Paul Bettany for ‘VisionQuest’ | Conversations at the SAG-AFTRA Foundation

Thank you so much for being here. Congratulations on another great show. This is an audience of your fellow SAG-AFTRA actors. Hi, guys. So I always like to start by asking, how did you get your SAG card? And I know you might have been working for a while before you got it, because you're not from here. I'm from Hoboken. I just put on the accent. You're just affected. I just affect the accent. I got my SAG card, I think, on A Knight's Tale, because I don't know if it's still the same, but you get one sort of free. So I did Beautiful Mind, and then I got my SAG card from A Knight's Tale, yeah. I just want to say for the record, I did not bring up A Knight's Tale. That was not me. And this conversation will not entirely be about A Knight's Tale, but I do have to say, I remember very vividly your appearance in A Knight's Tale, because on the... Well, come on now. On the audio commentary, your first appearance in a major motion picture, and you walk in naked. Yes. My entrance was my exit, I guess, in some way or another. You have me at such a disadvantage, I don't know. Yeah, that was a strange... I remember getting ready to do this scene, and I was in my trailer, and there was a knock at the door. And I went, who is it? And they went, it's Costume. And I went, Costume? Come in? And they came in, and they had a Dayglo sock. And I went, what's the sock for? And they said, well, you know. You know. And I went, no, I don't know. And they went, stop, are you feeling embarrassed? And I went, but the only thing more embarrassing than walking down the street naked is walking down the street with a Dayglo sock. Why was it Dayglo? I guess so that they could, in rushes, see it. Oh. Oh, I wish I hadn't made that. Suddenly wish I hadn't made that motion. Actually, Brian gave me, as my wrap gift, was all of the footage that existed. You're kidding. That hadn't been cut, that had been cut out. And I didn't believe it was in it. You know, it was real. I just thought it was a thing. And then last year, when I was filming Vision Quest, my old friend in London brought around a box of things that I'd left at his house, and there it was. And I looked in, and sure enough, it's just thousands of feet of my business. You just left that laying around? Yeah, I guess. Well, it's not the sort of home movie you want to show. No, but I put it in a safe. Imagine if I hadn't found it. After I died, my kids found it and went, oh, a home movie of dad. Let's project it. Oh, no. Have your kids actually seen many of your movies or shows? Are they fans? I don't know that they would admit to it. And I certainly don't force it on them. I don't know. Agnes hasn't seen Vision Quest yet or anything. Really? Yeah. I don't know that she's seen any of my work, my daughter. She's the one who hasn't seen Vision Quest, apparently, because everyone else has. Oh, well, that's kind. Yeah. I hope so. And again, congratulations on the show. And it's so fascinating to me because you originally started out in the Marvel Universe really as a voice actor. I mean, could you have imagined all these years later you'd be playing multiple versions of one of the most beloved characters? No. No, I had no idea. And I don't think they had any idea. I just think that we had a real fun time with me playing Jarvis and I made people laugh in the room. And they were amenable to the idea when Joss Whedon said, how about we make Paul the Vision now? How about we fold Jarvis into the Vision? And I think I've been well-behaved and fun to be around. And they were like, yeah, right. Yeah, do that. That's so fast. I actually don't know when you originally landed the role of Jarvis. Was there an audition or did they just come to you? No, there wasn't an audition. There was a phone call from the director who I'd worked with on Wimbledon as an actor and he said, hey, Paul, so I've got this voice that's inside Tony Stark's suit and I need an actor with no personality whatsoever. And I immediately thought of you. And I went, well, seeing you are so nicely, I'll say yes. The reason I ask is because I very vividly remember interviewing you years ago and you said you actually liked the audition process. I don't know if that's changed. And it's probably been a long time since you had to audition. But you specifically said you see it as a chance to audition the director and get a feel for it. And you actually said something I remember that I thought was so funny, which was that way they know what you're doing. So when you show up, they can't fire you. And I'm like, who's firing Paul Bettany? Yeah, that's true. I liked auditioning. I never, I don't know. I had an ability to see auditioning as the job and never attach any hope of getting the job. Just start with I'm not going to get the job and then enjoy the process of this little moment of acting that you get to do. I really feel for people now who have to do self tapes. It's the most the whole idea of it is so the antithesis of what sort of building a connection with somebody that you're potentially going to work with. But in the old days, you used to be able to go into a room with actual people and charm them and make them want to give you the job before that you then read badly. But it was so funny. It's a sort of similar story as Jarvis into vision, I guess. You know, he was so funny. Keep him around. But yeah, I never, I felt there were like a thousand reasons before they got to my talent that I'm not getting the job. And I'm