The Shadow And Bone Line That Ben Barnes Fought To Include – Looper

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Barnes revealed that there was much thought given to how the romantic and nearly sexual interactions between Kirigan and Alina were going to be portrayed. Concerning their first on-screen kiss, Barnes and Jessie Mei Li, along with the crew, came together to decide that Alina would be the one to initiate the amorous display. This is a shift from when the General unexpectedly smooches her in the book.

Later, Alina and Kirigan come close to having sexual relations. It had already been established that having Alina take the initiative and kiss Kirigan gave her more agency, but Barnes was not completely sold on the idea just yet. He thought Alina’s initiative only gave her the semblance of agency: “She’s still an orphan who doesn’t really understand the rules with this man who is willing to burn things to the ground and is manipulating his power.”

This should be enough to prove that Barnes has an unquestionably reliable moral compass when it comes to making sure there is enthusiastic consent. So much so that he fought for a line to be included in the scene: “I wanted to add something, which ended up being, ‘Are you sure?'” 

That being said, even though Kirigan is capable of actions that are not necessarily corrupt, Barnes does not make him out to be the kind of anti-hero you should root for. The actor has more than once shown that he understands that his character is far from a saint: “He’s a problematic character no matter which angle you look at him from. He’s unforgivable and uncondonable in his abuses of power.”