{"id":2004292,"date":"2025-09-07T17:01:26","date_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:01:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2004292"},"modified":"2025-09-07T17:01:26","modified_gmt":"2025-09-07T17:01:26","slug":"sir-ben-kingsley-doesnt-think-of-himself-as-a-wise-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/sir-ben-kingsley-doesnt-think-of-himself-as-a-wise-person\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Ben Kingsley Doesn\u2019t Think of Himself as a \u201cWise Person\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”<\/i><\/p>\n

Sir Ben Kingsley went into The Thursday Murder Club<\/a> relatively blind. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the book and I didn\u2019t know my fellow cast members,\u201d he says. \u201cAll I knew that it was Chris Columbus.\u201dAdapting a novel<\/a>, he continues, \u201cis a monumentally difficult task. Don\u2019t underestimate this.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the Netflix murder mystery film set a retirement home<\/a>, now streaming, Kingsley plays Dr. Ibrahim Arif, a soft-spoken former psychiatrist. At 81, the Oscar-winning actor is the oldest member of the starry cast that includes Helen Mirren<\/a>, Pierce Brosnan<\/a>, and Celia Imrie<\/a>. Here, he spoke with Town & Country all about The Thursday Murder Club, playing Ibrahim, and why audiences love murder mysteries so much.<\/p>\n

\"thursday<\/span><\/div>\n

Kingsley, second from left, with his costars Celia Imrie, Helen Mirren, and Pierce Brosnan.<\/span> Courtesy of Netflix<\/span><\/p>\n

What drew you to this project?<\/h4>\n

So many things now are not character driven, they\u2019re plot driven and characters are invented to serve the plot. But this is the reverse. We the characters drive the film and create the plot. The plot doesn\u2019t drag us along with it. So when I read the script and of course joined dear Chris in rehearsal and my colleagues, it was clear that this was a celebration of character, not necessarily of plot. Well, of course the plot\u2019s important, but the people are very important.<\/p>\n

What did you connect with most about the character of Ibrahim?<\/h4>\n

I hope I have his quality of listening. I hope I have his quality of empathy. I hope I have his authority and I hope I have his kindness.<\/p>\n

The Thursday Murder Club is based on Richard Osman\u2019s novel of the same name. How much do you turn to the book versus the film script as you prepared for the role?<\/h4>\n

The Thursday Murder Club: A Novel<\/h3>\n

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$9.69 at amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

I start with the script and I studied the script very carefully and see if I can define a genuine pattern of human behavior. If I can\u2019t, it\u2019s better I don\u2019t do the film. If I can, as I did with Ibrahim, and so much so that I could invent it a whole backstory going back to when he was born and where he was born, then it\u2019s a joy to inhabit that character and that journey because it\u2019s a sharing of the human condition. It\u2019s human; this film has a heart.<\/p>\n

What were some bits of Ibrahim\u2019s backstory that guided you?<\/h4>\n

I won\u2019t divulge them, but they do involve loss and displacement.<\/p>\n

How does your personal backstory for the character inform your choices on set?<\/h4>\n

It guides me. It guides Ibrahim to be, as he says, \u201cIf you want to be alone, you close your door. If you want company, you leave your door open.\u201d What better recipe for happiness. That\u2019s beautiful philosophy, perfect piece of philosophy. There are some gems in screenplays, and of course in plays, that one can keep in one\u2019s pocket forever, and that\u2019s one of them.<\/p>\n

What has working on a film that centers themes of aging and retirement made you reflect about your own career?<\/h4>\n
\"thursday<\/span><\/div>\n

Kingsley, far right, with his castmates.<\/span> Courtesy Netflix<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m not by nature very reflective, but I do sense perhaps the possibility of something entering my life, which I could loosely call wisdom, and that\u2019s quite a surprise. I never thought of myself as a wise person, but I might be. And if there\u2019s anybody listening, I might be worth listening to.<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t really give advice because not everybody is as blessed as I have been to find my perfect place in my tribe and in the universe, which is that of a storyteller and an actor. Not everybody\u2019s that blessed, but if you can find something, however tiny, please hold onto it. It will grow and it will sustain you.<\/p>\n

Why do you think audiences are so drawn to murder mysteries? Is it because we know there will be a satisfying ending?<\/h4>\n

It\u2019s not only the satisfying ending, it\u2019s with any conundrum that needs solving that\u2019s part of a film or play\u2014the audience can\u2019t watch passively. They have to be engaged because the very nature of the plot thread, if I may use the word plot, demands that you pay attention, but audiences love to pay attention. They love their heart to beat slightly faster and for their intelligence to be complimented rather than insulted. I think this film ticks all the boxes.<\/p>\n

The Thursday Murder Club is now streaming on Netflix. Watch now<\/a><\/p>\n

You Might Also Like<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source uk.news.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.” Sir Ben Kingsley went into The Thursday Murder Club relatively blind. \u201cI didn\u2019t know the book and I didn\u2019t know my fellow cast members,\u201d he says. \u201cAll I knew that it was Chris Columbus.\u201dAdapting a novel, he continues, \u201cis a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1990640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[339308,316196,365170,320001,352136],"class_list":["post-2004292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-celia-imrie","tag-helen-mirren","tag-ibrahim-arif","tag-pierce-brosnan","tag-sir-ben-kingsley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Chris-Columbus-Knows-How-to-Adapt-a-Bestseller-and-Hes.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2004292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2004292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1990640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2004292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2004292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2004292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}