SDCC '14: Paul Bettany Reveals New Details About 'The Vision' In AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
The British actor talks revealingly about The Vision's abilities, his relationship to Scarlet Witch and Ultron, and much more while video interviews with the entire Age of Ultron cast surface. Check it out!
Before assembling on stage during Marvel Studios' Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con later today, the principle cast of Avengers: Age of Ultron talked with various media outlets about the highly-anticipated sequel. First up, Paul Bettany spoke with SuperheroHype lengthily about playing the Vision, who he confirms is indeed an evolution of his Iron Man voice role as J.A.R.V.I.S. "The thing that appealed to me is that this sort of nascent creature being born, being both omnipotent and totally naive, the sort of danger of that and complex nature of a thing being born that is that powerful and that created in a second and the choices he makes morally are really complex and interesting. They’ve really managed to maintain all of that, the old image I love is of him crying, I think it’s really expressed kind of beautifully in this “Avengers” film."
He continued, "Initially its everyone on set at the same time, the sort of introduction of Vision on the first day and that was huge and everyone was incredibly welcoming, and really prepared. That sounds really sutpid but I can’t tell you how often you get on set with famous actors and they haven’t done any work and you realize ‘you don’t know what the scene is.’ But this situation is there are so many characters everyone only gets 2 or 3 takes so everyone is really focused." About finally working with Robert Downey Jr., Paul Bettany says: " It was lovely. Often you’re saying outlandish things to each other, with all of them, with him and Spader and Ruffalo and Hemsworth, it’s amazing how you can sell these very outlandish notions." Bettany then proceeded saying the Vision is "protective" of Scarlet Witch, and his character also has a "fabulous" cape. "With a great deal of pity," Bettany said when asked how does it feel in costume. "It is a real thing. We talked about how to keep me cool in that costume. While it is one of the most genuinely extraordinarily costumes that has nothing to do with me they’ve manufactured, it’s really cool looking. The consequence is it’s f***ing hot!" About The Vision's abilities in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Paul Bettany reveals: "We’ve talked about how he’s incredibly good at punching, which is key. He has the ability to change his density and that is … that’s awesome and exploited brilliantly by Joss in some cool moments when Vision is able to do something that is otherworldly. And he’s discovering all as he goes along."
The British actor also confirmed he had to do wire work. "Have you ever been hung in the air by your genitals?" he asked. "I have. It’s great. There’s a lot of wire work, and I enjoy it. ‘They make it as comfortable as they can possibly make it, which is really uncomfortable. It’s as hard as doing something really uncomfortable for a lot of money can be. But the results are awesome. Forget my genitals for a second, I know you were thinking about them, for me it’s another layer of clothing I have to wear." About working with James Spader, who played the titular villain Ultron, Bettany says: "We have a scene and it was the first scene we shot together, and it was just . . .. even tough you’re talking with these very far fetched ideas, he found something that was very human about our relationship and it was, um, it was really amazing. You look into his eyes, he was there, it doesn’t’ matter what he was talking about, you believe him. It was a great scene to work on. He was just so present, which is very difficult when you’re in a fractal suit. You believe everything he said." Read more at SHH. What do you think?
Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron stars Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Cobie Smulders Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy Renner, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, with Paul Bettany, Samuel L. Jackson, and James Spader. The film is set for release on May 1, 2015.