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You’ll be on our screens shortly in Wasted. Explain a little bit about who you play?I think I’m a cross between the characters I play in Lord of the Rings and Game of Thrones. I guess I’m a dream of Morpheus [the lead character], his hero, his spiritual guide, and I’m just trying to help him navigate through life and relationships. I keep appearing to him in the woods and in different places, and giving him advice.How was this pitched to you, and what did you make of the idea?I didn’t know what to think. My agent told me about it, and she said “You’d better read it, because I can’t really explain it! It’s bizarre!” And I was interested, and bemused. The idea of playing myself, a character called Sean Bean – although I’m not playing myself, I’m playing a character I’ve played before – it’s really odd. But then I read it, and I just thought “Oh wow, I want to do this, it’s right up my street.” It’s wonderful writing. Surreal and stupid and ludicrous. It’s absolutely hilarious, I really think it’s a cracker. We had such a good time on it, it was so much fun. It was only for a couple of days, but it was magical, to be working with Danny, and the director, Tom Marshall, and the writers James and Jon. And what I’ve seen is just hilarious; everyone is so good in it. I didn’t get a chance to meet the others, but it’s so well cast. I’m very excited by it.Was it as much fun to film as it looks, and was it difficult to keep a straight face at times?Yes, it was every bit as much fun as it looks. Especially working with Danny. We improvised and put things in there, there was quite a lot of ad-libbing as we went along. You always know you’re doing a good comedy when you’re filming and you get a feeling that you can’t help but laugh. You know you’re on the right track then. And that happened quite a lot.You’re much more known for your dramatic work. Was it quite refreshing to be doing a comedy? Did it feel very different?Yeah, it did feel different. It’s a lot more fun than killing people or getting killed. That can get a bit grim sometimes. It was good to get to do a bit of comedy. I had to play it straight, though. If you go looking for laughs, it’s not going to work. So the scenes with Danny I just played very straight. That’s why we started giggling now and again, because we were taking ourselves very seriously.You’re so well known for those roles, and for Sharpe, when you’re dressed as a warrior. Then, finally, you get a call to appear in a contemporary comedy, and they put you in the exact same gear! Laughs] I do do stuff where I dress in contemporary clothes as well! But I enjoy all of that. Immediately when you start to wear a costume, you start to create something, you put forward an image of yourself. I feel quite comfortable in that garb.I didn’t know what was going to happen. I’d never played a role like this where I really didn’t know what to expect. Fortunately, it went well and it was very relaxed and easy-going. But everyone else was dressed normally, and I’m just this man in a wood with a big cape on. The story is about four young adults getting wasted and not doing very much. Did you ever have a time in your life like that, or were you too busy actually working?I think I probably did go through a period like that – I think that’s partly why I was laughing my head off at it last night. I can identify with it. I think everybody can identify with times where they don’t know where they’re going, or where their life’s heading. It’s all part of the process of growing up and finding out who you are and what you want to do in life. They’re quite shaky times, but very funny ones. The characters in this are all good people, but they’re almost playing a part. I think we all do that when we’re young, until we find out what we really are. In my case, I’m still playing parts! I’ve not grown up in that sense.
SEAN BEAN and comedy aren’t an obvious pairing. The Sheffield actor’s formidable CV has been built on roles requiring deep seriousness, sometimes surrounded by high camp: think the swashbuckling sternness of Sharpe, the smouldering seductions of Mellors in Lady Chatterley’s Lover or the embittered secret agent Alec Trevelyan of GoldenEye.Most famously, of course, his were the shoulders from which two giant fantasy franchises were launched. Both Boromir and Ned Stark may have bitten the dust early (an infamously common fate for Bean’s characters), but in a manner that underpinned the questing and conspiracies of The Lord Of The Rings and Game Of Thrones with a deep emotional profundityIt is these later roles that inspired the creation of Wasted, a raucous new E4 comedy about Morpheus (Trollied’s Danny Kirrane), his sister (Rose Reynolds from The World’s End) and their childhood chums (GoT’s Gwyneth Keyworth and The Job Lot’s Dylan Edwards), stuck in the West Country village of their youth and reluctant to leave.Bean, joining the swelling ranks of actors playing ‘themselves’, is Morpheus’s spirit guide, dressed in medieval furs and leathers and dispensing no-nonsense advice from inside the young man’s head. And he is very funny.‘I would never have thought of playing myself before,’ Bean tells me, the day after having seen the first episode and ‘belly laughing’ his way through. ‘When they first sent me the idea, I was quite bemused but the scripts were exactly my kind of humour. Really surreal. We played it very straight, which is what made it credible and comical.’Comedy is a genre he’s seldom been allowed to explore and Bean — good-humoured and self-effacing in person — is relieved to have the opportunity.‘After Patriot Games and Bond, everyone thought I was a good villain, which was fine by me. But there comes a point where you start getting pigeonholed, so it’s nice to show a gentler and more ludicrous side to my personality. I’d like to do more. Ricky Gervais is hilarious and Harry Enfield’s great, too. I’d love to work with them.’Did Bean himself have a spirit guide, someone he’d turn to for advice? ‘I did look up to and respect Pete Postlethwaite very much. He was a good friend, very principled and very driven, and a mentor to me — a great influence, and I often think of him and how he applied himself to his acting.’'I’d like to do more comedy. Ricky Gervais is hilarious and Harry Enfield’s great, too. I’d love to work with them' I suggest that he must have encountered the odd real-life Morpheus — fantasy-obsessed types for whom he is something of an oracle. Bean seems amazed and amused. ‘I’m very proud to be associated with two bold, cult productions that have amassed huge followings. They meant a lot to a lot of people — it’s flattering that so many people go to these conventions, all dressed up.’Five years have passed since Ned Stark’s shocking execution and Bean still catches bits of Game Of Thrones (‘it’s as good as ever’). He keeps in touch with many of the cast, including Richard Madden, who played Mellors in BBC1’s DH Lawrence adaptation last year.‘I thought he was very good,’ says Bean. ‘I didn’t give him any advice, though. All you need to do is remember that you really fancy Lady Chatterley!’The characters of Wasted spend an awful lot of time hanging out in a bong shop, smoking weed and drinking beer. Does this remind Bean of his own misspent youth?‘I knocked around with a tight group of friends and we lived in each other’s pockets. We had a good laugh and got up to some very silly stuff,’ he admits. But no comparably memorable drug experiences, he’s quick to add. ‘Not at all. In Sheffield in the 1970s, nobody had heard of drugs. The closest we got to that was drinking cans of Double Diamond in the woods.’Wasted starts on Tuesday at 10pm on E4
Sheffield legend Sean Bean has revealed in an interview that as a teen in the 1970s he'd spend evenings with his mates in the woods around Handsworth getting drunk on 'cans of Double Diamond'. What was YOUR teenage tipple of choice and where were you preferred drinking haunts?
‘I thought he was very good,’ says Bean. ‘I didn’t give him any advice, though. All you need to do is remember that you really fancy Lady Chatterley!’Well, that may have worked for Sean but obviously there was a bit more to it. lol I do like how Sean is always quite generous when he talks about other actors, even if they are no where near in the same class as him.
