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which makes them a rare case in Hollywood—they have also maintained the anomaly of being working actors, even with both of them soon to be quinquagenarians. To whit: Connelly recently turned to television in 2020 with the series Snow- piercer, and is playing the role of Penny Benjamin in this year’s Tom Cruise-starring action rollercoaster film, Top Gun: Maverick. Bettany took a break from saving the world in order to film a project which deals less with superhero abilities and more with the human experience, seen through the eyes of
a gay man born and raised in the South. Written, directed, and co-produced by Alan Ball, the creative mind behind Six Feet Under and True Blood, and co-starring Sophia Lillis, Uncle Frank premiered at Sundance Film Festival before releasing on Amazon Prime in November 2020.
“I was wondering whether I should do it, should it be me,” Bettany says of being cast in the titular role of a gay man. “Have I got the stuff that he needs for it? In the end, we had
a really lovely conversation, and he [Alan Ball] was very open about his life, and I was very open about my life, and we sort of fell in love really, and I thought, I really wanted to make this film with him, and I want to help him realize his vision, which he seemed very clear about.”
Bettany arrived on set and transformed into his char- acter by conceptualizing his late father. He tells me that his forebear came out of the closet at the age of 60 and entered into a relationship with a man whom he loved and cared for. “And then that man died,” Bettany recalls with a sobering tone, “and I guess, because of religious dogma, and my father was a Catholic, he went back into the closet as he approached death. It was really hard to watch.” He pauses, then contin- ues, “I said to Alan, ‘Who is this film for?’ Because it’s going
to affect the tone of what we do. Alan said, ‘This film is for anybody who has ever struggled to live their life authentically.’ And my father had, and there were lots of consequences for that one, which was that I never really got to know him. I felt like I knew him intimately until I was about 10, and as I be- came more sophisticated as a creature, I stopped being able to reflect the version of himself that he once reflected, because there were so many secrets, and there were only a few stories, which were curated.”
As Bettany notes, this struggle to live one’s life in a genu- ine manner creates a domino effect, which results in harm to others along the way. In the film, his character’s own strug- gle to live authentically in his youth proves disastrous and haunts him when he travels back to the South for a funeral. His demons manifest themselves in a reliance on alcohol
and leaves Frank a fragmented and nearly broken character, apoplectic and pushing away those who care about him. “We (society) should endeavor to practice radical acts of sympathy and empathy and forgiveness,” Bettany says, when asked how we, the audience, should view the character of Uncle Frank. “I think you’re a very lucky person if you’ve lived to be 50 years old and never done a single thing that has caused hurt in somebody else.”
Less than two months after Uncle Frank’s release, the first two episodes of WandaVision streamed on Disney+. Being the first Marvel project since 2019, the show set off a new phase of Marvel productions, one marketed toward high-budget epi- sodic series. Along with WandaVision, The Falcon and the Win- ter Soldier and Loki were set to debut. “We weren’t supposed to go first. It was supposed to be Falcon and the Winter Soldier, so we definitely felt like a kookie cousin,” Bettany recalls. “But we were incredibly united on what it was about, and Kevin [Feige] is always interested in what your ideas are, and where you think your character should go.”
The early trailers of WandaVision hinted at a show less concerned with action and more intrigued by mystery and a general sense of foreboding—and, as the aforementioned
Vision was dead at this point in the timeline—the lead up to the first episode sent Marvel’s dedicated fanbase into intense speculation over how the show’s nine episodes would play out. The first two episodes only added fuel to the fire, as they sidestepped familiar Marvel territory and instead were a meta homage to television’s enduring and transformative history. Each week, the internet was flooded with think pieces, essays, and forum discussion filled with theories about how the show would eventually unravel. “I
thought it was incredibly fun to watch people do their own
What knocked audiences off their feet the most was that after 2020, a year where the health of the world was truly in jeopardy, where heroes emerged in the form of healthcare workers, teachers, and those who took preventative measures from spreading Covid-19, Marvel’s return after a year-and-a- half absence featured a superhero show which diverted ex- pectations by not placing the superheroes on a pedestal. Wan- daVision is not a show about those with extraterrestrial powers saving the world for those who lack those abilities—it’s about grief, trauma, and how to cope after suffering a string of tre- mendous losses, feelings which have become universal.
The end credits roll for WandaVision and the show gives no real answer as to where Vision goes next. The veil was removed for nine episodes before being promptly replaced. Much like the end of Avengers: Infinity War, we are left won- dering if Paul Bettany’s run as Vision has come full circle. “As far as where he goes,” Bettany smirks. “I don’t know yet. I think it would be hard to not see him again. Honestly and truly, the Marvel Studios subReddit page has as much infor- mation as I do. I would advise fans to check in there, because I honestly don’t know yet.”
Bettany’s Vision declares as the series nears its end, “Who knows what might be next?” The line of dialogue’s transcendent nature speaks as profoundly to the character of Vision as it does to the actor playing him. Bettany has prov- en that his roles know no boundaries, whether it be a priest, a great author, a surgeon, a serial killer, or a superhero. And as a man, one born onto this Earth, he is prepared for a new journey in his life: marriage after raising children. While one child is already out in the world, another is set to enroll in college, with the third being a decade away from leaving the nest. “I’m beginning to think, do we stay where we are or
do we move?” he poses. “Is there a new chapter for Jennifer and I where we move and do something different? I don’t know. But I’m beginning to have those thoughts. I mean, it’s a decade away, but I’m beginning to think, ‘Wow, I wonder what that’ll be like.’”
Here is Paul Bettany tending to his plants. He is proud, observing the fruits of his labor, but he knows his work is far from finished. An oncoming Planting Moon, which shines bright and full in the month of May, means it’s time to put aside the winter haul and focus on harvesting seeds for the spring. Arugula, sugar snap peas, radish, calendulas, and larkspur all thrive during the upcoming months—it’s the gardener’s choice on what he or she plants. As for the man himself, he also has many choices to make at the dawn of a new season, and who knows what’s next for Paul Bettany? Whatever or whomever it is, I am certain it will bud, flower, and ripen into something which might see him take a step back to admire his creation—but only momentarily—be- cause he will already be sinking his hands back into the soil to plant another seed.
Groomer: Liz Taw
investigative work into what it should be,” Bettany says with satisfaction. “The interesting thing is seeing people having
a guess of what’s going to happen, and if it doesn’t happen, getting super frustrated that it didn’t happen the way that they wanted it to happen, or if it does happen, going ‘I called it, that’s boring.’”
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PHOTOGRAPHER: CHARLIE GRAY. STYLIST: JAY HINES. STYLING ASSISTANT: ELENA GARCIA. TAILOR: JOEL RYAN. GROOMER: PETRA SELLGE AT THE WALL GROUP. VIDEOGRAPHER: MATT WALSH.