Ben Barnes on Brett Goldstein's Podcast. 10/2021

[Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] thank you hello and welcome to films to be buried with it is I Brett Goldstein and I'm joined today by an actor he's a West welder he's a shadow and boner he's the prince of all of Narnia I think he is a a man from Saturn and he now lives in L.A he's a hero to many a legend to most and also he's fit please welcome to the show the brilliant Mr bed bugs oh you you said Bono within 30 seconds of this it's over the the um I I did ever thought that you know groups of fans of shows often have have names and I told you the idea of calling them my shadowman bonus but then I I I I've resisted the urge to even say that until this moment that's the first time I've said it because you it starts here the shadow of boners you know that was a very nice to see you've got to be the shadow of a bonus uh I would be loud and proud of that um you're gonna get the credit for that now I'll take it um on on the Twitter I'll take it yeah thank you uh this is the first time we've ever met so far it's going great I appreciate you doing this now I I uh I I haven't been I've been aware of you for some time uh you worked uh With Friends of the podcast Will Poulter in um uh Prince Caspian yeah and one of my best one of my best powers he just took me took me out actually for a Love A really lovely 30th birthday he's about 15 still yeah um but it was he's a love lovely lovely lovely lovely man what's a lovely man uh but then you know what I was uh what I mean look I've seen you a lot of stuff you're very good with that but you do something that I really really like and you did it in Westworld which is I think it's very brave you play like a bad type a bit of a bad type in Westworld and I think you do it you're very sort of charming in it but you also don't at all shy away from the like really unpleasant sort of sleazy sort of unattractive parts of that character and I always think that that's really I don't think a lot of actors do it I think it's really cool and Really Brave because you're not protecting yourself as a you're not sort of like there are people who play bad guys but they play them like yeah but you love them because they're so charismatic and fun and cool like you allow in the parts that are like no it's genuinely unpleasant as well you know what I mean and I think that's pretty brave yeah like I will say thank you that's really nice I I've sort of found myself this weird odd little niche in the last um so five or six years of playing these people are slightly reprehensible or either they're sort of psychotic or evil or villainous or just or just um guilty of just general douchebaggery um uh but but and I don't and and right I never I never but I've also I'm fully aware of how incapable I am of making character particularly kind of like cool or anything like that I will I do whilst whilst I'm not afraid of the light of the like Grim gross parts of it I I am quite protective of the um Humanity of yeah yeah because I'm quite um a sort of quite a soft hopeful uh desperate to be happy kind of person and so I think um uh I think that that gets a little bit infused into all of those people characters and and like you described on Westward when they asked me to come back for the second season and and it was it felt like such a privilege to be asked to sort of scratch away at the character a bit and look at his I know it sounds a bit I was raised by um a psychiatrist and psychotherapist but a little bit scratched away with his dad you see his relationship with his dad a new people throw the onion a bit and you see why he's so [ __ ] up and and why he's behaving like such a knob all the time to everyone and because there are always reasons always and those things really interest me I love that that's look that's exactly what what what we're always trying to do on Ted lasso is that thing of and and it's when you're a bad guy almost never thinks they're the bad guy and they think that they're doing certainly so yeah and you play you play all that I just think it's great but but I also I think I'm trying to think of examples but I don't want to name it I don't want to name and shame but I can I can think of people who play bad guys and you you're almost like you're not a bad guy you're just [ __ ] great like you're just so entertaining yeah yeah like it's you're you're not allowing that character to be ugly I suppose do you know what I mean yeah whereas I think you do you do that as well as all the charm and the everything anyway that's my uh open uh fan mail to you to your face that's from my section fan mail to your face you do not do that you you you you uh are playing something which is entirely lovable that from start to finish even though that's not what it's supposed to be on the page and and you can't help it you can't help it at all and and now and now sadly everyone in the world who wants to like hug you like teddy bear and and this makes you uncomfortable so moving on so we've revealed our limited by uh abilities Ben Burns um you live in L.A you've lived here 10 years I believe and um yeah coming up on that yeah and uh do you feel at home here is it still wild how much of this because you how old were you when you did Prince Caspian I was about 25 and and that was like the biggest thing that happened and that was like quite a long time ago no no no I mean yeah um quite right I would never I would never tell um yeah I I I am I am I'm very comfortable here I do miss uh you know my friends and family and you know just London I missed that a lot but also very lucky to have the kind of uh sort of uh lifestyle and job which takes me on adventures and takes me um you know keeps me interesting um and and uh you know I think at least half of the time I I'm not sort of at home um so so I think that that's a particular kind of Lifestyle which I never imagined for myself and would certainly not curate if I did anything else for a living um on purpose but I do love that it is part of my life can I ask you this and we can if you don't want to we can cut it before we started recording this podcast you tell me something that was very interesting to me you said I said is there anything you're worried about talking about and you said something like I used to worry so much about that stuff and now I'm very happy to talk about myself and I wondered what had happened to lead you to that if I may so I think I think it was a combination of of things but it was um I think very very early on I had some quite aggressive interactions with with with press you know doing sort of basically nothing you know a few plays and bits and pieces and then and then doing the Narnia films and suddenly people are interested in you in in your life and um I I remember having this conversation when I was about 25 and and a journalist sort of said to me you have to answer these kinds of questions if you want to do this for a living and I at 25 full of him um said uh no I don't I can keep anything I want to for myself and I still uh fervently believe that um in that sort of freedom of choice but it sort of it tightened me and closed me off a bit to feel a bit defensive I think when talking about stuff and I've done so many years of of um you know just uh but sort of just by virtue of the way film and TV interviews work I think as well that you're being asked about characters and things that you didn't necessarily