Ben Kingsley explains why he did Bloodrayne
What were you thinking when you accepted a role in Bloodrayne? It's so hard to imagine someone so gifted not realizing what a terrible film that would be!
"I don't know whether to be upset or flattered by that question," read his response. "To be honest, I have always wanted to play a vampire, with the teeth and the long black cape. Let's say that my motives were somewhat immature for doing it."
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
n_revolution9 @ Aug 7th 2007 11:13PM
Haha, and everyone else was immature for watching it.
eldee @ Aug 7th 2007 11:16PM
basically
RoboChamp @ Aug 7th 2007 11:18PM
Sorry, but accepting a roll in an Uwe Boll movie can never be undone.
hvnlysoldr @ Aug 7th 2007 11:50PM
My gosh that must be the worst bread in the universe to eat. Do they get the plague or what?
Randy @ Aug 8th 2007 8:40AM
It took me 2 seconds longer than it should have to understand your joke, hvnlysoldr. It's probably my fault for missing it at first, but I'm blaming you. ;-)
JRB @ Aug 7th 2007 11:25PM
I wonder what his reply would be to "Why Species?" Perhaps his lifelong ambition was to be on set for a tentacle sex scene.
Rob Accomando @ Aug 7th 2007 11:30PM
He should have just dressed up like a vampire and ran around while someone videotaped him. He would have gotten it out of his system moved on.
Anthony M @ Aug 8th 2007 12:23AM
Yeah, like the rest of us.
Stefin @ Aug 8th 2007 1:49AM
That actually would've been a better movie.
Ialwayschangemyname @ Aug 7th 2007 11:31PM
Anyone know which butterfly effect novel he was referring to. Searching online reveals numerous titles with that name by numerous authors.
wyrdtoo @ Aug 8th 2007 10:30AM
That would be "A Sound of Thunder" - yet another of his poor decisions. It is loosely based on a much-beloved Ray Bradbury short story, but was severely mangled on its way to film flop shop.
Mr. Kingsley may have some of the most impressive film credentials of any living actor, but he is by no means immune to moronic decisions: A Sound of Thunder, Species, Thunderbirds and Bloodrayne, just to name a few worthy of firing his agent over.
Ialwayschangemyname @ Aug 8th 2007 1:51PM
thx m8 I think I might go pick it up.
oldschoolgamer @ Aug 7th 2007 11:54PM
Definitely some irony here. Playing the role of a vampire in a movie that sucked.
Roddie @ Aug 8th 2007 3:34AM
That's not ironic, it's apt.
Keith L. Dick @ Aug 7th 2007 11:57PM
I think the reason Ben did this Flick is that old story of Actors are usually unemployed for periods of time and he needed the bucks... Simple hehe
BananaBoat @ Aug 8th 2007 1:49AM
Oh Ben...oh Ben, Ben, Ben. Atleast admit it when you are in dire need of rent money. We won't think less of you! Infact, it humanizes you; That you had to stoop to that level.
DrXym @ Aug 8th 2007 4:38AM
I think filthy lucre is the only motivation for anyone appearing in a Uwe Boll film. It certainly can't be the script or the director which interests them. Who can blame an actor for taking a pay cheque to appear in some trash that will sink without trace? Michael Caine appeared in some utter garbage and was happy to say money was his motivation. I just wish other actors would be as honest.
Consolcwby @ Aug 8th 2007 5:02AM
I believe him when it comes to being immature... actors are such babies sometimes! =D
ZippyDSMlee @ Aug 8th 2007 5:57AM
Hey as a actor you can sometimes take roles that compeltly suck from almost every point of view,but still have a blast doing it.
Its called enjoying your job :P
chenry @ Aug 8th 2007 6:40AM
Oh Mr. Kingsley, can't you at least be honest?
"I did it for the money".
deaftly @ Aug 8th 2007 9:55AM
i wouldnt mind a new bloodrayne game, the movie sucked but the games were pretty fun and bloody
ShawnMcCool @ Aug 8th 2007 10:24AM
You guys suck, you should have been more aware of what you were getting into with Bloodrayne the movie. It's not completely bad, you just don't know how to discriminate expectations for different kinds of experiences.
Stop being so bandwagony. And yea, that was kind of a dick question to ask a good actor when he was being kind enough to share himself. 14 year olds on the internet unite under your common hate flag.
Avatar @ Aug 8th 2007 5:44PM
Actually I bet most 14 year olds loved the movie. And only them. But please, don't stop watching bad movies on my account.
LeChuck @ Aug 8th 2007 12:46PM
The worst part of BloodRayne was Michelle Rodriguez trying to do whatever accent that was supposed to be. Second worst part, a sex scene starring Kristanna Loken that managed to show absolutely no naughty bits.
refinedsugar @ Aug 8th 2007 2:34PM
Don't f'ing diss the original Species!
Zsavior @ Aug 8th 2007 6:36PM
That guy just became awesome and he has won at least 10 internets with that comment. You own when you are an actor, or an actress, or musician and you start doing jobs in your industry just because you can and you feel like it.
It doesn't stop him from being a great actor it doesn't take away from what he has done, it just shows that he is human and actually enjoys his art. It isn't just a pay check to him, he really enjoys performing when he gets to a set, and that is rare to see or hear from and actor unless they are begging for an Oscar.
ez054098 @ Aug 8th 2007 6:59PM
Maybe he was an Uwe Boll fan? Wait, like vampires, they don't exist.
John @ Aug 9th 2007 1:43AM
I've worked around the fringes of a couple of Boll productions. The way they get major stars to be in them is this: They don't cast until pretty much the last minute.
Then they figure out when they're going to shoot and where. Romania in Bloodrayne's case (the girls sprawling around half naked in the corners of some of those scenes are actual hookers they picked up off the streets of Bucharest. It turns out they're cheaper to hire than extras if you're going to want them naked.)
Then they basically shotgun out offers along the lines of "We'd need you for eight days in Vancouver, and we're offering this much. What do you say?" until they catch someone with a name worth putting on a poster who's got a few months between movies and says "Sure, what the hell."
It works surprisingly well as long as you don't really care who ends up in your movie. The key thing here was not that Kingsley would nail the part and bring his actor-ly gravitas to the story or anything. It's that Kingsley's a name that international distributors know and respect, a name that could sell their movie, and he had a couple weeks to kill at just the right time.
Jerry @ Aug 9th 2007 9:34AM
So Ben Kingsley will do Bloodrayne, but he's apparently too good to star in Clever - A Christopher Moltisanti/'Little' Carmine Lupertazzi joint?
C'mon!
:)