Who is Dan

After being cast as Ben, Oliver took it upon himself to write a back story to his character. I'd never seen this from an actor before and found it really helpful for him when trying to get into character on set.

Who is Ben

Ben was a bit of a loser in school as a kid. He always had very supportive parents, he’s come from a pretty rich and privaledged life style and so he has always had this attitude instilled in him that he can have and do whatever he wants. Although this filled him with a lot of confidence as a child, he was a bit of a geek. He was a know-it-all at school and people didn’t like that. Then, when he got to doing his GCSE’s he left his old school and went to another private school (his Dad had to move for work and so they all left Ilkley area and moved to Leeds. Over the holidays Ben decided he was going to go a new person, he realised that people didn’t like how clever he was and that they didn’t like the fact he always had to be right so he changed himself and learnt how to be more likeable, even by watching YouTube videos. In his old school he never had any female attention because he wasn’t cool enough for it and he never had any really good friends either so leaving wasn’t an issue to him, in fact he was quite happy about it.

Over summer his Dad got him a personal trainer, he bought some nice clothes and got a cool, short back and sides haircut. When he went back to school for his GCSE’s (Year 10, he was about 15) his glow up was almost complete. He had watched videos on how to be likeable, how to get a girl to like him and all of that. He was confident.

On his first day he didn’t over sell himself or force himself anywhere, after all, he was confident but not so confident.

Eventually as time went on he began to make friends with some of the cool kids – they were dickheads though and he knew it, but he kind of liked it. Within the first few weeks of school he was being invited to really cool parties and at the first one he managed to kiss a girl for the first time. She was really cool and she was easily the hottest girl in the year. She got him really drunk and they both spent the whole party together. After that, there was a buzz around Ben’s name. Everyone wanted to know about the kiss, all the girls knew about it and he didn’t really know how to deal with the attention. He went with it, saying it was a great kiss and he ended up speaking to the girl again for a while – they kissed at a few more parties but they never became exclusive.

From then, Ben’s popularity soared and once he officially stopped seeing Katie (the really hot girl) he started to speak to other girls – everyone wanted to get to know him at least. The popularity went to his head and by the end of Year 11 he was probably the most arrogant person in his year. Over summer, he realised that he was really getting ahead of himself and that he didn’t treat people with enough respect as towards the last few weeks he made this geeky boy in his year (Nile) cry. He did feel really bad about it and a lot of people saw him a very different light. Ben made a joke about how his parents wouldn’t even want him looking the way he did and he didn’t know that he was actually adopted. Obviously this provoked a huge reaction (others in the year just knew about it with it being a private school but Ben never got the memo). He felt terrible and that gave him a well needed reality check. When summer came, he apologised to Nile but the damage was already well and truly done.

Over summer, Ben was still invited to all the parties and hosted a lot himself, he was the kid everyone wanted at their party to get a seal of approval. After the reality check he took it upon himself to publicly apologise and he meant it. He then went on to be something of a bodyguard to Nile and brought Nile up the social standings and would back him up if anyone ever said anything bad to him – it was out of guilt but a friendship did begin to form in sixth form.

Throughout 6^th form Ben really matured and the girls loved that. He was charming and funny but clearly had a sensitive side and knew when things were going too far, then put people in their places in a sensitive way by telling them they were going too far but not embarrassing them about it and telling them why they went too far.

Part of the reason Ben did this was because it knew it would make him look good. Throughout this period, no girl was ever off limits, he was in really good shape, he was nice to people and the girls loved him. His usual tactic (which pretty much always worked) was to get a girl drunk at the party and to then make a move on them later on… There were a few girls who told him they liked being rough and he realised he did too – it was more interesting for him, as he had everything else.

Ben then went to uni with the attitude that no girl was ever off bounds or unattainable. When he went to uni he was in a flat with some really cool guys, he was so relived. He got a bit into the drug scene, he could afford it. He enjoyed it and it really let him loose, he made friends and amongst these boys they all agreed that all girls were attainable and it was their loss if they didn’t want them but they could make anyone want them so it wasn’t a problem. He still remained charming but behind closed doors it wasn’t frowned upon amongst his mates to slip a pill in someone’s drink or to force them to drink – they wanted them to have a good time after all – they were lucky they were interested in them and they were lucky they were getting free drugs! They saw absolutely nothing wrong with what they would do and it wasn’t a regular thing. It would maybe happen twice a term between them.

Throughout first year Ben continued in the same vein of getting with girls and not feeling anything until there was this quiet girl who was beautiful. She wasn’t big into partying but she was into Ben. They hit it off straight away and he liked her coyness. They ended up dating for a bit and then ended up in a relationship. It wasn’t the best relationship, Ben didn’t want her getting in the way of his friends and that’s why it ended but up until then he really was invested in her and she surprised him in the bedroom – lady on the streets but a freak in the sheets. This spurred a thought – what if they’re all like this.

Going into 2^nd year he still went for the typical girls – caked in makeup, big bum and boobs – the girls all the boys looked at in the club and he was more often than not successful, even if they were seeing other people. People liked Ben though because he was honest about his intentions and the way he went about getting girls (obviously missing out the part about intentionally getting them drunk or spiking their drinks by saying that he would get to know the girl for a bit and that they would know if he was interested). This continued throughout 2^nd year – the work increased and Ben did still want to do well so he didn’t have time for a girlfriend, it was mainly one night stands and then he’d see the girl out again and take her home a few times/whenever he liked/when there was no one else he fancied in the club.

Then in final year, at the beginning of the year he met Lucy and he saw a lot of what he saw in his ex girlfriend in her and knew he had to see what she was like in bed. The lowkey rape culture that he had been surrounded with then took hold, he remembered how some girls liked being pushed, some girls took a little persuasion and the quiet ones were usually especially good in bed and so he couldn’t miss the opportunity.

When Lucy rejected him, that was a huge shock to his system and he didn’t want to believe it had just happened. This made him even more determined to sleep with Lucy, no matter what it took because it was now a matter of avoiding regressing back to the little loser he once was when he couldn’t even get a girl to look at him. It was then not just fear and lust but his reduced inhibitions made these urges and fears 100x worse and he couldn’t control himself. He then did what no man should ever do and forces Lucy to be with him. He sees nothing wrong with what he did because of the culture he had been surrounded with before. It was his fault, but he was also a product of his surroundings and environment.

He knows no one could ever find out because although what he did wasn’t wrong in his eyes, he knew other people wouldn’t agree and his reputation was far more important to him than worrying about how he may have made Lucy feel. After the night, his main focus was keeping it secret, making people think it was consented and something both of them enjoyed when obviously it wasn’t to the viewer but to everyone in this world it would make no sense for Ben to have had to force Lucy because… Why wouldn’t Lucy be interested and even if she wasn’t, why wouldn’t Ben have just tried with one of the many other good looking girls at the party.