hits.

Thanks to Regys for the heads up about this interview with Ben that aired on Heart radio in the UK! Unfortunately the audio version is only available to UK listeners but you can attempt to bypass this by using MK8 0AD as the post code on the original site. If that still doesn’t work, I’ve also provided an .ivr (real player) download link and a transcript of the interview below.

Click here to download the .ivr (real player) version. I don’t know if this will work for everyone but it was my best attempt to give you guys a version you could listen to. Please do not hotlink!

UPDATE: Click here for an .asf version (playable on various media players – thanks to merrylegs).

Source: Heart Radio

Thanks again to my friend Kate for the following transcript:

[Talking of Colin Firth]

Ben: ‘He’s a good mate but he’s a terrible mentor. I always ring him up for advice and to set me on the straight and narrow – ‘Oh, they’ve written this about me, or should I take this part, whatever’. He just says ‘I don’t know’. But one of the things he does say is when you’re kind of starting out, the first 15, 20 years of your career, you know, you’re gonna get that what he went through, of being cast as ‘The Pretty Boy’ and then you’ve got to wait. You’ve gotta put in the years, you’ve got to put in the years, before you get the really interesting roles.’

Interviewer: ‘Definitely. I’ve spoken to Colin about that and he says ‘I feel like I’m getting the better roles now as I get older, with more wrinkles and grey hair.’

Ben: ‘Never more so than in this, because in this obviously he has to be aged 25 years for half of it, so the dynamics on set were interesting, cos when he was playing this young Henry Wotton, with his clever comments and his little sharp pointy beard and shiny little spark in his eye, he’d just mock me all day and make me make him tea and stuff. And then the rest of the time, when he was made up to look old and balding and grey, I think it made him feel quite vulnerable so he’d just sort of sit quietly and the roles would be reversed. I’d make him go and get me cups of tea.’

Interviewer ‘Your turn to take the mickey. ‘Sit there, old man!”

Ben: Yea! All day! All day! ‘All right, Grandad? You comfy? You need a pillow?”

Interviewer: ‘Talking about what we were talking about, you’re already quite a hit with the ladies now, Ben, particularly after playing Prince Caspian. But the ‘shirt off’ scenes from this movie are already a massive hit on the internet and I’ve seen them in lots of magazines as well.’

Ben: ‘Really? Oh dear. Yeah. I dunno. It’s not like I’m Matthew McConaughey. I’m not stripping off so that I can have the sun glinting off my glistening torso. I’m well aware I don’t have that kind of thing going on under my shirt but yeah it’s ironic to me. You get those pictures up all over the web and everyone’s like ‘Oh you look like you need a good meal’. It’s funny cos I still see myself as this skinny, pastey, youngest boy in the class kind of thing, and obviously not everyone sees me that way.’

Interviewer: ‘Are you a gym bunny? Do you hit the gym at all?’

Ben: ‘I prefer to do it more functionally. Like I’m doing Narnia at the moment so I’m doing lots of swords and swimming and stuff like that and I’ll try and bulk up a bit for a role like this but I don’t take it too seriously the rest of the time, not really, cos I’m never going to be Arnold.’

Interviewer: ‘Ben, thank you so much for talking to us.’

Ben: ‘Thanks a lot. Bye!’

lili said:

hello i have only one question:where can i see the video about dorain gray “shirtless”?
thanks

September 5th, 2009

Regys said:

Awww I loved it! *-* Thank You, hon! and Kate! Ben is soo cute!

September 5th, 2009

Clarissa said:

thank you for posting that for us.

September 5th, 2009

Affy-Ann said:

Loved it, too. Thank you so much! I love Ben’s interviews. He answers so well and has a great sense of humor. <3

September 5th, 2009

MK said:

it worked! thank you girls for the tip! ?

September 5th, 2009

MK said:

it worked! thank you girls for the tip! ?

