PLAYING QUEER ROLES has changed the way Ben Aldridge works. The 37-year-old English actor came out publicly back in 2020, self-identifying as gay through a simplistic, scroll-and-you’d-miss it, four-sentence post. There was no rainbow glitter involved; no additional oiled-up thirst trap to boost his follower count. Aldridge announced that he was ready to live as his authentic self, lifting a heavy boulder off his shoulders before embarking on a new journey as part of the LGBTQ+ community.
In the three years since, Aldridge’s resumé has unintentionally filled up with jobs that have given him the opportunity to learn more about himself. “It means something more to me,” he says of playing gay men on screen, “and I think it feels much more significant that I’m telling these stories I really care about.”
Knock at the Cabin, an M. Night Shyamalan-directed apocalyptic psychological thriller, continues this very trend. The film finds Aldridge playing Andrew, one third of a family whose very livelihood is threatened after a cult-like foursome comes banging on their door demanding a sacrifice be made. It’s an emotional, thought-provoking rollercoaster that begs the question: Would you choose to save humanity or save yourself?
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And while the movie focuses on a trio made up of two same-sex parents and their adopted daughter, there’s a very straightforward—and almost blatantly added—moment that reminds the audience these people are not being targeted for their sexuality.
This connects to the debate surrounding authentic casting of queer people in queer roles, one that’s drummed up a lot of conversation—and controversy—for some time now. As for Aldridge’s opinion, he says he’s “not quite landed” on exactly what he thinks.
“It’s an evolving answer, I think. What I know to be true is that rules are kind of the opposition to creativity. And acting is, after all, a creative art form. I would like to be able to play all different types of men; men that are different sexualities, and that aren’t defined by their sexuality.”
No, Aldridge and his costar Jonathan Groff were not Knock at the Cabin shoe-ins just because of who they choose to love. The two came to work with an understanding of the story’s LGBTQ+ elements that may have been more of a challenge for a straight man to fully grasp. They understand the queer experience, and they know the queer voice. Other actors could have stepped into the roles as Andrew and Eric, but that spark, that chemistry, and even Aldridge’s slow and deliberate delivery of a phrase he’s said 100 times and hopes to say 100 — “I love you, Eric” — is something that can’t be faked.
Before he went off to meditate—something Aldridge picked up as a way to detach from the film’s intense content—he gave us the lowdown on what the film changes from the book its adapted from, what makes Knock at the Cabin more terrifying than M3GAN, and how he’d fare if an end of the world situation ever happened.
Men’s Health: When a director tries to bring a book to the movie screen, comparisons are inevitable. What in particular did you pull from Paul Tremblay’s novel when working on your character?
Ben Aldridge: Anytime you’re working on an adaptation, you’re very lucky. If you’ve got the original source material, you’ve got so many blanks that are going to be filled in for you as an actor. You’ve got this biography of the characters, basically. Paul Tremblay had written about the yin and yang of Andrew and Eric, and how they balance each other. Eric is slightly uptight and cautious, and has a kind of different parenting style to Andrew. And Andrew is a bit more laissez-faire, and carefree, and a bit more of a maverick. I think it really stays faithful to the book in following its atmosphere and the tension it creates. Anything I could take from the book, any detail that was helpful, I would take with me into the film. Also, Night is very fastidious about his scripts, and he follows them religiously. You’re not allowed to change any punctuation, or words, or anything; you’re there to execute exactly what he has written on the page and imagined in his mind.
The film’s basic premise—people forcing a family through the unthinkable—is something that could easily happen tomorrow. What about this realistic aspect makes it more terrifying compared to something like last month’s hit horror film, where an AI robot doll—M3GAN—wreaks havoc?
The difference is that Night is preying upon very real societal fears. His primary objective in all of his films is to entertain, really, and he wants to ask questions and provoke thought. He’s quite a deep thinker as a person, and he’s found a medium in which he can express himself to get people into the cinema.
How do you practice good mental health on and off the set when dealing with something so disturbing and intense?
Outside the four walls of that cabin, there was a lot of laughter, there was a lot of playfulness. Kristen [Cui] is amazing. She calls herself a sass queen, she calls me a sass queen. Everyone on set was a lot of fun, and that was a way of taking care of mental health.
But to be honest with you, I did feel a lot of the fear of those characters. The moment we would walk onto that set, I could feel my temperature rising, I could feel my heart rate going. And playing that level of fear so constantly, particularly for Andrew, there’s this notion that he might be able to save them, and he’s fiercely defending his family, and is angry, and the stakes are so high.
It was just a lot. I’ve never done a film so intense that didn’t have any levity in it. And yeah, I found that quite affecting. I found it stayed with me after we finished the job a little bit. I now meditate twice a day since doing that film. Meditation didn’t used to be my practice, although I’ve always been a bit like, “Yeah, I meditate.” But I would never actually do it.
