Killing Bono star Ben Barnes: U2 weren't that cool when I was younger
Perfectly formed British actor Ben Barnes tells Metro about escaping Narnia for the passionate indie comedy of Killing Bono.
Rock'n'roll dreamers: Ben Barnes as Neil (right) with Robert Sheehan as his brother Ivan in Killing Bono
'I’ve probably had the worst review of any actor in anything, ever,’ declares a bruised Ben Barnes, gamely. ‘People say: “Don’t read them” but I don’t want to be one of those actors walking around thinking I’m the dog’s bollocks when actually everyone is laughing at me behind my back thinking: “He’s pretty, but...”’
More: Top 5 rock'n'roll losers on film.
And Benjamin Thomas Barnes is, undoubtedly, pretty. A blessing that led to his being typecast as the ideal of male beauty in Dorian Gray (for which he was also cruelly dubbed ‘Britain’s drippiest leading actor’) as well as the Londoner’s highest profile role to date: Prince Caspian, the chocolate-eyed, tweenage pin-up of the Chronicles Of Narnia franchise.
‘I had hair extensions, orange make-up and enormous armour to bulk me up,’ insists Barnes, who, far from being the ‘aren’t I handsome?’ swaggerer I’d imagined is, in fact, endearingly anxious to be liked and nervously keeps spilling tea on himself. ‘The skinny, pasty fool – that’s my natural habitat.’
It’s certainly how you’d describe his role in his latest film, Killing Bono, an indie comedy based on rock critic Neil McCormick’s memoirs of trying, unsuccessfully, to become a global rock god, while being constantly tormented by the global success of his old school mate, Bono.
‘They wanted very much that Withnail doggedness and blind, flawed passion,’ says Barnes, for whom the part fulfilled his own teen dreams of music stardom – he was in an urban boy band called Hyrise (cringe!) at Kingston University ‘for about three minutes’ before they were knocked out of the early Eurovision heats in 2004.
‘I was never very into U2 at school, though,’ he admits. ‘They weren’t really that cool.’
More scary than performing his own glam punk numbers – live – in Killing Bono was mastering the Irish accent. ‘The Irish have been burned a few times by your Gerard Butlers, plus TC – Tom Cruise – In Far And Away. But we couldn’t really afford a dialect coach, so I decided to stay in the accent from the moment I landed in Ireland to the moment I left. Which I did. It was very confusing when I rang my mum – she’s a psychotherapist, so I’m sure she was very concerned.’
It paid off, though, Barnes proudly tells me, in a way that almost suggests I should reach out to pat his ridiculously glossy hair and say: ‘Good boy.’ He is now second only to Cate Blanchett in a Dublin newspaper’s recent list of the ’ten best Irish accents on screen’.
Accents have, peculiarly, become Barnes’s trademark – he played a Russian immigrant to cracking effect in Bigga Than Ben and adopted a sort of Spanish accent for Prince Caspian.
‘I did start to wonder – do they not like my accent? Is middle class too boring? Whatever I’ve just done, I want to do the opposite. So, as soon as I’d done Killing Bono I did a three-hour World War I play.’ That was an adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s novel, Birdsong, at the Comedy Theatre for which, incidentally, he got some ‘brilliant’ reviews.
‘In Hollywood they’re used to that American brand of acting, which is “come into a room with your natural charisma and we’ll give you a slightly different outfit and haircut for each film, but you’re basically playing the same part and we’ll build you into a massive star,”’ he says.
‘Whereas I think English, Irish and, to some extent, Australian actors want to prove their versatility. I would much rather do that than be a massive celebrity, but you have to work much harder for the things that people don’t know you for. I mean, I keep being offered earnest, period boy-to-man parts on a weekly basis.’
Still, at the age of 29, that should dry up soon enough, something Barnes is sweetly revealing about.
‘You do wonder how long you can be an up-and-comer for. I’ve started now to be included on those lists of “bright young things” and I’m just about to not be allowed on those “30 under 30” lists as well – which is quite scary.
‘Still I’ve got a good skin care regime,’ he jokes self-consciously, seemingly oblivious to a complimentary cookie on his saucer that I’d have chomped in two seconds. ‘And, you know, I’ve still got that picture in the attic...’.
More: Top 5 rock'n'roll losers on film.
And Benjamin Thomas Barnes is, undoubtedly, pretty. A blessing that led to his being typecast as the ideal of male beauty in Dorian Gray (for which he was also cruelly dubbed ‘Britain’s drippiest leading actor’) as well as the Londoner’s highest profile role to date: Prince Caspian, the chocolate-eyed, tweenage pin-up of the Chronicles Of Narnia franchise.
