WGTC: Well you also work with Julianne Moore on Seventh Son…
Ben Barnes: She is just such a delight. I didn’t get to work with her that much on Seventh Son, but I’m getting to know her a bit more doing all this press stuff, and she’s the most charming woman on the planet. And I mean it! I know this is such systematic crap that people say about people they work with because you’re supposed to say it, but I’m in awe of both Jeff [Bridges] and Julianne [Moore]. They understand who they are and their place in the world. They’re so at peace in their lives, but they focus so hard on the things they care about. They drive so hard.
WGTC: What was the most important thing you learned from working with Jeff, spending so many scenes with him?
Ben Barnes: He did tell me a few things, but I think it’s most about finding the balance of curiosity, passion, and drive, leveled with whatever’s in yourself and what parts you bring to characters. It doesn’t always have to be an equation, sometimes it can just be crazy.
WGTC: Which I think he channels immensely in Seventh Son…
Ben Barnes: Yeah, and he encouraged me to do it as well! I’ve felt a little freer with my performances in the years since filming Seventh Son. I’m proudest of the work I’ve done since meeting Jeff.
WGTC: You have a history of starring in more fantastical roles, looking back to your turn as Prince Caspian in the Narnia franchise. I’m wondering if this has something to do with your childhood? Did you gravitate towards these stories as a young lad?
Ben Barnes: I read the Narnia books when I was eight, and I know that because I still have my copies. I love these topics. I actually studied this kind of work at university as well. I studied children’s literature as one of my special topics. I studied Narnia, Harry Potter, Philip Pullman’s Dark Materials, The Hobbit – I wrote essays about these things. I wrote comparative essays about the nature of quests and masculinity, myth and legend, the didactic nature of whether children’s literature ought to inform or instruct – if there’s a message, should it be ambiguous or should it be direct? That kind of stuff. I find all this material really interesting from that aspect as well.
WGTC: So were you already familiar with the Seventh Son source material?
Ben Barnes: Not before signing on, but then I read four or five of the books, and they’re pretty cool. They’re different from what we made, but they’re really interesting. The characters, especially Master Gregory, are extraordinary. The world, the idiosyncratic world of Northern England, feels cold when you read them. It makes you feel as if you’re in the wind or by a fireplace.