write but um it I think I think um what happened was um I think the pandemic sort of kicked in and and we all spent a year in a bit sitting around wondering what kind of people we want to be and where we fit in if we're not allowed to do the things we do on a regular basis and don't have the things that we have to look forward to regularly to keep us on the wheel and facing forwards and who do we care about and what do we care about and I wrote a lot of um music in that time and it was something I'd wanted to do for about 20 years I'd started to do it about 20 something years ago and it had fallen apart and I've done it as part of my career all the way through I've always kind of done that that and uh but always in someone else's voice I think I've always um I I even when I was a kid at school I did Sonata tribute concerts and Stevie Wonder's so nice things like that and and I would love it so much and then in my films I've played Street buskers Americana folks Street buskers and I played a crap rock star in in a in a comedy uh singing sort of like new romantic Stadium Rock crap and um but but it was never me and and I think that it just the clock ticked down on on having to make something of my own that was that was sort of me that I haven't played it's sort of obvious to sort of think well if you spend 20 years pretending to be other people at some point you're going to want to do something that's yours but I hadn't really thought about it until the pandemic and then um I wrote a collection of songs which um I've just uh released depending on when this bus goes out um but um uh and and it's sort of it sort of freed up the style of interview the way I've been talking about it people asking me about me not about you know sort of sorted details if you like anything but just interested in me and what what it takes to make something from myself and and that really like just sort of um freed me up to be the most to feel sort of the most me I could feel which I think a lot of us felt a bit um particularly during the pandemic felt a bit um a floaty and disconnected and and all of that I think most of the people that I know felt a little bit um disassociated um for a lot of it and and and so um I think I'm just sort of trying to relish feeling like me again a bit that is really interesting and um I've just remembered something which makes this sort of big Revelation you've had and this feeling of Freedom a sort of a shame because I I forgot that I should have told you I should have told you before right we had this whole Channel you've died you've done it's a good listen good that you had that feeling of freedom very very briefly before I've just died in this moment now I am dead I've just disc well I like I said I've actually found out a world I forgot to tell you in a way the Grim Reaper uh how did you die um well being the case that I've listened to your podcast before right and I know that in about an hour's time you're gonna make it try and sound as grim and disgusting I'm gonna challenge you I'm gonna by saying the truth which is that I I hope that I died very peacefully and comfortably old surrounded by love loved ones squeezing my hand gently or do I no you're gonna say I had to have died during this minute now no no you you you can like this this is taking place in this sort of Timeless zone so you can be as old as you want how old were you I would like to be I would like to be 100 because when I was a kid I thought that's how old you live till yeah you get a letter from the queen uh and then that's it and then and then loved ones around your bed and one of them squeezes your hand to death one of them squeezes my hand to death yeah it's they love me so very much that they Crush my fingers no I'm not getting called into this lured into your I slipped off into the into the Never After is what I did do you worry about death Ben Burns um I used to worry about death a lot um I was definitely that that kid who who um was actually probably didn't didn't want to talk about it very much because it was it just feels a bit overwhelming and I think it still does even though I think through your life you obviously can't but have more experience with it and be exposed to it more and and the reality of it you know faced with the reality of it it that perspective is brought much closer to your to your to your face um but I still you know I still put it in the category of of sort of um in infinity and and time and all those kinds of things that I I will never have and Lon um and so it doesn't really serve me to think about it too much um but uh I think yeah I think I probably um um fearful I think of of their efficiency I'm a very I think it's probably one of my defining characteristics and the one is the one thing you can't be hopeful I can't find it I don't seem to be able to find Hope in um but I will say that there are things that make you along the way that have made me feel so much more alive that that it sort of becomes and I know people said this is actually it will become so much more precious for the fact that you know it's it's uh it it is temporary do you do you uh imagine anything happening after you die I wish I could remember her but somebody once said to me what do you remember before you were born and I said [Music] is that a reason that you've got event you don't know anything after you're gone and and that's to me so far is the best argument that's been put forward and I'm open I'm open but but um you know what I I I've I've been thinking about that I I you know obviously hate that one I hate that that there was nothing before so there's nothing after because then I also think yeah but when you're born like humans in particular are the least you know born with anything the only thing they can do is find a nipple right that's literally all the baby's program yeah no a giraffe is up and walking in 15 minutes yeah horses are carrying people raising their own kids by a week you know what I mean like yeah yeah so so yeah so when these so when people say like what did you know before you were born it's like nothing you didn't know anything because when you were born the only thing you knew was find a nipple so it's like when you die do you know a lot more by that point so maybe this blank nothingness you're full there's a lot more going on that's my new Theory I just come up with yeah sorry I'm still stuck on the on on the sort of like uh how useless babies there no more more of the sort of like main thrust of human existence to find the nipple doesn't yeah I know I know people for whom that doesn't change very much as they go through life absolutely it doesn't that's still that's still it is everything else is just sort of gravy around that in it could you speak pen buns uh there is a heaven and it's great and it's it's brilliant it's brilliant it's got all your favorite it's got your favorite thing in there what's your favorite thing oh I think it's yeah I think it's guys because there's got to be music but um well then this this Heaven is filled with music there's music everywhere except during screenings when it would be inappropriate but there's music everywhere you sit on music you sleep on music there's music in the trees and uh and it's lovely everyone's very excited to see you they're all big fans uh but I want to talk to you about your life famous in here yeah yeah it's like Comic-Con it's like nice music okay welcome to the Ever After close