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.

Threaded | Flat

When you're talking about 'V' I keep thinking of that TV miniseries (followed by TV regular series) about aliens (reptilians in disguise) setting up a Nazi-like regime and almost nobody realizing it despite every Nazi cliche in the book.

In the show there was always at least one 'eat a live rat' and one 'pull mask off defeated alien' scene. It also featured Freddy Krueger (actually Robert Englund) as 'Willie' the alien (siding with the resistance).

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.

... and while the abbreviated title "V" reminds some people of the TV series, it reminds me of the Thomas Pynchon novel. That, I'm sure, would be box-office death.

Hugo Weaving, I think, has enough integrity (and at this point, money) to star in a movie where his face never shows, if that's what the script calls for. Also, his voice is quite distinctive.

That being said, I'm rather worried about the movie...