Familiar with the second movie in the Chronicles of Narnia? Then, you must remember the handsome
Prince Caspian! Doesn’t something about him just leave us in a daze? Many of us had a crush on in
our adolescent or teenage days, didn't we? Well, Ben Barnes has far cuter
sides to him than Caspian! We also see a dark and eerie yet at the same
time handsome and charming General Kirigan that he plays in the new netflix hit Shadow and Bone.
Welcome back to our channel and today we have 10 facts about Ben Barnes that you need to know!
So, we know he played the dashing Prince Caspian, and despite him being 26 years old at that time!
We sure felt he looked like a teenager but he wasn’t!
He said in an interview that the key to playing teenage characters is to shave twice a day.
The casting group wanted his age to be near William Moseley’s and hence gave him the role.
He did it splendidly for sure, earning him a huge fan-following with the ladies!
Now, one for an epic tidbit that you may want to know about his role
is that he asked Weta to make him a copy of this sword he brandishes in the movie called Rhindon.
He says he still has it and he keeps it next to his bed in case intruders get in his room!
Adorable right? His “princely” demand seems to fit in perfectly with his on-screen character!
He showed great interest in acting from a young age, but his parents were very particular about
his education. His parents were Tricia and Thomas Barnes who was a relationship therapist
and a professor of psychiatry respectively. Ben had proved to be a smart kid and pursued
his education at two independent schools which were all-boys called the Homefield Prep School
and King’s College School in Wimbledon. He later continued his studies at Kingston
university pursuing a BA degree with honours in drama and English Literature. Well,
beauty and brains, what can we say? Now, c’mon, good-looking, brains
and singing? This is almost too good to be true! But in the case of Ben Barnes,
it is. He had actually begun his career in musical theatre and was a part of the National Youth Music
Theatre like Jude Law and Jamie Bell. He was a singer in a pop boy band called
Hyrise which represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with its song “Leading Me On”.
It is even said that his first professional stint as a musician was being a drummer.
And he can also play the piano! Too multitalented? We think so too!
Any guesses on which it is? It’s The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader which
was the third movie in the series. It was released in December 2010 and in 2D
and 3D and was a blockbuster hit. He owned the role with his acting prowess and hunky looks.
He came a long way from Prince Caspian, that’s for sure.
And in an exclusive interview, he said that he had always been a fan of the Chronicles
of Narnia as a child and he always had been thrilled to be cast as Caspian. He in fact
had a Spanish accent in the second movie which they asked to drop in the third.
Now, he’s been crazily famous for his role as Caspian, we all know. But now his personality
and appearances are also likened to Caspian. He was called “Billboard Ben” when the posters
of Prince Caspian in the second movie were all over the place!
And on the sets of the third movie, he sported a peculiar beard brush of his own.
Everyone on the set called it the Ben Barnes Beard Brush. He’s also famously called by his nickname
“B-squared” by his friends and fans. Last Caspian fact, we promise! So, he was
actually in the middle of a project “The History Boys” playing a character called Darkin.
That’s why when he was cast as Prince Caspian, he left the drama halfway before his contract ended.
Due to this breach, the Royal National Theatre almost sued him,
but after negotiations and discussions, this was dropped. Which was great,
this role has been iconic for him! We can’t get through five facts about him
without the name Caspian in it! And just to wrap up Caspian facts; there’s a fun fact about him.
Fun fact: Knowing horse-riding was a requirement for the role of Caspian.
He didn’t know how to ride, so when he got cast, he enrolled in classes at the nearest
institution that taught it. Turned out it was Auckland’s Riding School for the Disabled!
He still remembers the experience memorably! We mean literally what can he not do? He knows
singing, acting, he plays drums and the piano and he knows horseback riding! What does he not do?
Dancing! He’s always maintained that he was a terrible dancer and this actually
came as some help according to him in the movie “Killing Bono”.
He used it to make people laugh and he said he quite enjoyed the whole experience.
This movie was based on a memoir by Neil McCormick where he recounts his youthful days in Ireland as
an aspiring rock star who was overshadowed by his friend Bono who was from the band U2.
In a play, Ben Barnes acts in the role of Stephen Wraysford where the drama is centered around the
horrors of World War I in 1910. When he met Sebastian Faulks, the writer of the book,
he looked very confusedly at Ben. When asked why he said that Ben looked exactly like how
Faulks imagined Stephen 15 years ago! The cast had visited the Imperial War
Museum to conduct research about that period and he read through letters
of people who were active in the war. This play was about a man's journey through
an all-consuming love affair and the horrors of the First World War. His acting was impeccable,
he got highly acknowledged and praised for his acting prowess in that serious play.
There is a rumor that he even broke two ribs during the first performance in the play!
But no one knows for sure! Parker is an amazing English actor
and is well-known for some amazing roles in crime drama series like The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.
He also played Agravaine de Bois in the fourth series of Merlin.
Now Ben and Nathaniel always seem to have some connection with each other! In fact, it happened
twice! Ben’s character in the movie Stardust played the younger Dunstan Thorne. That character
in his adult form was played by Nathaniel Parker. Nathaniel Parker played Caspian’s dad
in the third movie. And in the famous “Dorian Gray”, Ben worked closely with the director
Oliver Parker, who was Nathaniel’s brother! Some connection exists there for sure!
Flabbergasted? We were too! Apart from Narnia, the next big teen hit has to be Twilight. Remember
pale and calm Bella paired with the dashing and brooding Edward Cullen played by Robert Pattinson?
Pattinson sure did such a great job, but could you imagine Ben Barnes in that swoon-worthy role?
Fans have said he had great chemistry with the actress Kristen Stewart. In fact, he came out
about it in an interview where he said that he later found out he was one of the four finalists
in the audition. He said that the concept by which he was rejected was that the producers
didn’t want to mix Narnia and Twilight. They didn’t want Caspian as Edward and vice versa,
it was dangerous for the movies. And he was so popular as Caspian, it was so hard to be not
seen as that character. He laughed about it later in the interview saying thanks to that rejection,
he didn’t have to deal with the die-hard and stalky fans that Pattinson had to deal with.
Many girls have driven Pattinson crazy by stalking, suicide threats, and what-not.
He as Caspian didn’t have to face that! We’ve last seen him as the formidable General
Kirigan in Shadow and Bone, a famous Netflix series that has been getting
quite popular nowadays! We hope to see him in more ventures for sure!
What do you think of Ben Barnes? Which movie or play of his did you like best? Do you think he’ll
be seen in something soon? Are you a huge fan of his? Let us know in the comments below!
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