One of the quiet stars of Iron Man was Paul Bettany supplying the voice of Stark’s computerized manservant Jarvis. So quiet that Bettany himself actually forgot about his involvement.
“I was on the set of Legion. It was the weekend after Iron Man opened, and some of the crew came in and were like, ‘Hey, I was listening to Iron Man. You’re in Iron Man, right?’ ‘No, I’m not.’ And they said, ‘Well, it sounds like you.’ And then I went, ‘Oh, wait! I am!,’” Bettany recalled with a laugh.”
The reason Bettany forgot about his part in the film was because he was added at the last minute, and the recording was only an hour worth of work.
“I got rung up. The director [Jon Favreau], who I know and have worked with as actors [in Wimbledon], said, ‘Do you wanna do this thing?’ ‘Yeah, sure. F*** it. I’ll do Iron Man.’ I went in. He’s a very funny human being, obviously, and I laughed my ass off for about an hour. Literally said a couple of lines, went downstairs, got in a cab and went home.”
And it looks like history might repeat itself. If Bettany is going to supply his voice for Iron Man 2, it will once again be a last minute.
I’d like to hear him in it again, and there is plenty of time to add his lines. Its a small part, but it is something that would offer consistency.
