How did you find Paul Bettany, the British actor, for A Beautiful Mind?
He was in a film called ‘Gangster No. 1’ and also in a film that hadn’t come out yet called ‘A Knights Tale’. When I was casting for that part I had seen a lot of actors but hadn’t found anyone who I felt could match Russell Crowe. I needed someone with a really stinging acerbic wit and an intelligence so that you believed he was at Princeton. I must say that sadly the majority of American actors I was auditioning were falling short in those departments. Originally we wanted an American accent, but then decided that it didn’t make a difference if a different accent was used. Anyway, I happened to be telling his agent that I couldn’t find anyone for this part, and she said, ‘… well you really need Paul’. I didn’t know who Paul was so I asked if she could send over some tape and she said ‘…no, I can’t…you’ll never hire him from this,it’s totally wrong, but he’s done something that’s being edited. Would you go over to Sony to see it on the editing table?’ So I went over to Sony and
