Paul Bettany Kept Getting Fake ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Scripts

The lengths that the Russo Brothers went to maintain secrecy for Avengers: Infinity War are practically legendary, particularly when it comes to star Paul Bettany being given fake scripts. Now, the Vision actor reveals that he was given fake scripts even when he was supposed to get the real deal.

In an interview with MTV at San Diego Comic-Con this last weekend, Bettany explained that even though Joe Russo had intended for him to read a real version of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film's script, he was inadvertently given the same fake script twice.

"Here's my experience," Bettany said. "I read the script and then the Russo Brothers rung me up and said, 'what'd you think?' I said, 'oh it's great' and they went 'that's not the script' and I went 'what?' They went 'oh it's got lots of different, it's got a different ending, it's got different turns in it, certain people die that don't die.' ... and they said, 'but we want you to read the real script.'"

Bettany went on to explain that reading any of the scripts was a significant time investment for him and one that didn't turn out quite the way he thought it would.

"Now, I'm dyslexic so it takes me like five hours to read this and then they lock me in a room to read the real script and it's the same script, so I rung them up and I said 'um' and they said, 'what happened' I went, and I read "Code Red" or whatever they called it and he said, 'yeah what do you think.' I said, 'I went it was the same script' and he asked me some questions and then he went 'aw man they gave you the wrong script again,'" Bettany explained. "So, after ten hours given over to reading scripts that I was never going to make I decided not to. I said, 'what happens at the end of this one?' and Joe just said, 'I think me, and Anthony are going to have to leave town.' So that's what, we knew it was bad."

Bettany has told variations of this story before, though at Ace Comic Con in Seattle last month he recalled that it had been three fake scripts in the attempts to get to the real one. No matter how many scripts Bettany actually read -- and one can hardly blame him for not being clear if it was two or three after all that time investment -- it's interesting that the directors went to such wild lengths to keep people in the dark. Prior to the film's premiere, though, the Russos explained why they chose to keep things so close to the vest and it came down to the trust between them and the cast.

"They were all kept in the dark," Joe Russo explained. "They trust us enough that they understand their motivations on set, we can give them enough of a hint as to where they're coming from and where they're going. A lot of it is relationship-based so it's just about behaving truthfully when they're on camera together and the objectives of each scene are contained in the scene. There's no reason for anyone to know the overall goal of the villain other than my brother and I."

What do you think about the amount of fake scripts Paul Bettany read? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

Avengers: Infinity War lands on Digital platforms July 31 and lands on DVD and Blu-ray on August 14.

Avengers: Infinity War and Ant-Man and The Wasp are in theaters now. Other Marvel projects coming soon are Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019, and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 in 2020.