ARMY OF DARKNESS
Ben Barnes plays General Kirigan
How would you describe Kirigan’s relationship with Alina?
It’s interesting, because Kirigan’s the most powerful and the most knowing character in the world. He knows that Alina is something extremely special and that she’s the antithesis to him in a lot of ways. He has the power to control the darkness, and she has the power to control the light. He knows that she’s important to him, which is an interesting jumping-off point for two characters to meet. And Alina is looking at him thinking, “I know nothing about this man. He’s completely mysterious to me. I don’t know whose side he is on. I don’t know if he has my best interests at heart, but I know he knows more than me about what’s going on with me.”
What’s the secret to walking that fine line between being charismatic but menacing?
It’s all about status. However people respond to you when you walk into a room determines how powerful people feel you are. With Kirigan, there was a moment in the very first scene that you see him in – a moment from the book – where people are talking and he just says the word “Quiet.” He says it almost under his breath, and everyone is immediately silent. It was really important for me to get that into the show. It sets him up. It does all the work for you. You never have to question again who is in charge if he’s in a room. He brings that sort of power and gravitas.
Kirigan has a certain style. What particularly impressed you about his wardrobe?
My character has a symbol which is an eclipse. It’s a representation of the relationship between him and Alina, with the dark masking the sun. It’s embossed onto each of the buckles. On the back of the coat, you have these tendrils, these roots that are coming out. These shadow tendrils look like this big oak tree on the back. As soon as I saw that… it tells you a huge amount about the character.
He also wears a lot of black…
That is his colour. That’s how people see him. It’s interesting, because what we did is there’s a very tiny bit of scarlet red on the inside of the coat. Costume designer Wendy Partridge and I worked on that together, to get that colour. She wanted something that wasn’t entirely black to pop on screen. For me, that red colour is representative of his blood, his humanity… the core of this man running through his veins.
What separates Shadow And Bone from other fantasy sagas?
This series just felt completely new. The tone of it felt like late Harry Potter. There was a darkness to it, but it’s sort of for everyone. Everyone is at war or on this journey already when we meet them. But it also has this epic Russian scope that adds some quirkiness to it. Then you have this slightly Peaky Blinders/ocean’s 11 quality in the Crows stuff [Kaz’s crew of criminals].
Fans have championed you to play both Batman and James Bond on the big screen. What does that mean to you?
I’ve learned enough over the years that Twitter doesn’t have the power to make those kinds of decisions. But also, I am a child of the ’80s. I have a picture of myself when I was about four years old in a Batman costume that I designed myself. It was just a piece of yellow paper with a bit of string around it, hooked over my neck. I had drawn a bat on it. I had a pillowcase as a cape. Anybody saying that you would make a great Batman… there’s a jolt, a thrill, if you grew up watching comic book stuff or sci-fi or fantasy. And James Bond is obviously one of the ultimate compliments to pay to any Englishman. But I’ve been around the block enough times to know it doesn’t matter to anyone who makes those kinds of decisions!