quick photo oh yeah okay no one knows who the [ __ ] you are but so then you turn up you're a stranger so people are like who are you let's talk about your life through film oh yeah that you're right that is much better what yeah the first thing they ask is this as well what's the first film you remember seeing Ben Barnes you know what this is what I I actually this was one of the ones that I struggled with the most to have one answer because I um when people sort of say oh yeah don't you remember your first time you ever I remember being born no you don't you don't no one remembers anything before they're about six I reckon yeah I agree um so this was actually one I struggled with I so I certainly know I certainly remember sort of seeing the Disney's of um Sword in the Stone and and and Robin Hood and all that um very early on um and uh uh the never-ending story and flight the navigator in The Labyrinth those sort of like early quest early 80s things were very those are definitely those those are the ones that were around but I I couldn't put my finger on what the first one was I can remember well let's go with a Flight of the Navigator experiment talks about that on here for a while okay good what a what a movie what also what an 80s movie like my favorite part of that of that film um definitely was when he gets to space camp and he goes to his room and this in and there's all these like sort of NASA things on his bed he's got the spaceman Ice Cube but he's got his jumpsuit and it's all like laid out in this like perfect way on his like perfectly made bed and it's all it gets basically a welcome pack that that is the most that is my most vivid memory from that film and I haven't seen since I was a kid and I can still remember them with that I don't know what that says about anything if it says anything about me but that is the that is the frame of the film that I remember the most that is interesting you like you like you like free gifts you like you like a swag back that's what that's what it tells you yeah I think I think you like to merge um yeah how ironic I've just released my own merch for my music now it's not about merch it's about it's not that much I think it's about it's about worried about it about going there and and I think it's it's a sort of it's well it's welcoming and it's loving in the way it's sort of set out did you like doing nice things with people yeah do you remember when you saw your early films thinking I want to do this I want to be an actor or did you just like no that I think that came that came much much later um sort of um meditating thing uh I think that was born out of a it's because I was sort of quite good at quite a lot of things but not very good at anything and I think I felt a bit invisible and a bit sort of like lost and a bit like like I needed to sort of pick something and uh and and I think that um obviously you know this is an industry that you go into in in and then you're you are sort of seen you're literally on a stage and um and I think it was something that I could maybe devote myself and maybe maybe try to get try to get get good at I think I think I think I think it was just about sort of um yeah trying to sort of focus on one thing but I was I was never really able to do that because I was too interested in lots of things um but it but it started it was sort of through music actually and and then it was sort of you know Musical and then the the song part of stripped away and it became about storytelling and then I found a love of that laterally um interesting what's the film that scared you the most do you like being scared no I don't and I said I would never do a horror film and I'd literally just um finished work on on a horror uh Gamo Del Toros doing an anthropology series called the cabinet of curiosity uh it's a bit sort of black mirrorish but instead of tech it's all sort of horror tropes and I've just finished it this week how was it very creepy creepy scary uh episode of it with uh all manaroka Grizzly things um and a really terrifying uh very terrifying ending um oh great and I I know I purposefully asked the uh the the director and a team to to mess with me as much as possible and right got me at doing any acting because I called him I've been doing this 20 years but I haven't really played anyone that that sort of scared a lot and I it's not a genre I'm very familiar with when I was looking down your list I looked up like the hundred scariest films ever and I've seen about two of them so I was like what it's not on on this list so so I was getting them to bang bits of wood together and play horrible scream at me during takes if possible just to sort of just sort of like mess with me and I did not like it um and I still won't watch anymore but I will watch that um but but one of the things that he was asking me about can I play some sounds and I suddenly had this memory of um the film The Return to Oz which is the most terrifying [ __ ] thing the most terrible the wheelies with their with their these these these creatures they look like sort of human circus clowns but in they've got wheels instead of hands and feet and they squeak so the director one one of the things because it requires me to be scared of things that I can't that aren't really there a lot this this job understand and so he would he he would play on speakers the sounds of the wheelies oh [ __ ] me and mess with me and it worked and it was horrible and then I remembered you know that sort of Alice in Wonderland thing of her falling down I think it's Dorothy or directly or whoever it is falling down this sort of rabbit hole but there's hands grabbing at her in this horrible sort of uh gropey way and it it just those two images are again I haven't seen it in so many years because why would you put yourself through that again um but but those images are really really stuck with me um bananas returned to us it's [ __ ] like when you watch it you're like I cannot believe this was a Disney film that got made yeah there's heads in [ __ ] in there's a whole cabinet of heads this is a scary [ __ ] it's horrible it's however although when I was a kid I can't tell you what sket what film scare me most I mean obviously I saw that when I was probably quite young but as a little kid yeah I remembered um this story and maybe I remember it and maybe it's just because my dad has told it to me and about me to various people in front of me many times which is that I think on about my sixth fifth or sixth birthday I was on a one of those Channel fairies and it was my birthday and there was a little screening room on the on the ferry and they were playing uh the Roald dahls the witches and there is the moment in the middle of the film for anyone who hasn't seen it where the witches removed their uh wigs and gloves and uh they cut and skin and they look pretty uh uh gruesome and at that point in the film apparently according to jind I uh waltzed down it was very apparently this was very out of character but I walked down to the front of I hate uh speaking public speaking as Myself by the way you should know this about me I'm so so scared of it so scared of it and um walked down to the to the screen at the front turned around and said you know the most precocious way possible well this is a bit too scary isn't it and walked out oh my God it's not run after me because because he was like you just left like compare it I'm gonna make a seat uh