Ben Barnes on His Love Language, Lost Roles, and Being Cast as Prince Caspian Over Andrew Garfield
glamour.comGlamour's new column . Now he's throwing caution to the wind. A lot has changed for the 41-year-old actor over the course of nearly two decades in Hollywood.
Starring as Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise in 2008, Barnes was quickly poised to be the next great British heartthrob along the lines of Twilight-era —or, as Barnes would describe it, “the young protagonist in the fantasy thing.” From there came Dorian Grey, Killing Bono, Westworld, Marvel's The Punisher, and the list goes on.
However, as any “young protagonist in the fantasy thing” would probably tell you, that level of exposure leaves you feeling, well, exposed. “I used to care so hard about every single little piece of criticism,” Barnes tells me over Zoom from his airy kitchen in Los Angeles. “I didn't like doing interviews and I was quite cautious, even with my acting choices.”Cautious is not the word I'd use to describe the man speaking with me with an easy smile and a refreshing mix of playful banter and genuine openness.
And though Barnes is clearly grateful to his legion of die-hard fans and millions of Instagram followers, this hard-earned confidence did not come from fandom popularity alone. “For 20 years, I've been playing these characters that everyone else has kind of written and it's their agenda,” Barnes explains.
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