{"id":431055,"date":"2011-05-27T00:31:58","date_gmt":"2011-05-27T00:31:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/05\/27\/why-do-sex-scenes-make-age-of-heroes-star-sean-bean-blush\/"},"modified":"2011-05-27T00:31:58","modified_gmt":"2011-05-27T00:31:58","slug":"why-do-sex-scenes-make-age-of-heroes-star-sean-bean-blush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/05\/27\/why-do-sex-scenes-make-age-of-heroes-star-sean-bean-blush\/","title":{"rendered":"Why do sex scenes make Age of Heroes star Sean Bean blush?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Chris Sullivan<\/a><\/p>\n

Last updated at 1:31 AM on 27th May 2011<\/p>\n

Sean Bean is barely recognisable. His slicked-back hair is cut short, and he wears a World War II British Army officer\u2019s field uniform. I feel as if I\u2019ve been whisked back in a time machine to 1943.<\/p>\n

We are on the set of Bean\u2019s latest action film, Age Of Heroes, a true story of 30 Assault Unit, a commando team formed by Ian Fleming, creator of James Bond, and their mission to blow up a Nazi radar tower in occupied Norway.<\/p>\n

Bean plays Jack \u2018Davey\u2019 Jones, the hard-nosed officer who takes his boys out on their near-suicidal mission.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

On target: Sean Bean in Age of Heroes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018It\u2019s a proper Boy\u2019s Own yarn,\u2019 he says with uncharacteristic emotion. Like Jones,\u00a0 he is the strong and silent type.<\/p>\n

\u2018These guys went out and risked death and torture for our country. They were real heroes.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

He makes the filming on location in Norway sound like a dangerous campaign. \u2018It\u2019s like a mini-battle with real action sequences\u2019 he says. \u2018This was the real thing.\u2019<\/p>\n

So real, that in the snowy wastes Bean came down with an unsoldierly cold virus which really knocked him out. \u2018It was tough and cold up there and being ill made it harder still,\u2019 he says. \u2018But these men\u2019s stories needed to be told.\u2019<\/p>\n

Bean has built much of his career playing such rock-hard military men. He was the sabre-wielding Sharpe in the Napoleonic wars TV series; the valiant Boromir in The Lord of The Rings, and in Troy, he was Odysseus to Brad Pitt\u2019s Achilles.<\/p>\n

He is also currently starring in the latest Sky Atlantic TV series from HBO, Game Of Thrones. Set in an almost medieval fantasy world, it allows the actor to strap on armour and get back on his horse. \u2018It\u2019s like Lord Of The Rings, but with sex,\u2019 Bean says.<\/p>\n

\"Fur<\/p>\n

Fur better or worse: Sean Bean as Lord Eddard Stark in Game of Thrones<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018We all love these roles. When you\u2019re a kid you\u2019ve got your horse, your sword, your helmet and your armour. So obviously we\u2019re still kids in a way. The fantasy of the show was there at the beginning and then goes quite dark. I\u2019m not a massive fan of science fiction and fantasy, but when it\u2019s got that edge it\u2019s a different story.\u2019<\/p>\n

He wears his 52 years well \u2014 at 5ft 10in he has muscles that still ripple. He speaks slowly and softly, seems to find the floor fascinating and only makes eye contact when he looks up and flashes a big, bashful smile. He is the least luvvie actor I have ever met.<\/p>\n

\u2018I like a good drink like the next man,\u2019 Bean says, lighting another cigarette. \u2018But on my own terms. I feel a bit queasy at the thought of attending premieres and stuff. I\u2019m not that social type. But if you court publicity you can\u2019t complain if you get pestered. And I don\u2019t want to be pestered. To be famous and seen in clubs and bars \u2014 is that it?\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Gunning<\/p>\n

Gunning for glory: Sean Bean starred as the title role in ITV’s award-winning drama Sharpe<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He spent eight years in Hollywood but the mention of it provokes a sigh. \u2018I feel more comfortable here, it\u2019s where I\u2019m from and people are like-minded,\u2019 he says. \u2018It\u2019s good working in America up to a point, but to overstay your welcome is not a good idea.<\/p>\n

\u2018You can never enjoy a meal without hassle and everyone\u2019s promising everything and a lot of it is bull. It\u2019s overpowering and cloying. Whereas here everyone\u2019s laid back, pragmatic and realistic.\u2019<\/p>\n

He grew up in a two-bedroom council house in Sheffield (\u2018Me mam and dad still live in it,\u2019 he says proudly), and attended the local comprehensive but showed little academic ability. He was a trainee welder for his father who, having made \u2018brass\u2019 with his foundry business, drove young Sean to work in his Rolls Royce Silver Shadow.<\/p>\n

\u2018Acting wasn\u2019t an option in Sheffield,\u2019 Bean explains. \u2018It was steelworks, learning a trade. I did that for a few years and I enjoyed it, but I hankered to do something creative. I went to art college but dropped out as the whole atmosphere wasn\u2019t really right for me.<\/p>\n