I'm jumping overboard good day yeah so I have never told anyone that but my dad has told lots of people why do you think you're so scared of talking as yourself I mean I don't I I mean I I sort of understand but do you know why well I don't know I'm in my new Phantom Revelation about about not being so worried about it maybe I'm maybe I'm not anymore I don't know quite what it is maybe it's just too long it's sort of doing it in front of people in front of people as someone else but I do get even on the wrap of a film or something when that in the 30 seconds you have to say thank you to a crew that I'm super grateful for my my heart just goes a bit too fast my Palms go a bit sweaty and I'm not quite sure my words get jumbled up and I don't know why that is because I'm very comfortable doing this with you I'm very comfortable uh in any sort of social situation when it suddenly you'll sort of when it's when there's a pressure on it I expect here what expectation is horror is it and and I think that that um you know whenever you're sort of expected to say something I I sort of climb up and get a bit tight I I think I've just really sort of realized that it's actually not I'm not worried about necessarily being embarrassed because you can just go thank you very much and keep very short but I think it's about sort of letting people's perception of who they think I am down not being charismatic enough or not not you know not not being uh eloquent or charming in enough not being enough I think is what's fueled a lot of that stuff over the years for me um of which I've now managed to sort of let go of it you are enough you are enough but that's the title of this episode speaking of speaking of crying what's the film that made you cry the most are you a crier um yeah I like a good cry um the film that made me cry the most and it made me cry for about three days almost non-stop because I think I saw it just too young um was Spartacus oh really and it's a very specific reason which was when you get to the end of the film um Donaldson and Tony Curtis are forced to fight to the death on an penalty of death obviously um they both can be crucified unless they fight for the death in which case only the Victor will be crucified and the other one will be killed by their best friend and the catharsis of this a word that I didn't know at eight or whenever I saw it but that sort of unbearable uh pressure and tension and and and the fact that they both want they both love the other so much that they can't bear to be the one that would put them through the agony of the crucifixion and so they actually fight harder for it there was something in my eight-year-old whatever however odd I was brain that just had a Schism and I could not bear the idea that anyone could come up with this and and I remember I this I do remember I remember being in tears for days about it yeah yeah interesting I'm sorry for you I'm sorry for your loss well it's what is the film I'm sucking the comedy out of this a bit aren't I oh no so not at all please don't ever ever say that or worry about that this show is all the things what your job is your job that's my [ __ ] job uh what is the film that you love it's not critically acclaimed most people don't like it but you don't give a [ __ ] [ __ ] what anyone says you will stand by this film Sister Act Two I love Sister Act too thank you back in the habit yes please there there are there are there are moments of Sister Act 2 that I will pull up on YouTube Every any given opportunity when when Lauren Hill sings bit of eyes on the sparrow the organ or or the um joyful at the end I think I just love Lauren Hill's voice so much and uh it's it it's it's so much more exciting than the first one and it follows all the all the proper sort of like traits of those kinds of cheesy films when they take the robes off the end and the dancing and and and the mum turning up and all of that and and looking for the Creasy or whatever in the cupboard with a salami come on come on I won't hear a word it's Flawless it gave us Lauren Hill it's Florida it's flawless you can have that thanks wait does that mean I've not been able to have anything yeah up to now up to now none of them have been allowed through uh but this way this way I didn't realize it was a challenge nor did I but until this moment and we're both Landing as we go everyone else has got every film they've ever said through but you yeah so far that would be quite a strict process of this episode I don't know why but for some reason it's a much bigger filter I looked at the list of things films that you said I must talk about and thought I need to mention several things so I'm pooing your sister and the system is fighting back what's the film you used to love you loved it you've watched it recently you've gone oh no I don't like this no more but for your own reasons so I'm sure there are lots of those and I I couldn't think of them um but what I could think of was one of my favorite films of all time and I've got um a collection in in my home of 80s movies post original posters of 80s movies that I that I just loved and have a connection to um some of which on your list of things I'm not allowed to talk about but um uh there are uh one of them is um Princess Bride which I think is one of the greatest films correct however I it's one of those films that I've had that I'll pedal to people and say this is one of the greatest films ever made you what do you meet what do you mean you haven't seen it I'll say because my car especially of my cast of of the show that I do on Netflix quad either in their 20 early 20s right and then seeing it they watched it and sort of came back and a couple of them came back and said yeah I got about 30 minutes and I didn't really get it and so I went back thinking I went back and watched it again thinking maybe maybe it's date maybe it's a bit dated maybe it doesn't quite hold it up it absolutely [ __ ] does it's brilliant and they're wrong they're wrong so there's a film that does hold up which is I think what you've got do you know what I like you flipping the question I'm gonna let that through it was cheeky but I've let it through because I'm on 101 which I did used to watch as a kid and I don't think it's on anymore I always wanted to go on that and this is about as close as I'm ever going to get an opportunity for one episode only this is is seeming to take that format now what is the film that means the most to you Ben Burns not necessarily the film itself is any good but because the experience you had around seeing it that will always make it meaningful to you so again there are a few but the the this film is is is is very good um but it only sort of makes it into the pantheon of my one of my favorites because of what I saw it which was um the film that I saw on my first ever date I ever went on was uh and and and I realized my mistake after the fact and I don't know why there weren't more people in my life to to tell me that this film was was um not a date movie well just setting unreasonable standards was uh baz lemon's Romeo and Juliet in the cinema and the day was released in the cinema was like first ever proper date I took so much WoW um how old were you I don't know probably be 14 or 50. okay and what happened on the date it was it was actually wonderful it was actually wonderful she she was a a sweetheart um and uh and I it's actually quite a quiet again working against