James Spader and Paul Bettany Avengers: Age of Ultron Interviews For The Avengers, their eyes and ears all become fixated on Ultron when he crashes their soiree at Avengers Tower. While the character at first is a heap of scrap metal and throwaway parts, the filmmakers needed a dynamic actor who could infuse the robotic villain with a freshness that hasn’t been seen before on the big screen. Casting was much easier then expected, as the filmmakers didn’t have to search long for their man. “James Spader is incredible actor and when ‘Avengers: Age of Ultron’ was coming around and Joss began to put together the character, he said to us, ‘It has to be James Spader,’” says Kevin Feige. “It was another casting moment where we went ‘yes!’ There was nobody else on the list. He’s so unique and has such an amazing voice that is full of humor, darkness and emotion. In the comics Ultron he is a very unique robotic character, but it’s a scary thing. There have been lots of franchises based on robots, so we did not want him to be a normal robot. We wanted Ultron to be borderline insane and full of raw emotional nerve, which you don’t expect out of a synthetic life form.” The producer continues, “That’s what makes Ultron interesting and over the course of the film James Spader brings various bodies of technological scrap metal to life in a very unique style. It’s exactly what we wanted and then some. You have this metallic face and geared robotic eyes saying these voices he has created.” For Spader, becoming part of the Marvel Universe was something that hit close to home. “I had at the time a 19-year-old son who had always loved comic book films and comic books, and throughout my career I have never made a film that any of my kids have been able to see until they were considerably older. At that time I also had a little 3-year-old-son coming along too, and he was already interested in fantasy, so I thought I could finally do something for my boys.” Another new character on The Avengers team is The Vision, played by Paul Bettany who previously had voiced Jarvis in the “Iron Man” films. “I think another great full circle moment in this film is Paul Bettany coming in as Vision,” informs Robert Downey Jr. “Paul’s been essentially with me from the beginning and it was so nice to actually get him on set instead of at the premieres. He’s an amazing actor and it’s a fantastic character.” The Vision is a key Avenger in the comic books and is a very unique character,” says Kevin Feige. “He’s an artificial life form, but he’s as pure and innocent as any of the characters. He has such a different look and Paul Bettany, who has played Jarvis for so many years, gets to step out from behind the sound booth and put on an outfit and become a true Avenger in the guise of Vision. His look is spectacular and his powers are spectacular and he really represented a new power base for the team.” Commenting on his character, Bettany says, “What’s lovely about what Joss has done is there’s a sort of omnipotent yet totally naïve creature who’s born as an adult and is super smart and yet he still has the childlike features of discovering himself and falling in love with the world around him, enjoying human beings and sort of experiencing everything fresh.”

• published: 23 Apr 2015
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