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An Exclusive Interview with Ben Browder
by BBO , May 5th, 2009
image by Spritelady
Before we start I want to thank Ben's management for setting us up and Ben Browder for his generosity and kindness, as he was most gracious with his time and the most fun to talk to anyone could possibly imagine. After a more or less "serious" start to the interview, while talking about his new project
Freeze Frame, we spent the rest of the interview mostly joking and laughing about blogging, Twitter, a new career to fall back on and possibly killing someone with a Blackberry. This left me with a great dilemma .... do this strictly professional, keep it straight to
Freeze Frame and serious, or go the fan-girl route. While listening to the interview again with a friend to write it down she commented that it was the funnest thing she had ever heard so it was decided - it has to be posted in full (or almost full ...)
I hope you enjoy.
BBO: First phone interview with you and there is a big quote on top of my
notes and it says “Fail gloriously”.
Ben: Good Approach [laughs]
BBO:
Last time we chatted online and you were speaking German.
Ben: Very bad German [laughs]
BBO:
Actually, it was very good and we were talking about your time in
Bavaria. Can you say Hi to your German fans ?
Ben: Guten Tag. Wie geht’s ? [laughs]
BBO: Thanks for doing the interview and giving
us the chance to talk about your new project. Freeze Frame. There is a short
clip of the movie making its rounds on the net .
Very intense, very moving clip and even a little uncomfortable to watch.
Ben: Yes.
BBO: Can
you tell us a little bit more about the movie ?
Ben: Well,
let’s see, what do you need to know ? The short piece that is online is literally
an excerpt from the script. The story is about two veterans, one from Vietnam
and one from the current conflict in the Middle East. I don’t know how much to
go into detail as far as what the script
is about but the basics is, it deals with the difficulties which vets have
dealing with the combat stresses when they come home and what happens to their
lives when they come home from war. You know,
it’s a story which has been told and retold over and over again through
history and particularly in the US, I think we are at a junction where the story needs to be told again.
BBO: I heard it is a short-film. Is it true ?
Ben: The
piece that is online is a short, is an excerpt from a full length script.
BBO: From what I understand you were hesitant
to take the role.
Ben: Yeah,
when I read the material, as far as shooting, it’s very intense material and I looked at it and thought: “I know a number
of guys who could do this really well. I am not sure I am the guy to do this”.
I had some discussions with Jonas [McCord]
who is the writer and producer and he sort of assured me he wanted me to
do it and I thought “Well, I’ll take a chance
and fail gloriously”.
BBO: He was in Vietnam, right?
Ben: Yes,
Jonas was an Air Force pilot in Vietnam.
BBO: When I did research for this interview I
have found that he has done several movies and TV-Series that revolve around
the subject of war, like “Women of Valor” and “Class of ‘61”.
