Chris Gardner for The Hollywood Reporter, 17th March 2002
Bettany sails under Weir in 'Master' movie

Paul Bettany has landed the second lead role in the Peter Weir-directed "Master and Commander" (aka "The Far Side of the World"). The 20th Century Fox production, with investments from Universal/Miramax, is set to start shooting June 17 at Fox Studios Baja in Mexico.

The project reteams Bettany with his "A Beautiful Mind" co-star Russell Crowe, who is toplining the $120 million-budgeted project based on Patrick O'Brian's series of action-adventure novels set at sea.

In "Commander," Bettany will star as the ship's surgeon Stephen Maturin, a close friend of Navy Capt. Jack Aubrey (Crowe). Maturin, also an intelligence agent, is the first naturalist, a la Charles Darwin, to see the richness and strangeness of life on the far side of the world, as the two sail the high seas against the backdrop of the Napoleonic wars.

Samuel Goldwyn is producing while TCF topper Hutch Parker oversees the project for the studio along with senior vp production Michael Andreen. Weir adapted O'Brian's novel for the screen.