'I had no idea what had happened': Final Fantasy 16's Ben Starr on becoming a meme, playing angsty roles, and which series summon he'd take on a date

There's nary a thing to fault Ben Starr for, least of all his commitment to the bit. Since lending his voice to Clive Rosfield in Final Fantasy 16—which finally launched on PC this week—Starr has cemented himself as a fan-favourite voice actor. A lot of that is thanks to the fact he doesn't take himself too seriously: From shitposting on Twitter, to cosplaying as Tifa, to becoming a whole-ass meme thanks to a particularly bright light at The Game Awards.

I was able to sit down and chat with Starr in anticipation of Final Fantasy 16's PC release, and I couldn't help but ask what he made of all his antics over the last year, especially seeing his flashbanged face become a top-tier meme. 

"I didn't know what was going on because I was like 'I'm gonna put my phone away, I'm just gonna enjoy the night. This is so cool, this is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be at such a huge event.' And yeah, this guy tapped me on the shoulder, and went 'Excuse me, you're a meme.' Then I looked at my phone and it had just blown up and I went 'Oh my God.'"

Starr tells me he enjoyed "how inventive people were" with the image, from turning him into a Kingdom Hearts character to the all-too-real moment where the Bandai Namco splash screen burns your retinas at 2 am. "People were using it everywhere, and I think that's so lovely because I try not to take myself very seriously," Starr said. "And if I can be a vector of joy for people, that's all I care about. I do this stuff because I want people to see that I'm happy to be silly and happy to take the piss out of myself—I'm always going to take the work incredibly seriously, but I'm never going to take myself seriously because being a clown is fun and I love it."

Ifrit ain't broke

It's a welcome contrast to the more serious role he takes on as Clive, as well as some of the future projects he's currently locked in for: He's billed to appear in Clair Obscura, though he still can't quite reveal the capacity in which he's involved, as well as taking on the titular role in The First Berserker: Khazan. I asked Starr about the juxtaposition between his real-life/online persona and the roles he's been taking on, especially for The First Berserker.

"With Khazan, it's like, I love a painful, angsty boy, you know? It's great. There are also other roles that I'll get to talk about later down the line where I don't have to take myself as seriously. But I think that's the great thing about acting, it's just pretending, and I love to pretend. I used to joke whenever I do TV shows that it's just dressing up in silly hats, doing silly voices, as long as we don't take ourselves seriously but take the quality of the work very seriously then you're going to have a great time "

When it comes to Final Fantasy 16's Clive, Starr says he was "very fortunate" to be handed a character who was written so well. "Hopefully, going forward, I can kind of continue to embrace those roles that feel authentic, because it starts with the quality of the writing that kind of just needs me to say a couple of lines to make it work," he tells me.

Starr's been a long-time fan of Final Fantasy even before landing his role as Clive, and with Final Fantasy 16 being so summon-centric I wanted to know which one was his favourite…to take out on a date, of course. "I'm going rock climbing with Titan," Starr tells me with almost zero hesitation. After mulling over the question for a few moments and expanding the pool of eligible bachelors to the entire series though, he has something a little different in mind.

"I'd love to just ride through the Alps with Ixion, just like wind in the hair. You know, nothing but a horse and a dream, just having a lovely time," Starr says. "Can you imagine if I was Clive? Clive's luscious hair just like, blowing in the wind, riding Ixion. The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Music, Clive riding Ixion. Fan art, please." Someone make it happen already, will ya?