Quotes from Paul Bettany

Up until like five seconds ago, I just took what jobs came along.

I still read the British papers, but I've never been a Royalist, ever. It's funny, there always seems to be much more of a fascination with the Royal Family over here then there does in England.

You can fudge a lot as an actor, but you can't fudge being a parent.

Paul is an awful name. I might as well be Bob.

I don't enjoy watching action films, but I loved films like 'Rust and Bone' and 'The Beat That My Heart Skipped.'

I got a phone call from Jon Favreau saying, 'I need the voice of a personality-less robot, and I thought of you immediately.' I thought that was the funniest thing I ever heard, so I said, 'Yes.'

I was born a Catholic and now I'm a lapsed Catholic. I'm something but I'm not a believer any more.

Film used to have to be niche and find its audience in a little art house cinema, and TV had to work for everybody. And now it's kind of flipped where there's so many platforms that TV can be incredibly niche.

I've noticed, in the ebbs and flows of success and popularity, so much of it is fraudulent and to be distrusted.

I was bullied about everything, from the way I looked to the fact that my father had been a dancer.

It's weird, because usually if you're British and you go to America you play baddies; but I play naughty people here and goodies in America.

I find parties difficult. I like a dinner party, but I find being at parties difficult, so I choose not to go to parties.

In America, they shoot budgets and schedules, and they don't shoot films any more. There's more opportunity in Europe to make films that at least have a purity of intent.

The fact that in America bread lasts so long. You buy bread, and then it's bread forever - it's Forever Bread!

I did eight months of training for 'Wimbledon,' and then, by the time I finished the movie another four months later, I was like, 'That's me. I'm done with tennis.'

The only thing I think I can be accused of about paparazzi is being really naive. I didn't think about it coming along with the job and I never, during my three years at drama school, fantasized about one bit of it.

I realized that this story [Shelter] is all about family, family loss, and how it influences you day to day life.

I'm sure some people have an absolute grasp of where they are in their careers. I just don't think about it that much.

We all have different thresholds for sentimentality. For me, it's a hard won happy ending.

I feel safe in saying this, and that is that Peter Weir is without a doubt one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. I'd open a door in a movie for him if he asked me to.

Sure, you can do something frothy and ridiculous, but you should probably be confident that it's going to be a sure-fire hit. Then it's sensible, because it enables you to make smaller movies. But if you make something frothy and ridiculous that doesn't work, it's not worth it.

So the actual privilege is that you can then take time off - and if you don't, you're a fool. You're earning all this money to support children whom you then don't see, which is absurd.

The only way one can guarantee one's loyalty is love. Loyalty is beyond logic, really.

I loved working with Peter Weir. I think he's one of the greats and will be remembered as one of the greats.