English actor Ben Barnes

Ben Barnes has captured the attention of the public by means of a role in which he exhibits a dashing Spanish accent; he has since shown the world, however, that English is in fact his native language, and his choice of roles serve as a brilliant display of this. Between his turn as Dorian Gray in an upcoming adaptation of the famous novel whose title is derived from the name of his character and his starring role in the current adaptation of the quintissential Noel Coward play Easy Virtue, he is serving proud two of the best writers ever to have contributed to literature in the English language. Besides, what is there not to like about a Kings of Leon fan? Enjoy the interview.

What is your life philosophy?
Well my dad always used to tell me that 'success was the best revenge' and one time in Los Angeles I found a t-shirt with that exact phrase written on it and often wear it. The older I get the more I am aware of the 'carpe diem' philosophy, in terms of wanting to be involved in important, interesting projects and be creative and write and help good causes where I can. I read a lot of Oscar Wilde recently in preparation for [The Picture of] Dorian Gray and I came across the wonderful philosophy that 'nothing that actually occurs is of the smallest importance'.

You’re portraying the title character in The Picture of Dorian Gray. How do you like the book?
I read the book first when I was a teenager; I am aware it is a lot of people's favourite novel and so definitely wanted to be faithful in tone of the book in making the film. The downfall of Dorian is a fascinating downward spiral of morality and the themes seem as relevant today as ever, living as we do, in a youth and celebrity obsessed culture.

How did you prepare for the role?
We did several days of rehearsal with individual members of the cast and I obviously went back to the book again and again! I watched movies with characters who had really experienced life to get ideas to play the 'older' Dorian in the second half of our story.

You’re also in the running for the role of Aro in New Moon.
Actually this was just an internet rumour. I am a fan of children's literature from studying it at university one semester but I am afraid this was entirely conjecture.

Could you talk about Easy Virtue and what led to that project?
The director, Stephan Elliott, literally emailed me and told me I had to play John in Easy Virtue. He is a brash, outspoken and often very rude Aussie who isn’t afraid say it how it is. And he was never going to make a run of the mill, stiff upper-lipped, traditional period film and that was the reason I wanted to be involved. Plus the opportunity to work with Colin [Firth] and Kristin [Scott Thomas].

How was the cast assembled? Although I don’t mean this at all disparagingly, I will say that the casting of Jessica Biel feels unusual.
Well, her casting should feel unusual as she is playing the American fish out of water in the context of the film! She is a terrific actress with a great sense of humour and is willing to try anything and that is why she is so good in the film in my opinion.

Considering you’re also a stage actor, how is the feel of doing a play adaptation?
I think the original play is pretty depressing and sparse and so we really only kept the best 15 lines and the rest is all the work of Stephan and his co-writer… although it does feel very Coward-esque in places. The original Larita is a real piece of work and the character in the film is much more empathetic and rounded. Plus it’s funnier. But it did feel very much like we were shooting a film based on a play, I can’t really explain why… just the way some of the words roll off the tongue, I suppose.

Carrying this further, how do you respond to the feel and challenge of doing theatre? How is it distinct from film work?
I love the immediacy of the reaction of a live audience in the theatre and the way that no two performances are ever the same. I enjoy rehearsing very much and judging the mood of the theatre minute by minute, it’s a real thrill. Film work is more focused and relies on everyone pulling to capture the story tiny moment by tiny moment.

By the way, considering you were in The History Boys when cast in Prince Caspian, could you discuss the role of Dakin, which Dominic Cooper also played?
Dakin is the playboy of the class. He is sleeping with the headmaster's secretary. He is bright and eloquent and discovering his sexuality and is brave about it. He was a fantastic character to be lucky enough to play, and with such a terrific cast of lads too.

In many ways, then, much of your acting career has been built not on originating roles but on reinventing them. What is appealing about this? How is it challenging?
It has been entirely unintentional and actually added a lot of unnecessary pressure for me and I look forward to originating more roles in the future but you have to go with what you’re offered!

