Check out the official site for V for Vendetta
Daniel Robert Epstein: What were the challenges of wearing a mask for the entire film?
Hugo Weaving: Well funnily enough V impersonates a couple of other characters in the story so the first three days shooting I was not in the mask, which was actually a good introduction to everyone on set. Playing V playing another character was a good way into it. The V mask has a completely fixed expression which you can change by certain angles of the head, movement and lighting. It's not just an actors challenge. It is also a challenge that is faced by the art department who created the mask, the director, and the choices how he's going to shoot the mask. So it's a collaborative challenge. The main challenge to me is that he is very fixed but yet he talks a lot. In the books you can see his words but you're not looking at his face. Then you flash back to his face and you're on to the next scene.
DRE: V also doesnt have a name or even much of a backstory. How does one build him as a character?
HW: It is a challenge, particularly if you ask me to do something within a few days and then you fly halfway around the world and jump into the skin of the character. There's just no time to think about that. So I decided very early on that it was a technical exercise and I wasn't going to be emotionally engaged with the problems of the mask at all. I was just going to try to solve them and help to make that mask work. V is a human being but you never find out who he is and the writers of the piece have never really expressed exactly who he is so I certainly can't go there either.
DRE: But you must have thought about who he is.
HW: Yes, V has a very strong sense of purpose and very strong direction but he's a tortured character as well. So that's his human side. If you are looking for a real human being underneath the mask, this is someone who's been mentally and physically abused by the state. He's seeking to take some personal revenge against those people who've abused him. Then there is the heroic side of him if you like, the liberator. There's both an avenging angel and a liberating hunt for an idea. If you push that idea strong enough maybe things can change. To me he is a human being underneath the mask, but you never see his face. You don't ever find out exactly who he is and that's important too. So he's both those, he's the idea and yet he needs to remain a human being.
DRE: How much did you work on Vs voice?
HW: What we've had to do is vocally capture my voice behind the mask on the day of shooting but that sounds muffled. So the whole performance will and has been starting to flourish with looping the voice and recreating that performance that we tried to get on the day. That means that even after the film is cut there are certain things we can inject or change.
DRE: Do you see a thematic link between V for Vendetta and The Matrix?
HW: [laughs] I hadn't thought about it to be honest. But since Larry and Andy [Wachowski] have written both there are certain things in each having to do with individual responsibility and state control. Both pieces have a large controlling body and imprisoned individuals.
DRE: Would you have come to this project so last minute if you hadnt worked with the Wachowski brothers before?
HW: I think so, yeah. But the fact that they were making it made it much easier and the fact that I knew Owen Paterson the production designer and I knew the stunt guys made it very easy. But if someone else who I didn't know had rung me up and said How quickly can you get to Berlin and there's script arriving at your door in ten minutes. Will you read it and give me answer tomorrow? I would have said yes.
DRE: Is that how it happened?
HW: Yes I think I was here within six days. I read it and had to get my passport up to date and then I was here. Then I had about four days before I started. So that was good to get to know what was going on and get my costume fitted.
DRE: I spoke to Terence Stamp earlier this year. Hes played two characters from comic books, in Superman 2 and Elektra. He told me that with both characters he was really interested in literally trying to translate the character from the comics. To try to find out the way the character would move between the panels. Did the comic influence you in that way at all?
HW: No, I didnt have the time. In the book V has a great stillness about him. Yes, he moves and you see him flitting across the rooftops and things but he has a great stillness. The thing about making this mask work that's hard is that I had to trust my intuition about any physical movements whether they were head movements or body movements. I haven't really had time to think or plan or get into the skin of the character. I had to move around based on my limited knowledge of what the story was about at the time. I said to them straight away Look, I'm here. I'm going to help; I'm going to try to make it work. But if it ain't working just tell me and we'll change it.
DRE: When did you feel that you nailed it?
HW: They seemed quite pleased the first day when they were seeing elements which were working well. No one was pulling their hair out. [director] James [McTeigue] wasn't shaking his head. I was getting positive feedback, so that was good.
