Paul Bettany, a British actor whose work I really like, seems to have chosen a fascinating trajectory for his career. Intermixed with his more mainstream roles, he keeps coming back to a very particular one:
He is, in many appearances, the best friend and intellectual confidente of the main character. This is, of course, an honored tradition, going back to Nigel Bruce, Burt Ward, Vivian Vance and Donald O’Connor.
But sometimes Bettany’s character has a particular twist.
In “A Beautiful Mind”, his character was never seen by anyone other than the main character, John Nash.
By the Iron Man films, he had completely disappeared from sight, appearing only as a voice. Even Tony Stark himself — the many responsible for his very existence — cannot see Jarvis.
This progressive invisibility of signature roles is so striking that I need to ask: Is this all really a coincidence?
In any case, it could be argued that these roles have increased his visibility.