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In 2009, Bentley got sober and began looking for work. His first stop was the New York theater community. "I went around to all the theaters and just said, 'Hey, look, I know there was a period of time when I was turning down stuff, but I really want to get up on stage,'" Bentley recalls. It was the Classic Stage Company who took a chance on the humbled actor, casting him in their 2010 production of "Venus in Fur" as a writer-director who endures a power struggle with an actor auditioning for his play, played by Nina Arianda.
Bentley has always found employment in serendipitous places. The actor got an audition for his first movie role while waiting to go into an open call for the touring company of "Rent." Recalls Bentley, "I was standing outside, waiting to go in, and a casting director stopped and gave me her card and asked me to come read for this movie. And I booked it." The film "Three Below Zero," was just a small independent, but it was enough to land Bentley an agent, who sent him out for "American Beauty."
More recently, Bentley found a stop at a gas station landed him a role. "I was pumping gas and I hear, 'Wes Bentley!' I look up and this man holds out his hand and says, 'Neil LaBute.'" Bentley recalls with a laugh. "I had just been saying to myself that I would love to do something with Neil LaBute, and there he was. He just appeared and said we should do something together sometime. I gave him my number, and a little while later, he gave me a call." And that's how Bentley found himself starring in the short film "After-School Special," written by LaBute and co-starring Sarah Paulson.
Landing the role in "The Hunger Games" proved to be a bit more traditional. Casting director Debra Zane, who cast Bentley in "American Beauty," first thought of him for Seneca, and suggested Bentley to director Gary Ross. Ross loved the idea, and Bentley didn't even have to read for the part;an unusual occurrence, he admits, that is "always surprising and wonderful." Though Seneca delights in creating a difficult battleground armed with all kinds of deadly traps, Bentley doesn't view him as much of a villain. "I feel like Seneca's only evil is in his ignorance," he notes. "He doesn't think about consequences, he just wants it to be an amazing show. In that way, he's not far from today's reality show producers."
One of Seneca's most distinguishing characteristics—aside from his sadistic joy—is the uniquely patterned beard he sports; it's popular enough to have its own Facebook page. "I always come to sets with facial hair and grow my hair out before movies so that I have options," Bentley explains. "And when I arrived, [makeup department head] Ve Neill was like, 'Great!' She took me in the makeup chair and just hacked away and shaped it for three hours into basically what you see now. And I loved it. I thought it distinguished the character so much." Though the long shoot also meant Bentley had to sport the beard for a few weeks, he says it didn't create much of a stir in public. "We shot in North Carolina, and I didn't really get much of a reaction," he says with a laugh. "I guess people there are either really composed or unimpressed. Nobody really said anything."
Bentley has a slew of projects in the works, including the upcoming biopic "Lovelace" and the indie mystery "The Time Being" opposite Frank Langella. He's determined not to make the same mistakes as before. "People were so welcoming when I came back after being away for a long time," he admits. "I think they understood it wasn't completely me; at some point, I had representatives making choices for me that were sending a different vibe than I intended. I was sending that vibe, too. I wasn't taking acting seriously. But I am not and I'm so grateful for the opportunities I've been given."