really I have very little advice, but the the you can't. I just realized immediately that I could not control whether somebody more handsome came in the room. Not possible. Thank you. I'm going to give you a time to not be creepy. I put it into one night's tale question giving you I'm going to give you one a second take. I know you can't control whether somebody more handsome. Come on. Thank you. Or or more talented possible. Thank you. Or more frankly, more bankable. All of these things, right? But what you can control is how prepared you are to grab that opportunity. And when that more talented, better looking, more bankable actor gets a better gig and steps out and they're two weeks from production, they go, who was that kid that came in and knocked it out of the park? Be that kid. My career is absolutely been built on being the most prepared second choice. It's true. Well, that's I mean, Hugh Jackman won't will say he wasn't the first choice for Wolverine was do Gray Scott, but his shooting schedule for Mission Impossible 2 ran long. So they called Hugh with like less than a week to prepare. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. He was in that kind of shape. Just hanging out. Yeah. That's annoying. Aren't all musical theater actors. So in this series, you portray White Vision, which is, you know, a version of the original vision. Don't Google that. Yeah, I know. Boy, I wish I'd never Googled that. I love that he starts the series, you know, hiding in a pub in Edinburgh. And I'm curious how you approach the role because he's part of a character you've played in some ways before, but he's also entirely a new character. Did you sort of start from scratch when building him? No, no. I mean, the real upside of playing a character for like 11 years now is that you get to meet the audience and you can't help it. Whether you're at a comic con or whether you're just on the street, you get to meet people for whom Vision means something and they tell you what he means. And you suddenly realize what the contract between the audience and the character is and it's kind of unbreakable, you know. So Vision, it turns out, is also for the kid I was at school who was bullied and felt like an outsider and didn't think there'd be a place for him in the adult world. And so, you know, kids are in a process of discovering who they are. Young people are in a process of discovering who they are. And there are a dizzying array of choices that they can make in today's world. And I suddenly realized, oh, Vision is always in a state of change and a state of self-discovery and a state of figuring out his identity. So that piece of Vision, in my opinion, must always remain the same. I feel like he's lost, I don't want, I don't think naivete is the right word, but, you know, he was fresh to this world when he first came into it. Was it kind of exciting to play, I guess, a darker version of a character who's, you know, trying to understand humanity? Yeah. You know, when Vision was born in Age of Ultron, he was sort of like an omnipotent ingenue, you know, which was kind of fun to think about. And then he found love. And then he was some fantasy creation of a perfect boyfriend in WandaVision. And then he has been given all of his memories. And can't or seemingly is unwilling to attach feelings to those memories. And, yeah, it was really nice to toy with some, usually when you see Vision, he's usually very self-contained. And so it was interesting to play with that and have a sort of searing anger underneath it, which was, it was, you know, it's in the way that it's fun to do anything different with the character and the way that it was fun to have him eat chewing gum and get drunk on the chewing gum and do a magic act, you know, it's fun to play around with those things. I am curious if it's ever hard to play someone who's so emotionally disconnected, like if you take that home with you or if you're able to leave that on the set at the end of the day. Oh, yeah, I gave up taking characters home the moment I had kids. You know, Silas, you don't want to bring home to your children. You know, so I, yeah, I very much stopped doing that. But, yeah, I mean, being able to disconnect from your feelings is really human. I mean, and that compartmentalizing, I mean, as actors, we're always talking about getting in touch with them, but you would be a mess. You know, I have a brother who died when I was 16 and he was eight. And every time I had that memory, I then fell apart. It would make it impossible to sit here with you. You know, so I think it's a very, actually, strangely human trait. I am curious, what's the hardest you've ever had letting go of a character? Was there one who stuck with you or you couldn't shake? Or maybe you didn't want to, like if it's Geoffrey Chaucer, I'd want to stay in that mindset for as long as possible. Um, I once played Andy Warhol by mistake for a year and a half. What an acclaimed production that you got raves for. I don't know what you're talking about. I would wake up like speaking like him. And it was, it was, it was, yeah, I was so glad to let that go. I was being inside Andy Warhol's head or at least trying to. Why do you say it was a mistake? Oh, I don't, not sure it was a mistake. It was a mistake to do it for that long. Sure. Fair enough. Right. Oh, right. Cause you did it in two countries. I did it in London and then we made a movie and then we did that in, in Boston, in, on Broadway. And by the end of that, I was, I don't care if I ever think about