So I will be introducing the honorary Actor Obsession file, which will be a long blog post dedicated to - obviously - the actor I am currently infatuated with. The criteria is based off the following:
1) His talent
2) His persona (deduced from various quotes, what his costars and workers say about him, and interviews)
3) His looks (call me shallow, but I am still a heterosexual girl and need to satisfy my cravings for eye-candy)
I've had various obsessions in the past, and I may bring them up again, but the current nominee is Ben Whishaw.
Where to start?
Ben Whishaw:
Born: October 14, 1980, in England
Current Age: 28
Notable traits: His chameleon abilities, waif-like stature, ethereal delicacy
Notable trivia: Has a twin brother
Ben's a graduate of RADA (The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, one of the most well-known acting institutions in the UK. It accepts only 28 students each year, and past alumni include Kenneth Branagh, Peter O'Toole, Michael Caine, Ralph Fiennes, Imelda Staunton and Vivien Leigh).
From an early age, Ben started burning up the stage in various production like Hamlet and If This Is A Man. He earned rave reviews for Hamlet, which I think very impressive considering that that role has been inhabited by nearly every illustrious actor in the UK.
And to be honest, I'm not terribly interested in every chronological step in Ben's life after that. I just know know that he's a young and talented actor. Wow. How many of these do we have right now? Ryan Gosling (can someone please tell me where that man's disappeared off too?) and Heath Ledger (sigh.....) That's IT.
No major awards yet, but he did get a nomination for Orange Rising Star Award at the 2007 BAFTAS, losing out to a well-deserved Eva Green:
So let's begin!
Layer Cake (2004):
Ben had a very brief performance in Layer Cake, as a bumbling nephew of a gangster who ends up whacking Daniel Craig in an unexpected twist. It's amusing to think that I watched the movie a couple years ago without any previous knowledge about Ben. I think he pulled off that desperate I-think-I'm-so-cool role very well. The part where he pathetically bobs his head to the music is hilarious:
I'm Not There (2007)
The first movie I saw Ben in was I'm Not There, the
fittingly bizarre biopic about Bob Dylan, and as
you might remember, where Cate Blanchett was one
of six actors (including Ben!) to play Bob.
Another excerpt from "I'm Not There"
At the time I was watching the movie for Cate Blanchett's much ballyhooed performance. I thought him impressive but was slightly irritated, because he looked like the kind of actor who equated "intense, coked-out" to great acting. But obviously I was quite wrong as he has never repeated the same performance.
"I do think Dylan's incredible.I sort of fell in love with him. I became obsessed. But I've moved on now. I always do."
The role that most people, if they've heard of him, seemed to know him for:
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (2006):
He plays Jean Baptiste-Grenouille, this sort of asexual, animal-like young man with an exceptional sense of smell, and embarks on this homicidal journey to find the perfect scent - out of the bodies of beautiful young woman. You can tell a lot from an actor's first leading-role film debut. Whishaw was mesmerizing in this and though he impressed me with his characterization, I feel like he didn't bring a lot of empathy to the role, something I fear will dodge his future performances.
Most of all, the off-screen relationship between him and Dustin Hoffman (who plays a perfumer who briefly employs Grenouille) fascinated me the most. A young intense British actor in his first major role, against a light-hearted American legend like Dustin Hoffman. I think out of any of the actors in his generation, Dustin Hoffman has been the most generous to younger actors. Unlike his fellow screen titans like Deniro and Nicholson, he's forgone the leading-man status to act in quirkier, independent character films, boosting the young actors with small jewels of performances while Nicholson and Pacino insist on roaring and tearing through the scenery in leading-man, conventional high salary (and boring) flicks.
Apparently Hoffman gave Whishaw some advice about spontaneity:
"In the very first day that I shot with [Dustin Hoffman], I was totally freaking out because it was the first time that I was seeing him in his full regalia. I couldn’t get something and I was getting really frustrated [and] Tom [Tykwer] is directions at me. I, sort of, started to lose it and then, sort of, quite and dropped the ball and he said “Cut!” and Dustin said, “In that moment, you really came alive, but it went wrong. You should have kept going! It’s about the accidents, Ben, it's all about the accidents."
"I didn't really get much [paparazzi]. I was with all these beautiful girls who I've murdered, all looking gorgeous, and I was the spare prick at the wedding." - About the Perfume premiere in Germany
Brideshead Revisited (2008):
Anyhoo, the role from Ben that really won me over was his gay-as-a-rainbow, charismatic dandy in
the adaptation of Brideshead Revisited.
He plays Sebastian, who comes from a wealthy family and has a bit of a drinking problem due to the pressures from his domineering religious-fanatic of a mother, played beautifully by Emma Thompson.
The movie itself isn't all that great, but Whishaw was an absolute scene stealer in this.
Ironically, this was the movie in which I noticed how good-looking Whishaw was. Without the usual grime or unfortunate facial fuzz that Whishaw seemed to acquire for all his other roles, he was just incredibly good-looking with a clean shaven face. His costars on Brideshead Revisited seem to agree. I read that Emma Thompson occasionally flirted with him and Matthew Goode onset (oh, Emma!) but when asked about it, Ben said he rarely noticed when other people flirted with him. That's just adorable.
As mentioned above in "notable traits", Ben's delicate good looks and intangible presence have been mentioned in a lot of his articles, so I thought it was good to note it. It's funny because he's certainly not handsome in your conventional tall, ripped, Ryan Reynolds/Brad Pitt fashion, but everyone who's met him seems to have fallen head over heels. Read the following:
Jane Campion: 'And then, when he came to do a reading, I opened the door and there was this beautiful, fragile boy; he had that magical quality that people who have written about Keats say he had. There is a fragility about Ben that is inspiring."
*There was another quote I read from Hayley Atwell, in which she called Ben absolutely physically beautiful, but I couldn't find it....:(
And my favorite:
Matthew Goode: "They gave [the role of Sebastian] to Ben because when the camera settles on him you gasp at his beauty. I mean I have a girlfriend and all but still…"
Love Hate (2009)
You'll have to scroll down and click the trailer, but it's well worth it.
Speaking of which, I wish he would just go out with Hayley Atwell. They clearly adore each other (platonically) but they look ridiculously good-looking next to each other. That is, if it weren't for some of the online rumors that Ben doesn't roll that way..... :(
Bright Star (2009):
And finally, the film that I am just desperate, desperate to see. It premiered at Cannes earlier this year and was hailed as the return of Jane Campion. It's none other than Bright Star, about the real-life romance between the poet John Keats and his neighbor Fanny Brawne. I admit I don't know shit about Keats but since I kind of drool for Campion and Whishaw, this is currently #2 on my Must-Watch Movies list.
Doesn't it look ravishing? There's Oscar buzz for Abbie Cornish, none for Whishaw sadly. Nathaniel from The Film Experience blog commented that Oscar rarely notices men in sensitiveroles as Whishaw will be playing, which is true if you think about it. But some critics weren't raving about him either, and I think it sort of comes back to the empathy thing. I suspect that the whole tortured-poet aspect will go a little overboard. But I'm still dying to watch this.
"I sort of fell in love with Dylan and Keats. But I've moved on. I always do."
Great post. I am dealing with some of these issues as
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