Barnes: 'Narnia' role came from left field

New York -- Ben Barnes says he was invited to audition for "Prince Caspian" after someone in the film's casting department saw him on stage in "The History Boys" in London.

"It kind of came out of left field a little bit. I was doing a play in London. 'The History Boys,'" the British actor recently told reporters in New York. "And somebody from the casting department came to see the show and asked if I wanted to come and audition. ...

"I prepared to do it a couple of days later. I think I read one scene and I got some feedback that the director liked the way I said one line with a touch of irony he hadn't seen all year and I was like, 'Oh, that's got to be good.'

"And then they called me up for a screen test and I did a screen test with Andrew (Adamson) and Mark Johnson the next weekend and all the producers. And three or four weeks later I was on a horse in New Zealand."

"The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian" was No. 1 at the box office when it opened last weekend.

Copyright 2008 by United Press International.