Paul Bettany, known for his Marvel role as Vision, has said he remains unable to rewatch his breakthrough performance in 2001 medieval comedy A Knight’s Tale, following the loss of co-star Heath Ledger.
A Knight’s Tale features Ledger as squire-turned-knight William, with Bettany his sidekick, playing a version of real-life writer Geoffrey Chaucer. The movie helped launch both of the actors’ careers and retains a cult following for its likable cast and rock music soundtrack.
“I saw [the film] when it first came out. I’ve never seen it again since,” Bettany said, reflecting on the project at L.A. Comic Con (as reported by Entertainment Weekly). “There are lots of reasons for that, and just one of them is that I miss Heath too much.”
Bettany continued by saying the movie now felt “like another lifetime ago,” though said he still had people greet him on the street by quoting lines from the movie.
Ledger went on to star in Monster’s Ball, Casanova and Brokeback Mountain, though remains most famous for his award-winning turn as the Joker in 2008’s Batman Begins sequel The Dark Knight, for which he won a posthumous Academy Award. Ledger died in January 2008, shortly after completing filming for the role, due to an accidental prescription drug overdose.
“I can tell you that he just had a light that shined off him,” Bettany said of Ledger, in an interview with Vulture published back in 2021. “He was a movie star, you know? Just immediately, you met him, and he shone, as you lot say, and it was very hard not to fall in love with him — I think for anybody. He was a very playful, joyous spirit.”
Bettany is set to return as Vision in next year’s Marvel TV series Vision Quest, which will chart his character’s journey following the events of hit Disney+ series Wandavision.
Image credit: Photo by Jody Cortes/Getty Images.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