September 5th, 2009

Trisha said:

I love how he said that he realizes that he doesn’t have the “glistening torso”. When Just Jared posted a pic of him shirtless, there were lots of people that said he needed to bulk up. = (

September 5th, 2009

Sonia said:

he is SOOOO GOOGLING himself….:DDDDDDD…..from now on, no adoration posts, he might get cocky……

September 5th, 2009

hana said:

thx for posting! i cant open the file or cant use the code. :( can u possibly upload it to media fire or something

September 5th, 2009

varjot-virva said:

@ Sonia: For some reason, Ben seems to be one of those very few actors who won’t ever get cocky …
… and even though cockyness can be sexy, I hope he really won’t XDD

I can’t open the file, so thanks a lot for writing everything down!!! [Guess that means I’ll d/l the real player again *laughs*]

And I so wish we will get to see more of Ben and Colin interactive between takes in a making of. Those two seem to be priceless together XD

September 5th, 2009

Sonia said:

varjot-virva – you never know……

September 5th, 2009

Andrea said:

I live in the US and heard the interview quite clearly. I LOOOVE ben’s voice and his laugh!! Thanks so much Stephanie!!!

September 5th, 2009

Sandy said:

Thanks Stephanie =D Loved the interview and yes I too love Ben’s laugh. Amazing!!

September 5th, 2009

Stephanie said:

Hana: The .ivr file only plays on Real Player.

I’ve updated the post with a second file that should (hopefully) play on various media players. So those of you who can’t get the Real Player version to work can try that one .. =)

September 5th, 2009

hana said:

thx stephanie!!!! :D

September 5th, 2009

Mandi said:

So in other words, you have to have crows feet under your eyes, be able to say that you’re “over the hill” before you can play a serial killer… interesting…

September 5th, 2009

Kell said:

Thanks Stephanie I enjoyed the interiew very much just love to hear him talk. thanks again

September 5th, 2009

Lu said:

what a pleasure it is to come here and find something new about Ben every… Tanks a lot… Also thanks for all the “trouble” to post all the ways possible for us to access his interview… I love coming to the website almost every day… YOU GUYS ROCK!!!!

September 5th, 2009

Serena said:

That is a lovely interview. Love listening to him talk. Thanks for posting this.

September 5th, 2009

Sarah said:

thanks a lot for the radio interview upload!! Ben is so cool!!

September 5th, 2009

Heather said:

TO SONIA: OF COURSE he is googling himself!! He wouldn’t be human if he didn’t. Remember the Jay Leno interview…when he showed Jay the picture of himself on Sunset Blvd. in L.A. in front of a Prince Caspian billboard, so who knows…he just might come into this very fansite and reads all the posts…..in that case………..I LOVE YOU BEN SO VERY VERY MUCH AND I WANT TO HAVE ALL YOUR BABIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D

September 5th, 2009

Affy-Ann said:

I agree Andrea! I love listening to his voice and laugh, too! =)

Downloaded the interview. I so love RealPlayer! LOL <3 Thanks again!

September 5th, 2009

MK said:

@Heather and Sonia

I’d rather he makes this his official fansite for all i know!

September 6th, 2009

Angela said:

LOVE IT! Ben is so modest and sweet and talented and good-looking and the perfect man to play Dorian Gray. And did I mention he is good-looking?

September 6th, 2009

Kell said:

O.K. fans the Mirror.co.uk opinion is saying that Ben’s acting has the presence or a twix wrapper and dosen’t make us care a jot about Dorian. I don’t know what he means about us. Maybe it is just him. Maybe he has the presence of a twix wrapper. HELP HIM FANS

September 6th, 2009

Serena said:

Kell, after awhile, you have to take those reviews with a grain of salt. That is just the opinion of one single person (who happens to be writing for a collective newspaper and thus wants everyone to believe that the entire company shares their opinion). Other reviewers seem to love the movie thus far, so what does that say? That the ones who do like it are effed in the head or the lone person who didn’t like it is? Even so, most of the movies that generally get great reviews turn out to be terrible (which so far from the clips shown, Dorian doesn’t seem to fit that category) while movies that get bad reviews are often great (not always but more often than not). Just because one person (or a whole group) of “professional” reviewers doesn’t like it doesn’t mean anything in the end. Yeah it’s nice for the actors if they get great reviews but some people just don’t like anything and can’t/won’t appreciate good talent when they see it and in turn praise bad actors/films instead.

