Actor calls on men to ‘celebrate’ masculinity
KNOWN for his often tough, gruff portrayals, he became a household name in the 1990s playing the gardener in the headline-grabbing TV adaptation of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and then playing the titular character in ITV’s Sharpe.
Now Sean Bean has spoken out about how hard it is to be a man in the wake of the #MeToo era.
In a new interview to promote his latest acting project, the star said “a lot of men these days are made to feel like apologists for their sexuality and their masculinity” while discussing his latest acting project.
The 63-year-old British actor has starred in The Lord Of The Rings, Game Of Thrones and recently won a Bafta for his role in the hard-hitting BBC One Jimmy McGovern drama Time, in which he played a remorseful teacher sentenced to four years in prison for accidentally killing a man.
Ahead of the airing of his latest project, BBC drama Marriage, Bean spoke to The Times newspaper about how he feels views on men have changed in the post #MeToo movement world.
When asked if he believes it is harder to be a man now, he said: “Yes, I suppose it is, really.”
Bean added: “Certain aspects of a man’s character are frowned upon now as being discriminatory or boorish.
“But I think you’ve got to be careful we do not lose sight of what a man is.
“Look at the old heroes in mythology, history – there’s a great respect for a man’s adventures and his strengths. A lot of men these days are made to feel like apologists for their sexuality and their masculinity.
“And I think that’s something that men have to retain and celebrate as much as women celebrate their femininity.”
Father-of-three Bean, who hails from Yorkshire, has been married five times, wedding his current wife Ashley Moore in 2017, also shared his views on the use of intimacy co-ordinators in film and television productions.
Reflecting on how his experience of portraying Mellors in the BBC’s Lady Chatterley in 1993 may have been different if intimacy co-ordinators were used at that time, he said: “It would spoil the spontaneity.
“It would inhibit me more because it’s drawing attention to things.
“Somebody saying, ‘Do this, put your hand there, while you touch his thing?’.”
Bean added: “I think the natural way lovers behave would be ruined by someone bringing it right down to a technical exercise.
“Lady Chatterley was spontaneous. It was joy. We had a good chemistry between us and we knew what we were doing was unusual.
“Because she was married, I was married, but we were following the the story.
“We were trying to portray the truth of what DH Lawrence wrote.”
In upcoming programme Marriage, written by Baftawinning Stefan Golaszewski, Bean portrays Ian, with Nicola Walker starring as his on-screen wife Emma, as the drama explores long-term relationships and all the ups and downs they bring.
Bean says: “I’ve obviously experienced more marriages than most people.
“I suppose there is that romantic in me, otherwise I wouldn’t keep doing it. But I don’t regret anything, I’d live it all again.”
The four-part series, which starts on BBC One on August 14, follows the couple as they navigate the fears, comforts and frustrations of their 30-year marriage.