[Ben Whishaw] Interview on passportmagazine

by Lawrence Ferber

Ben Whishaw truly entered the pop culture stratosphere when he took on the role of James Bond’s gadget master, Q, opposite Daniel Craig in 2012’s phenomenally successful Skyfall. Lanky, youthful, and one of the most naturalistic actors working in both film and theater today, the UK-born Whishaw more recently pulled heartstrings in Director Hong Khaou’s independent drama, Lilting, as a gay man who attempts to connect with the non-English-speaking, prickly Chinese mother of his recently deceased partner.

Openly gay himself, Whishaw and Aussie Composer Mark Bradshaw tied the knot in 2012. The London-based, 34-year-old thespian is a prolific actor, to say the least. He inhabited five different roles in the sprawling 2012 epic, Cloud Atlas (one of them a gay composer), played a scent-obsessed French serial killer in 2006’s Perfume, portrayed poet John Keats in Jane Campion’s 2009 biopic Bright Star, a Bob Dylan alter ego in 2007’s I’m Not There, and Keith Richards in 2005’s Stoned.

He recently appeared in Terry Gilliam’s 2014 feature The Zero Theorem, voiced UK children’s icon Paddington Bear for a 2014 animated feature, and is slated to play Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic about Queen’s iconic, queer frontsman. Whishaw has also won accolades for appearances in plays like The Tempest opposite Helen Mirren and Peter & Alice with Judi Dench.

His next major role will be Herman Melville in Ron Howard’s In The Heart of the Sea.

You live in London’s Hackney borough and, from what I’ve read, you really love it. Can you share a few recommendations for visitors?

Well, Hackney is fantastic. I would definitely recommend a stomp around the parks, Victoria Park, London Fields, and go to the shops and cafés all around here. It’s wonderful, because it’s changing all the time, and they quite frequently have these pop-up places that literally pop up for a few weeks and are then replaced by something else. There’s lot of creativity and energy and young people, and actually a very wide mix of people. It’s an area I’m really fond of. I also absolutely love Hampstead Heath. I think it’s a wonderful place to visit, particularly if you’re staying in the crowded central part of London and you just need to clear your mind. It’s a place you literally can get lost in, and, in fact, I do get lost in it. I lose my way all the time up there. I think I know it and then I realize I don’t.

Where in the world do you most want to travel?

I’d really, really like to go to India. And I’d like to go back to Cambodia and Vietnam.

What brought you to Cambodia? It’s a beautiful place, with lots of gay-friendly businesses and people.

I was there for pleasure. I’d never been anywhere in Asia and had finished a long period of working, and I decided to go. I just adored it, and I adored the Cambodian people—their sort of gentleness. I was in this square and I watched for ages, about two hours, these young people just dancing together in a line to this Cambodian pop music. It was so innocent and joyous and sexy, and I certainly couldn’t imagine something like that happening in London, certainly. It was very touching.

In Perfume your character is obsessed with odors and scents. Is there a place you’ve visited that triggers a happy sense memory as far as amazing smells?

This store in Glastonbury, England sells new-age stuff. I’m quite partial to new-age stores that sell crystals and things (laughs). This store sells herbs and things that you burn to attract the goddess of this or the god of that. I’m fond of it for the smells. I’m particularly fond of the frankincense family of scents. I don’t know why. I’m not religious. I find it appeals to me.

If you could have your last meal anywhere in the world, where would it be and what would you order?

I would have some sushi somewhere, probably in Tokyo. I’ve only been there once and briefly. Sushi is my absolute favorite at the moment.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve eaten while abroad?

Well, I didn’t eat it. But when I was in Phnom Penh in Cambodia, in the central market, I was with my partner, and we ordered this soup and sort of pushed our spoons into the liquid, and we both came up with a grey ball, which I refused to eat. He did eat it and then was very ill for the rest of the trip. We don’t know to this day what was in that ball, but I think I quite wisely avoided it!

If you could pay $50 for any one convenience on a flight, what would it be?

I think I would like really good drugs to knock me out. I’m a very nervous flyer, and I’d pay for anything that I could take that would just put me in some kind of bliss, although I guess it depends on how long the flight is, like if I were going to Australia, it would knock me out for 24 hours.

What do you always travel with?

I tend to go with as little as possible. I’m always the person with the smallest bag, because I hate lugging around a big case. What I tend to do is pack something that smells good, that will make me feel comforted in some way like something from that brilliant [Australian-based] shop, Aesop. They do great smelly things you put on your points to calm down.

What’s your number-one travel tip?

I have learned that it’s tempting to drink a lot on a flight, but actually I feel worse if I do. So I would say don’t drink, even if it’s tempting to drink a lot.

Finally, because we’re dying to know, does your Q have the hots for Daniel Craig’s James Bond? The next Bond film is due in November 2015, after all.

(laughs) I hadn’t thought of that to be honest. I don’t think he did in Skyfall. I suppose its some untapped area. Who knows what will happen?

http://www.passportmagazine.com/vip-lounge-ben-whishaw/