\u2018I was wondering what I was going to do with my life and didn\u2019t ever think it would be acting, but once I\u2019d done a course and got inspired, I made that decision \u2014 I\u2019m going to be an actor.\u2019<\/p>\n

In the early Eighties Bean studied at RADA, graduating with an Honours Diploma and three prizes.<\/p>\n

\"Gritty:<\/p>\n

Gritty: Bean played an IRA bomber in Patriot Games, opposite Hollywood A-lister Harrison Ford<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

He made his first TV forays in the likes of The Bill while honing his stage skills. Joining the Royal Shakespeare Company, he was a leather-clad biker Romeo in their 1983 production of Romeo and Juliet, played Robin Starveling in Midsummer Night\u2019s Dream and Spencer in Fair Maid Of The West. Meanwhile, film director Derek Jarman gave him his biggest break as Ranuccio in his acclaimed movie, Caravaggio.<\/p>\n

But his favourite film is The Field, directed by Jim Sheridan, where he played the simpleton son of the domineering landowner Bull McCabe, portrayed by the late Richard Harris.<\/p>\n

Bean says he identified with the gritty Northern films of the Sixties, such as This Sporting Life, starring Harris. They inspired him to move into that type of drama.<\/p>\n

So working with the Irish actor was for him a big deal. He says: \u2018He was off the booze and it was quite funny, because John Hurt was in it too and also on the wagon, and they were both having cups of tea while I was on Guinness.\u2019<\/p>\n

Bean has also played an IRA bomber out to kill Harrison Ford (\u2018wonderful, mad sense of humour,\u2019) in Patriot Games. He was Bond\u2019s nemesis 006 in Goldeneye (\u2018a right laugh\u2019); and Mellors opposite Joely Richardson in Lady<\/p>\n

Chatterley. But he\u2019s coy about this last experience, claiming: \u2018I\u2019m not keen on sex scenes.\u2019<\/p>\n

Three years ago Bean reprised the role of Sharpe for a TV movie. \u2018The first one was filmed in 1992 in the Crimea and the food was like dog meat,\u2019 he winces. \u2018The last one was shot in India so, as well as Imodium, I took a box of 70 steak pies with me and Henderson\u2019s Relish.\u2019<\/p>\n

This is typical \u2014 Bean would rather talk about the catering than roles he\u2019s played. He barely recalls acting opposite Jodie Foster in Flightplan and when I ask about the film North Country, with the beautiful Charlize Theron, he says mildly: \u2018It was good to play a decent bloke and she seemed nice enough.\u2019<\/p>\n

But the seemingly bashful actor has form as a ladies man. He\u2019s been married four times. He lives in a lavish house in Belsize Park, North London, with his three daughters Lorna, 24, and Molly, 20, from his second marriage to actress Melanie Hill; and Evie, 13, from his third marriage to former Sharpe co-star Abigail Cruttenden,<\/p>\n

And In Age Of Heroes, Bean acts opposite his fourth spouse Georgina Sutcliffe, whom he met when she was working behind the bar in one of his favourite haunts, Gerry\u2019s Club in London\u2019s Soho.<\/p>\n

\"Moment<\/p>\n

Moment of bride: Sean Bean and his fourth wife Georgina Sutcliffe, who he met at Gerry’s bar in Soho, London<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The couple have divorced, saying they found living together intolerable. It was a stormy marriage. He looks lost when I ask what it was like working with his wife. \u2018We act. It was good. We were both kind of bemused and pleasantly surprised by that.<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot of my single friends have had more relationships with girlfriends than me,\u2019 he chuckles. \u2018I\u2019m a bit old fashioned because I marry mine. But sometimes relationships work and sometimes they don\u2019t.\u2019<\/p>\n

Bean may have made a mess of his marriages, but his daughters are clearly what matters most and his eyes light up when he speaks of them.<\/p>\n

\u2018My girls are everything to me,\u2019 he says proudly. \u2018But I wouldn\u2019t encourage them or put them off acting. Molly seems quite interested, but it\u2019s up to them.<\/p>\n

\u2018But if you do it you\u2019ve really got to want to be successful. A lot of people think it\u2019s easy but it\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

\u2018I might have been a singer or an artist,\u2019 he says, almost wistful, \u2018but I didn\u2019t hold that same belief as I did with acting and I think it\u2019s a matter of finding it.<\/p>\n

\u2018It takes a while to find out what you really want out of life.\u2019<\/p>\n

Age of Heroes is in cinemas now and is released on DVD and Blu-Ray on June 13. Game of Thrones is on Sky Atlantic at 9pm on Mondays.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n

Explore more:<\/h3>\n
\n
People:<\/dt>\n
Ian Fleming<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Harrison Ford<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
John Hurt<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Richard Harris<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Georgina Sutcliffe<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Sean Bean<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Jodie Foster<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Derek Jarman<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Charlize Theron<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Brad Pitt<\/a><\/dd>\n
Places:<\/dt>\n
London<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
Norway<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
India<\/a>,<\/dd>\n
America<\/a><\/dd>\n
Organisations:<\/dt>\n
British Army<\/a><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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