the comedy of your podcast I I I I we we dated for a few months I think and just sort of hung out of watching films at each other's houses and it was so innocent and lovely and I found out that she I think she went on a gap here and and accident passed away and I've read it in the local paper and and I remember and I remember that night watching thinking about it and watching Romeo and Juliet again and and I got them right I can't sort of separate it in my head from that [Music] um God that's so [ __ ] tragic I'm so sorry yeah it was so it was a weird thing I've actually never told them on that before but um it just uh so you hadn't seen it for like a couple of years when that happened yeah it'd been yeah it had been probably oh it was probably yeah for four years or something it was I I went after anything but um uh yeah and then then and then a couple of years ago my one my my one of my best powers took me to the uh Secret Cinema version of it where they do bits of it like thing and uh yeah that was that was quite that helped uh reframe it a little bit it was raining it was raining the night we saw it and it was it was you know and I think so I think it helped yeah it helped to reframe a little bit but it's it definitely has that Association in my mind as well what what's a film you most relate to okay so this is stupid because I I'm sure there are millions and I I that that are probably I was thinking there's got to be something sort of a bit romantic huge grantee or something there's got to be something that I've got to be saming at me I was thinking the thing that jumped to mind um was uh was the opening scene of swingers John Favreau calling the girl back 42 times getting increasingly more pathetic with each one and um for some reason I find this incredibly relatable not because it's not particularly done but it's just something that I feel like I understand better than I understand any other scene from a film so I I yeah I don't know why that I don't really know why that's my answer but it is and you're just gonna it's I fully accept that answer and I think it is a very relatable scene and I'm definitely I've definitely done that via text I've definitely sent the text and then thought [ __ ] insert another text and said another text stop sending text also more Curious to that question I'd be more Curious um what other people think what the film they think is that they've seen that reminds them of me the most you know what I mean I think it's an actor I'm always curious to know what people would you know people say what do you want to do next I don't know what do they want me to do next you sort of right um because you know because that's a part of it isn't it uh no the the truth is the the relate what film you may relate to is the question most people struggle with which is interesting and you get many varied answers and but I don't I'd say probably five guests that I've had in all the time have an answer like that most people go I really struggled with this one yeah I think I think I think it's because it's one of those ones that you it's because the one I'd most want to get right and I think yeah more time to look through all films I've ever seen and be like oh yeah that but it didn't just come to me it's yes because yeah maybe if you're taking it as like what's the film that defines me as a person that's too bigger yes yeah anyway tell me this Ben Barnes I think this is why people have tuned in what's the sexiest I do enjoy having both my names every question it it's a lot of people do that with my name because it's alliterative in it and I I enjoy you but I enjoy you doing it I think more than anyone ever maybe yeah you're a badge um thank you thank you um sexiest film so yeah I think um I think the film I sort of remember being the sexiest film was um itumama tambien correct moving on uh and then and then more recently I saw a film called the handmaiden correct which is I don't know I don't know if I'm allowed to find it so it was supposed to be sexy but it is very sexy it's very sexy it's got the sexiest uh tooth filing scene in cinema history industry in the history of Cinema yeah yeah um but in in in just in case um you were going to sort of not agree with me so quickly and readily um which luckily he did uh because those are very sexy films um there uh I had a a a a a more PG answer ready which was um which was that the the film has the date the date that I would most like to go on in it what's that uh which was is uh the Karate Kid preferably with Elizabeth Sue actually still what happens in the date they go to uh golf and stuff in in the yellow in in in in in that beautiful yellow retro car that Mr magnet given him and they go to golf and stuff and he sort of putting his arms around and helping her put away and they're having delicious uh looking uh you know fast food and and they're just giggling a lot and and it's it's it's just it just was not such an experience that I was having when I was watching that film and I wanted it I wanted it that's very very sweet um speaking of sweet troubling boners worrying why don'ts what's the film you found arousing that you weren't sure you should um and birds um I I I I just realized that that as a karate kid was my answer to that one um because I was gonna say The Karate Kid and then you're gonna go what why no I just I was just like go on yeah yeah yeah and and then I was gonna explain that sort of subverted the question of making it sweet and now I've ruined it by offering it too early um but what I like is what we're doing here is a deconstructed version of that bit you know which is very very LA right yeah sort of like um yeah it's it's stopbody we do it backwards it's fine it's gonna work it's better this way people what we've done is we've given you we've given you all the ingredients you get to make the meal yourself I'll give you the answers and yeah it's the Jeopardy version of it I love it what is the Karate Kid uh traveling I'll take traveling Shadow and bonus for 500. uh what is objectively the greatest film ever made not your favorite necessarily but the greatest is one of my it is absolutely one of my favorites um and I know that the answer's not interesting because you've had it so many times before but it's Back to the Future I've got the original poster there um I just think it's perfect and it's always been the answer that I've given about it's on my favorite film uh this this um I will say this this uh horror uh show that I just finished my co-star was Crispin Glover who was in in the film is it uh oh it's wonderful yeah he's wonderful he's uh absolutely you know it's totally eccentric and uh and and loves films and making films and being you know sort of collaborating on it and um that loves you know playing characters I think and um uh didn't didn't have the gumption to talk to him about about it um but um but uh it was still thrilling to sort of just just to hear his voice actually probably the film I've seen the most so ah you can have that of course you can have it oh you can have that one and what we'll do is go back and do anyone who said it already in the 150. so I'm the only actually I'm gonna yeah buddy peace is the producer when you listen to this could you do that please it shouldn't take you long um what what is um what's the film that you could or have watched the most over and over again Ben Barnes um I could have watched the most I think um I always think