V For Vendetta

[modage]

so is it possible the film is anywhere near as great as AICN has hyped or are they just inflating it because of its political message?  is it really a better film than the Matrix?

[Ultrahip]

yeah, the matrix will be tough to top.

not.

[Ghostboy]

It's not an action movie (the trailer has just about every action scene in the movie in it). And while, in my opinion, the film's political message and dramatic narrative completely trump The Matrix's action and philosphical bent, it's really a matter of comparing apples and oranges.

[Ultrahip]

Or polar bears and leprechauns.

[Pubrick]

or transexuals and real women.

[MacGuffin]

New Trailer here.

[Pubrick]

reusing old sets..

[MacGuffin]

Great minds think alike:

Matrix-esque shot..

[polkablues]

reusing old sets..

Seeing as the Matrix reused old sets from Dark City, it's a step up that the Wachowski's are only ripping themselves off now.

[SHAFTR]

the poster has a very russian constructivism look (probably not on accident).

[NEON MERCURY]

i hope that this film is based off a comic book/graphic novel or something sci-fi geeky b/c if not this looks like the most stupidest thing ever....

[cron]

 

[Pubrick]

i hope that this film is based off a comic book/graphic novel or something sci-fi geeky b/c if not this looks like the most stupidest thing ever....

welcome to the thread. read it.

[polkablues]

i hope that this film is based off a comic book/graphic novel or something sci-fi geeky b/c if not this looks like the most stupidest thing ever....

You wouldn't like it.  It's about how fascism is a bad thing.

[MacGuffin]

I’ve been a lot of movie sets over the years, both big and very small. But nothing prepared me for visiting the on location shoot of V for Vendetta. A good chunk of the film shot in London, thankfully it was all done before the bombing. V for Vendetta is based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd and is set against the futuristic landscape of totalitarian Britain. The character of V [played by Hugo Weaving] ignites a revolution when he detonates explosions in two London landmarks and takes over the government-controlled airwaves, urging his fellow citizens to rise up against tyranny and oppression.

I got a chance to see the amazing climactic scene outside the Houses of Parliament. The monstrous production had hired hundreds of extras to wear V masks, others to play solders and there were even a few tanks lining the streets. I doubt there will ever be another time when a production of that scale will allowed to block off the area in front of the Houses of Parliament for a film.

I got a chance to talk with Natalie Portman the day after this exciting scene was shot. Portman plays Evey, a young woman who uncovers the truth about V's mysterious background and emerges as his unlikely ally in the culmination of his plot to bring freedom and justice back to society.

Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you go to shoot outside the Houses of Parliament last night?

Natalie Portman: I did. I went just to spectate. I'm not in those scenes but it's amazing. I don't know how they got permission for that [laughs]. But I am glad they did.

DRE: Had you read the comic book before you got involved?

Portman: I read the comic after I read the script. I found that even though it is an action movie, it makes you think a lot about violence and how we categorize violence. How we differentiate between state violence and individual violence and how we define terrorism and all of that. I think they are really relevant issues. After I read it, it just made me think so much about my own preconceived ideas about all of these topics.

DRE: So it’s not a comedy?

Portman: [Laughs] Actually there are actually comedic parts in it.

DRE: So it does lighten up a bit?

Portman: Yeah, I think you have to. When you're creating a world there's always light. You're not going to feel the heavy parts if you don't feel the light parts.

DRE: How does the movie change from the graphic novel?

Portman: I think it really keeps to the graphic novel. It keeps the integrity of the story; in fact even a lot of the dialogue is directly from the book. The really impressive thing that Larry and Andy [Wachowski] did when adapting the graphic novel into the screenplay was how they found one story. The graphic novel takes place in three parts so there are several different storylines that are wonderful, but if all of that was in a movie people would be sitting there all day.
You could make a trilogy if you wanted to. But to make it into one movie they had to consolidate and take out the character threads that were distracting.

DRE: The original graphic novel is very British; in fact it’s almost a period piece of 80’s Britain. Does the movie reflect that?

Portman: This is definitely a British piece, but I think there is something strong about it is that also speaks to America and the American political situation right now. Not to mention everywhere else in the world where there is political unrest. I think it's important that it takes place in a specific time and place. Though with the art direction, production design and direction we are keeping it very British. But we are also trying to give it the feel of a universal story that isn't specific. It couldn't only happen in England.

DRE: Many times with film adaptations, the original author might say that they don’t 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?

Portman: I have no idea. I really don't know about that. But I think all of us making this are obviously huge fans of the graphic novel and want to be as true to it as possible. I hope that it pleases Alan Moore because all of us are such fans of his. We are so inspired by what he wrote.

DRE: Have you read any of his other works?

Portman: No, I'm not a big comic, graphic novel type person. I didn't even realize so much about that whole world until this film. I never thought they actually had real stories [laughs]. I was completely ignorant about it.

DRE: Well you are a girl.

Portman: Thank you. [laughs] I don't know how girl graphic novel fans will feel about that but it was really impressive to see something that has such a serious intellectual side and was also beautifully drawn.

DRE: It is such a dark piece, will it be R rated?