Would you like to do more completely original roles? What sorts appeal to you?
I am interested in words and so script is tantamount in considering projects. Then I want to be in the hands of a talented director, so any genre appeals to me from comedy to thriller. I can only go with my gut instinct and the advice of those around me.

Are there any adaptations you would absolutely love to do? What are they?
There are a few adaptations I’d like to do but I’m not telling what cause you might do it first! They’re not well-known ones, actually, just exciting novels I’ve come across.

Do literary works influence the rest of your life as much as they do your career? What is some of your favorite literature?
Well, I did half an English degree so I love all sorts of literature from 18th-century Hardy to Philip Pullman to Shakespeare, Stephen Fry and biographies.

2009 looks to be a brilliant year for film and theatre. What projects are you looking forward to—either yours or others?
I can’t wait for Sherlock Holmes, Iron Man 2, Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus and of course Dorian Gray!

Are you happy? What do you think is a necessary prerequisite for happiness?
Yes I am. I have up and down days but if I’m busy I’m generally happy. That, a cold beer and a Kings of Leon song on the radio!

This concludes our interview but not our excitement regarding the man! The USA release dates for Easy Virtue and Dorian Gray are approaching, so keep your eyes peeled.
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English indie-folk musician Laura Marling

I would like to apologize to everybody for being a day late with this week's content, but I was extremely excited about this interview and wanted to make sure I'd gotten everything right! If you haven't heard of Laura Marling, for shame. She is an excellent indie-folk-alternative musician from England who paints images with her lyrics that are delightfully gothic, and I mean in the centuries-old sort of way and not the modern black-clothes-black-hair-dye-black-lipstick variety. I was fortunate enough to get to speak with her recently in anticipation for her participation in SXSW, and here is the conversation that ensued. Enjoy!

How are you?
I’m well, how are you?

I’m good. You’re over in England?
Absolutely.

And you’re coming to the US for SXSW later this month. Is this your first time there?
Yeah, I am. This would be my second time at SXSW.

Cool! Do you find people react to your music differently in the US?
Um… I guess so. The US is a lot more sort of vocal, I guess.

I’ve gotta say, your music has this very gothic-romantic sentiment, but it’s delivered in more of a folk styling, which I think makes it extremely unique. How would you say you arrived at that?
I don’t know. How does anybody arrive anywhere, to be honest? It’s a mix of everything that’s influenced me in my life, and I’ve happened to have the opportunity to have an outlet for it.

Do you have any particular literary influences for your writing?
None in particular. I do have influences but not particularly literature. I draw quite a bit on ancient centuries, romantic—not erotic, romantic—

Like the Bronte sisters?
Yeah, exactly.

Right, that’s what I thought, because your music has the same sort of—in theory, they’re romantic, but at the same time there’s a darker undertone. And that comes across in your music.
That’s great!

I know you were a part of Noah and the Whale for quite some time, right?
Yeah. I met them about two and a half years ago, and Charlie [Fink], the lead singer, actually had to do with my first tour. And Charlie produced my album.

Between you and Noah and the Whale and Emmy the Great and Johnny Flynn—it kind of seems like there’s almost a clique of artists that you make up. You collaborate a lot and influence each other’s work.
Yeah. It’s great. It’s lovely to do a lot with them.

And you and Johnny Flynn have toured together.
Yeah! Yeah, yeah, we did America together.

How’d you meet him?
I… oh, gosh. That was so long ago. I can’t remember! It was… I think it was a Sunday afternoon he played this concert called Blue Flowers. And he was by far—it was just John and his fiddle and it was the best thing I had ever seen.

Back to your music. “Crawled out of the Sea” is an interlude, and it’s very, very lush, with a lot of different instruments, more so I feel than many of the other tracks on the album. How did you arrive at that?
Well, obviously, that was just a really short track, so we just made it as ridiculous as possible. We knew it would be a kind of interesting change to the rest of the album. Make sure people were still listening. [laughs]

And then, in keeping with the sort of sea-themed lyrics, you also have “The Captain and the Hourglass”. You know those ships in stories that only come to shore once every hundred years? The captain in the song sort of strikes me as captain of one of those ships.
Yeah, I guess. I never really imagined him as a sea captain, but now that I think about it you don’t really imagine captains in many other senses, I guess. He was supposed to be like a military captain.

