If, for any reason, Hugo Weaving awakens one morning to decide he’s had quite enough of this acting business, an incredibly lucrative retirement fund touring sci-fi conventions is assured.

Having already kicked virtual arse as Agent Smith in The Matrix trilogy and glowered majestically in Lord Of The Rings, the Australian actor can now look forward to signing additional unopened action figures from V For Vendetta, the Wachowski brothers’ adaptation of Alan Moore’s classic graphic novel.
As Vendetta’s eponymous freedom fighter, Mr. Weaving cuts an improbable dash from behind a vaudevillian Guy Fawkes’ mask, delivering beautifully alliterative monologues between theatrical acts of terrorism against the fascist British government of an alternative timeline. Strange to think then, that Mr. Weaving’s involvement was a last-minute arrangement, a favour to screenwriters Larry and Andy when lead actor James Purefoy departed mid-shoot.
Many months later, sitting in Claridges’ of London, the actor sits stroking a mighty beard grown for a New York production of Ibsen’s Hedda Gabbler (opposite fellow Aussie thesp Cate Blanchett), still looking taken aback by the Wachowski’s Hail Mary call.
“There was four days between me putting down the phone and arriving on set,” he recalls. “It was a bit mad. I have never taken over from an actor before but the mask made it possible to reshoot some of the scenes. It was more difficult for James who was having a terrible time. We had worked together some few years before and he sent me a really sweet letter note wishing me better luck than he had.”
James Purefoy’s untimely exit proved a footnote in an impressive catalogue of production disasters. The Wachowski’s had intended to follow The Matrix trilogy with V For Vendetta until the less than enthused reception for Revolutions and Reloaded coupled with their reputedly outrageous lifestyle choices (today I get the breasts, tomorrow I marry the she-male) would get in the way. Entrusting James McTeigue (assistant director on the Matrix trilogy) with the script seemed like a better option, but the problems would continue.
“Remember, remember the 5 of November”, announced the promotional campaign. Or perhaps not. The scheduled release for Bonfire Night, a date marking V’s call to take the streets in the film, became untenable following the tube bombings last July. The movie will now open on March 17, just as The Matrix did.
“The political ideas and content in the film is dangerous”, admits Weaving. “But that’s what makes it interesting, certainly for me. I don’t think the film would have been distributed if it were set in the US. It speaks about America and foreign policy in a big way. Then it draws parallels with Nazi Germany. I honestly don’t know how audiences will react. You do go on a ride but the resonances are very clear.”
To date, attempts to bring Alan Moore’s milieu to the screen have courted disaster and the ire of the graphic novelist himself. The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen would prove extraordinarily bad, while the long-threatened adaptation of Watchmen has been an albatross for occasionally attached directors Terry Gilliam and Paul Greengrass. Although Moore, burned too many times before, has taken an active disinterest in the Wachowski product, the brothers have worked hard to distil the edgy, anti-Thatcher politics of the original comic into a post-9/11 Molotov.
“At the heart of film is the idea of western governments using fear as a way of pushing certain things through”, explains Mr. Weaving. “If you take a simple issue like ID cards, something the Australian government is pushing for. They believe it’s good for the country, but these things are been rushed through without debate or consensus. We live in a mad world where people are forced to take sides. People want drama and newspapers want it to sell papers. But V suggests that understanding your fears and opening debate might be a more reasonable way to go.”
For all V For Vendetta’s seductive pomp, Weaving is an unlikely character to have squillions of box-office dollar beside his name.
“It’s been purely accidental”, he tells me. “I loved doing this film because I loved being back in Berlin working with people like Stephen Rea and John Hurt and Sinead Cusack, all of whom I am in awe of. And I love working with James (McTeigue) and Larry and Andy because they’re still a small group despite the size of the projects. Most blockbusters creak under their weight and that can get in an actor’s way. There is a beauty about things when they are not perfect. That’s representing humanity as it should be presented - with imperfection. That’s why I usually prefer smaller Australian films. I’ve just finished doing Little Fish, which I loved because it was little and because it was a complex character that needed to develop.”
He laughs from behind his imperial whiskers.
“I’m glad I had more than four days to prep.”