of one I don't know what I don't know what the film is I've watched the most um probably one of the ones I've already mentioned but I was my metric is always like that one that like when you're like in a hotel somewhere and you just sort of turn on the TV just to have some noise and then it's it's 25 minutes into the film but you just sit and watch it anyway um I've got a lot of those I think but um I think just for my just at just you know there's something also I know I completely avoided the art the the question about we how you where you see yourself in it um and I'm not necessarily even sure which character um but there's something about Notting Hill that I can't I find unavoidable um I just love unashamedly love that film uh and I I don't know if I'm you got on Julia Roberts or somewhere in the middle yeah you're all the characters but but I do love it and there's something sort of very londony about it which I which I love and something of the Hollywood coming into London which I understand but it just I love the structure those rom-coms I've been trying to find a rom-com with that kind of just simple Concepts and structure for literally for 15 years um you know I just I just I love I love the format I've seen you know I watch a lot of kind of films except Aura but you know I think those sort of from when they're done well uh sort of winter Curtis style are my favorites interesting interesting you haven't found one in 15 years as well I think they're very very very hard to get right I think I think I've seen a lot that have been made in the last sort of 10 years and a lot of them are not very good um one or two that cut through but I was not offered them disgusting I don't know what they were thinking um we don't like to be negative do we Bend Burns you me United on that yeah but hope you not hope FC but what's the worst film you've ever seen um so I don't know if it's the worst one I've ever seen because um because I haven't seen it since I was small but there was a sort of running joke in my family that we were once traveling somewhere and we watched a film because I think we were sort of stuck somewhere or something and that you can only get the TV and we watched a film called basil which stars Christian Slater and it's a sort of a period victorian-esque kind of a film uh and and it was completely [ __ ] uh suffering from the main crime main Cinema crime of being very very boring and I remember my dad saying I think that's the worst one that I've seen and I said I I agree I think that's the worst to remember me and then and then in an in anticipation of this um I watched the trailer again online and it looked suspiciously like a film version that I did of Dorian Gray which I think most people would contend is worse than I have been with or one of one of at least um uh even though it looks very very beautiful and um there are good things about it uh but and it's often on on telly at Christmas and people tell me they love it but we didn't quite uh how do you feel about it um I said honestly hand on my heart I haven't seen it I have no no I've met in the game about mixed feelings better because I loved making it I loved the the the producers and the director and Colin Firth starring Colin Firth who is one of my uh he just held up a mug that said keep calm and love Colin first given to me buying Colin fur because you see the audience you're the only one who would bloody drink out of it um so um and then I found uh uh that you can buy a keep calm and love Ben Barnes mug online so I sent it to his uh his wife at the time um because shenanigans um but uh he's a wonderful human and we had a brilliant time making it and and I think we thought we were making something a it was maybe perhaps a little bit edgier and I I think I think I think it tried maybe to sort of be a bit edgy and make some changes and also try to sort of please lovers of of of literature and faithful um uh lover lovers who would who were hoping for a sort of faithful adaptation of of the book the book thing and I think that sometimes you know you can do everything right put it all in the right sort of order but it doesn't quite capture the the sort of zeitgeist of what that adaptation needs to be for this generation or whatever um very interesting it just got very also you know I was 26 or something and and that was the last time I read a review because it was very poorly reviewed uh very mean very very mean about me and now I'm able to use those criticisms um actually especially for younger actors when they say oh you know that so-and-so wasn't the best thing about this film or whatever and I think you think that's a bad review I'll show you a bad review and I'll whip out the daily mails review of Dorian Gray which is the most scathing review of any uh acting forms in history I think but um uh it it certainly it definitely like knocked me off kilter at the time maybe think maybe I'm not made of stern enough stuff to do this maybe I'm a bit sensitive but but then actually it just served to sort of embolden me and and make my and actually want to be uh a boulder in my choices maybe or more it may be double down maybe more committed to to to to making a success of of this and being the best you know just being the best actor I could be anyway and you avoid all things then do you avoid avoid or press yes since then yeah yeah it was it it I uh I just had a I was working on the third Narnia film in Australia and I spoke to Toronto for the for the for the film festival and the reviews came out that that day and I had I had one I had to fly from Australia to Toronto and back again in in in in a day and a half or something and I so I was upside down and inside out at that point and I think that that just the reviews came at that time it just it really knocked me it really knocked me uh but it's but it's um you know as I say I think there are great things about it I'm really I'm still really proud to have done it I'm very proud to have been casting it with those people and yeah to have been trusted with that story do I think I'm a better actor now yeah yeah you know 26 is that yeah um uh and um yeah interestingly the uh the horror thing that I've just done it has a sort of a couple of little elements of it that made me think of it this is you know another girl and I got asked to do the audio book actually adoring gray uh yeah all the year before and I was like oh I I get to sort of have another go here as well um but yeah still very proud to have been involved in it and and and I think you know all these moves that we make you know make us the person that we are and I'm I'm proud of the person that I am so so I think um do I what have I what do I watch it often no really good answer I'm I'm so uh I think it's absolutely right not to read anything but I think it's hard I'm impressed yeah yeah yeah yeah the only way to learn it of course though where you've got your fingers in the fire and get better before you could know not to touch it so okay what's the film uh you're you're funny Ben Birds you've been funny and stuff what's the film that made you laugh the most um I think the um film that has made me laugh the most um number of times um is uh this is final tap correct enough you've got a few things completely right oh brilliant uh well again these are the ones that my that my my my my uh my collection of 80s posters this is this is one of them um I get probably one of the films I've watched