Masterful ; Paul Bettany has Just Picked Up the Best Actor Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for His Part Alongside Russell Crowe in Master Commander. Which Almost Makes Him a Match for His Oscar- Winning Wife. James Langton Meets Him

Evening Standard - London › February 05, 2004

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Summary

Britain's fastest-rising Hollywood star adopts a hoarse whisper to avoid waking the baby. 'We'll go out and grab a coffee.' He picks up a packet of Marlboros, pulls on his jacket and delivers a loving peck to the sleeping infant. Spending time with Paul Bettany is a bit like meeting up with one of your old mates from the pub. The one you haven't seen since he got married and had a kid. He's the boy from Harlesden who got the big promotion and married a really nice girl.

Except that Mrs Bettany is Jennifer Connelly, an Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind and one of the most gorgeous and most in demand women in Hollywood. And her husband has a growing reputation as one of the most versatile actors in the business, whose performances in the 10-times Oscar nominated Master And Commander and the small British film The Heart Of Me have just earned him the Best Actor award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards. 'Well,' he grins, 'awards are good for the family business. It's like being made employee of the month.' Master And Commander reunited him with Russell Crowe for a second time after A Beautiful Mind. Bettany, 33, took the role of ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a lofty intellectual amid all those jolly jack tars. He prepared for the role with commendable rigour.

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Masterful ; Paul Bettany has Just Picked Up the Best Actor Award at the Evening Standard British Film Awards for His Part Alongside Russell Crowe in Master Commander. Which Almost Makes Him a Match for His Oscar- Winning Wife. James Langton Meets Him

'I had to look like I could perform the medical procedures.

Maturin is a solitary human being, so I got myself a house away from everybody on a cliff top. Did that help?

I was definitely lonely.

I was so lonely that, by the time I got to work, I just wanted to talk to everybody, so I'...

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