People: Making the Caspian scene

If you don’t know who Ben Barnes is yet, you will soon.

The 26-year-old British actor plays the title character in “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.” The sequel to “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” is expected to be a blockbuster, like its predecessor, and he’s been getting plenty of heartthrob buzz.

But Barnes, who called from New York recently, sounded grounded and ready for the onslaught of screaming girls (and women).

Q: Are you ready for that kind of adulation?

A: That side of it is very sweet. If it’s people who enjoyed seeing the movie or are excited about seeing the movie or whatever, that’s very lovely and very flattering. Anything above and beyond that is kind of strange.

Q: Does the attention make you nervous?

A: It does. It sets me a little bit on edge. I’ll do my best to probably keep things as private as possible, to whatever extent I’m capable of doing that. … But there’re perks I’m being afforded, as well. I’m being sent all different types of scripts and things to read. The pros have certainly outweighed the cons for me so far.

Q: Did you read the books?

A: I did. I read them when I was 8. I used to read a chapter to my dad, and he’d read me a chapter back, doing silly voices and stuff. And there was a (British) TV series, so that was like once a week. It just corresponded with a really good age for me, as well.

Q: Which character did you see yourself being?

A: Of course, every little kid, when you’re reading “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” wants to be Peter, because he’s the biggest and the oldest and the strongest and the high king, and he gets the special sword from Father Christmas. But as an adult, looking at the stories, Caspian is probably the most interesting character to me because he’s orphaned and he’s very uncomfortable about the positions he finds himself in. … His uncle killed his father. Pop quiz: what Shakespeare character does this remind you of?

Q: Was it difficult to get into character?

A: A lot of it is done for you. They literally did build all the castle sets and they taught me how to ride and how to use the sword and they dress you up, you get the hair extensions and the fake tan and the dialect coach. And then you’re thrown on the horse and a bunch of Telmarines are thrown at you and there’s really very little left to do. There’s very little more that could be done to make me feel like this reluctant prince. It was not the most difficult transition in the world.

The birthday bunch

Newscaster Jim Lehrer is 74. TV personality David Hartman is 73. Author/director Nora Ephron is 67. Musician Pete Townshend is 63. Actor Eric Lloyd (“The Santa Clause”) is 22.