Why did you want to be involved in this adaptation -
There were a lot of elements that intrigued me. I love the book, the fact that Eddie Izzard was doing it, I really liked the script and the characters are so unique and interesting. Completely different from anything I've ever done - just sort of wild and strange and eccentric. And it was a fun opportunity to come to Puerto Rico for a couple of weeks and work on something that is classic, but also play a character that's very different - and would look physically quite different - from anything I've done before. The thing about Ben as opposed to Silver is that there's almost less there for you that's mapped out in the novel, so it's kind of an open palette. It allows you to play around a bit more.
Who is Ben Gunn?
Ben Gunn is a colonial, so he's an American, who was a part of Captain Flint's crew with John Silver when Flint decided to steal the gold from everyone. They're all kind of in it together and then at the last minute Flint says, 'No it's actually all mine'. Ben Gunn strikes a deal with another group of guys to go find Flint's gold for themselves. They ultimately have no success finding the gold, but he gets marooned on the island. We meet him later in the story as Jim Hawkins, Squire Trelawney, Smollett and all these people get to the island. He's been on the island for three years, so his hair is matted and long and his facial hair has grown. And he's painted himself in this sort of tribal way. He's just become kind of mad and one with the island really.
Did becoming 'feral' Ben involve a long time in makeup?
It was almost two hours yeah, because it's almost a full body paint, to give me a tan and add sunburn and things like that.
How mad did you get to go?
We didn't want to make him too crazy, it's more about the fact that he's not spoken to anybody for three years. He has this fear of eye contact and an uncertainty with people. He's not truly mad, but he's definitely created his own thought processes. He has this sort of über-connection to religion and to the Bible and he feels that it's his mission to kill all devils on the island - he kind of looks to other people to see if they're devils in human form. So he hasn't gone absolutely mad, but he's eccentric.
If you were a Ben Gunn figure marooned on a desert island what would be the luxury you'd miss most?
It's always the things that you don't think about that I think you'd miss the most. Like, Gunn misses cheese – he's mad about cheese. I was thinking about it the other day and initially I thought, 'Well that wouldn't be the first thing that you'd think about,' but if you were stuck on an island for three years, it probably would be the innocuous things that you'd really miss. For me? I don't know, hot showers? Certainly food, or at least certain foods I think, but mostly music: I would be desperate to be around music. If I couldn't have music anymore that would be a strange thing.
