Interview with Sir Ben Kingsley on set of BloodRayne

BloodRayneThe film reveals the origins of Bloodrayne in the cinematic prequel to Majesco’s popular videogame. In eighteenth century Romania, Rayne, a young dhampir (half-human, half-vampire), prone to fits of blind blood rage but saddled with a compunction for humans, strives to avenge her mother’s rape and murder by her father, Kagan, King of the Vampires.Orphaned and forced to find refuge in a circus freak show, the only place her aberrant abilities are tolerated, Rayne does not discover her true abilities till the night she tastes human blood for the first time defending herself from the circus strong man. Consumed by bloodlust and tormented by her new identity, she transforms into BloodRayne and feeds on the blood of vampires, refusing to take the lives of innocents.Two vampire hunters, Sebastian and Vladimir, from the Brimstone Society persuade her to join their cause to destroy the most evil and powerful of all the vampires in the land, her father. She races to find the three Talisman organs: a heart, an eye and a rib wrought from her ancestor vampire, Beliar, which Kagan also covets. The Talismans give the beholder the power to throw the earth into darkness allowing vampires to rule forever...JW: Can you explain you role in BloodRayne and how it contrasts with your part as Fagin in the upoming Oliver Twist movie?BK: My role in BloodRayne is king of the vampires which obviously is very attractive to the imagination. I don’t really know what I want to achieve in the role- I don’t think achievement is the right word. I want to present to the audience a king fighting a rebellion led by his daughter which is I think very rich because nobody knows what it is like to be a vampire so you have to use your intuition and where I can use my intuition is to use a wonderful leading lady in her role as daughter and have her my equal in opposite and that is where the drama of the overall story lies that it is a daughter determined to destroy her father and a father that is determined to destroy his daughter or to re-embrace his daughter and bring her to his side.So that is the crucial difference between looking at this role and looking at the role of Fagin who is a very highly structured character in Charles Dickens’ novel. Very eccentric, very ideocratic. The two roles are entirely different but for me.I don’t really read lots of books or go looking in the forest for vampires-it would be a waste of time. So I use my intuition, my imagination, my voice and my body. That is really what actors do. There is a lot of nonsense talked about acting, but really all we do is use our voice, our body, our imaginations to create portraits about people so that you and the audience can be pulled into beautiful stories. That is why us actors, we need to be seen and heard simply because we want to present the portraits. The portraits, portrayals- it is the same word. And I think the misconception that all the people do have about acting-of course they do. I have no misconceptions about my dentist because when I go to my dentist I see what he does. I don’t have any misconception about maybe somebody who decorates my kitchen repaints my kitchen because I can stand there and I see how they chose the colours but nobody really even if you bring your camera into the studio..

Kingsley plays Kagan King of Vampires

JW: What is your relationship with a director when you are working on a movie?BK: I think that really the director should try and shape what is there. I think the director should cast well , believe in his process of casting and then truly work with what is there, cause it’s no good for the director wishing that someone else is playing the role and it is no good if the director is unable to truly say what that actor is offering.So if I feel the director is seeing every tiny thing that I do and sometimes inviting me not to do it again or sometimes inviting me to have practiced a little more or sometimes saying nothing other than lets do another take and once that conspiracy, that adventurous conspiracy is operating between myself and the director there’s a very very exciting dynamic. So I believe that we have the beginning of a conspiracy. We are plotting together something very interesting and I see him and hear him and he sees me and hears me…this is a wonderful relationship.JW: Are you a fan of the horror genre?BK: Yes of course I am. Why? Not because… I think a good horror film can also include sexuality and passion and tensions and sensitivity and I think if a horror film embraces all this mediums then it can be a very sensually exciting event for the audience so that they are attracted and horrified at the same time. They’re compelled towards this very positive force and at the same time they are frightened of it. JW: Early on in your career you veered towards singing and music, you were the narrator and composer for "A Smashing Day," did John Lenno and Ringo star really come back stage to congradulate you?BK: Yes John Lennon and Ringo Starr liked my songs. I used to write songs and they heard me sing songs on stage in London.They in turn were managed by a colleague of mine, Bryan Apstine, he took me to Dick James. Dick James was a recording-zar in England that time in the sixties.I’d have liked to pursue that career as a singer and a songwriter. And right at the same time I was also invited to do some classical theatre in another theatre in England and I decided to go that route. And I’m very glad I did.If I didn’t I wouldn’t be here. I think I chose the more disciplined role – I’m not saying music is not disciplined it’s very disciplined, but I think at a time I needed for a disciplined activity in my life and therefore classical theatre was very disciplined , very difficult, very demanding and I’m glad I made that choice because I grew more than I would doing this so here we are.Thanks to Ben Kingsley and Uwe Boll for their time.BloodRayne is due out next year, extended details in our Mini-site. Details on the BloodRayne 2 game here.Sign up for M&C's newsletter to make sure you don't miss a trick.