lopez: I want to give you my new album. I have it upstairs.

Fiennes: People gave me your music when they knew I was going to work with you. . . . I like all music, from very contemporary pop music to classical music to jazz.

Q: Ralph was once named one of the 100 sexiest film stars in history. Would you like to be a sexiest man alive, like Ben Affleck in People?

Fiennes: The competition is tough now.

Q: Jennifer, how did Ben, your fiancee, react to that honor?

Lopez: He finds it flattering but at the same time kind of humorous. He takes it with a grain of salt.

Q: Do you think you're sexy on screen, Ralph?

Fiennes: I couldn't possibly comment.

Lopez: I think so. I really did get a lot of, ''Ralph Fiennes -- he's so dreamy.''

Q: Ralph, are you embarrassed?

Fiennes: A little bit.

Q: Does Jennifer act like a diva?

Fiennes: No.

Lopez: I just let the man do everything.

Fiennes: She's completely cool, professional.

Q: Are there any rules for kissing in the movies? You have some nice kissing scenes.

Lopez: I always talk about it a little bit with the actor beforehand, to make sure everybody's comfortable.

Fiennes: We didn't; we just kissed, didn't we?

Q: Mouthwash?

Lopez: It's considerate if they do.

Fiennes: I try and do my teeth.

Q: Ralph, are you better with the media? At the Strange Days premiere (1995), you were freaked out.

Fiennes: I was then, yes.

Lopez: I think everybody in the beginning gets freaked out by it. When I did Selena and was put in the public eye for the first time, and you leave that privacy and anonymity, that's when it's the most scary, the first time it happens. You're like, ''Oh my God, I didn't bargain for this part of it.''

Fiennes: These events (press junkets) are the weirdest things.

Lopez: Talking about yourself all day. I'm like, ''I just know nobody is interested in this.''

Q: You could always just make up stuff, like Nick Nolte does.

Lopez: He told me that! I did a movie with him, Blood and Wine (1997), and he told me -- it was one of my first leads and one of my first experiences with junkets. I was there all day. I was like, ''I really can't do this, it's kind of draining, isn't it?'' And Nick said, ''Make up stuff. Just tell them whatever you want! Don't tell them the truth.''

Q: Have you done that, Ralph?

Fiennes: I have done, yes.

Lopez: I wish I could!

Q: Ralph, you don't talk much about your longtime companion, Francesca Annis, who was with you at the Red Dragon premiere here.

Fiennes: My private life I try to keep private. She's a great woman, a great actress.

Lopez: More power to you.

Q: Ralph, you are on a different level of fame than Jennifer is.

Fiennes: I'm happy where I am. I'll take whatever the ups and downs.

Lopez: I'm happy as well. For me, it's not about a level of fame or celebrity. You're born, and you want to do it. That's what people don't understand. It's something that kind of lives inside you. My passion is not my salary. They say, ''Jennifer, do you want to make a doll? It would make bunches of money.'' That's not fulfilling to me. I go, ''No. I'm not doing a doll.'' That's what they try to make it about: fame and money.

Fiennes: Can I buy a doll of you? Is there a J. Lo figure for my family for Christmas?

Lopez: No! Give them an album instead, a CD. They'll enjoy that more than a doll.