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Ben Kingsley on The Wackness
By Fred Topel | Image property of Sony Pictures Classics
Sir Ben Kingsley plays Dr. Squires in The Wackness. Squires is a psychiatrist treating a teenage drug dealer (Josh Peck). He is not only his doctor, he's also a client. Sir Ben did not delve into the world of mental health, choosing instead to focus on the script.
Ben Kingsley Smokes The Wackness
"I go with what's on the page because I learned to really study the text," said Kingsley. "Of course when the writing's bad and the rewrites come, you realize you've completely wasted your time. But when the writing's good and no rewrites come, then you know that you're on safe ground. You can explore that text and then follow your intuition."
For Sir Ben, it was less about Squires career than his family predicament. "Although the perfect vehicle is that he's a psychiatrist, the simple fact is that he is a father who can't love his stepdaughter, a husband who can't love his wife, because they're blocking him. They're both blocking him, the women in his life. Where does that energy go? It needs to find solace. It needs to find some comfort. Unfortunately, loneliness very often turns to drugs but also fortunately, that need to connect lovingly to a child manifests itself in that insistent relationship between himself and Luke. And also Luke has no parents really. They're collapsed parents so he needs to find the patriarch that will guide him, be like the dad because he has no one. Well, he has but he's lying to them."
 The Wackness
Sir Ben wears a long, flowing wig and dresses erratically as Dr. Squires. "I wouldn't exaggerate its importance but it's specific. I could have two similar Bermuda shirts and I choose one particular one that'd be perfect for a scene but very quickly, intuitively. Once I've got my map, my map there of what my character journey should be to make the film work, then I can add the hair, the sandals and the suit, the shirt. The hat was mine. It's from Bolivia. I've had it for a while and I grabbed it just before I left for New York thinking, 'I think that this is going to become very useful.' So when I do the transformation from psychiatrist to drug dealer, that first appearance with the hat, it seems to work. It seems to just be that punctuation mark. And maybe he's always wanted to wear that hat. I mean, why has he got it in his wardrobe? I don't think he went out and bought it. I think he's always had it and he's waiting for an opportunity to be that person as part of his journey and his growing up."
Though he puts a lot of thought into his characters, Kingsley is also ready to stop developing and start acting. "There's a time constraint. You have to stop shaping it because sooner or later it has to harden. You have to make a film. It's the same time pressure. Sooner or later, this film has to go to the laboratories and be developed. You do not have an infinite number of takes. You do not have an infinite amount of time to fiddle around with the clay on the wheel. But it does have all your concentration and of course because it's soft, you can add an idea. 'I wonder what would happen if I dipped it in there. Oh, that's nice. And maybe if I could make it just a little bit… whoa, it's just fallen off the wheel. Let's try again. I have to make it just a bit thinner and higher.' It's a continual relationship with that."
The Wackness opens to theaters on July 3rd.
For the trailer, stills, poster and more movie info, go to the The Wackness Movie Page.
Fred Topel
Sources: Image property of Sony Pictures Classics
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