Ben Barnes rocks classic literature in the movies

Ben Barnes in "Easy Virtue"

The road to a great acting career is often paved with the classics — and that’s a path that’s working so far for British actor Ben Barnes. Except for a starring role as a Russian hoodlum in the 2008 contemporary dramedy "Bigga Than Ben," Barnes has shown a preference to do movies based on classic literature. (His film debut was in the 2007 fantasy movie "Stardust," adapted from the Neil Gaiman novel of the same name, which could be considered a modern classic book.) It doesn’t mean he won’t do films that aren't based on previously written literary works, but Barnes’ choices indicate that quality stories are a top priority for him as an actor, rather than taking the easier route of doing hack work that cashes in "flavor of the month" trends.

He stars as royal leader Caspian in 2008’s "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" and 2010’s "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," based on the C.S. Lewis fantasy/adventure novels. Then there’s the comedy film "Easy Virtue" (set in the 1920s and adapted from the Noël Coward play), in which Barnes plays British heir John Whittaker, who impulsively marries an American race-car driver named Larita (played by Jessica Biel) — much to the disapproval of John’s domineering mother (played by Kristin Scott Thomas). Later this year, Barnes can be seen as the title character in "Dorian Gray" — based on the Oscar Wilde novel "The Picture of Dorian Gray" — a story about a man who leads a very hedonistic lifestyle after selling his soul to stay young and handsome. As for the rumors that Barnes has signed on to play a Hamlet-like character in the movie "Ophelia" (inspired by the William Shakespeare play "Hamlet"), Barnes says he was offered the role, but he hasn’t been cast in "Ophelia," which is in delayed development.

At the New York City press junket for "Easy Virtue," Barnes participated in a roundtable discussion with me and other journalists. During this interview, he talked about how he felt about playing a "mama’s boy" in "Easy Virtue," what it was like to record songs for the movie’s soundtrack and why some provocative scenes in "Dorian Gray" won’t end up in movie theaters.

What was it like going back to Noël Coward’s world of the 1920s?

It was fun. After "Narnia," I was looking for anything without a sword and a horse, basically. And this ["Easy Virtue" movie] had a horse in it, so I failed miserably. It was fantastic to step into those costumes and to listen to that music and film in those wonderful stately homes. We shot every single thing on location — apart from the opening sequence, which is against a green screen, which we actually shot in one of the barns of one of the stately homes.

So we’ve got this beautiful, romantic moment, right at the beginning of the film. Jessica and I are facing the moon, close together, and we’re literally about to touch, and we hear this [he makes a loud animal bellow] — and a cow is giving birth to a bull at that exact second. And they called [the baby] Noël Cow.

You’re joking, right?

No, I promise you I’m not.

Was that your first kiss with Jessica Biel in the movie?

Actually, it was the last, because we shot that near the end. It was even more poignant than the first.

Ben Barnes in "Easy Virtue"

What do you think about John Whittaker being such a mama’s boy?

A lot of the reason why I hesitated to take the part was that I thought it was sort of a weak character, incapable of making up his own mind about things. And I spoke to Stephan [Elliott, the director of "Easy Virtue"] about it, and he told me about the tongue-in-cheek tone that he wanted to provide for the story. We’ve had enough of the stuffy English period dramas, I think. It was nice to be poked fun at by a loud-mouthed Australian [referring to Stephan Elliott].

There’s been some criticism: "I didn’t like John. I didn’t like that character." Well, if you did really like him and then he ended up losing the girl, you’d be frustrated. So it was a fine balance to play him charming enough to win her over and for her to be happy and you root for them, but then naïve enough and maybe a little bit irritating. He realizes his responsibilities to his history and his family. It’s quite appropriate. It’s about a family having to sell off their land, because times are difficult. They’re in a recession.

There are some interesting parts of the character as well. He’s the first of the generation of post-war [World War I] children. And actually, John is probably going to have to go off and fight in the second World War anyway. So he’s out there living his life, and he comes across this exotic, beautiful, blonde bombshell who’s independent and sassy. He loves everyone and he wants everyone to love him. So he thinks, "I love Larita. Everyone else will, too. It’ll be fine." And he brings her home and not everyone does, because she doesn’t have the qualities [John’s family would accept]. She’s American, for a start.

