PAUL Bettany talks about appearing as a racist peach farmer in The Secret Life of Bees, and appearing alongside Dakota Fanning in the moving Deep South drama.

He also offers us a glimpse into a couple of his forthcoming movies, including Creation, in which he plays Charles Darwin and stars alongside his wife, Jennifer Connelly, and The Young Victoria…

Q. What appealed to you about appearing in The Secret Life of Bees?
Paul Bettany: Lots of things. It was a film about women made by a woman. Not only that, it was a film about black women made by a black woman. And the part of T Ray was handled in an incredibly realistic way. He didn’t seem to be a stereotypical racist and the film didn’t fall into the traps of forgiving him.

Q. And he doesn’t seek redemption. In fact, he probably wouldn’t see himself as a bad man?
Paul Bettany: Exactly. He would consider himself to be a businessman. Economically speaking, why would he hire a white person and pay them a lot of money when black people were so much cheaper? His racism stems from his ignorance.

Q. I gather you also wanted to work with Dakota Fanning?
Paul Bettany: Yes, she’s proved herself to be a fantastic actress, so the chance to play her dad in something sounded fantastic. She was absolutely brilliant to work with. I put her alongside many of the other great actresses that I’ve had the privilege to work with.

Q. Is it daunting that she’s so young and yet so mature?
Paul Bettany: Yes… but no so much daunting; it feels very peculiar. She’s so accomplished and she’s really made decisions about what she’s going to do in the scene. She doesn’t just walk on and behave naturally in front of the camera – she does that for free anyway. But she’s already thought through what she’s going to bring to the scene. She’s extraordinary.

Q. You also get through some pretty tough scenes with her. Was it important for your relationship that you snapped out of character straight away and kept the set light after those moments?
Paul Bettany: She and I got on really well together and, yes, I tried to keep the set as light as possible.

Q. How much did you research that time in history? Was there a lot of material available?
Paul Bettany: We were given an enormous amount of research material, especially from Gina Prince-Bythewood and it was all pretty shocking. But the most important thing to do was to try and get yourself out of how one might feel as a middle class person in 2008 looking back and to try not to have the same values. Of course, one feels repulsed by what took place. But for both the white actors in the movie and the black actors in the movie, we had to treat it as though it was a very normal situation back then.

Q. Can you tell me about working on The Young Victoria?
Paul Bettany: It seems a long time ago now. It was a film I really enjoyed making. I think Emily Blunt is a fantastic actress. I’d seen Jean-Marc Vallée’s previous movie C.R.A.Z.Y. and so after the role came up it sounded appealing. It was a well-written script and it was fun to go and do. I play Lord Melbourne – he was the Prime Minister and he was also an adviser to the queen in her younger years.

Q. It has a great British cast, including Mark Strong and Jim Broadbent…
Paul Bettany: Both are big heroes of mine, as is Miranda Richardson. And Graham King is a very important producer now. So many of the scripts that I read that are really interesting turn out to be his.

Q. And you’re currently starring in Creation, for which you had to pile on the pounds?
Paul Bettany: Yes, I’ve put on 20lbs and been eating too much food! I’m slightly fortuitous in that it takes me a lot of effort to put on weight. But weirdly, I kind of like going to the gym, so it doesn’t seem like such a chore to have to take the weight off. In fact, I frankly can’t wait to go! But Creation is based on a book by Randal Keynes, a descendent of Darwin, and it’s script is about a time in Darwin’s life when he was writing The Origin of Species. It also follows the death of his daughter, Annie, which had a massive influence on him. Charles Darwin arrived off the beagle and sat on his discovery for 20 years. Part of that reason was because of his relationship with his wife. She was a real believer and a staunch Christian, so therein lies the drama.

Read our review of The Secret Life of Bees

• Delicious
• Digg
• Reddit
• Facebook
• Stumbleupon