DRE: Natalie [Portman] mentioned there were some light moments as well.
HW: For me the fact that it is such a challenge is fun for me. Not having any time to think about something beforehand is also quite liberating. Often we get chained down by our thoughts and then those can become fears. Sometimes you jump in and don't think it. It's much more exciting and much more fun. Thats how I've been working on this.
DRE: After The Matrix trilogy and The Lord of the Rings trilogy, this is your first lead role but we dont get to see your face.
HW: Thats quite cool. [laughs] I like it that way.
DRE: Did you have a chance to read the graphic novel before starting?
HW: No I didn't. I got to Berlin and Owen Patterson gave me a copy of it. Then I read it fairly intensely. Once I realized how different the film was from the graphic novel structurally, I decided that if there were questions which were not answered for me in particular scenes I would then go back and refer to scenes from the graphic novel. I did that on two or three occasions. It was really interesting to read certain scenes and find what might be of use to me.
DRE: What scenes are you referring to?
DRE: How was working in The Shadow Gallery set?
HW: It's a beautiful set. I became quite excited about it. It was the first few days I was there and when we wandered onto The Shadow Gallery set we were talking about the first scene I was going to shoot in the mask. It was the scene after the interrogation, which is one of the longest scenes in the film.
DRE: Vs quest for freedom and revenge seems to take the form of artistic expression. V has all the movies and the books.
HW: Actually he's maintaining them and keeping them. He's a guardian of all those things. There are a number of characters such as the one Stephen Fry plays [Gordon Deitrich] who also has his own illegal horde of Korans and things which the state no longer allows people to keep. So in one way he's amassed all these treasures in order to maintain them and keep them there. So that's one side of his character. The other one is certainly the avenging, vengeful, dark angel who wants to do the people in who've tortured him. There are feelings that he has that are overpowering. Then another aspect is one that is prodding people to think about and take responsibility for themselves rather than letting the state run their lives. He's complex and mad.
DRE: Many times with film adaptations, the original author might say that they dont like the film. But with V for Vendetta the writer of the graphic novel, Alan Moore, has chosen to take his name off this film and has said that if he could stop the production he would. How does that make you feel?
HW: Personally I don't really think about it a great deal. I don't know what he's unhappy about, but it's neither here nor there really. My take on it is that Larry and Andy are both great graphic novel buffs. They are also great cutting edge filmmakers, so if anyone's going to take a novel like this and put it onto the screen, they are probably the best people to do it because I think they understand both mediums very well.
DRE: Do you see V as a hero?
HW: He is. Guy Fawkes was a big hero of mine anyway. Funny enough Larry [Wachowski] and I both read The Gunpowder Plot when we were doing The Matrix. I don't know if he was reading it with this in mind, but I was reading it because I'm a history freak so we talked about that a lot. I'm not big on heroes. I'm more interested in the fact that hes not just a hero. I think the whole Gunpowder Plot is extraordinary and should be put on film.
DRE: Do you see yourself going back to doing smaller films?
HW: The size of a film has never been important to me. If the script is interesting and I like the director that's what keys me into it. But to be perfectly honest I have tended to choose the smaller films. That's because they usually have more interesting scripts. I guess I tend to go back to Sydney and work in smaller budgeted Australian films. That's where I'll always love to work more often than not. For me these big films are anomalies, but I love doing them.
DRE: Are you a fan of comic books?
HW: A little bit. But I wouldn't say I am a huge fan but I have picked up the odd comic and graphic novel. I just bought one called Monkey and Spoon for my kids yesterday. Another one I got is called Hadrian's Wall which is about a couple of soldiers on a wall having a conversation.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Yes, he moves and you see him flitting across the rooftops and things but he has a great stillness.
That's a very good way to put it. Good insight, Mr. Weaving.
As paranoid as I am that movie's going to be screwed up, little things like this give me hope.