Paul Bettany hasn’t watched his breakthrough film “A Knight’s Tale” since it released in 2001 — and the reason why will tug at your heartstrings.
When asked by a fan at L.A. Comic Con about the medieval action comedy, Bettany — who played poet Geoffrey Chaucer opposite Heath Ledger‘s squire-turned-knight William Thatcher — admitted he hasn’t watched it in over two decades.
“I saw [the film] when it first came out. I’ve never seen it again since,” Bettany said (via Entertainment Weekly). “There are lots of reasons for that, and just one of them is that I miss Heath too much.”
Ledger, who was also known for his roles in “10 Things I Hate About You” (1999), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008), died in January 2008 at 28 years old. His death was ruled an accidental overdose from prescription medicine.
“It was a really long time ago. It was like another lifetime ago,” Bettany said of “A Knight’s Tale.” “And people do come up sometimes, people come up to me on the street and quote things at me, and I literally can’t remember. I can’t remember any of it.”
After films like “A Knight’s Tale,” “Gangster No. 1” and “A Beautiful Mind” launched his career in Hollywood in the early 2000s, Bettany went on to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe as J.A.R.V.I.S. and Vision. He was at L.A. Comic Con on a panel alongside his “WandaVision” co-star Elizabeth Olsen.
In a 2021 interview with Vulture, Bettany spoke more about his experience working with Ledger on “A Knight’s Tale.”
“I can tell you that he just had a light that shined off him. He was a movie star, you know?” Bettany told Vulture. “Just immediately, you met him, and he shone, as you lot say, and it was very hard not to fall in love with him — I think for anybody. He was a very playful, joyous spirit.”