September 6th, 2009

Kell said:

Serena you are right just got a little upset because that was just one of a review that I read they were a lot more that were saying it wasn’t good. One was in Toronto which I thought was strange because I thought that was what the TIFF was also for. But you are right there are a lot of movies that get bad reviews take Transformers for instance and G.I. Joe. I enjoyed the both of them a lot especily G.I. Joe that was a good movie. I am just really hoping that DG gets more good reviews than bad so someone will distrubt it to come here in the U.S. I want to see it bad. It looks so good. I really hope all the fans in the U.S. get to see it and enjoy it and tell the rest of us how good or dissapointing it is.

September 6th, 2009

Serena said:

Kell, I completely empathize with you. I’m in the US too and I want to see the film just as bad in the theaters but only time will tell what happens. Yes it would be nice if DG got all great reviews but that isn’t reality because people have different tastes. Prince Caspian for example got more bad reviews than good (that I saw anywa) and it turned out fairly successful in the US. Not as much as some people would like but no one has control over what the reviewers write/say except the reviewers themselves. Whether that was due to being a Disney project that it got any exposure at all, whether good or bad, is anyone’s guess. Even Easy Virtue was a mixed bag and it only had a very limited release in the US, despite having an all-star cast that people in the US were familiar with. But Ben is gradually becoming more well-known and of course everyone is familiar with Colin Firth even if they haven’t seen his films. But Dorian Gray himself is one of the most popular characters in literature and well-known to just about everyone on the planet so for that reason I would find it odd for them to skip over it being shown in the US. We’ll have to cross our fingers and see what happens.

September 7th, 2009

Kell said:

Serena I really don’t see it skipping the US either. Dorian Gray is a very popular story everywhere. So I am keeping my fingers cross even if it is limited EV came to my city So I think DG will to. I loved PC it is my number one film on my list. When you say Ben Barnes you have to mention PC and then they know who you are talking about. So hopefully with DG, Valediction and VODT and maybe more to come he will be known in the states a little better, But still have his private life. As far as Colin Firth I like his films too. I have seen him in a lot of films too My favorate for him is P&P I have the dvd. I think I am going to watch PC tomorrow. Yes I am. on Blue Ray Thanks Serena.

September 7th, 2009

Gemma said:

He is so funny lol

September 7th, 2009

varjot-virva said:

Kell, I have to agree with Serena on what she said about reviews.
Of course, it can be very upsetting to read bad reviews about a movie or a special performance / actor / actress when you think quite the opposite, but that’s just the way it is.
I sometimes believe one will never get really good reviews until there’s been a HUGE movie-hit with them at some point. But even that can get them into trouble later on …

… and also, we shouldn’t forget that Ben hasn’t been a part of too many movies as of now.
He’s been in *counting* 4 movies that have been released [and only had a minor role in one of them, Stardust], 2 that have been filmed most recently (or are still being filmes) and then 1 that will be released this week – Dorian Gray.
He doesn’t have to ber /perfect/ just yet. Even though every actor of course wants to gives his best at all times – which I’m sure he does – it takes time to learn and get better and better which each new project.

All of the big actors of our time started not having too good reviews about their performances and such. But that’s just the way it is. And it doesn’t exactly mean that they’re bad actors as well. If Ben wasn’t, he wouldn’t have gotton these roles for sure.
It just means that he’s still young and that there’s still a lot to learn for him.
Which is – after all – not a bad thing ^^

And now let me say one more thing about the interview posted in this post: I love how he says “oh dear” … XD

September 7th, 2009

Kell said:

I understand about the reviews thanks and this review is funny He is cute in a lot of his interviews I can’t wait to hopefully see him and Colin Firth in an interview together Maybe if he goes to the TIFF they will have one. These 2 need to be in a comedy together not like EV. because they didn’t have enough scenes together. That would be funney.

September 7th, 2009

Lu said:

Regardless of others opinions or reviews on the newspapers or wherever I´m sure we are all going to watch Ben´s movies and take our own conclusions. But I agree with all of you commenting… It´s not very nice to read or get bad reviews… but I don´t really trust them… As far as I remember, they were never in the same place where I was concerning a movie or an actor… Also, eventhough we like Ben a lot we have good judgement… we can see bad films from good films… and our likeness for Ben goen on unshattered… and finally I love twiix (HAHAHA). I´m from Brazil, by the way… and I´ve said it before… this is an awesome website about Ben with awesome people running and participating… YOU ROCK!!! Thanks for all the Ben´s goodies…

September 7th, 2009