Actually, that would make more sense! Because it does say, “he’s heading back to war”.
[laughs] I don’t know, I’d never really thought about that.

Wow, okay. I totally missed that!
That’s good! That’s—whatever your interpretation is, that’s what you should get behind!

Your sound on your CD has definitely evolved since that of your first EP London Town.
Yeah. Yeah, definitely, and London Town should never be listened to again.

[laughs] You’re that ready to put it behind you?
Oh—yeah— [laughs] I’ve been ready to put it behind me since I wrote it!

Well, you know, it was the first EP.
Well, yeah. I don’t know, it was my first real attempt at songwriting, and I should have taken more time to do it as well. It took a long time for people to understand that I was fourteen when I wrote that. [laughs]

Right. Like, “I should have taken more time and released a better EP”?
Yeah. Yeah, if I’d been a bit more patient, I would have realized that I still had a lot of growing up to do.

Well, it did get attention, and then people were ready for your debut album when it came out! I think many people loved your first EP, myself included, but your album is much more sophisticated.
Oh, good. [laughs] That’ll do it.

And it’s gathered a lot of attention, especially here in the States. You’ve been featured in Nylon, in Teen Vogue…
Yeah, yeah. That’s weird, isn’t it?

Is that exciting?
Well, yeah. I mean, it’s being shown on the other side of the planet! [laughs]

Speaking of appreciation, how did you like the public endorsement you got from Robert Pattinson recently?
[laughs] Oh, no, I’ve never heard of it! That’s news to me!

Oh, in multiple interviews he’s been talking about how much he loves your music.
That’s really nice. That’s very nice indeed... yeah, that's great!

Apparently he’s gotten the rest of the cast into you as well and is upset because he thinks they’ve “stolen” your music from him.
[laughs] I like that. That’s good.

A lot of people I’ve interviewed seem to be fans of yours. There was Pattinson, and then I did an email interview with Charlie Fink, and this singer Jose Vanders and I bonded over your music a bit.
Nice! I like the idea of people bonding over my music. That’s so sweet! [laughs]

By the way, do you feel the idea of the term “singer-songwriter”, especially as applied to female musicians, is overused?
Yeah. I mean, I was reading something on me recently where somebody said it and I was just like, “Oh, no, god!” That just conjures up images of a whiny… [laughs] I just don’t like that term. I don’t know why; it’s never settled with me very well. I guess anybody who writes songs and sings is a singer-songwriter.

Right, I think that’s what’s frustrating for a lot of people I’ve talked to. It should be a descriptor but it’s used as a genre.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. It’s like with every type of music you need a way to describe it to other people so they can understand it. [laughs]

Right. Especially when there’s piano or acoustic guitar involved, it really gets laid on thick.
Yeah, it does, it does. I wouldn’t call myself a snobby person, but if someone were describing somebody to me and called them a singer-songwriter I would immediately have a bad reaction. [laughs]

Well, probably because I’m so used to hearing the term applied to so many musicians I like, usually for certain types of musicians, I myself actually gravitate toward that term.
Okay, that’s good. I think it also depends on your name. I wish I hadn’t used my own name for my music, because if you were to describe someone like Beirut as a singer-songwriter you’d be like, “Oh, but his name’s quite cool.”

[laughs] Beirut is—are you a fan?
Oh, totally.

I just discovered his music recently but I was like, “Hey, who is this? This is great!”
Oh, yeah, yeah, it’s amazing. Amazing. He’s a genius.

Is he playing at SXSW?
Um… I don’t know. Maybe…

I’m not entirely sure of the lineup, because I was invited but I couldn’t go!
Oh no! [laughs] Where are you talking to me from now?

New York. Brooklyn, specifically.
Oh, nice.

