Paul Bettany, like so many other actors, is spinning himself into a cocoon, preparing to blossom into a fully-formed ‘actor/writer/director’ triple threat. This remarkable transformation will be captured in his upcoming directorial debut, Shelter. Deadline reports that the film will star Anthony Mackie and Bettany’s real-life wife Jennifer Connelly, and is being financed and produced by BiFrost pictures.
What hasn’t been reported on, yet, is the film’s plot. One can assume that some kind of shelter will be involved, in either a literal or a figurative sense. Perhaps one of the announced leads will seek shelter with the other. Maybe from the other. Maybe from an invading force of inter-dimensional beings?
Interestingly enough, Bettany provides the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S., Tony Stark’s computerized sidekick, in all three Iron Man movies and The Avengers, Mackie will play the Falcon in the next Captain America outing, and the “Bifrost” is the bridge between Migard (Earth) and Asgard (the realm of Thor) in Thor. So if you dabble in insane conspiracy theories, feel free to consider that Shelter is actually some secret Marvel film being deployed far in advance.
Realistically, this is more likely an effort from Bettany to boost his star power. Right now, he’s still one of the many actors classified as “that guy,” someone who’s been in a number of high-profile films but never landed a role memorable enough to get him on the A-list. If Shelter can’t do it, maybe his upcoming turn in Wally Pfister’s sci-fi epic Transcendence can make him a household name.