the most certainly the film that if people haven't seen it I will I will immediately pull up something or start quoting it or I'll be I'll be unsufferable about it uh but it's yeah it's endlessly quotable I mean it's funny it's the first second before you've even got any actors in it Rob Rob Ryan is introducing it and he does this thing where he folds his arms and then just sort of lets them it's so uncomfortable that he sort of lets them hang down and it make it I cannot watch that without laughing and nothing's happened yet that film hasn't even started yet and uh it really is um oh Ben Barnes [Music] welcome to the patreon section what is happening you're in the VIP no enough about it to know oh my God oh my God you're in the exclusive bit it's just for exclusive people for the cool people do you want to say hello to the Patriots I'm sorry we're in black and white why are we in black and white just to make it look a bit classic it was the decision I made early on and I'm sticking to it like a film noir oh yeah good yeah yeah um we're both detectives we should play Detectives don't you think we can play brother yeah yeah brother detective brother well maybe one of us is detective a bit convenient they're both brothers and partners the other one's the killer but the brother is protecting the killer so the detective is sort of picking up fake Clues to put the other one will be the protective detective or the killer killer okay you're the protected detective in Africa good no I'm the killer you're the protective detective you I think you've got a better face for uh Detective you look like you look more hero I've got killer face isn't that well don't we want to subvert that a bit not in the film no uh okay but what we'll discover is in the uh here's what we're doing I appreciate I appreciate the offerings let's subvert what I'm saying is in the end you're gonna kill you no no no you're gonna kill someone yeah in the end I'm gonna kill you and then that's how you die and then I ask you a lot of questions about what kind of films your life and it will just go in an endless Circle okay okay okay great okay great now first thing you gotta do is tell us the patrons a secret that you've never told anyone and I'll tell you what they bloody keep them they truly do that's it I've got two God children whoa we know that though obviously do they know they know do the two know that they're not the only one only only as a very recently because one of them's a little baby the little baby one yeah just looking for the nip a little bit yeah let's do it that's all it's doing that correct just for the patreon no one else ready to do callbacks we do Secrets yeah [ __ ] it's too cheap to deal with that yeah and also I'm very I'm very aware at this point in black and white that I've got a sort of very nipply water bottle that I'm suckling at um yeah it's all coming together with just for the Patriots the people listening it on the normally like that felt unfinished yeah yeah that joke that thing about the nipple never came back uh okay I mean I'll accept it as a secret but I think we can all agree it's not quite a secret but but to some are you a good Godparent how about that oh I I uh I've recently I've recently converted to uh actual linen sheets they're the sort of how we're getting interested in it here we go on beige green color if you're interested that is nobody knows that yes that's new now the the Shadow and bonus are going nuts up in there they can't believe this right what a scoop okay thank you that's some bedroom secrets for you that's a [ __ ] Ben Barnes bedroom Secrets guys if you had here first do not tell anyone film you saw that changed your perspective on something beds I think it wasn't necessarily something that I didn't know but I think the ones that we filmed the two films that jumped to mind about me um it's a great the sort of metaphor of Groundhog Day the sort of sort of living in the now and uh it's sort of the perfect metaphor isn't it that's another that's another one that could be a perfect film in terms of you know how it's structured if you obviously ignore the supernatural sort of element of waking up lesson learning I think I'm big into into sort of trying to be better and I I I I find it very attractive in in humans when they're trying to be the sort of best of themselves be the best version of themselves I think that's a you know curious people like that so ground Groundhog Day for that but I can't get away from the speech in um Goodwill Hunting uh Robbie Williams speech and Goodwill Hunting about that as well you know just living about his wife and and and it's just such a good reminder to be to that actually living deeply even if it's sometimes more painful is is the weight it is the way to do it um you know your joy will be equivocal to the pain and and I think that he says the thing about about you don't know what it's like you know what it's like to really love someone more than more love someone or something more than you love yourself and it's not a very like I think you know you grow up kind of not thinking about those things it's not very cool and we're so obsessed with how we're coming across an image and and uh and I'm sure that that's sort of just getting worse um but we need to fight for back with with speeches like that and obviously women in the greatest act of all time I was lucky enough to work with him on a very very very very very very [ __ ] film called uh The Big Wedding greatest cast of Any film ever I think and what end product may be one of the worst films ever made in fact ask me that thing again about the worst women what's the worst film I made it might be the big wedding um wow did you know it while you were making it were you like oh this is bad I didn't I I genuinely wasn't quite sure what the physical Alice and Johnny in it no it's Susan Saran and Diane Keaton and Robert De Niro and and hope Grace and Catherine Heigl and Amanda Seyfried and and it's a just a wonderful people brilliant actors and then Robin Williams turns up to play the priest and I had a confessional scene with him and he married Us in it and and just about as wonderful and starstruckier as you could possibly be around as a human and he's always so brilliant but that speech that he gives a you know a just he delivers it so honest so honestly so directly in Google hunting and I don't know how those boys wrote that speech with so young but um I I can't remember it I can't quote it or anything but but I do know he says the thing about you know sort of won't know anything about life or love until you love someone when you love yourself and you know he talks about his wife don't cancer if you've ever had an experience with anyone with cancer which most of us we have you know if that that kind of like rushes again that Rush of perspective that screaming Russia perspective that you're not here for a very long time and seeing you're going to be you know caught in with one DVD and um strong and seeming all these things but actually living deeply and giving into loving deeply and and giving a [ __ ] about each other was cool God bless you Ben Burns what a great plugging outside yeah that's really good that was good what's the what's the greatest opening of all time to a film um uh uh I have to look in my phone notes and three percent battery um uh best opening to a film uh I think or one of certainly because I'm sure there's loads haven't thought of