Is Larita being American something that was in the "Easy Virtue" play too?

I’m not sure. I read the original play, and it was all set in one room. And all the characters were very unsympathetic, particularly Larita. She was a bitch! And then there’s the Hitchcock silent film [of "Easy Virtue"], which is really boring. Why make a silent film of Noël Coward? What’s the point of that? I don’t get it.

Ben Barnes and Jessica Biel in "Easy Virtue"

Why do you think "Easy Virtue" is such an obscure Noël Coward play?

It’s kind of claustrophobic and the characters are kind of unsympathetic. Sheridan Jobbins and Steph [Elliott, who co-wrote the "Easy Virtue" screenplay] have stripped it to the bare minimum of Coward. There’s what? Fifteen lines of Coward actually left? It’s the real gem of the story and the basis of the characters. They’ve run wild [with the screenplay].

Like there’s no dead dog in the "Easy Virtue" play.

There’s no dead dog. Steph said to me, "I’ve just always wanted to kill a Chihuahua in a movie. And now I got to do it." He [Stephan Elliott] is a naughty little boy, basically.

Ben Barnes in "Easy Virtue"

What did you learn about what you wanted to do and what you didn’t want to do when you recorded songs for the "Easy Virtue" soundtrack?

It was important to me that it was a function of the plot. In [the] original script, [John’s singing] was something that John would do to woo Larita, and gradually it would become more and more irritating as he did it for the mother. It’s kind of a trick of his, and eventually those get old. I think it does serve that function still. There’s a bit one too many [of John Whittaker’s musical interludes] for it to be charming. When he’s in that awful cricket jumper and singing to her [Larita], it’s kind of like, "Shut up!" I get frustrated with John Whittaker myself, because I want to shake him and slap him and teach him some street smarts.

Marius de Vries, who did the "Moulin Rouge!" soundtrack, was the composer. And Stephan Elliott, who’d obviously been very mischievous with his music on "[The Adventures of] Priscilla, [Queen of the Desert]" before, took these contemporary songs and made them sound [like they were from the] ‘20s and ‘30s. He made it sort of this 1920s MTV style in the beginning.

Jessica proved to be a great singer as well. And the reason why she had to sing was because Noël Coward did a recording of "Mad About the Boy." He then put in his contract that no other male would ever be able to sing that song. So we got Jessica to do it.

It was really organic and fun — anything that kind of serves the story. Singing is a great way to tell the story. I thought [Stephan] would make me sing like Noël Coward [Barnes changes his tone to a prissy and pretentious voice], but it was somewhere in between. [Stephan] always tried to make me sound on set more silly and goofy than I wanted to do it. Of course, I wanted to be all suave. But that combination, of course, was what probably worked, because you’re always fighting to make your characters more sympathetic.

What was Stephan like in the studio with you when you were recording the songs for "Easy Virtue"?

Screaming and hollering … "You bastards!"

So he was a control freak?

Yeah, completely. [He laughs.]

Ben Barnes in "Easy Virtue"

Did you have any trepidation about doing songs for the "Easy Virtue" soundtrack?

Not really. I knew it was fun and part of [the movie]. Your whole thing is you just have to jump in with two feet, because it was sort of tongue-in-cheek. We had fun with the traditional period drama. I had no interest in doing something that’s been done before, in a style that’s been done before. This one had been made a film before. I just did "Dorian Gray," which was [previously] filmed in [1945], which was long enough ago to do something different with [the movie].

Now that you’ve done "Dorian Gray," do you feel decadent?

There were certain days I was shooting where, absolutely, I did.

Is it true the ending of your "Dorian Gray" movie is different from the novel’s ending?

There are a few little bits. I don’t feel we really messed with it — certainly not as much as with "Easy Virtue," which is nothing like the original. With "Dorian Gray," we tried to be as close and respectful as possible [to the original Oscar Wilde novel]. But at the same time, it’s been made as a perfect museum piece … [The 1945 movie adaptation] was brilliant and won an Oscar.

