Ben Barnes wants to be a reformed hell-raiser - without having to be a party animal.

The 30-year-old actor hates his current image and would love to have a reputation for being wild, but hates going out to "trendy" bars and clubs and doesn't want to cause any trouble.

He said: "I feel it's dull, being a middle-class kid from Wimbledon in London. I wanted to be a salty Irishman, a Colin Farrell bad boy.

"I'd rather be shot than be seen falling out of some trendy club. Actually, what I'd like is to have a reputation as someone who's been wild and gone straight, but without having to go through the trouble of being bad.

"I'd like to be a hell-raiser - but skip hell-raising itself."

Ben mastered a Dublin accent for his role in new movie 'Killing Bono' and he admits he enjoyed using the dialect so much, he considered altering his speaking voice permanently.

He explained: "I loved being Irish. I shared a flat with Robbie Sheehan and by the end of the film, I told him I was going to keep my accent. Rob pointed out that people knew I was English so I'd seem strange."