[IMG:L]What could be better than Sir Ben Kingsley, a bong and an Olsen twin? Not much, according to fans at the Sundance Film Festival. Kingsley‘s new dark comedy The Wackness, about a lonely pot dealer (Josh Peck) who trades weed for therapy, took home the Audience Award at this year’s fest.
Hollywood.com met up with Kingsley in Park City to find out more about bong tokes, phone booth hook ups, and more.
On learning to smoke out of a bong:
“I knew nothing about bongs and I find them terrifying. Therefore it allowed me to allow him to do something as if he’d never done it before even though he’s a habitual smoker … it might’ve been 10 minutes since his last joint or bong. He never quite knows what to do with it.”
On the film’s erotic side:
“My sexual scenes are there for narrative reasons, to show his appalling loneliness, in a phone booth fumbling with a 20-year-old and in bed with somebody with whom he’s been married to watching a porno movie and having sex that’s so indifferent. Those scenes are about loneliness.”
[IMG:R]On his phone booth hook up with Mary-Kate Olsen:
“My character was drunk. So already my character is not making rational decisions. He’s stoned and drunk. She also is. This is what I mean about loneliness. That embrace is not born of conscious affection between two people. It comes out of intoxication so I thought that Mary Kate’s portrayal of a drunk young woman was perfect.”
On working with a cast of young actors:
“I get tremendous buzz out of working with everybody. I love reacting. So being able to react to all of this beautiful energy and this extraordinary Wackness world around me that’s neither hallucinogenic nor real was very, very thrilling for me.”
