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A lot of people can probably understand getting a great job, and then having to come to the realization that, of course, everything isn't exactly perfect with it. For most of us, that would be something like finding out the free coffee and snacks in the kitchen are terrible, or noticing that the person in the cubicle across from you never stops talking. But, for those among us lucky enough to play our favorite superheroes (or villains), quite frequently it involves hours spent in constricting or otherwise difficult to wear costumes and / or makeup. Such is the case with WandaVision cast member Paul Bettany, who recently revealed that he broke down once while in his Vision gear on set.
As long-time fans will remember, Paul Bettany's time in the MCU started with his voice-only role as Tony Star's A.I., Jarvis. But, Bettany transitioned to playing the heavily made-up, well-costumed hero, Vision, during the events of Avengers: Age of Ultron in 2015, and after a devastating end, brought the character back for WandaVision earlier this year. During his recent interview for ACE Universe Presents: A Conversation with Paul Bettany (via ComicBook), Bettany opened up about the one time he "flipped out" on set after being in the costume for too long, and noted:
I guess I had one time where I flipped out on set and I just went 'somebody has to help me get out of this suit,' and they pulled it down and everybody was really lovely. It's so embarrassing to talk about because obviously you're getting paid to wear an uncomfortable suit but after five days in a row of just being encased in this thing you're like 'I gotta get it off my chest.' I sat there for like five, ten minutes just breathing, and then we went back into it and it was fine. That was the one time I think I flipped out. I'm mostly kind of chill, calm.
I'm sure we all appreciate Paul Bettany being honest about how it feels "embarrassing" to complain about any aspect of his work as Vision. He understands that he's in a privileged position as an actor who got paid well for a steady gig for several years to suit up as the popular character, but, that doesn't mean dealing with his costume wasn't sometimes a pain. And, we've heard similar things from plenty of other actors who've taken on major Marvel, DC, and other roles which require restrictive costumes.
Ryan Reynolds, for instance, famously called his Deadpool costume "a big, red body condom" and claimed he could "taste my own genitals" while wearing the all-encompassing suit. As we can all imagine, just from looking at the average comicbook hero suit, they tend to be incredibly tight and need teams of people to help the actors into and out of them, meaning that Paul Bettany was far from able to just slide his Vision wear off and on when he needed a bit of a break. Once you're "encased" in it, you're in it unless you ask to assemble the team to help you get it off.
Paul Bettany also noted that "you need to be in a really good place in your head" to wear these costumes, because they are almost always "incredibly claustrophobic" to wear, so we should all be glad that he managed to get through the entire WandaVision shoot with only one freak out.
Aside from White Vision still being out in the world and potentially returning at some point in the MCU, Paul Bettany's time with Marvel appears to be over. But, you can watch his entire run on Disney+, and be sure to check out all of the upcoming Marvel TV shows, and what you can watch right now with our 2021 summer TV schedule!
