NOT 'SHAKESPEARE,' BUT STILL A CHALLENGE.

Byline: - Jerry Rice 

For Joseph Fiennes, part of the appeal of ``Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas'' was getting the chance to collaborate with the other voice talents for the animated adventure.

``When I jumped on board, I also jumped on board the idea of working with Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer,'' says the British-born actor who wooed Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow as the bard in ``Shakespeare in Love.'' ``I thought we'd be in the same room and how exciting that would be, all these amazing and talented actors and getting the chance to work with them. Well, I should be so lucky.''

Instead, Fiennes found himself alone in a sound booth reading his dialogue into a microphone - with at least one of the film's two directors, technicians and even a cameraman on the outside of the glass looking in.

And it happened all over the world, as filmmakers caught up with the actors as they were working on other projects. Fiennes' last reading came in Australia, where he was filming the World War II prison camp drama ``The Great Raid,'' which is due in February.

Tim Johnson, who directed ``Sinbad'' with Patrick Gilmore, says there's a reason for not getting all the actors together around a table voicing their parts old-time radio style.

``With animation you're slowly putting together the film over the course of several years, and you're always making discoveries,'' he says. ``You really want to explore each character using the animation process - cutting, comparing, tweaking.''

Fiennes, a newcomer to animated movies, is amazed at how it all comes together. ``It's a real testament to the animators that they could get that level of interaction and energy on the screen,'' he says.

While he didn't get to directly work on the film with his co-stars, they have been promoting it together. Fiennes made a brief appearance in London with Pitt last month, and a week later he met Zeta-Jones for the first time when they talked up ``Sinbad'' before the press at a New York hotel.

With ``Sinbad'' now in theaters, Fiennes is open to the challenge of doing another animated film.

``Radio is one of my favorite mediums, also it's one of the most difficult for an actor because you really have to reach out and spark the listeners' imaginations just with your voice and sound effects,'' he says. ``In animation it's almost the same, although you do get this wonderful collaboration with your voice and the talents of the animators. ... But you're still having to work with the voice and its qualities and the tone of it without your gestures or your eyes in a way you would with live action.''

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Joseph Fiennes lends his voice to ``Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas.''