When handsome British actor Ben Barnes showed up in New Zealand to begin filming “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian,” he was asked to do two things well - wield a sword and ride a horse.
He could do neither.
The London-born actor is a city boy, and never learned how to use a sword or ride a horse. But he learned. He trained seven hours a day for weeks to look the part of Prince Caspian. By the end of the seven-month shoot, he was proficient in both sword-fighting and horseback riding.
So, when he showed up on the set of his next movie - a sophisticated comedy based on a Noel Coward play - he was thrilled when he was asked if he could ride his own horse in a fox-hunting scene.
“Can I ride?” he asked with a laugh. “Of course I can ride.”
The rest of the actors used stunt doubles for the scene, but Barnes confidently climbed on his horse and took off. He made it halfway across the field. His horse stepped in a small dip and stumbled, throwing Barnes head over heels onto the ground.
Neither horse nor rider were seriously injured, although one of them suffered massive ego bruises.
“You’ve never seen a more bruised ego in your life,” the actor said. “My pride was singed. I felt like a complete idiot.”
It took only a day for Barnes’ physical injuries to heal, but he says he still smarts whenever he remembers that day.
And you thought acting was easy.
This reminds me of a story about an elderly woman I knew. The older woman died last month.
Having never
> married, she requested no male pallbearers. In her handwritten
> instructions for her memorial service, she wrote, ‘They wouldn’t take
> me out while I was alive, I don’t want them to take me out when I’m
> dead.’ I am not sure where that makes sense but it sure was embarrassing to the Pastor.
Many times I have been totally embarrassed showing off. What separates me from this actor is that he is getting paid to look foolish.
It sounds like this actor has his head on straight. I have an aunt Ethel in Philadelphia who would say he sounds like quite a fella. I hope he does well.