Thueringer

Interview Here

Translation by LoveyaBen

The Prince out of the Boygroup

They’ve searched for a long time to find an actor who would fill the leading role of Prince Caspian in the second part of the „Chronicles of Narnia“ with humour, bravery and charme. The winner was the 26 year old Brit Ben Barnes, who already has had a successfully career at the theatre.

- Ben, have you known the stories of Narnia?
Yes, they are very popular in Great Britain, each child knows the. I’ve read them when I was eight. As I prepared myself fort the part I picked out my old books and saw my notes in them written in my child - handwriting. Children’s literature was also one of my courses on the university. There I was reading the Chronicles again. When I had to write my exam there was actually a question about the first part “The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe”. That was really a freaky coincidence.

- What did you like on the new story especially?
I find it fascinating that the bad guy in the second part is human, who is powered from human emotions like greed. Compared with the white witch of the first part he’s a real dictator. The white witch is scary as well, but I find it weirder when a bad guy is acting out of human ambition. That’s the reason why you have to be careful watching the second part together with too young children. The audience grows with the stories.

- Was it hard to play with invisible partners which are insert later by the computer?
Not really. Just the scenes with the mouse I found a little complicated. The mouse was doubled from an orange ball which was on a wire, and it was difficult to find the right moment for the acting. But we were not in green scenery all the time. Actually you are riding through forests and through rivers. We were in New Zealand for two months and in Prague for five months.

- Have you signed for more Nania-movies?
I’ve signed for two films. Shooting for the third part begins in November. In the fourth part, actually my third part, my character is old, around 70. Only at the end he’s young again. I have no idea if they really want to shoot with me. The special effects team is amazing, they won the oscar for the make-up in the first part. They said it’s no problem to make me a 75 year old guy. I asked them not to do that.

- You are wearing a wedding ring?
It’s just a requisite. It’s because of the movie I’m shooting at the moment and I am not able to slip it off. At the moment I’ve the best job in the world because Jessica Biel is my wife. But in real life I’m single. I haven’t find the right girl till now.

- Are you ready to become hollywoodstar?
No, absolutely not. I’m looking at the poster and I wonder if that is really true. Do people really want to see me? Also I don’t think my character is an action hero, I rather think he’s a child which not exactly knows what it is doing. I hope that I will have the chance to play all kinds of characters in future. My previous characters were very different. At the moment journalists are asking me if I’m afraid of what will happen in future. Should I? We’ll see. I have no plan for anything in life, that would be boring.

- You’ve tried yourself with a boygroup on the Eurovision Song Contest a few years ago?
I was kinda drunken most of the time. (laughs) No! I was just at the university and thought it could be fun. We rehearsed a few weeks. We performed a song once only and on the next day we’ve given up. My pop carrer lasted about four and a half minute.

- Would you rather delete that experience out of your memory?
Maybe. But just because it was not my kind music. I like Motown and Soul, the Beatles and the Arctic Monkeys – all sorts of things. But I don’t listen to popmusic. But if you want to break into the music business you take what you get.