Ben Aldridge - "Coming out made me feel like I was breathing fresher air!"

Virgin Radio

14 Feb 2023, 02:21

The actor tells us about his new projects - and his big 2020 decision.

In Knock at the Cabin a family of three are vacationing at a remote cabin, but they are suddenly held hostage by four strangers, who demand they sacrifice one of their own to avert the apocalypse.

Seems pretty unreasonable to us, but also a premise worthy of the new film from the twisted mind of M. Night Shyamalan (The Sixth Sense, The Village, The Visit).

Ben Aldridge, best known for his appearances in Fleabag, Our Girl and Pennyworth, stars alongside Dave Bautista, Jonathan Groff, Nikki Amuka-Bird, Kristen Cui, Abby Quinn, and Rupert Grint.

The Exeter born actor popped into The Graham Norton Radio Show With Waitrose this weekend to tell us more about the film, which is in cinemas now.

"So an email arrives in my inbox saying, "Would you like to audition for M. Night Shyamalan's new film?" That was the only conventional thing about it really" he says. "I wasn't allowed to read the script, or know anything else about it. So I did an audition tape and then zoomed with Night for an hour and a half, which was very intense, but he still wouldn't tell me any more details. Three days later I get a phone call from him saying, "I'd like you to be in this film, you have 24 hours to read the script, the link will explode after six hours..." None of my agents or anyone was allowed to read it. It was a very mysterious process..."

The enjoyment of Knock at the Cabin obviously relies on the film's big twist, and so Ben is reluctant to tell us much more about it. What he can tell us about, mind, is his appearance in another new film.

Fittingly, it's called Spoiler Alert!

"Within the first frame of the movie you find out that my character has passed away, so the title is apt, really," he says, "but it's based on the memoir by [American TV journalist] Michael Ausiello [called Spoiler Alert: The Hero Dies]. It's about him [played by Jim Parsons] and his partner's relationship, really. It starts with them meeting in 2001, and it chronicles their life together until 2014, where Kit [Cowan, played by Ben] battles cancer and passes away. It doesn't sound comic at all, but there is a lot of laughter in there. It's a really beautiful film - and the book is also very funny as well."

He continues, "The film really examines the difficulty of loving someone over a long period of time. It gives you the beautiful moment of them falling in love and all of that, but it's balanced with how challenging relationships can be as well..."

Ben came out as gay via Instagram in 2020.

"I made a decision," he says. "It's something that has been percolating for a long time. When we were in our first lockdown, which I think was a time of introspection for everyone, I thought about it a lot. I'd thought about it in my twenties, but I was definitely given information that it would hinder my career and so I didn't. Then later on I thought to myself, 'I'm more interested in being authentic and claiming my identity, and if anyone doesn't want to work with me because I'm gay, then I don't want to work with them'. I didn't realise how significant it would be for me. I felt like I was breathing cleaner air!"

And with two big movies on the slate and more to come down the line, Ben is more successful - and more importantly, happier - than ever before. Sometimes nice guys do finish first.

Listen to The Graham Norton Radio Show every Saturday AND Sunday from 9:30 am on Virgin Radio or catch up on-demand here.

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