‘I had hair extensions, orange make-up and enormous armour to bulk me up,’ insists Barnes, who, far from being the ‘aren’t I handsome?’ swaggerer I’d imagined is, in fact, endearingly anxious to be liked and nervously keeps spilling tea on himself. ‘The skinny, pasty fool – that’s my natural habitat.’
It’s certainly how you’d describe his role in his latest film, Killing Bono, an indie comedy based on rock critic Neil McCormick’s memoirs of trying, unsuccessfully, to become a global rock god, while being constantly tormented by the global success of his old school mate, Bono.
‘They wanted very much that Withnail doggedness and blind, flawed passion,’ says Barnes, for whom the part fulfilled his own teen dreams of music stardom – he was in an urban boy band called Hyrise (cringe!) at Kingston University ‘for about three minutes’ before they were knocked out of the early Eurovision heats in 2004.
‘I was never very into U2 at school, though,’ he admits. ‘They weren’t really that cool.’
More scary than performing his own glam punk numbers – live – in Killing Bono was mastering the Irish accent. ‘The Irish have been burned a few times by your Gerard Butlers, plus TC – Tom Cruise – In Far And Away. But we couldn’t really afford a dialect coach, so I decided to stay in the accent from the moment I landed in Ireland to the moment I left. Which I did. It was very confusing when I rang my mum – she’s a psychotherapist, so I’m sure she was very concerned.’
It paid off, though, Barnes proudly tells me, in a way that almost suggests I should reach out to pat his ridiculously glossy hair and say: ‘Good boy.’ He is now second only to Cate Blanchett in a Dublin newspaper’s recent list of the ’ten best Irish accents on screen’.
Accents have, peculiarly, become Barnes’s trademark – he played a Russian immigrant to cracking effect in Bigga Than Ben and adopted a sort of Spanish accent for Prince Caspian.
‘I did start to wonder – do they not like my accent? Is middle class too boring? Whatever I’ve just done, I want to do the opposite. So, as soon as I’d done Killing Bono I did a three-hour World War I play.’ That was an adaptation of Sebastian Faulks’s novel, Birdsong, at the Comedy Theatre for which, incidentally, he got some ‘brilliant’ reviews.
‘In Hollywood they’re used to that American brand of acting, which is “come into a room with your natural charisma and we’ll give you a slightly different outfit and haircut for each film, but you’re basically playing the same part and we’ll build you into a massive star,”’ he says.
‘Whereas I think English, Irish and, to some extent, Australian actors want to prove their versatility. I would much rather do that than be a massive celebrity, but you have to work much harder for the things that people don’t know you for. I mean, I keep being offered earnest, period boy-to-man parts on a weekly basis.’
Still, at the age of 29, that should dry up soon enough, something Barnes is sweetly revealing about.
‘You do wonder how long you can be an up-and-comer for. I’ve started now to be included on those lists of “bright young things” and I’m just about to not be allowed on those “30 under 30” lists as well – which is quite scary.
‘Still I’ve got a good skin care regime,’ he jokes self-consciously, seemingly oblivious to a complimentary cookie on his saucer that I’d have chomped in two seconds. ‘And, you know, I’ve still got that picture in the attic...’.
Killing Bono is in cinemas from Friday.
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TRADUZZIONE CON GOOGLE TRANSLATE:
Ben Barnes Killing BonoKilling Bono star Ben Barnes: U2 non erano che bello quando ero più giovanePerfettamente formato attore inglese Ben Barnes racconta Metro di fuggire Narnia per la commedia indie appassionato di Killing Bono.
sognatori Rock'n'roll: Ben Barnes come Neil (a destra) con Robert Sheehan come suo fratello Ivan in Killing Bono
'Probabilmente ho avuto la peggio la revisione di ogni attore nel nulla, mai,' dichiara un contuso Ben Barnes, coraggiosamente. 'La gente dice: "Non leggere" ma io non voglio essere uno di quegli attori giro pensando che sono cazzate del cane quando in realtà tutti a ridere di me alle mie spalle pensando: "E' bella, ma. .. "'
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E Benjamin Thomas Barnes è, senza dubbio, piuttosto. Una benedizione che ha portato alla sua typecast essere come l'ideale di bellezza maschile in Dorian Gray (per il quale è stato anche crudelmente soprannominata 'drippiest attore protagonista della Gran Bretagna'), nonché il ruolo più alto londinese il profilo fino ad oggi: Il Principe Caspian, il cioccolato con gli occhi , tweenage pin-up delle Cronache di Narnia franchising.
