Stephen King’sThe Instituteis making its way to the screen, and with it, one character is getting a little more time in the spotlight than in the novel. The upcoming adaptation of the 2019 novel is a sci-fi thriller revolving around the titular facility, which is home to a group of teenagers with psychokinetic abilities. The facility is run by Ms. Sigsby, who brings a ruthless approach to trying to enhance the kids' abilities for mysterious means.
AmongThe Institute’s cast is Joe Freeman as Luke Ellis, the latest addition to the facility who has a keen intellect and begins putting it towards coming up with an escape plan for him and the others trapped there. There is alsoShadow and Bonealum Ben Barnesas Tim Jamieson, a former police officer-turned-wanderer who finds himself in a small town neighboring the titular facility and accepts a job as the Nightknocker. However, when he forges a bond with a homeless woman deemed by locals as disreputable, he begins to learn about The Institute and its dark secrets.
In anticipation of the show’s premiere,ScreenRantinterviewed Joe Freeman and Ben Barnes to discussThe Institute. The latter opened up about expanding his character beyond his arc in King’s novel, and why it made Tim better suited for the series, while the former discussed the challenges of capturing the hyper-intelligence of Luke and the moment in the show’s story in which he felt the stakes were at an all-time high.
There’s Also An Important Reason For His Bigger Role In The Series
As Barnes himself notes, the role of Tim inThe Instituteis something of a different path for him, having “started my career in boy-worth-sword territory” thanks to the likes ofStardustand theChronicles of Narniafranchise before being “lured into this world of psychopaths, villains, baddies, crazies and douchebags”, as was the case withThe Punisher’s Billy Russo/JigsawandWestworld’s Logan Delos. Therefore, when Tim came along, Barnes found it"important to me to try and find my moral compass as an actor again", wanting to instead play “someone who’s kind of a force for good”.
“Someone who you’re rooting to be helpful and useful in a story,” Barnes described. “I grew up watching those kinds of ’80s and ’90s films where you’re rooting for the guy to do the thing. So, I think it was nice to get back to — even though he’s a more stoic, quiet kind of character in that way, he’s still a layered character, but somebody that you are rooting for to do the right thing. That was important to me.”
When you’re making your contribution to the Stephen King cinematic universe, you want to be a good character.
When it came to playing the character, who gets a bigger role in the series compared toKing’s novel, in which he is met at the beginning and doesn’t return until the ending, Barnes found diving into the source material important given the novel had “an interesting structure” when it came to Tim. Describing his character’s start as being a “lonely, slightly shameful world”,Barnes found the chapters “very useful to me in terms of the atmosphere of them”, particularly when exploring his efforts to “find some peace” and “find some purpose and restart his life”.
Though acknowledging that the “bulk of the story” that centers on the teenage characters in The Institute is “thrilling and exciting”, Barnes recalls one of the biggest reasons for expanding Tim’s story wasto highlight “the similarities between the characters"and what they ultimately had in common. “What they could become to each other, and for each other, and also sort of physicalize Tim a little bit,” Barnes explained. “I think he’s a little more thoughtful and cerebral in the book, and a little more physical in the show, but I think trying to find that balance was a really interesting thing.”
Playing Luke Provided Freeman With A Unique Challenge
“…Obviously, I’m Older…”
Unlike Barnes, Joe Freeman, son of Marvel Cinematic Universe andThe Hobbitstar Martin Freeman, finds himself making his proper acting debut inThe Instituteafter previously making an appearance on the BBC soap operaDoctors. With Luke proving an interesting kind of protagonist in that he’s often just as much a step ahead of the antagonists as he is a step behind, Freeman found the character provided him with a few unique challenges,beginning with the fact he’s “older than the character of Luke” and “definitely wasn’t like” him at that age.
“I definitely was an idiot,” Freeman said with a chuckle. “But yeah, it was trying to find that thing of, ‘How do I make this engaging while also remembering that Luke is just a kid?’ The things that he goes through shouldn’t happen to anybody, but least of all a 14-year-old.”
Acknowledging that “at the end of the day, he’s a kid”, Freeman explained that the way he approached playing Luke wasfinding “that balance” between his genius and the foes that he goes up againstin the show. “He has the wall that he tries to challenge all the people in The Institute,” Freeman expressed. “Hendricks, Tony, Sigsby, Stackhouse, all of them. But then, at the end of the day, he’s a kid.”
There Are Two Key Moments That Established The Show’s Stakes For The Two
“Oh, okay. Something’s Real.”
With the show creating tense stakes for both those within and outside the eponymous facility,The Institutecertainly has plenty of harrowing sequences for its characters. When asked about any scene in particular in which they found themselves fully emersed in the show’s tension, Freeman and Barnes agreed thatthe testing scenes of the teens being “slapped into submission” are some of the most haunting to watch, with the latter calling it “a real moment” when it first happens in the pilot.
Freeman goes on to point out the scenes involving the oxygen-deprivation tank as being the most harrowing for him to both be a part of and watch,even acknowledging it tapped into “one of my biggest fears"and feeling the real-world version of that torture to be “pretty awful”. “You have zero power in that situation,” Freeman expressed. “That’s the worst, I can’t even imagine that.”
Stay tuned for our otherInstituteinterviews with:
The first two episodes ofThe Institutebegin streaming on MGM+ on July 13, followed by new episodes weekly on Sundays.
The Institute
Cast
A kidnapped prodigy with special abilities, Luke, ends up at The Institute, while Tim, a former cop, seeks a new life in a nearby town. Their fates are inevitably linked.
