‘HAVING A THERAPIST AND A PSYCHIATRIST FOR PARENTS DOESN’T HURT. IT MEANS I DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR IT’
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Ben Barnes has a running joke with Colin Firth that whenever Barnes stars in a film opposite someone, the next movie that person shoots receives critical acclaim. It’s happened with Firth (who starred alongside Barnes in Dorian Gray and Easy Virtue), Jeff Bridges, and Alicia Vikander, who played his love interest in Seventh Son. “I’m like that film [Good Luck Chuck]… but for Oscars,” says Barnes. “Work with me and you’ll make the worst film you’ve ever made. But then… ”
Although he may be a kind of catalyst for other people’s success, Barnes’s versatility is a testament to his talent: he’s managed to trade the heartthrob roles in which he was typecast in his early years for more punchy characters, allowing him to straddle a multitude of genres in his career so far. He’s wielded fantastical swords, exchanged comedic jabs with Robin Williams, dabbled in dramatic hedonism, and fired bullets in a futuristic western.
The London-born actor got his start in music, playing drums in a West End adaptation of Bugsy Malone, before being taken under the
