Could Al Pacino be the top-secret actor WandaVision star Paul Bettany teases is headed to Westview? Weeks after the Vision actor revealed the cast of the Marvel Studios series includes an actor that’s “going to be a surprise for everybody,” and one who Bettany has been “wanting to work with forever,” Bettany implied this mystery thespian is a veteran actor when he told Esquire the person is someone he’s “longed to work with all of [his] life.” Bettany’s comments come after Episode 5 ended with Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen) opening the door on “Uncle Pete” (Evan Peters), a surprise guest star whose role leaked last summer.
“This is the theory that says there is some mysterious Avenger who is going to appear in WandaVision, and people seem to think that mysterious Avenger is Doctor Strange. Truth is, of all of the characters that we were trying to keep secret, a lot of them got out through leaks,” Bettany told Esquire in a virtual interview published February 18. “There is one character that has not been revealed and it is very exciting, it’s an actor I’ve longed to work with all of my life. We have some amazing scenes together, and the chemistry between us is, I think, extraordinary, and it was just fireworks on set. So I’m really excited for people to see that stuff.”
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During an on-stage appearance at AsiaPOP Comic Con Manila in 2015, Bettany named three actors who inspired him growing up: Robert De Niro, Marlon Brando, and Al Pacino. Bettany, who received his first television credit in 1994 and his first film credit in 1997 (in Bent), has not yet appeared opposite De Niro or Pacino.
In a 2014 interview with MTV, Pacino said he was “really impressed” with that year’s Guardians of the Galaxy and said he’s “ready to go to Marvel.”
Reacting to the viral response over his appreciation of the James Gunn-directed Marvel blockbuster in another interview with MTV, Pacino said: “Why wouldn’t I like a movie like that? Why wouldn’t I appreciate a movie like that? I’m not necessarily going to be in it, but at the same time, there’s value to it, and you can see it.”
Pacino then confirmed he met with Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige, saying of his meeting with the producer: “I would imagine either there’s something he feels is right for me, or…” Interrupted by a phone call, Pacino quipped, “Every time we talk about Marvel, that’s what happens.”
In his interview with Esquire, Bettany makes no mention of Pacino — who famously played Satan in The Devil’s Advocate — but when asked about popular fan theories that the demonic Mephisto is the secret villain of WandaVision, Bettany said, “I can’t speak to [that theory] right now, because I’m worried about getting fired.”
Starring Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Kathryn Hahn, Teyonah Parris, Kat Dennings, and Randall Park, new episodes of Marvel’s WandaVision premiere Fridays on Disney+.
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