Ben Brown chats about starring on Sons Of Liberty

Ben Brown talks about starring on Sons Of Liberty which can be seen on British television on the History Channel on Tuesday evenings at 10pm. The series was shown in America back in December.

Tell us about your new drama, Sons of Liberty?

Sons Of Liberty is a six-hour miniseries that is a compelling version of events building up to the signing of the declaration of independence and the breakout of the war of independence. It’s set from 1765 to 1775, so has all those great characters from history like George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson who were politicians, inventors and speech writers, all coming together to form the sons of liberty and eventually, the first government of the United States. It’s a really exciting version of events with all of the spying, romance, bar fights and brutality left in.

You play Sam Adams – what can you tell us about his character?

Sam Adams is a drunk when you meet him and he’s giving speeches in the Philadelphia Congress by the end, so you wonder how he’s got from A to B. There’s a statue of him in the Boston town square now that you can go to see and on the side it reads “Samuel Adam: incorruptible and fearless” and I thought that was such a great jumping off point for a character. My interest in playing the character was to portray somebody who can’t be bought and is afraid of nothing and find out why people put him on this pedestal and wanted to follow and listen to him. He’s certainly a very tough character, very bold and some people even say manipulative in terms of how he learnt the game of politics. I wanted to show his learning of this game of politics and the journey he went through.

You worked with some great actors including Dean Norris from Breaking Bad and Rafe Spall for the series. What were they like to work with and were you fans of their previous work?

Yes, I’d obviously watched Breaking Bad and was very excited when Dean came on set. He came in the last few weeks and he was so much fun. He was very naughty with his portrayal of Franklin which is exactly how it has to be. I’d seen Rafe on stage a few times, so I was a big fan of his as well.

Did you know that Sam Adams is also a name of a beer brewery in Boston? Do you have a favourite tipple?

When Sons Of Liberty first aired in America, I actually tweeted a picture of myself drinking a Sam Adams beer! It’s not my usual drink though – I tend to prefer a European larger.

How much did you know about the American Revolution before taking the role and what research did you do?

I knew a little bit about most of the characters – I knew George Washington was a great military leader and that Benjamin Franklin was an inventor and a womaniser, as well as savvy politician and earnest idealist, as well as being aware of John Hancock – but that was about it. So, there was an element of intrigue and tension reading the script for me as I didn’t know the year characters died or what their involvement was. I didn’t know which characters were going to make it to the end of the episode!

Do you do your own stunts in the show? They look pretty difficult…

I did some of them. I actually worked with a fantastic Spanish stunt double called Eduardo who did some stunts for me on the Narnia films too when he was much younger so I’ve known him for a long time. There was one stunt which involved leaping off a building and grabbing a flag, swinging on the flag and landing on the ground and he when he tried it first, the flag pole just broke straight off the wall so I thought he could do that one. For Sons Of Liberty, I did all the fighting, the climbing up building, firing muskets and riding horses.

Were there any points during filming that are particularly memorable? - e.g. couldn’t stop laughing, or struggled with stunts etc.?

I loved doing all the scenes with Rafe Spall – they were really good fun. There was one scene where he had to say the name ‘Button Gwinnett’ – one of the signatures on the declaration of independence – which we all just thought was the most ridiculous name! So, when Rafe had to say ‘I think I’ve got Button Gwinnett’, it cost us about 20 minutes of filming because me and him were just crying with laughter!

Can you tell us why you think people should tune into SOL on HISTORY?

It’s an exciting, action-packed and romantic series full of battles and prolific historical events. If you don’t know about the American Revolution, it’s a great way to learn and if you do, it’s just great TV!