but um train spotting great great great answer great opening I watched it again uh the other day to make sure I was right in my head because I was like I think I think that's brilliant I was thinking about that cheese life choose a great big [ __ ] television she's you know choose a whatever the [ __ ] cheeses but um a film that starts in the middle of a chase you know you know in the intro um and that it's a brilliant that beautiful John Hodge poem that he's that he's that he's in the and and I think it's Iggy Pop uh um it's just it it it's just so Dynamic and and and it's so cool and uh so that's one correct what's the greatest ending or closing sequence to a film buds um well I may have discussed I may have mentioned once or seven times about how much I I'm sort of interested in in telling stories about Hope even if I'm the antagonist providing you know a something to overcome I think I think I think I'm just interested in in general and stories about um and and all my music is is is has hopeful elements to it and and and so I have to give credit to the film that cuts down my hope at the knees harder than any other film ever where you're just kind of hoping it's getting it's going to be something Redemptive uh so seven good [ __ ] answer such a good it is just the the enemy that took the wind out of me more than anything else in terms of the ending amazing that's amazing it's a real it is a real yeah it makes you lose your breath it's very good thank you and I kind of still feel a bit how [ __ ] dare you yeah yeah you know a little bit and then a bit like and then a little bit well done you bastards you managed to kill the hype even in me you know if you're happy I hope you're happy because I'm not yeah going there Buzz what's your favorite film not necessarily a coffin what's your favorite my favorite film that's not is it back to the future can be um can I respectfully not answer the question because my I think my favorite film is the one I'm going to take in the coffin and it would be the same answer then that's okay all right then for that reason okay um Ben Burns you've been an absolute Joy I've loved talking to you however when you were a hundred years old you had a birthday card from the queen who is who was at the time about 190 which were nice about to send a card it was very scrawly writing but I believe it was from her so and she did the best um you you're a bit tired you went to bed and your loved ones he said gather around gather around your loved ones gathered around and and you're you're great great granddaughter took your hand and in a peak of Madness squeezed your hands so hard they're losing so much despair because you love me so very much she squeezed it so hard that it snapped in 25 places she screamed everyone started screaming around you right oh god what have I done people screaming I actually hate you no I know all your loved ones it's just so destroy oh god what have we done and there was blood and then the blood got infected and you had set the instant sepsis and it spread through your body quite quickly it's a big fair and then and then you were just joking on the infection and then people screaming everyone was screaming and you don't it was one of the least peacefulness I've ever seen and I hear this I hear this chaos I'm like what's going on in that house it sounds like a Massacre's happened oh you're fat or your loved ones they ran out their hair screaming like they've been in a hurry I've got a coffin on me you know I'm like drag it upstairs and go where's Ben Barnes well detective friend Ben Burns where is he now go up the stairs and there you are and your body has exploded from the instant deceptions [ __ ] everywhere it's everywhere on the walls on the floor it's it's disgusting and also insects are floated through the winter they're already eating on your Rotting Flesh I'm like get out of here scram and I scrape off all the bits of you I can and put you in the coffin it's a [ __ ] it's I'm having to wear industrial gloves it's great even I'm grossed out by it it's a mess it's like I've made a [ __ ] pool of cess in this uh coffin anyway it's it's full it's full there's only really enough room for me to slide one DVD into the Gloop for you to take across to the other side and on the other side it's baby night every night and one night what film are you taking to show everyone in Heaven when it's your baby night bed pants please click the bear there haven't I at the beginning I I challenged you it's like I sat I was like I went to a comedy show and sat in the middle of the front row thinking fine I hate I I hate I hate I I hate you for that how you died listen I'm so sorry listen it was a tragic death it was just dreaming it was quick though it was quick okay what film are you taking with you to show that um I am taking with me uh arguably and when I say arguably I mean arguing with myself because it's impossible absolutely fake film ever is but the one I would most like to share with them I most like share people the one that has brought me probably the most Joy uh When Harry Met Sally oh [ __ ] perfect answer I almost feel bad about how you died with that answer but I'm not interested I'm up and I'm up in in in heaven when I Met Sally I'm having a lovely yeah you're having it absolutely lovely time and everyone's going and everyone's going to bring in this oh really brilliant Choice what a brilliant brilliant choice of film for us to watch their thing probably the best probably the best uh choice of all of 100 . you're the best anyway just before we settle down to watch this lovely film how did you die again [Laughter] what a joy do you have no I I assume you would like people to listen to your album is that what we have to look forward to next from you um Yes actually I don't know when this goes out but it I mean very soon so it will probably be out that one what's it called it's called it's called songs for you and it is five songs that I wrote at uh that piano um and um and and then had some brilliant brilliant uh producing people helped me make uh sort of uh more shiny sounding with exciting uh brilliant musicians from around the world sort of contributing their bits in the pandemic it's just kind of thrilling and amazing and uh and now it's this sort of little it's this little uh record which is um so it's going to be everywhere and uh and it's it's brilliant yeah people have been uh the first song came out a few weeks ago and people sending me uh you know actually I think one of the things I love the most is this this this this girl's dancing in a kitchen with this big smile on her face to it and then people have been doing pole dancing you know ice skating routines or doing a Sing cover of it or drawing something from the music video or whatever just like just just feeling like I think something about me doing it at 40 rather than at 19 when I first tried is making people go I can well maybe I can just do my thing now and that feels like that I love that congratulations congratulations that's [ __ ] huge uh I hope that more and more people love it uh I have loved talking with you thank you for your time and um good luck with everything have a wonderful time in heaven and uh love to you good day sir Jerry bye

Channel: Open Soul Tarot

Views: 11,070

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Id: b9Ni8_YIeBQ

Length: 75min 32sec (4532 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 06 2023