Andy Warhol ever again or attach any feelings to thinking about Andy Warhol. I'm curious with a character like this, how much does it help you to get into character, to have at least scenes where you have like the costume and the makeup and you have to do all this preparation, but then you put on that suit and you're probably going to have to walk a certain way and carry yourself a certain way. Yes. And also I don't know how to play a robot. I mean, I literally don't. I never have. And I've never tried to because I'm a very lazy man. And no, I mean, the truth is, is like if you're in, if you're in camouflage gear, carrying a gun and you've got camouflage makeup on, you don't need to act being a soldier. It's taken care of. And you can focus your, whatever energies you have on things that are maybe more pertinent and haven't been taken care of because it's really clear that you're a soldier. And when you're in a robot costume with a pink face, it's really clear that you're a robot. So to sort of deal with, get on with trying to be as human as possible. And I think maybe that is some of the secret sauce with Vision is that he's often the most, has the most human response in the room. You know, like there's a line in WandaVision, what is grief, if not love, persevering. And it's, it's a moment where Vision has absolutely seen Wanda and seen what she needs and is able to give that to her. And yet he's a robot. I remember when that episode came out and pretty much every screenwriter I knew said, I'm giving it up. I will never write anything that good. Did you sort of know when you were shooting it the impact that scene was going to have? I knew, I knew way before and the line wasn't right. And we were working on that line for months because I knew that that moment was going to be a sort of linchpin for the story. And lots and lots of great writers in that writers' room were working and they would come back and I'd think, oh, for sure, it's nearly there but it doesn't, it's not quite doing it. And then Jack Schafer, the showrunner's assistant walked in with all the coffees and said persevering and we went that's it. So we actually owe it to Jack Schafer's assistant. Who should be running Marvel by now, I feel. For sure. That is amazing. How long before you actually shot the scene was that? Did you think we're not going to get there and we're going to have to go with... Yeah, there were moments where I thought and I just knew it. I'm a story guy. I really believe in stories and I don't really believe in emotions. I think that we get confused as actors because our training is about being able to get in touch with these things but it doesn't Ideas make you cry as an audience. Not seeing somebody who you know is going to go to the craft service table afterwards give a good performance. It doesn't work. I know the kid's not dead that you're mourning. And you might be doing a great job and I think I can prove it ideas make people cry. If I give you let's give you a scene where there's a young woman and she has a 3 year old child that she's protecting and bombs are raining outside bombs are coming down the whole time and she's crying and she's holding that baby, trying to protect that baby and then exactly the same scene same actress, same bombs, same room but this time she's looking at the baby and going and trying to make the baby laugh and not be scared is fundamentally a more moving idea because she has she has overcome her obstacle which we all learned at drama school she has got over her fear because trying to protect her child and make her child not scared is more important and that is just fundamentally moving and nothing to do with accessing emotions from your past absolutely see look at what you're learning so the point is it's not really on you if the writers aren't good enough the writers aren't were there people though who were like you know we've got it close enough and you were tenacious no Jack was always she was brilliant like that and she agreed with me that we weren't quite there to be and by the way I get all the praise for that line I didn't write it I just kept saying I don't think we're there yet and when I said it the shot plays on Lizzie receiving the information it's not on me and that's a brilliant editorial decision that might be necessitated by my not having been good enough but we'll never know but the point is is that it's moving because you see where it lands and it's actually moving because you understand that he has seen her it's ideas and it's actually the perfect storm of writing, acting, responding well thank you and speaking with Chemistry of Co-stars we have to talk about the fact that you were paired with the amazing James Fader in this as Ultron when did you learn that he was going to be joining because I don't think it was a given at first no this has been a sort of five year process of coming up with ideas, getting rid of ideas and then we always knew Tommy was going to be there and I really wanted the show to be about fathers and sons and something that could be about positive male energy that's a kind of book end to the trilogy and when and I was speaking to Terry about the things that we wanted it to be about and I said I think we've I think you can do various things really well with robots one is Pinocchio, I'm a real boy now and we've done that and we can do it again but there's also Frankenstein which is I guess what replicants are in Blade Runner is who am I what am I for, what's my purpose who made me, all of that stuff so we