We wanted to make a gothic thriller — fun with elements of horror. There are lots of different genres in the book itself. You can’t do it exactly like the book, because Dorian Gray goes away for months at a time and comes back … You have to make it slightly more chronologically exciting, I think, which is what we tried to do.

Ben Barnes in "Dorian Gray"

So how decadent do you get in "Dorian Gray"?

You won’t ever see how decadent I actually became, because that would make it an R rating. We didn’t want that, so we had to cut out some stuff we actually did. They didn’t like the combinations of certain things … sex and violence together in the same scene.

But [Oscar Wilde’s "The Picture of Dorian Gray" novel] was such a big controversy when it came out. It was used as evidence in his trial [for homosexuality]. It was supposed to be provocative and forward-thinking and shocking. So therefore, if you make of movie of it now, it would be difficult to shock because everybody’s seen everything before. So we obviously had to push the envelope a little bit, but we don’t want to get an R rating, because we want [underage] people to actually go see it. So it’s a tough book to adapt tonally, despite that. We’ll see. I’m excited about it.

When and where can people see "Dorian Gray"?

I know it’s coming out in England in September. It doesn’t have a studio here [in the United States] yet. I think they’re going to wait for the right partnership.

Ben Barnes in "Easy Virtue"

In "Easy Virtue," there was a hint of a possible romance between John Whittaker and his neighbor Sarah, who’d been his friend since childhood. Do you think Sarah is the right woman for John?

According to his mother. No one wants to be with a girl that your mother would pick for you.

Can you talk about how your 2008 film "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" was received in the United States, compared to other countries?

I thought the [world] premiere [of the movie] here [in New York] was a big deal. There was a huge red-carpet line, there were people waiting across the street. And then I got to Japan and realized that [the New York premiere] had been a drop in the ocean, compared to what’s possible. It’s really crazy when you get there [in Japan]. It was amazing to see the different reactions all around. And then when we went to London … it was the biggest premiere ever: 10,000 people watched the movie at the O2 [Arena].

Ben Barnes in "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian"

It’s fairly common knowledge that Disney dropped the "Narnia" franchise because "Prince Caspian" didn’t make as much money as 2005’s "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe." What do you say to people who consider the "Prince Caspian" movie to be a disappointment, compared to its predecessor?

The first ["Narnia" movie] was really for Christmas, with no competition, really. [2008] was the strongest summer in movie history. ["Prince Caspian"] made nearly $500 million. It was a huge success, but the first ["Narnia" movie] was such a phenomenon. The first one was based on a book that people know and love, and people want to revisit it … You’re going to get differences if you release [a movie] in the summer, and "Prince Caspian" is a book that people don’t know quite as well, so of course [the movie] isn’t going to do quite as well.

But I’ve still got high hopes for the next ["Narnia" movie, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader"], because it’s my favorite of the "Narnia" books. We’re filming it in Australia. They were going to do it in Mexico. We’re lucky that we’re not doing it there now [because of the swine flu outbreak that's plagued Mexico].

Jessica Biel, director Stephan Elliott and Ben Barnes on the "Easy Virtue" set

Who was the big prankster on "The Easy Virtue" set — the person who kept the jokes going?

Definitely Steph, but we were all kind of spurred on by each other, really. Stephan was very naughty for someone who’s supposed to be in charge. He’d literally come up to you in the middle of a take and dig his fingers in your ribs, and you’d go [he lets out a yelp]. I mean, he’s the director! What do you do at that point?

Why do you think he did that?

I think he wanted me to loosen up a bit. He threw out the rule book without reading it.

What can you say about working with Jessica Biel?

I didn’t really know who she was, to be honest, before [working together on "Easy Virtue"]. So I went and checked out her films. I thought she was fantastic in "The Illusionist," for such a small role. Then I saw "Blade: Trinity," and I didn’t know what to expect.

I think ["Easy Virtue"] is a revelation — a great role for her to take. It’s a very good move on her part. I think she enjoyed herself. I think it was a big challenge, but she proves herself to be melancholy and witty and farcically funny. I think she’s really, really good in it and she deserves everything that’s come her way. And she can sing.