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Breakaway Daily Interview with British Actor Hainsley Lloyd Bennett

Breakaway Daily Interview with British Actor Hainsley Lloyd Bennett

Breakaway Magazine
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Hainsley Lloyd Bennett has enjoyed success as a model as well as actor in film, theatre, music videos, television, and virals. He has been in commercials for corporations such as McDonalds, The Times, Rubicon, Burger King and Boots. Hainsley has made television appearances in the longstanding British drama Casualty as well as Papuan kidnapper Yudas
in the true story documentary My Holiday Hostage Hell and starred in the
BBC series Crimewatch. Hainsley’s first feature film was London
Boulevard
where he played alongside Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone, Keira
Knightley and Ben Chaplin. Hainsley and I chatted over a cup of tea
about his work, what makes him cry, the Oscars, his move to Los Angels
and his current projects. 

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What
sent you on your career path to become an actor? Was there a certain
period in your life when you knew that was what you wanted to do?

HAINSLEY: Funnily
enough i never set out to be an actor. Growing up I was in love with
comedy and considered being a comedian. Then thought about being a
presenter as I got to be spontaneous, incorporate comedy and get to know
people. I’d always loved film and watched it religiously from a very
early age. I knew I was a performer but wasn’t sure of the medium until I
was 14 or so when I would re-enact really emotional scenes from movies.
That was sort of a clue.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: You studied acting at the
Questors Theatre School based in Ealing. What is one of the most
important things you learned about the craft from your education?

HAINSLEY: I
had all this energy when i started training and I was a completely raw
entity. Fearless as I could tap in to all my experiences and draw really
visceral performances. It was cathartic for me. But when you only
really use your emotional reserves it means the well can run dry. As an
actor you have to have a whole tool box to draw from. To be able to
precisely craft a performance and repeat it if necessary. That’s the
craft, that’s the technique. Its like being a two footed football
player. I got over my fear of performing in front of crowds and was just
allowed to create and grow. It was fun and educational, like Sesame
Street. 

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What have been some of your most memorable projects so far?

HAINSLEY: I think without a doubt playing Talthybius in Trojan Women
was my first real advance as an actor. My first lead role and was a
departure from what people expected of me. I played lovers and troubled
characters emotionally. This man was a soldier and was tasked with doing
a very hard job and eventually it begins to crack at his psyche. He
begins to feel for the women who should be his enemy due to the war. I’d
then say Othello which tested me in every way imaginable, physically, mentally and emotionally. I would then say White Awake and London Boulevard are two screen performances and projects I will never forget. White Awake for being a complete acting, creative force and London Boulevard for meeting British heroes and A- list actors.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What was it like working alongside Colin Farrell, Ray Winstone, Keira Knightley and Ben Chaplin in the 2010 feature film London Boulevard?

HAINSLEY: Seeing
them operate, the way they conducted themselves as actors and as people
was great to see. Then getting to share screen time with people you
watched growing up and admired is other worldly. My audition to get in
to drama school was a scene from Colin’s film Phone Booth so its a weird completion to sit down and talk to him and share a scene with him.

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BREAKAWAY DAILY: The film was directed by first time director and Oscar winning screenwriter of The Departed William Monahan. How did you book that gig? What did that experience teach you?

HAINSLEY: Bill..he
let me call him Bill haha. He called me over on set with his brother
who was producing the film and told me that he saw my audition and
thought i was great and he chose me. He’s a lovely guy and I’m eternally
grateful he did that for me. I was called to audition at a swanky house
in north west London and read and recorded the scene with a casting
director. I had been listening to moody music all day leading up to that
audition and watched Lars & The Real Girl prior to arriving. I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown i had so much emotion in me. It worked well.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: You are currently planning on making your next move, a major move, from the UK to Hollywood! Why do you want to move?

HAINSLEY: I work hard, very hard in everything I do as an actor and I actually
enjoy the business and promotion side of things. I’ve always been
obsessed with earning everything I get to the point where I often don’t
ask for help when I should. With all that said, politics and the state
of affairs in a country is something that you can’t fight. I love the UK
but all my fellow actors who have had various levels of success have
experienced the fact that we have a smaller industry which is reserved
primarily for a lucky few who have a higher level of education and have
managed to get bigger agents. Its getting better but ultimately getting
and maintaining a career here creatively and financially will always be
much harder. If A listers find it difficult to work solely here others
experience will probably be fairly similar. The US offers opportunity on
a larger scale, creatively and financially and they’re happier to take
chances on unknowns and in some
cases prefer it. 

BREAKAWAY DAILY: Had you visited Hollywood or The States before?

HAINSLEY: I
have been to NY and LA previously. I love the energy there and you
genuinely feel when you’re there that anything can happen. LA is massive
and it was pretty overwhelming at first, but like anything you adapt and
get used to it. LaLa Land will be seeing a lot more of me.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What are you hoping to find and/or accomplish once there?

HAINSLEY: I
don’t want to be famous. It doesn’t interest me at all. All I want is
to be able to do what I love, grow at it and be able to eek out a living
do it. I basically wanna play like I did at drama school and have
somebody pay me for it.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What is your favorite film?

HAINSLEY: Too many to mention really.. I will throw a few out there. Lars and the Real Girl, Die Hard, Interstellar. My brain is whizzing… I could go on for ages.

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BREAKAWAY DAILY: That
will do for now. You are so right, there are so many amazing films out
there it is hard to choose! Who is your favorite actor?

