Ben Whishaw on why his gay character resonates with him
BEN WHISHAW. PHOTO BY RUBEN V. NEPALES
LOS ANGELES—Many actors like to proclaim that they are shy away from the stage or cameras.
In the case of British actor Ben Whishaw, he appears to be genuinely bashful and seemingly ill at ease talking about himself.
When he’s performing, Ben is a different animal, of course. He just finished commanding a Broadway stage as the iconic John Proctor in Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.”
Ben, who plays Q in the last two James Bond movies and will play Freddie Mercury in a movie about the rock band Queen, consistently earns acclaim in indie films, including the recent “The Lobster.”
He’s just as compelling in BBC’s thriller miniseries, “London Spy,” as Danny, a club-going hedonist who falls in love with Alex (Edward Holcroft), who’s the opposite—and turns out to be from the Secret Intelligence Service.
Ben and Edward, as the doomed lovers, figure in steamy gay sex scenes in the series directed by Jakob Verbruggen. Charlotte Rampling and Jim Broadbent costar.
Ben walked into a meeting room at a New York hotel with a huge beard that he’s grown for “The Crucible,” his Broadway debut.
Since he is very lean, the facial hair seemed to almost engulf his face. But his soulful dark eyes still stood out.
“One of the things I loved most was that it was about a gay character who isn’t glamorized or sanitized,” Ben said about his role. “It feels very honest. The first thing that struck me was that lots of people—not just gay people—have said that it feels authentic, and it resonated with their own lives. That’s very gratifying.”
On the script written by novelist Tom Rob Smith, Ben remarked, “Tom was quite cagey about where he got a lot of this story from. He’s mysterious and spy-like himself. But certainly, there has been a long history of gay spies. So it must be going on. I mean, why wouldn’t it be?
“Of course, the thing that is resonant is that for a long time, gay men had to behave like spies…they had to be secretive. That’s the connection…that’s interesting—and probably why a lot of gay men were drawn toward it.”
Ben, who came out in 2011, entered into a civil partnership with Mark Bradshaw, an Aussie composer, in August 2012.
With a smile, he admitted that their romance started just like how his character, Danny, immediately fell for Alex.
“It was love at first sight,” Ben said. “The experience had nothing to do with my brain. Because it wasn’t a sensible thing to [pursue]—he’s from Australia. He was in England for only 10 days. But it truly gave me an understanding of what love is, because it absolutely overwhelmed me.”
“Yes, I have discovered my inner Aussie,” Ben confirmed. “I love Australia and its people. It’s a cliché to say that they’re laid back, but it’s true. It has a lot to do with the climate and the nature of the country.
“Whenever I arrive there, I immediately feel lighter. And my appreciation of music has changed because Mark actually doesn’t like listening to music. What I’ve realized is that if you work in music, you can’t—or at least Mark can’t—bear to have music as, like, wallpaper, because he tunes into it and hears everything.
“Whereas I quite like it, on the radio or my laptop. So, we have a lot of silence around the house. When he’s away, I put the music on really loud and dance around.”
Laughing, Ben shared that he does get easily attracted to people. “I’m always falling in love. Well, not necessarily falling in love, but getting crushes on people.”
Ben thinks that if he were a spy in real life, he will “not be a great” one. “I am nosy,” he stressed. “I love overhearing conversations. But I wouldn’t be very good at spying. I’m not conniving or duplicitous enough.”
Lying is not his cup of tea. “I’m trying to live my life as honestly as I can,” he said. “I don’t like lies, even if the truth is difficult to take.
“But it always ends up being more complicated, doesn’t it?” he asked aloud. “A lie leads to another lie that leads to something else—like a misunderstanding or betrayal.”
Now based in New York, he hasn’t had a lot of time to explore the city because “the play’s been so all-consuming.”
Ben described the natural high he gets from a live audience. (In “The Crucible,” he and the cast, which included Sophie Okonedo, Saoirse Ronan and Ciaran Hinds, earned glowing reviews.)
“It’s beautiful when, for example, if people don’t know the play that you’re performing, and they are vocal, if they exclaim, ‘Haaaa!’…or they weep or laugh. Sometimes, that can return you right to the moment again.
“Even in a long run when you are so familiar with the play, you suddenly feel like you’re hearing it for the first time. That’s wonderful—through the audience’s experience of it.”
On seemingly working nonstop, Ben grinned, “I do like a break. But it also doesn’t take long for me to get hungry to be working again.”
After all, this is the man who has always dreamed of becoming an actor, even as a child growing up in “a little village in Bedfordshire, England.”
“I always loved performing. I used to do little plays for my family. I was lucky to have a very encouraging mom and dad, who never gave me any reason to hold back.
“They were like, ‘Go for it!’ I owe everything to them, really. Because I just followed my instinct and passion.” That led to his enrollment at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
He has a twin brother, James, who works in a different field.
For this actor who’s often tapped in small but acclaimed films, he welcomed the chance to play Q, who leads the research and development department of the British Secret Service in the “007” movies.
“I loved being in those films,” he said. “I loved the character I play. I love that I never ever thought that I would be in a James Bond film in my life. Now, I’ve been in two.
“It’s strange to have these things come about, and I’m grateful. It has helped me, because people see those movies. A lot of the films I’ve done are smaller or stranger…and not so many people see them. So, it’s wonderful to be seen by a lot of people.”
Ben claimed that he will have a real, honest-to-goodness break now that “The Crucible” ended last July 17. “I want to be free and float around the city for a bit. I’m going to do nothing for a bit. I’m going to have a holiday. And, well, I’m going to stay in New York and have some fun!”
Let’s see how long that break lasts before Ben starts raring to work again, and gift us with yet another excellent performance.
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