Portman: I don't know but it does have adult themes. Not meaning pornography themes, not adult that way, but adult grown up themes.

DRE: The Shadow Galley is an impressive part of the graphic novel, how was it being on that set in Berlin?

Portman: The set is incredible. I'm a moron with architecture terms so I'm not even going to try describe it in detail. But it had these domed ceilings. There is classic art from modern stuff back to Rembrandts, old record players, piano, books everywhere and a chandelier. It's this amazing huge world that they made.

DRE: What about the part of Evey appealed to you?

Portman: She starts out as a passive character. She's the everyman who knows the government is pretty horrible but is going to keep her head down and go on with her life and work. She gets swept up in this by accident and then slowly learns to understand the political situation. Then she has to become active. Someone getting their political consciousness is a really exciting arc.

DRE: Did it make you examine your own political ideologies?

Portman: Definitely. Like I said before we have so many ways of categorizing violence, just look at our legal system with he difference between manslaughter and first degree murder or the difference between a hate crime and a regular crime. What are the differences between them? What is the difference between a terrorist act and the American Revolution? The definitions straddle such fine lines. Ultimately I think my revelation is that all violence is bad so it is weird to categorize it. It's arbitrary sometimes but obviously we have our good violence and bad violence. When we were doing the press for Star Wars George Lucas was talking about how bad people usually think they are doing something good and for the right reason. They don’t know that they are “bad” [laughs]. So if we can justify violence for our reasons we have to understand that other people are justifying violence for their reasons.

Also I rewatched the documentary The Weather Underground. There's an interesting part where a foreign member of The Weather Underground was talking about how in American we tend to think of state violence as the only legitimate violence and any violence other than government approved violence as criminal or insane. But our history is littered with martyrs that we've created. The people who use violence to overcome injustice.

DRE: Do you see V as a hero?

Portman: In a lot of ways he is. But the whole story is V going on a personal revenge trip that is unattractive and he's not a hero that you just go along with wholeheartedly. I think that makes it really interesting because it isn’t separating the world into good and bad which is what happens in most big action films.

DRE: James Purefoy was replaced by Hugo Weaving early in the shoot. How did you deal with that?

Portman: It was difficult because James is a wonderful guy and actor. Hugo is amazing as well. They are both just really fun people and fine actors. It's been a smooth and very calm transition. It wasn't traumatic because stuff just wasn't working. They were trying to figure it out and that happens sometimes on movies.

DRE: Hugo is wearing a mask the entire time, how was it acting opposite that?

Portman: When you have a great actor beneath the mask it's amazing how much can come through. Also part of my character is that she's also dealing with someone in the mask. My character is always wondering about what’s going on behind it.

DRE: Have you done a lot of bluescreen work on this?

Portman: No, there's virtually no bluescreen in this movie. There will be a lot of effects but I think a lot of it is going to be put in later. There's only about three or four shots of bluescreen. Not even whole scenes. There's a lot of action but they’re shooting it for real.

DRE: I spoke to Terence Stamp earlier this year. He’s 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?

Portman: You definitely get a sense of her physicality and facial expressions from the comic book. At the same time my character is probably the most changed because first I'm older than she is in the comic books. In the graphic novel she's 16 and I'm 22 in this. Also she's portrayed as a streetwalker and now she has a regular job at the television station. So I can take cues but not base it exactly because the character has been altered.

DRE: Are the reconditioning scenes as grueling as they are in the graphic novel?

Portman: It's pretty tough. It's always hard to say before you see the movie cut because I don't know how much will be left in or anything like that but what we shot was pretty rough.

DRE: Was your head shaved for the entire production?

Portman: My look for the beginning is sort of my own hair with bows [laughs]. Then I shaved my head. But because we had to shoot a few scenes that went back in time, I had a wig.

DRE: It seems like many actresses go into a genre film after being honored by the Oscars. Such as Halle Berry doing Catwoman and Charlize Theron in Aeon Flux but you were probably signed to this before your Oscar nomination.

Portman: I actually did sign on to this before the nomination but I just wanted to do something different because I get bored really easily. I need to do something that's completely new and interesting in order to stay focused. Every film I do I try to make it the opposite of the last thing I did.

DRE: Is there any truth to the rumors of a sequel to Léon?

Portman: No, I wish there was.

DRE: That would be great.

Portman: I would love to do it. I talk to [Léon director] Luc [Besson] all the time but he never has mentioned it to me. Though if he directed it I would do it in a second.

DRE: Garden State ended up doing really well. That must have been amazing for everyone involved.

Portman: I was really proud of it. It was one of the most fun things I've ever gotten to work on. [director] Zach [Braff] is so talented and it was all him. He wrote it, directed it and starred in it so it's his talent that I think people connected to so much.

DRE: The ending was pretty controversial for a while, how do you feel about that?

Portman: Why is the ending controversial? Because it's happy? [Laughs]

DRE: Pretty much.

Portman: Whatever. People would also complain if it was sad [laughs].

DRE: What’s next?

Portman: Goya's Ghosts with Milos Forman which is very exciting. Also I'm a doing a film that's called Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which is a children's film. Zach Helm, who wrote Stranger than Fiction, is directing. He’s a really wonderful writer.