Paul Bettany: 'Avengers' Actor Loves Fake Guns Plus 4 Other Fun Facts

The movie teams up Bettany one more time with Stellan Skarsgaard, who plays Professor Erik Selvig in Marvel's The Avengers.

Paul Bettany and Stellan Skarsgaard have appeared in films together: Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang; Dogville and Avengers.

The actors stuck up such a close friendship that Bettany and named his son Stellan after Skarsgaard.

Marvel's The Avengers is the mother of all superhero movies, featuring Iron Man, Captain America, The Hulk and Thor, each of whom have their own superhero film.

The film, which opened Friday, is critically acclaimed, achieving a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Ninety-six percent of Rotten Tomato users say they liked the film, which grossed $200.3 million in its opening weekend.

Besides Bettany's connection to Skarsgaard, here are four other fun facts about the actor:

• Turned down the role of King George VI in 2010's The King's Speech. The role was given to Colin Firth, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his performance.
• Is married to actress Jennifer Connelly, who knows a thing or two about Oscars. She won an Academy Award for her role in 2001's A Beautiful Mind.
• Loves fake guns, hates real ones. From IMDB:

I did Legion (2009) so I could shoot a big gun and channel Jackie Chan. I wouldn't lie to you. I don't like real guns, but the fake firearms are fantastic, Bettany said. My machine gun was huge and made a lot noise, but it didn't hurt anybody. I'm usually the bad guy in movies like this, so I got a kick out of being the hero.

• Bettany had to wear a wig while playing Silas in the film adaptation of The Da Vinci Code. IMDB says Bettany needed the wig because an attempt to bleach his hair burned bleeding holes in his head.