Paul Bettany's ferret hate

07-10-2008 13:30

Paul Bettany hated working with a ferret for his new film 'Inkheart'.The actor was dismayed to find his character Dustfinger - a medieval fire spinner - keeps one of the rodents as a pet and it regularly runs up his body, prompting him to call director Iain Softley to alert him to his fear.Iain said: "Paul called me and said, 'You do realise I have a problem with animals don't you?' He actually phoned me again to say he couldn't juggle either." But Iain said the actor - who is married to 'Blood Diamond' actress Jennifer Connelly - was very professional about it.He added to BANG Showbiz: "It's amazing actually because they're very smelly creatures and he had to deal with three different ones."Even when we were rehearsing he had the ferret with him the whole time. He didn't like any animals, let alone ferrets."He was a master to his craft."