Nothing has ever gotten into my bones the way this film did.
Andrew will do anything to save Eric and Wen, to defend his family. You’re not married in real life, nor do you have a child. Where do you go to in order to develop those feelings for the character?
The power of imagination is very great. And really, that’s all you’re ever doing when you’re acting: asking your brain and body to imagine that whatever’s happening in front of you is real.
To prepare getting to know Kristen and Jonathan, and feeling like I really liked them and knew them as people, a sense of love developed there. But the script had such extreme circumstances, and it’s quite easy to understand how you might react if that situation was happening really. I’m often asking myself, “How would I feel? How would Ben feel in this moment?” And then you have to fit that through the prism of the character.
The scenes that show your life outside the cabin—the lack of acceptance from your parents, not disclosing your sexuality when adopting Wen, the homophobic attack at the bar—seem to explain why Andrew lives life on the defensive. Why do you think those scenes were so important to include as a contrast to the hostage situation?
I think because on a very practical level, what it does is explain Andrew’s presumption that it’s a homophobic attack in the first place. But also, even though their queerness is not placed at the center of the film, which I like, it still honors that narrative. And as queer people, we all have a shared kind of commonality between us, which might involve incidents like that either with our parents or with homophobia.
It illuminates it for the audience that might not have suffered those things and might not understand it. And it does it with a real lightness of touch, actually. I think it’s integral to the story, because it’s integral to the characters, but it’s not integral to the entire film, which is kind of interesting.
We pretty much see you in the cabin for the entire movie: disheveled, injured, rundown. What does Ben Aldridge look like in real life on a regular day when he’s not getting stabbed, and threatened, and tortured?
I would say I’m interested in clothes and fashion a little bit. I’m quite casual in what I wear. It’s funny, even the outfit that Andrew wears— I wouldn’t wear that. But it’s quite boxy fits, quite loose a little bit. I never really want to look too serious.
You also have an ultra fast shirtless moment by the lake, which the gays of Twitter will most likely turn that into a meme in record time.
Oh, I hope so. They’re welcome to it.
Please tell me you did some push-ups for a quick pump before it was shot.
Of course I did. I did push-ups before the scene. I actually worked out a lot for that film. I did some intense boxing training for about a month, and was going to the gym and doing CrossFit as well. But yeah, of course, before getting your top off, I was definitely doing push ups before the action sometimes.
There are also a fair share of fists thrown in that cabin. How much physical preparation did you have to put in for the role?
I think my fight with Rupert [Grint] is a 13 punch combo, which doesn’t sound like much, but Night shoots, and shoots, and shoots. So we did that several times before he got what he wanted perfectly. It was exhausting. There’s also a scene where I’m at a boxing bag—he shot that over, and over, and over again to the point where my boxing trainer had to step in. I’ve done a bit of boxing in the past as fitness, but it’s really, really hardcore.
For me, fitness is something that more recently I tap into for the endorphins and what it’s doing for me chemically; not just the aesthetic. In the past, I would feel pressure to look a certain way, certainly in this business. And now I’m trying to incorporate more of an idea of the wellness of all of that.
If you ever found yourself in a real apocalyptic situation, how long would you survive?
Oh my gosh, it depends. I’m loving The Last of Us, and I played those games as well. Also, it’s insane the amount of queerness that’s in both those games. But would I be good in that situation? I’d like to think so.
Are you feeling the horror thriller genre vibe? Are you like, “I need a romcom next.”? Or are you like, “You know what? Maybe a Marvel superhero is what I want to do.”
Thrillers are what I’m drawn to watching. But yes, the last three years, the projects I’ve done have all been quite heavy in some way, and it would be nice to do something a little lighter. Maybe something a little snarkier, or tonally a bit like Succession would be really fun. I also would love to do a musical. I sing, and I haven’t sung on stage since 2014, so almost 10 years. I’d love to do that as well.
I read for your show The Long Call, you were the first queer male detective. Is there another role where you’re thinking, “I want to be the first.”
We’re really obsessed with the first. Just because we’re in such a moment of progression, it’s a really easy thing to claim. It’s a really positive thing to claim as well. But I’m not really sure.
I would say the first Bond, but I don’t think there should be a queer Bond. I think they should write something new for a queer character who is a spy as well. I don’t think they should make Bond queer, because that’s not what Bond’s about. They should just do, do a “00gay” or something else. Write something new, something for us that’s different. That’s it.”
This interview was edited and condensed.
Sean Abrams is the Senior Editor, Growth and Engagement at Men’s Health. He’s a former hip hop dancer who likes long walks on the beach and large glasses of tequila. You can find his previous work at Maxim, Elite Daily, and AskMen.
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