V for Vendetta arrived in American theaters on 17 March 2006, four months after its planned 4 November 2005 date slipped. Warner Bros. Pictures had aimed the film at the eve of Guy Fawkes Night. The delay cost the release its own holiday. What remains is a 132-minute dystopian thriller directed by James McTeigue, written by the Wachowskis, and carried by Hugo Weaving behind a mask he never removes.
Trailer, via DC.
The Guy Fawkes Mask
The premise holds. Britain is a fascist state run by the Norsefire party under High Chancellor Adam Sutler, played by John Hurt. V is a masked vigilante who bombs the Old Bailey, hijacks the state broadcaster BTN, and promises a crowd outside the Houses of Parliament in one year. Natalie Portman’s Evey Hammond gets pulled in when V rescues her from the secret police.
McTeigue was making his directorial debut. He had worked as assistant director on Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones, where he first met Portman. She trained with dialect coach Barbara Berkery for the English accent and studied The Weather Underground.
Hugo Weaving Replaces James Purefoy
James Purefoy was cast as V first. He left six weeks into filming. Reports at the time blamed the mask; Purefoy later said it was creative differences over how V should be played. Weaving, who had worked with Joel Silver and the Wachowskis on The Matrix, replaced him and redubbed Purefoy’s scenes.
The switch works. Weaving’s voice does what the mask cannot, and the mask is the point.
A Cast Doing Real Work
Stephen Rea plays Chief Inspector Eric Finch, the investigator who uncovers the Larkhill Detention Facility and the virus research led by Dr. Delia Surridge. Rea said the politics were what drew him: “The politics of it are what gives it its dimension and momentum.”
Stephen Fry plays Gordon Deitrich, a closeted talk show host. Asked what he liked about the role, Fry said, “Being beaten up! I hadn’t been beaten up in a movie before.”
Release Schedule
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 4 November 2005 | Original Warner Bros. release date |
| 5 November 2005 | Guy Fawkes Night, 400th anniversary |
| 17 March 2006 | U.S. release |
What the Film Leaves Behind
The film grossed $134.7 million against a budget of $50–54 million, and reviews were mostly positive. Alan Moore, who wrote the 1988–89 DC Vertigo graphic novel with David Lloyd and Tony Weare, declined to watch it and asked not to be credited or paid. He had already been burned by From Hell and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
That refusal matters more than the box office. V for Vendetta is a sleek, well-acted film that sands down Moore’s anger into a clean thriller, and the Guy Fawkes mask it popularized now travels further than the movie ever did. The politics are stated, not felt. Rea is right that they give the film momentum, but momentum is not the same as conviction.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.
