- Paul Bettany plays Vision in Marvel's Cinematic Universe and will appear in 2018's "Avengers: Infinity War."
- The story of how he landed the role feels like a movie in itself.
- Bettany recalled to BBC Radio 1 a meeting he had with a producer who told him he was done in Hollywood.
- Then fate intervened.
- The actor told INSIDER back in 2015 as he was sitting on a sidewalk, he received a call from "Avengers: Age of Ultron" director Joss Whedon asking if he wanted to play Vision.
- "I sort of looked up to heaven and thought karma's very quick these days ... and [I] flipped the building behind me the finger," he told INSIDER.
Paul Bettany stars in "Avengers: Infinity War" as the android superhero Vision. After voicing a different character, Tony Stark's AI J.A.R.V.I.S., for several movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, it was a role he didn't expect to play at all.
"I had just had a meeting with a producer, who will remain nameless, who told me that my career was over. He said 'You're done, you're done in this town,'" Bettany recently told BBC Radio 1 of a shouting match he had at the time.
INSIDER spoke with Bettany about how he landed the role of Vision in 2015 during press for "Avengers: Age of Ultron."
"I stepped out into Hollywood and I sat on the sidewalk with my feet in the gutter and I thought 'F--- me," Bettany recalled after the meeting with the producer went south.
But then fate intervened for the 46-year-old actor.
"My phone rang and it was [Age of Ultron director] Joss Whedon and he said, 'Do you want to play the Vision in the next 'Avengers' movie?'" Bettany said.
Of course, he said yes.
"I sort of looked up to heaven and thought karma's very quick these days ... and [I] flipped the building behind me the finger," he continued. "It happened just like that. I sat down and my phone rang. Very funny. But you know if I had a dollar for every time somebody told me my career was over, my career could be over."
Bettany's fate as Vision will be uncertain heading into "Infinity War." Villain Thanos (Josh Brolin) is collecting up six Infinity stones to take over the universe. The location of one of those stones? It's square in Vision's head.
Bettany has the honor of being one of few actors to play two characters in Marvel movies. He joins Chris Evans (Human Torch/Captain America), Peter Dinklage (X-Men's Bolivar Trask and a character in "Infinity War"), and actor Josh Brolin who plays the villain in not only "Infinity War," but this summer's "Deadpool 2" as well.
You can read our full story from 2015 with Bettany here and follow along with our "Avengers: Infinity War" coverage here.
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