-Welcome back to "Late Night." We're here with Paul Bettany.
Your costar, Jeremy Pope,
an incredibly talented actor as well.
Does he get the sense you think this whole thing is a nightmare
or -- -[ Laughs ]
You know, the truth is working with Jeremy,
we've been doing this in different iterations
with the film and we did it in London.
It -- He -- It -- Working with Jeremy
is as close as you can get to flying in your dreams.
It's just, when you're tired and you don't want to do the show,
he comes on and I look at him and he's --
he's just extraordinary.
It's been a real privilege to work with him.
The kid's a genius. -That's fantastic.
Another collaboration,
you're coming up on a 20-year anniversary.
-Oh, yeah. -You and your beautiful
charming wife, Jennifer Connelly,
January 1st, I guess... -Yes.
-...is 20 years. Congratulations.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-20 years. -Wow.
-Yeah, which in Hollywood years is like --
-Hollywood years, yeah. -Like 80.
-It's very impressive.
And yet I would imagine,
due to your schedule, you really can't do much, right?
With your theater schedule? -Oh, God, that's true, yeah.
No, yeah. Yes, this is an entire disaster.
[ Laughter ] They make you work.
They make you work on, like, holidays and stuff.
-Yeah. -Like lure a first responder
or something. [ Laughter ]
The whole thing's ridiculous.
You know, it's been --
it's been 20 -- it's been 20 years.
We've -- It's been wonderful,
and we've really got to know each other.
[ Laughter ]
Now.
And -- You know, the amazing thing about it is --
How long have you been married?
-Coming up on 10.
-Okay, well -- yeah.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-I think -- I think in like three years.
[ Laughter ] -Yeah, but not --
not as good as 20. -No, no.
Of course not. -Whatever.
Anyway, the thing that's amazing about it,
being married 20 years,
is that my wife is still utterly fascinated by me.
-Oh, really? -Yeah, she finds me fascinating.
And I can tell. You know, we'll be at --
you know, having dinner or whatever,
I'll be talking about the news or my career.
Mostly my career. -Yeah.
[ Light laughter ] -Obviously.
And she is sometimes so fascinated
that she takes her food and she eats it in the other room.
[ Laughter ] Presumably to ruminate
on all the amazing things I just --
-Yeah, just like unpack everything you just told her.
-Right.
So that's -- that's what being married for 20 years feels like.
-That's really lovely.
You -- You know, obviously you have a lot of holiday tourists
that I'm assuming are in town to come see your show,
but you also had the privilege of some high schoolers
came to see your show. -Yes, yes.
I -- What a feral bunch.
[ Laughter ]
They -- They were -- Yeah.
So we did this -- So we --
Yeah, we did this show for -- for schoolkids.
And --
-So you know, this is the schoolkids day.
-Yes. -You're prepared in advance.
Okay. -Yes.
And they laugh every time you swear.
They laugh -- Then there's this moment in the show
where I have to take my shirt off.
Right? And they lost their [bleep].
[ Laughter ] I mean, just lost their [bleep].
And then what happened was Jeremy Pope
then takes his shirt off.
And I noticed they wolf whistled for him.
-So it was like funny when your shirt came off.
-Yeah, no, that's exactly the point.
Yeah, they found it hilarious when I took my shirt off.
And then it was just quiet
except for endless wolf whistles.
So this whole process
of doing this on Broadway is just humiliating.
[ Laughter ]
It's been -- frankly, it's been --
You know, I think it's been a hard year for everybody,
but mostly me. -Yeah, yeah. I think --
I think, you know, everybody's New Year's resolution
should be hoping that you have a better 2023.
-I'm sure that's already what they're thinking.
-You know what, I'm sorry, I hate to continue
with a hammer on the things that have gone wrong for you,
but Jennifer was in "Top Gun: Maverick"
which has done very well at the box office.
[ Cheers and applause ]
And it is now -- it is now the sixth highest grossing movie.
And in order to go from seventh to sixth,
it passed "Avengers: Infinity War" which you were in.
[ Laughter ] -Yes. Yes.
-Now you, by with way, you posted this and did say,
if we can come over here,
"I'm just never going to live this down in the house."
Is that -- -That's true.
-Is she really just sort of taking a victory lap on this?
-Yes, and I'm allowing her to,
because what she doesn't know, it's just a lull in hostilities.
-Right. -I have texted Kevin Feige.
He says, "I'm on it."
[ Light laughter ] -Right.
-"We're going to take back the mantle for you."
-There's more "Avengers" stuff coming.
-Oh, yeah. -All you have to do is be in it
for a little bit for it to count.
-Exactly. [ Laughter ]
Well, that's a fair point.
-Hey, thank you so much for being here.
I cannot wait to see the show.
And have a happy new year and happy anniversary.
Always a pleasure.
[ Cheers and applause ] Paul Bettany, everybody.
"The Collaboration" opens December 20th
at Manhattan Theatre Club, Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
For more information, go to manhattantheatreclub.com.
We'll be right back with Lily Collins.