LOS ANGELES — As jarring moments go, the action figure in his likeness was nothing compared to the billboard on the Sunset Strip. There he was, towering eight stories above the boutiques and rock clubs, with sword brandished, lips pursed and “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” emblazoned across his legs. “This has to be one of the weirdest moments of my life,” said Ben Barnes, the young British actor who plays the title role in the coming movie. He backed up to take in the advertisement’s full effect. “I have no comprehension of what’s about to happen to me, do I?”
Ben Barnes as Prince Caspian in the coming “Narnia” sequel.
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Trailer: 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian' You Tube clip of Ben Barnes in the boy band Hyrise 
Ben Barnes was picked as Prince Caspian after a casting director saw his work in the stage production of “The History Boys.”
Nope.
Mr. Barnes is a polite 26-year-old who, until Walt Disney Pictures came calling in February 2007, was struggling in all the typical ways fledgling actors struggle. Despite the splashy outdoor advertising campaign, he is in many ways still living that life.
He crashed at a friend’s apartment during a recent visit to Los Angeles. He has no publicist. Arriving for an interview at the Sunset Tower Hotel, he parked his rental car on the street because he was leery of leaving it with the valet. Despite being blessed with more than his share of tall, dark and handsome — and starring in a summer blockbuster — he frets that a woman he has a crush on is “utterly unattainable.”
His low-key life will change no doubt with the May 16 arrival of the lavish “Chronicles of Narnia” sequel. Mr. Barnes’s character is the swashbuckling descendant of pirates who must battle his evil stepfather for control of the magical kingdom. The movie, based on the C. S. Lewis children’s classic “Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia,” is expected by some box office analysts to sell more than $300 million in tickets in North America alone. Prince Caspian is also at the center of “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader,” which Disney and Walden Media, the franchise’s co-producer, plan to release in 2010. Filming for that movie is scheduled to begin this fall.
For now, though, Mr. Barnes finds himself in a rare position in Hollywood: an unknown actor on the brink of certain global fame.
When Orlando Bloom landed his role in the first “Lord of the Rings,” nobody could say for sure whether the movie would catapult him to stardom. But “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” is as close to a sure thing any movie gets in Hollywood. The first film, “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (released in 2005), sold more than $290 million in tickets in the United States and Canada and $745 million worldwide.
“I keep telling him to remember who he is right now,” Andrew Adamson, the film’s director, said, adding that “I’ve been through enough of this to know how what’s coming can really mess with you, good or bad.”
Mr. Barnes, no relation to this nonacting, nonsinging reporter, was coronated a Disney prince by accident. A London casting director saw his performance in the West End production of “The History Boys” three weeks before filming for “Prince Caspian” was to start. Mr. Barnes played the decidedly non-Disney role of a sexually aggressive boy who toys with his teachers.
Aside from “The History Boys,” the actor’s résumé included a bit role in “Stardust,” the fantasy starring Robert De Niro that flopped at the box office last year, and a television pilot (in which he played a high school quarterback) that never made it to television. But he had experience as a heartthrob: while studying children’s literature and drama at Kingston University (near London), Mr. Barnes played the lead in the school production of “Don Juan.”
Disney and Walden were looking for a particular type of actor, said Oren Aviv, president for production at Walt Disney Studios. The role called for dark features to contrast with William Moseley, the blond-haired actor who portrays Peter Pevensie, the oldest of the children who magically journey to Narnia. He needed to be able to pull off a believable Mediterranean accent. Horse-riding skills were important.
“We also needed somebody we felt could handle the pressure of going from obscurity to stardom,” Mr. Aviv said.
A few days later, in a phone call from California about 3 a.m. London time, Mr. Barnes was formally hired. “I just ran around my house screaming,” he recalled.
(The producers of “The History Boys” were not as thrilled, telling several London newspapers that they were considering suing him for leaving on short notice to star in a “children’s Disney movie.” They got over it.)
Mr. Barnes forgot he had fibbed about knowing how to ride horses until he arrived on the New Zealand set, where he was required to cross a river on horseback. He had told the producers his riding was “average,” but in reality he had seen a horse only once. “My mother still can’t hear the word ‘Ben’ and ‘horse’ in the same sentence without getting the giggles,” he said.
After three weeks of sword training, with riding lessons on the side, Mr. Barnes was ready. Ample eyeliner and hair extensions were added to give him more of a roguish appearance. Mr. Barnes said he studied Mandy Patinkin’s performance in “The Princess Bride” for inspiration on his accent. (Luckily, he also worked with a dialect coach, as Mr. Patinkin’s accent was not exactly authentic.) Mr. Barnes’s first foray with Hollywood a few years ago had very different results. He said his agent at International Creative Management lured him to Los Angeles with an offer to bunk in a guest room in exchange for free baby-sitting services. His first audition was for the part of a lifeguard who gets eaten by a shark.
“I walk in, and here are a half dozen guys literally comparing their calf muscles,” Mr. Barnes said. “I freaked out.” He ended up getting the part. “They decided to go with the sensitive surfer type,” he said, joking. But the project fell apart.
Mr. Barnes is slightly better known in Britain, but not for his acting. In 2004 he competed in a televised singing competition as a member of a boy band called Hyrise. Sample lyric: “When you touch me and tease me you’re leadin’ me on.”
During one clip from the show, viewable on YouTube in all of its synchronized, hip-swinging glory, Mr. Barnes gives a preperformance interview that is particularly mortifying in retrospect. “I’ve got a bit of a tricky note to hit tonight,” he says, “so I’m just going to tighten my belt, wear my cheeky tight pants.”
The remarks, Mr. Barnes said, were written by a producer.
“I learned a very important lesson from that,” he said. “Never agree to say or do anything that isn’t you.”
Disney Featurette on Prince Caspian:
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