Street: How were you able to get into the character of the evil Bill Cox? It's something that's quite out of the norm for your career, and I was wondering what it was like and did you ever find yourself morally repulsed because you have real kids now. How did you keep the film and your personal life separate?
Paul Bettany: I tried to look for what I had in common with the character. He wants $100 million. I wouldn't mind $100 million. So I held that in my mind. Obviously, there are obstacles in my way. I don't like hurting people and I don't want to go to prison, but if you don't have those obstacles in your path you might well behave in this manner. But as far as keeping my home life separate, if you are playing a psychopath and you are taking your work home with you, you really shouldn't be a father. So I didn't do that.
Street: Could you describe life on the set of Firewall? Who did you build the closest off-screen relationship? What personality roles did everybody take off-camera? Any practical jokes?
PB: I think Harrison [Ford] and I spent most of the time on set laughing. I don't know if it was to release tension or because he's a very droll, funny man. I know Richard Loncraine [the director] very well, and the first assistant director, and we're great friends and we all laughed a great deal. As for funny stories, unfortunately, the things that strike you as funny on the set strike you as funny because you're tired and maybe a bit stressed and in the cold light of day, you remember them and they're a little less funny than at first they might have been.
Street: All the roles that you do are drastically different, from A Beautiful Mind to Master and Commander to Gangster No. 1. You really like to vary the types of characters you play. What specifically attracted you to this role in Firewall?
PB: It's a simple answer. I've never been in a thriller before and I really wanted to work with Harrison Ford, and Harrison Ford was making a thriller. There were two huge pluses.
Street: In regard to your future plan, do you have any overall plan for what kind of niche you want to carve out as an actor?
PB: My only plan is the same one since I've started: to do as many different types of things as I can, work with many different types of people. I hope to stick to that, really, and as long as people keep employing me, I'm happy.
Street: How does your role in The Da Vinci Code relate to the future?
PB: If you are an actor and Ron Howard rings you up and asks you to play an assassin monk and you say no, I think it's probably time for you to go home.
Street: How do you feel that your role in this film adds to your legacy in comparison to the other roles that you've played in other films?
PB: Legacy seems too grand a word. I don't know. I've never been in a thriller before, and the last two films I made have definitely been genre movies. I made a romantic comedy film and I'm involved in this thriller. That's been my intention, really, be a part of different stuff. I don't have any sort of grand scheme. I never think about how it looks as a body of work afterwards. I just don't consider it.
Street: What do you want people to really remember when they leave the theater?
PB: It's entertainment. A different film, I might want the audience to take different things home with them. This film, certainly, I want them to remember to pick up their purse.
Street: This is your second film in a row working with director Richard Loncraine. Is it difficult having a personal friendship with the director? Can you describe his directing style?
PB: Providing you get on with the person, I think it's a good thing; your being relaxed with the director is always a plus. That's shorthand that comes along with it. As far as his directing style, I'd say it's very inclusive. He's not jealous of the process, and he wants to ask your opinion and at times, advice, and that is in no way to say the he is neurotic or insecure. He's very secure about his ideas, but he is genuinely interested in other people's and I don't just mean mine or Harrison's. He could ask anybody on the set and I think that comes from a place of security.
Street: You chose to play the character more ruthless and more restrained. Why do you think that portrayal affected the audience more than the mustache-twiddling, stereotypical evil man?
PB: I'm not sure that it does. It's only my opinion and I'm of that opinion because I think that even if an audience doesn't understand why it's investing less in the characters, I think it's always because their belief in the situation has been undermined. So the less of a James Bond villain he is, not that there's anything wrong with that in the right film... we're asking people to believe this could happen to you. That's the conceit of how this sort of thriller works. Your family life could be turned upside down. How safe is your identity? I mean, you've seen the ads. If I sat there stroking a cat with a scar down my face, I think people would be alienated and that's not what we want.