'Ho avuto le estensioni dei capelli, armatura arancio make-up e l'enorme massa di me up,' insiste Barnes, che, lungi dall'essere la 'io non sono bello?' Fanfarone che avevo immaginato, infatti, affettuosamente ansiosi di essere piaceva e continua a versare il tè nervosamente su se stesso. 'The skinny, sciocco pastoso. - Questo è il mio habitat naturale'
E 'certamente come si potrebbe descrivere il suo ruolo nel suo ultimo film, Killing Bono, una commedia indie basato sulle memorie critico rock di Neil McCormick per cercare, invano, di diventare un dio rock mondiale, pur essendo costantemente tormentato dal successo mondiale del suo vecchio compagno di scuola, Bono.
'Volevano molto che Withnail e cieco accanimento, passione imperfetto', dice Barnes, per il quale la parte ottemperato ai suoi sogni di adolescente celebrità musica - era in una boy band chiamata urbana Hyrise (cringe!) presso la Kingston University 'per circa tre minuti 'prima che fossero eliminati dei primi Eurovision manche nel 2004.
'Non sono mai stato molto in U2 a scuola, però,', ammette. 'Non erano poi così freddo.'
Più spaventoso di eseguire il proprio numero di glam punk - live - in Killing Bono è stata la padronanza dei accento irlandese. 'Gli irlandesi sono stati bruciati un paio di volte dal tuo Gerard Butler, oltre a TC - Tom Cruise - In Far and Away. Ma non poteva davvero permettersi un allenatore dialetto, così ho deciso di rimanere con l'accento dal momento in cui sono approdato in Irlanda per il momento ho lasciato. Che ho fatto. E 'stato molto confuso quando ho telefonato la mia mamma -. Lei è una psicoterapeuta, quindi sono sicuro che lei era molto preoccupato'
Questo ha pagato, però, Barnes racconta con orgoglio di me, in un modo che suggerisce quasi che dovrei raggiungere i pat suoi capelli ridicolmente lucidi e dire: '. Bravo ragazzo' Ora è seconda solo a Cate Blanchett in lista recente un quotidiano di Dublino del il 'dieci migliori accenti irlandese sullo schermo'.
Accenti hanno, peculiarmente, diventato marchio di fabbrica Barnes - ha giocato un immigrato russo per effetto di cracking in Bigga Than Ben e ha adottato una sorta di accento spagnolo per il principe Caspian.
'Ho cominciato a chiedermi - non loro non piace il mio accento? Classe media è troppo noioso? Qualunque cosa io ho appena fatto, voglio fare il contrario. Così, non appena avevo fatto Killing Bono ho fatto tre ore prima guerra mondiale gioco. 'Questo era un adattamento del romanzo di Sebastian Faulks, la Birdsong, presso il Teatro Comico per il quale, per inciso, ha ottenuto alcuni' brillante 'del cliente .
'A Hollywood sono abituati a quella marca americana di agire, che è "entrare in una stanza con il vostro carisma naturale e ti daremo un vestito leggermente diverso taglio di capelli e per ogni film, ma tu sei fondamentalmente giocando la stessa parte e ti costruire in una stella massiccia, "', dice.
'Mentre io penso inglese, irlandese e, in certa misura, gli attori australiani vogliono dimostrare la loro versatilità. Avrei preferito fare quello che essere una celebrità di massa, ma si deve lavorare molto più difficile per le cose che la gente non si sa per. Voglio dire, io continuo viene offerto sul serio, le parti periodo ragazzo a uomo su base settimanale. '
Eppure, all'età di 29, che dovrebbe portare ad esaurire abbastanza presto, qualcosa di Barnes è dolcemente rivelando circa.
'Tu chiedo per quanto tempo si può essere un up-and-comer per. Ho iniziato subito a far parte di quelle liste di "Bright Young Things" e sono solo di non essere ammessi su quei "30 under 30" le liste, come pure - il che è abbastanza inquietante.
'Still Ho un buon regime di cura della pelle,' scherza consapevolmente, apparentemente ignari di un cookie in omaggio al suo piattino che avrei chomped in due secondi. 'E, sai, ho ancora quella foto in soffitta ...'.
Killing Bono è nei cinema da Venerdì.
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