The Blu-ray, DVD and Digital HD releases of Thor: The Dark World include a new Marvel One-Shot starring Ben Kingsley. Both the short film and the interview we did with Sir Ben Kingsley are kind of a spoiler for Iron Man 3 if you happen to be one of the only people who have not yet seen it. So Iron Man 3 spoiler warning, but the new One-Shot is called All Hail the King.
It picks up Sir Ben’s character in prison. If you’ve seen Iron Man 3, you know Trevor Slattery (Kingsley) wound up in prison for impersonating The Mandarin. Trevor is a superstar in prison and that’s about all we’ll say before you see the One-Shot. Iron Man 3 co-writer Drew Pearce wrote and directed All Hail the King.
Last night, Marvel held a screening of All Hail the King at the Arclight Hollywood theater for fans to see the One-Shot on the big screen. On the red carpet, we got to speak with Sir Ben about his return to the role of Trevor Slattery. Sir Ben may have been smartly vague with his Marvel details, but I was quite impressed to hear how instinctive his performing craft is, and how ephemeral a character like The Mandarin could be.
CraveOnline: I want you to know I have a Gandhi VHS that’s two cassettes, and I leave it standing on my counter to remind me to be the change I want to see in the world.
Ben Kingsley: Oh, lovely.
So how happy were you to see Trevor Slattery again?
He created such a beautiful script. It’s a 14-minute film but when I arrived on his set it was like making a feature film. Fully fledged crew, big crew, great production values, loads of extras in the movie. It was as if we were making a 90-minute film, these 15 minutes. They brought all the best Marvel values to it that they possibly could. Great writing and it was Drew that originally bravely created the Trevor/Mandarin creation, monster. Drew was very clever in speculating what might happen to Trevor in prison. Very prison.
There is a moment where you furrow your eyebrows. Is that something you plan very carefully as an actor?
It comes in the moment. If I’m confident the director’s watching me closely, that the camera is watching me closely, that gives me a freedom. If I know that I’m being held by the crew, that gives me a freedom and therefore things can come spontaneously. I don’t tend to over plan.
Given the open ending of All Hail the King, is it safe to say Marvel has more plans for you?
I don’t know what is it safe to say about, dangerous to say about, whether I could be sued, hung, beaten up if I say anything. They’ve got their finger on the pulse, put it that way. Tonight’s going to be very interesting. I’m pretty nervous about tonight actually because I’m seeing the people who have really struggled to get a seat in this theater tonight. So let’s not disappoint them.
What did you think of Trevor’s prison entourage?
Oh, they’re glorious, really glorious. Especially when they ask me to do that little voice. They’re great.
Does the voice come easily to you now? Is it easy to slip back into The Mandarin?
He’s gone. Some voices stay but that one’s gone. I had it on the set but you have to let go as an actor. You have to let go of so many things when you leave the set.
Was last year a particularly big year for you, with Iron Man 3 and Ender’s Game?
It was a big year, yeah. It was a big year. 2014 is shaping up to be quite big too. So, fingers crossed. It’s all beautiful.
Was it a rewarding year to have two roles like Trevor Slattery and Mazer Rakham?
You know what I mean if I say it’s a particular demographic group, a particular audience that I not necessarily have directly appealed to, in franchises that have their roots in science fiction or Marvel comics. So it wasn’t an audience I had access to, so it’s very exciting.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