had talked about that and then he called me up and he went why don't we just get the band back together and call James Fader and I went we have the whole spine of the show with grandfather father and son and now we can do what I really wanted to do which is I thought Terry and I both thought was a hilarious idea was intergenerational trauma but with robots and lasers and fighting and couch that in a really entertaining twisty fun filled marvel show I would think one of the hardest things about making this show would be not laughing at everything James Fader says because his delivery is just insane he is really like having a delicious meal and it's he has so many stories none of which I can tell you and all of which are just hilarious and funny and delivered in that James Fader way and so I loved working with him I loved him I mean he's kind of got a similar path to you in that he was I don't want to say just a voice because it was a very important voice but he got to be a real boy too yeah I mean he was actually always there because he did all the motion capture so he didn't just voice it it's him acting in Age of Ultron I'm only surprised because he's James Fader yeah yeah it was hilarious he was in a sort of funny pair of pyjamas with the cameras coming off it was hilarious working with him and it says a lot about his acting that he still managed to be intimidating rather than me just laughing at him because he's a grown man in pyjamas fraxel suit or whatever they call it yeah it was a joy to work with him I have a question forgive me if I mispronounce anyone's name but I believe it's Mia F. Campagna actually wants to know I don't ever like seeing other people on stage when we get praise so let's get rid of that question unbelievable just wants to know do you have a favorite moment on set and now I will not impress you by butchering this grazie mille yes I had so many great moments on that set it's hard to pick one because it was and I think you can see it it was a really creative explosion of just fun working with Edith played by Emily and I just loved it but I suppose if I had to pick one it would be when we do the sort of cops scene which comes later on I don't know how many episodes in you are but there's a whole sequence where it turns into a cop show James Spader as a cop just hilarious I mean you mentioned Emily Hampshire but you have a lot of great co-stars in these scenes that take place and envisions consciousness I'm curious what it's like to play those scenes in particular because in some ways it's almost like a theater it's a room with all these great people bouncing in and out yeah that exact idea comes into play much later on but it was a great space to work in entirely practical set with lots of things that genuinely there was hardly any green screen in the whole show I mean there are of course lasers and we put those in after for obvious reasons but it was mostly practical sets and locations but that set was so lovingly built and it had these little easter eggs that you would find even on the last day you were finding new things some really cool stuff that they did I loved that little pixelated fireplace such a good idea what an AI might have thought a country mansion might look like is there room for improvisation most famous moments of Vision have been improvised I don't well really that was just one the death scene which was a hilarious thing to be asked to do but there were definitely moments with different actors James does not do that James has and I'm very similar to this spent a lot of time with the script and going backwards and forwards with the writers and pretty much as an actor and certainly as a producer on it I like to get those conversations done before the lights are burning and a crew is standing around going what are we listening to I want to die I want to die I want to die so I like to have those conversations first but with other actors for instance Emily Hampshire who excels at that yeah I'm totally also open to it getting the best out of the actor that you're working with we have a question from Chloe hi Chloe what's your favorite time portraying Vision of all these iterations and years I guess I gotta say Vision Quest I loved Wonder Vision it was such a creative amazing time but I think it would be foolish of me not to say Vision Quest because I had all of the power no the truth is I do you know I'm really fortunate to work with Lizzie Olsen and she is number one on the call sheet sets the tone of the show and you know what it's like film sets can be fun places and it can be the greatest job in the world and block your ears a minute Boris just put your fingers in earmuffs it can just be one asshole no you're good one bad person who just spoils it for everybody else and makes it an intimidating place so I really loved the fact that I could make it a space where everybody felt their ideas were welcome and everybody felt like they were having fun a warm joyful environment and I was successful at that it really was a fun shoot well you probably also learned from being on other sets observing the first person on the call sheet like how you wanted to behave and how you didn't well I do want to remind everyone new episodes of Vision Quest are coming every week on Disney Plus I believe there are 6 out now so we have 4 more to go I can't wait to see where it goes I'm so happy to always see you playing this character or variation on it thank you so much for being here thank you for having me guys thank you for being a great audience