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In his first foray into American television, British actor Paul Bettany is in negotiations to star in the Showtime drama pilot Masters of Sex. The project, from Sony Pictures TV, is an adaptation of Thomas Maier’s book Masters of Sex: The Life and Times of William Masters and Virginia Johnson, the Couple Who Taught America How to Love. It chronicles the lives, romance and pop culture trajectory of 1960s human sexuality pioneers Masters (Bettany) and Johnson whose research touched off the sexual revolution. Michelle Ashford wrote the script and is executive producing with Timberman/Beverly Prods’ Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly and Sony TV-based Judith Verno, as well as John Madden, who is set to direct. Maier and Pettany’s manager Melanie Greene serve as producers. UTA-repped Bettany, who has co-starred in such movies as A Beautiful Mind, Master And Commander and The Da Vinci Code, currently stars in Margin Call and will next be seen in The Avengers.
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First Darwin and now William Masters. Paul Bettany will not have many Republican conservatives as fans. That’s okay, they have the new Left Behind movie to get excited about.
So this is not an anthology in the similar vein as Masters of Horror (which has aired on Showtime) or Masters of Science Fiction?
But then that would probably be treading on Red Shoe Diary territory.
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Coat
Love Paul. Incredibly underrated actor. This sounds really intriguing.
He’s a charming, charismatic dude. He should be in more stuff.
Hate to be a hater but this sounds like the least “relatable” show to today’s 18-35 year old. How much air time can you get out of a culture that would advertise bras worn over clothing? Who cares anymore?
And yet a similar film “Kinsey” managed to make sex as exciting as watching paint dry.
Great choice by Showtime. Paul Bettany adds gravitas, not to mention humor and sex appeal, to every project he’s involved in.
Bettany? Yes. The project? Meh.
I just love that we live in an age where movie actors who can’t find all the excitement they seek from their work in movies can turn to TV and have that not be considered a downgrade. Cable really changed that for the better. It’s a great trend.
It won’t happen to him I think, but if you notice, many film stars who have gone to cable end up in TV commercials…
Paul Bettany looks like a “master of sex”. Nicely done.
Love Paul.. a real class actor and wit who can, with the right material, hit it out of the park. I hope this project is better than some of his recent films.
I don’t think Showtime worries all that much about appealing to the youngest crowd. They don’t air ads… It’s pay TV, my dear “Who Asked You Anyway”, and not many 18 year olds pay the cable bills.
Is this character a vampire-executing clergy member? If not, why not?
Well put, Mimi. I hope they do this as well as “Kinsey”, another under-rated film, and have more success with it than Kinsey had.
Oh Betts, show-business is cruel, isn’t it? One minute you are working with top directors (Peter Weir, Lars von Trier) and international stars (Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Tom Hanks), and the next you are headlining a television series. Betts’ story is actually a cautionary tale for all young actors in the film industry: charm and talent mean little if you make bad choices (Firewall, Wimbledon, The Da Vinci Code). Betts made a series of films that did not show his talent, and instead pidgenholed him into clumsy and two-dimensional roles. I know that television is now much better than it used to be, but Bettany could have been Oscar-nominated by now if he played his cards better and continued to work with strong filmmakers rather than taking the easy money.