You’ve been to New York quite a few times, right?
Yeah, I have, yeah. It’s quite a fun place.

Please tell me you like my borough. I’ve got a lot of borough pride.
[laughs] I do. I do, I love it. If I were ever to live in New York, I’d only ever live in Brooklyn.

Excellent! Just what I wanted to hear! All the best New Yorkers are the Brooklynites.
[laughs] Yes, it’s the “new New York”, according to the Sex and the City film.

Oh, really! I didn’t see that. Was it good or atrocious?
[laughs] I don’t know how I ended up seeing it, but I loved it so much! I never watched the series, and then I was totally, completely broken by the film! The series, I never cared about it, but the film completely got me.

I don’t really care about the film, but the show is my guilty pleasure. Like late at night I’ll get a bowl of ice cream and put on an old episode. It’s like the comfort food of TV.
[laughs] Yeah, I guess it is. Women anywhere, any place, can relate to it, I guess.

Yeah. It’s not made for high-class appreciation, but it’s…
Yeah. It’s not very high-brow at all, really!

It’s popcorn!
That sounds good. I think I’ll have a little bit of that.

I’m not a popcorn fan. I don’t like it very much.
I don’t like it either. I used to be a big fan. I used to go to the cinema three or four times a week, and now I just go to the pub because I don’t like popcorn.

It’s interesting, I like following movie news but I hate actually going to the movies.
Yeah, and the cinemas in New York, the cinemas in America are so strange as well.

Well, here it’s exorbitantly expensive! $12 for a ticket!
I know! And here in England it’s just not like that. And the food is really cheap, and the drink is really cheap, and there’s so much food. In America it’s really weird. You guys put butter on your popcorn like mad.

Oh, god, yeah, that’s the worst—if I were to get popcorn I would get it plain. The bright yellow butter that people just squirt and squirt? It’s absolutely disgusting.
Yeah, it’s pretty gross.

No, these days I only really go to the movies if I’m going to a screener for something. It’s interesting, I like the news about the actors a lot more than I actually like watching films.
Yeah. I like watching films I own, but I know what you’re saying about going to the cinema.

Well, I pick a few favorites and then I just watch them over and over.
That’s the only way! I love, I love Woody Allen films. That’s my thing that I watch at three o’clock in the morning.

Have you seen his latest [Vicky Cristina Barcelona]?
I haven’t! I really want to see it.

It’s amazing. Rebecca Hall is fantastic. But you’re definitely a fan of the older ones.
Oh, yeah. I especially love Everyone Says I Love You.

I want to see that one but I can’t find it!
Yes, it’s quite difficult to find. It’s such a good film. That was the film that made me fall in love with New York before I even got there.

We don’t have rental because we have Tivo, on which I check once a month, but it’s never there, and I can’t find it online—it’s just not anywhere!
[laughs] Oh, no, that’s so sad! Come back to Britain and I’ll bring you a copy.

[laughs] Yes, yes, excellent. You can lend me yours. I’m especially disappointed because I’m such a big musical buff.
Oh, really! I was totally surprised I liked that film because I hate musicals.

Really!
Yeah, I can’t stand them.

Oh, I love them! I can understand why people don’t, but I really don’t discriminate. I like just about everything except Phantom of the Opera, which I really can’t stand.
[laughs] Apart from that one Woody Allen film, I just can’t stand musicals. All that sort of theatrical Disney stuff gives me the creeps. I guess it’s different especially when you’re in America, because when you watch a musical and they’re all speaking in terrible American accents, that’s terrible. But in America, it probably works a bit better.

Well, you guys may get the horrible American accents, but we get loads of awful British accents from American actors.
[laughs] Good point. No, I know.

We can swap. You can get our American actors and we can get your British actors and this way at least everyone will have the right accent.
Okay. Maybe we should start a petition. Some kind of movement.

Thus ends our interview! But if you're craving more Marling, which at this point I really think you ought to, you can visit her MySpace or her website. Laura is appearing at SXSW this year, and next month she is embarking on another tour, this time with Andrew Bird!
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