PAUL Bettany – surely one of the busiest actors on the planet right now – talks about the appeal of appearing in Inkheart, working with a ferret and uniting with his wife, actress Jennifer Connelly, for this and the upcoming Charles Darwin film, Creation.

Q. What appealed to you about Inkheart?
Paul Bettany: Well, the script turned up and my son was actually reading the novel. I thought the script was really well rendered and it had all the things that I thought would be exciting for children. I checked in with my eldest boy and he agreed, saying it was a fantastic story and that I should definitely do it. He [Dustfinger]‘s a great character. So really I took my son’s advice.

Q. Was Dustfinger your son’s favourite character in the book?
Paul Bettany: Yeah… With a certain age group I think that character is. He’s quite flash.

Q. How was getting to play with fire?
Paul Bettany: It was great. In actual fact the fire you see in the movie, you can’t actually do that and not make a circle [laughs]. So, it’s all CGI. But it was fantastic fun doing the moves.

Q. And how was having a ferret on your shoulder?
Paul Bettany: Smelly! That’s all it is. The male ferrets really stink, but the female ferrets are actually quite aggressive. So, you have a choice between a smelly ferret and an aggressive ferret and I went for smelly.

Q. Was it a pain to have on your shoulder, or give you any bad days?
Paul Bettany: It’s just humiliating when they took the focus measurements from the ferret and not me!

Q. The film does have a strong underlying theme about the importance of books and reading. Are you a fan of books in general?
Paul Bettany: Yes, I am. I think language is the most important thing that human beings have ever accomplished, and the only thing that’s really going to get us all out of the troubles that we find ourselves in.

Q. Do you have a favourite genre of writing?
Paul Bettany: I’m really quite eclectic. The last book that I read and loved was Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.

Q. Cornelia Funke, the author of Inkheart, personally recommended Brendan Fraser for the central role. Did you have much interaction with her?
Paul Bettany: Yes, I did… she wanted to talk to me about the film and why she thought I should do it. So, I got calls from the director and then I spoke to her. When you’re getting into contracts with a film that potentially has three… I didn’t know what happens in the next two because I hadn’t read them. So, you say: “Yeah, I really like it.” But then suddenly this whole machine starts and they want you to decide now, now, now. But I was like: “Wait a second. What happens to this guy that I might find myself playing in five years time in the fifth movie or whatever?” So, I spoke to her about that sort of thing.

Q. Will you be reprising your role? Or is it dependent on the box office at this stage?
Paul Bettany: I think people are far too burned from past failures to think too far ahead, like the way they did with The Lord of the Rings. We’ll have to wait until the receipts come in.

Q. You also get to share a few scenes with [your wife] Jennifer Connelly, which must have been nice and set you up for working together on Creation?
Paul Bettany: Yeah, what happened was she was in England and I spend the whole film trying to get home to my wife. I’ve spent many films trying to get back to my wife [in real life]. So, she was there with the kids while I was working and it was only one shoot day, so Iain [Softley] said: “Do you want to do it?” She said yes, so we put her in a dress and did it. It was funny because you were in the middle of this really silly, fun fantasy movie and it’s really representative of your life. I often find myself in really strange places wanting to get home! [laughs]

Q. Have you wrapped on Creation now?
Paul Bettany: I wrapped in England last night after an excruciatingly long day. I started at 6am and got home at 11pm. So, we had a long old day. And I’ve got to go to Germany for Inkheart to do some press, and then we go to Thailand. So not yet.

Q. And your hair cut is still for Creation [he’s shaved his head]?
Paul Bettany: That’s what this is all about, yes. I have a younger wig, because he was still quite receded when he was younger, and then when he was older he was even more receded. So, to accomplish that look with my own hair you’d have to put a bald cap on about twice a day. It takes 45 minutes to do a good one, and then you put the wig over it. I’ve already got an hour and 45 minute make-up anyway, so I would have been adding a further 45 minutes on top of that. So, rather than doing that out of some stupid vanity, I just shaved my head.

Q. Darwin must be an absolutely fascinating character to be spending so much time with?
Paul Bettany: I really, really love doing it. I’ve never been quite so exhausted on a movie. We’re shooting six day weeks and working really long hours. And then I come home and have to learn lines, obviously, but not just learn lines but try and put some for-thought into how I’m going to play with them. And then there’s so much reference material on Darwin that you never feel like you’ve done your job properly. Because, for every stack of books I’ve read [motions a height], the stack next to them is still bigger. So, you’re always left at the end of the evening trying to sleep but going: “F*ck, I should do this or read this… Maybe the answe that’s really going to help me will appear if I did that.” There’s too much research material! It’s a nightmare.

Q. I guess, though, it makes it easier starring alongside your wife because you can go home and bounce ideas off each other?
Paul Bettany: Yeah, that was actually brilliant. We thought it might not be because we’ve never really done it before. You know, in A Beautiful Mind we didn’t, because I was imaginary, and in Inkeart it was just a bit of fun that we all had together. So, we’ve never really acted together and I didn’t know how it was going to pan out. But it’s actually been fantastic and I think we got a lot of relationship stuff for nothing. It’s a moving script and, again, I hope I haven’t f**ked it up [laughs]!

Paul Bettany talks about The Secret Life of Bees

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