HAINSLEY: Leonardo
is the reason I started acting. He’s electric. Tom Hardy scares me.. I
don’t fully get how somebody can be that good. Gary Oldman, Christian
Bale. I’ve been loving Shia Labeoufs work. Thought he was great since
Even Stevens. I’m not really answering your questions as you posed them
am I? Ah well I am a rule breaker.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: Last movie you saw was?

HAINSLEY: Focus with Will Smith.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What film has moved you?

HAINSLEY: Most recently the film that moved me the most without a doubt is Interstellar. The film I believe will go down in history as one of the greatest blockbusters of all time, certainly one of the most intelligent and groundbreaking narratively and visually. I was moved to the point of tears and complete awe. I was actually shaking when I left the cinema. Whoa..

BREAKAWAY DAILY: How do you feel about the current direction of cinema?

HAINSLEY: There
are lots of great things happening in cinema. I love that foreign films
are becoming more integrated and recognized as are the actors and
directors that come with them. Film is a business and ultimately the
business will follow the money so I can’t be mad at all the remakes and
updates. Books and sequels. I’m guilty of watching comic book movies and
reboots so I can’t scream for more originality when I add to the issue.
However, I do see the smaller films too.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What do you feel you have to offer the acting world?

HAINSLEY: From
a business perspective I would like to think I’m marketable, but as an
actor I think emotional depth, nuance, and comedy. There are plenty of
tough guys. That’s not my schtick although I have and do often play cops
and soldiers etc. I like to play outsiders, geeks, nuanced underdogs
who find strength perhaps rather than vice versa.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: As an actor of colour how do you feel about their being no nominees representing that at the Oscars this year?

HAINSLEY: It’s
a funny one. I don’t think we should feel the need to be there to fit a
quota. If there were no films of that caliber that had any ethnic
actor/director, etc we shouldn’t just put one there to make up the
numbers. Having said that the problem isn’t with the awards. You have to
dial way back to the writers, directors and financiers.The people who
create and make the decisions. From inception if there isn’t quality
content out there for people of colour to be in that backers will
finance, that audiences and critics will revere then yes there wont be
any nominees. Fix the problem from the source and this wont be an issue.
But if we continue to only allow actors of colour to excel in roles
that fit a finite criteria specific to their ethnicity (i.e slavery, civil
rights, poverty etc) then we’ll be doing this dance for many years to
come.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: You’ve played Henry V, Othello, Richmond in Richard III, Talthybius in Trojan Women. How has theatre shaped you as an actor?

HAINSLEY: Theatre
is like coming home. Its the ultimate sharpening of your skills and
craft. It prepares you for pretty much anything the big bad film world
could throw at you; preparation, technique, control, stamina,
concentration, adapting, poise. Wouldn’t be who I am without it as a
person or as an actor.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: You’re clearly an intuitive and sensitive actor, who or what makes you cry?

HAINSLEY: I cry. Not ashamed of it at all. What makes me cry in general on film is
seeing men cry. You know, your heroes, alpha males. Somebody who could
kill somebody but then cry because their dog died. That’s not to say
females don’t move me but I guess cause its perhaps less expected in a
man it always seems more moving to me at least. Sylvester Stallone in
the Rocky movies (oh God I can’t even). Will Smith in The Pursuit of Happiness when he gets the job. Bruce Willis in Unbreakable when he shows his son the newspaper of a man saving somebody and nods that it was him.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: Which superhero do you relate to most and why?

HAINSLEY: Spider-man, completely. I love Batman, love Tony Stark but these guys
aren’t really relatable. Aspirational perhaps in terms of determination,
intelligence, ingenuity and sheer will power and skill. But unless your
parents were murdered, you’re kind of psychotic, have an arc reactor in
your chest and a drinking problem their tough fits really. Everybody has
been Peter. Broke, girlfriend problems, bullied at school, fallen out
with your best mate who happened to be the son of a maniacal goblin…
OK, not that part, but you get my gist. Even his powers were an
accident, showing again that could be anyone.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: If you could pick one actor to share a scene with who would it be and why?

HAINSLEY: Robert Downey Jr just to see if I could keep up with him.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: What’s a film you’ve seen that you would have loved to be in?

HAINSLEY: Oceans 11. That’s basically an A list boys party on film where people get to be cool, look cool and say cool things for 2 hours. 

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BREAKAWAY DAILY: What are you working on next?

HAINSLEY: I’ve been up for some exciting projects so keeping my fingers crossed
for those. Otherwise I’m working on a drama sci fi which will be the next
film with my White Awake partner in crime.

BREAKAWAY DAILY: You are a huge fan of Inside The Actors Studio. To end the interview I  will ask you his famous questions.

  • What is your favorite word? Consequently.
  • What is your least favorite word? No idea..Necrophilia.
  • What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Passion, intelligence, wit, determination, individuality.
  • What turns you off creatively, spiritually or emotionally? Ignorance, hatred, bad manners.
  • What sound or noise do you love? Female laughter.
  • What sound or noise do you hate? Any noise when I wanna sleep.
  • What is your favorite curse word? Cunt..said in a cockney or Irish accent preferably.
  • What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Pyschologist
  • What profession would you not like to do? Anything to do with being around poo.. I’m gonna have problems changing my unborn children’s nappies.
  • If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? What the fuck are you doing here?

BREAKAWAY DAILY: To end Mr. Bennett tell us a joke!

HAINSLEY: Ummm…whats ET short for? Cause he’s got little legs!! Was that bad?

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Hainsley Lloyd Bennett: IMDB | Twitter | Instagram

Read my interview with Hainsley about his upcoming short film White Awake here. Also check out my conversation with him about portraying the icon Othello in William Shakespeare’s Othello here

Interview by Jamey Beth, BreakawayDaily.com

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