In VisionQuest, Vision (Paul Bettany) is not the same as he was when he fought alongside the Avengers against Ultron (James Spader) or when he was conjured back into existence by his grief-stricken wife Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), but he’s trying to figure out his path with the help of several AIs in his core as he meets Thomas Shepherd (Ruaridh Mollica), who, against all odds and logic, may in fact be his son, as an unknown enemy sets its sights on him.
Awards Buzz spoke with Bettany about whether he feels more or less human after playing this character a handful of times in Marvel Cinematic Universe projects:
“I think that mostly I learn from my wife and children and my closest friends, and the things that I have learned from them inform the work that I do in this, but I don’t think it’s vice versa. Having said that, I do think that the one actually edifying thing that acting can give you as a person is you spend a lot of time imagining yourself with somebody else’s problems. I think that it can really work that empathy muscle. That’s a wonderful thing, obviously.”
He shared the process of this show going from its inception to actualization, and the positive benefits of working with Marvel:
“When the opportunity for VisionQuest happened, I knew about it for five years, and the great thing about that was we could really abandon ideas. If ideas came up, we could really sit with them and really think about them and say, gosh, I just don’t think that’s it. And then I met Terry Matalas and he was asking, what do you want the show to be about, which has actually always been my experience with Marvel. They’ve been incredibly collaborative.”
Watch the video above to hear about his experience interacting with Marvel fans and a project he’d love to discuss more, as well as a brief look back at a breakthrough role twenty-five years ago that also introduced him to his wife: A Beautiful Mind.
VisionQuest is streaming on Disney+.
