Shadow and Bone’s Ben Barnes Isn’t Proud of Dorian Gray Performance

Reflecting on his career so far, Shadow and Bone‘s Ben Barnes revealed a performance he’s not too proud of — 2009’s Dorian Gray. The British actor came to more widespread prominence as Prince Caspian in the Chronicles of Narnia franchise. Barnes has worked consistently ever since. In recent years, however, he’s made even bigger waves with a quick succession of noteworthy work. As well as making a complex villain out of Billy Russo (a.k.a. Jigsaw) on Netflix’s The Punisher, he stood out as the tragic Logan Delos on Westworld.

Barnes’ acclaim and popularity has only soared to new heights in 2021. A large reason for that was the release of Shadow and Bone. Based on Leigh Bardugo’s series of best-selling books, the Grishaverse saga was adapted for Netflix and released in late April. Set in the war-torn country of Ravka, the story followed Alina Starkov (Jessie Mei Li) as she discovered her destiny as the mythical Sun Summoner. Along the way, she encountered a range of eclectic characters. Principal among them was Barnes’ General Kirigan (a.k.a. The Darkling). Initially a mentor and love interest, it was ultimately revealed that he was Shadow and Bone‘s true villain. Regardless, Barnes’ performance earned sweeping praise and scored him a new legion of fans. As such, there has been much revisiting of the actor’s earlier work.

Even Barnes himself hasn’t been exempt. Speaking with News.com.au, however, the actor revealed he hasn’t looked back fondly on some of his performances. Barnes focused on one in particular — his titular turn in the 2009 adaptation of Dorian Gray. Based on Oscar Wilde’s classic novel, the film told the story of a hedonistic man who sold his soul for eternal youth. Here’s Barnes’ full explanation of why he’s reflectively unenamored with his work:

“I think there are certain projects that I’ve done that I’m really proud of how they came across and there are other projects I’ve done where actually l’m like, ‘I don’t feel I captured this person’s essence, or I didn’t capture the humanity of this person’ so next time you task yourself with really trying to find that. I watch back something like Dorian Gray, for example, and in reading that book and watching this film, I don’t quite recognise what I had in my head and see on the screen. And that’s my responsibility. That’s why I don’t feel as proud of that performance necessarily because I didn’t have the skillset to translate it, and I feel like these years later, I found a lot of that and I feel like I do know how to do that.“

Released in September 2009, the adaptation was directed by Oliver Parker. Working from a script by Toby Finlay, Dorian Gray also starred such notable actors as Colin Firth, Rebecca Hall, Ben Chaplin, Emilia Fox, Fiona Shaw, Pip Torrens, and Rachel Hurd-Wood. The film received mixed reviews. Regardless of the critics, the film garnered a passionate cult fanbase and a not insignificant return at the box office. As expected, Barnes had nothing negative whatsoever to say about the production itself or anybody else that worked on the film. Similarly, many would probably counter Barnes’ view as being overly harsh on himself.

Even if one were to agree with his statements regarding Dorian Gray, the fact he was only a few years into his career would afford him forgiveness. Equally, they would have to applaud that Barnes at least learned and improved in the wake of such perceived missteps. His recent efforts demonstrated that he was right in his latter comments. His capacity to breath humanity into what could’ve been one-note monsters was more than evident in his work as Shadow and Bone‘s resident Shadow Summoner. He’s almost certainly mastered the skillset of translating a character’s essense from page to screen — and imbuing them a likable charm. As such, whatever one’s view of Dorian Gray (and Barnes’ work therein), attention will remain firmly on the future and what he’ll bring next to Shadow and Bone season 2.

Source: News.com.au

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