Ben Barnes Talks Seventh SonPosted by Wilson Morales
February 5, 2015
Coming to theaters this week is the epic fantasy film, Seventh Son, directed by Sergei Bodrov and starring Ben Barnes, Jeff Bridges, and Julianne Moore.
Based on the novel, The Spook’s Apprentice by Joseph Delaney, the story centers on Thomas Ward (Barnes), a seventh son of a seventh son, and his adventures as the apprentice of the Spook (Bridges). Torn from his quiet life as a farmhand, the unlikely young hero embarks on a daring adventure with his battle-hardened mentor to vanquish a dark queen (Moore) and the army of supernatural assassins she has dispatched against their kingdom.
For Barnes, who’s best known for his portrayal of Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia films Prince Caspian and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, this represents another fantasy film where his character has to deal with magic and monsters to find his quest in life. With film credits including Dorian Gray, The Big Wedding, and By The Gun, the English native can also be seen on The History Channel where he played American Founding Father Samuel Adams in the 2015 miniseries, Sons of Liberty.
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Barnes about Seventh Sn finally hitting theaters after being shelved for some time and Sons of Liberty being on TV within the same timeframe.
Now that the film is coming out, what’s the excitement like?
Ben Barnes: It’s a blend of excitement and a relief that it’s finally coming out because it’s been quite a long time and a long gestation process for this film. We had an Effects house that went out of business. The the studio moved to a new studio, and other little things happening and I was like, “I want to see it now. I want it to be fresh.” You want the things that you had just done to be out there.
When a project like this takes a while to be release, do you feel you have to go over your notes and memory again in regards to working on the film and the character?
BB: It’s difficult when you don’t like watching yourself onscreen. I don’t like watching things I’ve done more than once because you starting judging yourself more harshly than others. “I could have done this in that take and etc.” All the different possibilities jump straight at you when you see the final product and you know it can’t be changed anymore. If you are doing a play, you can change it the next night. But there’s the excitement of seeing the creation of hundreds of people who put together the sets, the CGI, and everything else.
Having done the Narnia films, and along with this film, are you now use to this genre. A world filed with magic, fantasy and creatures?
BB: The reason I like fantasy film is because I like them. I studied children’s literature at university and I really enjoyed subtextual, morality tales and the debate about good and evil and zero to hero. I love the escapism of it and anything you can conjure in your mind can be shown in anyway you see fit. When they represent evil, you can have them look in all shapes and sizes. That kind of metaphor is immediate and impactful and the blend of that escapism and imagery and eternal themes can feel vintage at times. It feels like those 80s movies like Sinbad or Jason and the Argonauts; those simple, honest, fantasy movies. That’s why I feel that the genre transcends.
In working on this film, was there anything you work with the director in terms of portraying the character that was different from what was on the page?
BB: Yes. I was keen that character be warmer than he was on the page, where he was dry and straight. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to be there and he complained a lot, and I wanted to show him warming up to the other character and to show that he had a sense of humor about where he is because it’s not reality. Obviously, the moments are real and the fear is real and the relief is real. Towards the latter stage of filming, I was allowed to ad-lib a bit and add in some stuff. I wanted to balance out the determinism of what his quest was ad bring in some human qualities.
Is this a film where you could come back for a sequel should it do well?
BB: Joseph Delaney has written a lot of book and this is a sketch from some of those books, and there’s certainly an open ending. The exploration between the relationship of my character and Alice Deane is not full in this film and there’s room to explore that and I’m intrigue to see what becomes of Tom because he doesn’t have anyone to share this lonely life once Gregory leaves him and whether he regrets his decision to sacrifice personal feelings for the greater good. Everything depends to how people respond to this film.
The release of the film couldn’t have worked out better for you as your other project, Sons of Liberty, was just shown on TV.
BB: One of the most exciting moments for me in my career so far and I didn’t watch Sons of Liberty when it was on TV. It was actually the first thing I’ve done for TV. I worked really hard in it and was really involved with the script and my characterization. I wanted to wait until it was on TV complete with music by Hans Zimmer before I saw it. I didn’t want to see a temp cut. My mom was visiting from the UK and I watched it with her and a couple of her friends and there was a moment halfway in the first episode where during commercials, there was a trailer for Seventh Son, and it was an extraordinary feeling. I’m really proud of the miniseries. I know there has been some chatter on the history and they are quite right on testing the mettle in terms of the accuracy of some of the events. What’s fun about it is that if you want to look up the history, you can read the books. I don’t blame them because we have manipulated some things, but only to make it dramatic and exciting. We wanted to make the most exciting miniseries we could. I believe that it does that and I have faith in what it is and what it’s trying to be. It’s not pretending to be a documentary. I’m really proud of it.
What’s next?
BB: Later in the year, I have a film with Katherine Heigl called “Jackie & Ryan” where I play a folks blues singer and it’s a lovely film about the life of two people meeting. Katie plays a single mom who’s staying with her mom in a very small town and lives a static life. I play a man who rides trains across the country and plays music for people. It’s a lovely film that I enjoyed doing.
