prog | (no subject)

So I'm reading the Wikipedia article about the movie. OK, so that's Natalie Portman... fine. She's a few years too old for the role if you want to be wankily true to the source material, but let's not.

But, Hugo Weaving? He is a name-brand actor. This implies exactly one of two things, neither of which is easy to swallow:

a) He takes off his mask at one or more points, so we can say "aha it is famous supporting actor Hugo Weaving" and actually see him act. This would totally blow away one of the major (if quiet) surprises of the book... the fact that V is never unmasked (not literally, anyway), even though any reasonable reader is aching to see what's under there after 200 pages of it.

b) He doesn't take off his mask, meaning that well-known actor Hugo Weaving spends the entire length of the movie -- the movie that he is starring in -- completely unrecognizable, to say nothing of being burdened with the challenge of acting without the ability to emote through any part of his face. OK, it's not like he's Tom Cruise or Arnie or something, but this is unimaginable, to me. We'd just have to take their word for it that it's Weaving under there. It would be very strange.

Now, here's the kicker: if (a) is the way of things, then I'd expect to see Weaving's face in the trailer, because: look, an actor you recognize and like! Come see our movie! Except that we actually don't see his face at all. Unless I missed it; I don't think that I did.

So... buh.

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There is more to acting than facial expressions. And I know at least one person who can watch an animated movie and tick off the voices as she hears them.

I've no doubt that a good actor can pull off the role convincingly with his face never shown, sure. But I expect "Hollywood actors" to have enormous egos which would never allow them to be in a major motion picture without their beautiful face adorning the marquee.

If (b) is the case, I will have reason to personally admire Weaving for busting this professional stereotype.