Bad guy roles with good guy rules

 

 

SEAN BEAN
Bad guy roles with good guy rules
Source: Brentwood Magazine
July/Aug 2005

 

Sean Bean is sleepy. Having just arrived in LA from London the day before this

interview, Bean spent most of the day finishing work on one of his two

upcoming films, Flightplan, a thriller with Jodie Foster. After returning to his

room at the Four Seasons Hotel, Bean caught a few hours of sleep and is just

now having breakfast. He’s trying to figure out just what time it really is.

 

“I left England yesterday and I think it’s about 11 o’clock here in LA,” says

Bean with his thick British accent.“It’s been a busy couple of days.”

 

Such is life for one of Hollywood’s busiest men. Flightplan is scheduled for

release in the fall, while The Island with Ewan McGregor is slated for July.

Both projects are exciting, according to Bean, but he admits that his part as

Captain Rich, the pilot of a jumbo jet in Flightplan, is more ironic.

 

“I really hate to fly,” Bean admits. “It scares the hell out of me.”

 

His fear of flying led to one of his more harrowing real-life adventures. While

shooting The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers in New Zealand, Bean

decided to drive from one location to another in order to avoid flying. He

talked co-star Orlando Bloom into accompanying him on what should have

been a peaceful drive through the countryside.Things did not go as planned.

 

“It had been raining for several weeks and there was a massive mudslide,

which blocked the road we were driving on,” Bean recounts.“So we decided to

go back, but sure enough there was another mudslide so we were sort of

trapped in the middle of nowhere.”

 

Bean and Bloom spent the next three days in the home of an elderly woman

who was kind enough to take in the stranded movie stars.

 

“She was a lovely older woman,” Bean says. “She took good care of, fed us,

made sure we were comfortable. She was a true blessing.”

 

Bean and Bloom realized the roads would not be cleared for several more

days, so they accepted a ride from a medical helicopter transporting a little

girl in need of medical attention. Bean was thankful, but not thrilled.

 

“It was terrible,” Bean says. “The damn chopper bounced all over the place.

I begged the pilot to land so we could get out, but he said no and we

eventually made it to our location. I’ve never been so scared in my life!”

 

Bean has no problem sharing his weaknesses as a human being. What people

see on the big screen is, after all, a story being told, and Bean only portrays a

character. But Bean admits his numerous “bad guy” roles have made for an

interesting life.

 

“People look at me and they may not know exactly where they know me from

but they just have something in the back of their mind that says,‘he’s a bad

man,’” Bean says.“It’s especially difficult trying to get through airport security

here in the States. The security people seem to just think I’m a bad guy.”

 

This does make sense, though. Bean may be best known as Boromir in The

Lord of the Rings trilogy, but he’s also remembered for trying to kill Harrison

Ford and Anne Archer in Patriot Games, Michael Douglas and Brittany Murphy

in Don’t Say a Word, and Pierce Bronson in Golden Eye. Most recently, he

played the villain in National Treasure with Nicholas Cage.With that rap sheet,

it’s no wonder Bean gets harassed by law enforcement officials.

 

“I guess those things stick with people,” Bean says. “But in Patriot Games, it

was Ford who got the better of me in the film and in reality.” Bean shows off

the scar on his head that came courtesy of Mr. Ford while shooting the last

scene of Patriot Games.

 

“We were fighting on a motor boat that was being thrown around in a water

tank in the studio,” Bean recounts. “Harrison’s character had to hit my

character with a metal rod and with all of the chaos of the moment he actually

hit me in the face and knocked me over and split my head open.”

 

Bean received stitches, caked on the makeup and continued shooting. “Not

many people can say they have a scar from Harrison Ford,” he says.

 

 

 

 

Neither can many people say they have worked with as many superstars as

Bean. In addition to the aforementioned big names, Bean worked with Brad

Pitt in Troy and Liv Tyler and Sean Astin in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

 

Hollywood’s top directors, including Wolfgang Peterson and Brian Grazer, have

also sought after Bean. Not bad for the kid who grew up in the blue-collar

home of his welder father, dreaming of becoming an artist. “The acting was

not something I planned on,” Bean says. “It just sort of fell into my lap.”

 

Upon graduating from the Royal Academy of the Arts in London, Bean joined

the Royal Shakespeare Company because of his love for the Bard. Still a

relative unknown, Bean exploded onto the scene in 1990’s The Field, starring

opposite Richard Harris.

 

Soon after came Patriot Games. Bean has been working steadily ever since.

 

“Art is really my first love. That’s how I wanted to make my living,” Bean

says.“Now art is my way to relax.”

 

As 2005 winds down, Bean’s career cranks upward. Already planned for next

year is Silent Hill, a horror/thriller with Radha Mitchell and an as-yet-untitled

Niki Caro project loosely based on the first class action sexual harassment

lawsuit in the U.S., the successful Jenson v. Eveleth Mines.

 

“I’m excited about these next four films,” Bean says. “I think people will be

able to get a better look at my talent. I’m not going to be just playing a bad

guy.”

 

That should help him get through airport security.

— Scott Schulte

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