Discuss the new Natalie Portman movie.

Portman Mulls V Politics
Natalie Portman-who stars in the upcoming V for Vendetta as Evey, a young woman who ultimately joins forces with a terrorist named V (Hugo Weaving)-told SCI FI Wire that she prefers not to think of the film as either pure fiction or a reflection of real-life events. The film is based on the Alan Moore-David Lloyd graphic novel that was published nearly 25 years ago.
"I think the luck of having it take place in an imaginary future is that it sort of respects the audience to make their own connections to real historical and current events," Portman said in an interview. "And so people see so many different things in it. [Producer] Joel [Silver] tells this story about this South Korean reporter who was convinced it was about North Korea and was like, 'Is this movie going to be shown in North Korea?' So you see how people, what context they come from, they bring to the story."
Asked if making V for Vendetta at all changed her own political opinions, Portman added: "I don't know about political [thinking], but my thinking about violence had definitely deepened, I guess. I don't know. There are questions that don't have answers, but that you can get more complicated understandings of, I guess."
In any case, Portman said that she wasn't bothered by one element of the movie: Having to shave off her hair on camera. The scene is a pivotal moment for her character, who is imprisoned, sheared and tortured in the process of becoming the ally of V.
"Well, I was very focused on being where the character is at that moment, which is in a very traumatic place with this violence being committed against her," she said. "We only had one shot to do it. You can't go back and re-shave the head."
Director James McTeigue had several cameras in place for the scene, and the unit rehearsed the sequence several times without her so that it would go smoothly once she sat down in front of the camera, Portman said. "They rehearsed the head-shaving with volunteer guys from the crew," said the actress, whose hair has only now begun to grow back, but is still short and spiky. "But for me personally it was a choice I was happy to make. Obviously, at the moment, I was in the character's position." V for Vendetta opens March 17.

Silver Updates SF&F Projects
Producer Joel Silver (V for Vendetta) told SCI FI Wire that his production company, Silver Pictures, has several high-profile genre films in various stages of development.
"The next one up is The Reaping, with Hilary Swank and directed by Stephen Hopkins, which is kind of a supernatural thriller," Silver said in an interview. Silver previously tapped Hopkins to direct Predator 2 and several episodes of TV's Tales From the Crypt. "And that will be out in the summer."
Silver's SF movie The Visiting will debut either in the fall or early next year, he added. "That's with Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, and it's directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel [a German making his English-language debut]," he said.
As for the eagerly awaited Logan's Run and Wonder Woman, both of which are Silver Pictures productions? Silver reported that they're moving forward, albeit slowly. "Those pictures are very active," he said. "Logan's, we're trying to put that together now. [That] will hopefully go in the fall, with [Superman Returns helmer] Bryan Singer directing it. And [Serenity director] Joss Whedon is writing [Wonder Woman]. Hopefully, we'll have a script very soon on Wonder Woman. I want to make that, too." V for Vendetta opens March 17.

Silver Takes Vendetta Risk
Mega-producer Joel Silver told SCI FI Wire that he considers his latest film, the sure-to-be-controversial V for Vendetta, to be no more or less a commercial risk than any of his earlier efforts. Silver has produced such hits as Predator, the Matrix trilogy and the Lethal Weapon series, as well as box-office duds like the recent House of Wax remake. "Well, I think movies are risks," Silver said in an interview. "There's no such thing as a movie that isn't a risk."

V for Vendetta, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, follows the disfigured and masked terrorist V (Hugo Weaving) as he fights a corrupt and fascistic government. V enlists a young woman (Natalie Portman) as his ally.
"Look, I've made a lot of stupid action films in my life, which, by the way, I'm proud of," Silver said. "I like stupid action movies. But when we made The Matrix, we felt that the audience really responded to that very thing: that it wasn't a sure-fire commercial movie. It was complex. It was difficult to follow. It was hard to understand. It was full of cool action sequences and groundbreaking action sequences in many ways, but it was a very smart movie. We realized people wanted to see them. At least in that case they were intrigued by the idea of this smart action film, which is like a contradiction in terms, pretty much."
Silver said the same may apply to V for Vendetta. "I was always looking for movies that were action films masquerading as something else," he said. "I was always trying to find material that could be provocative and interesting, but could still have action elements that would kind of give it that, you know, action patina, but still have something there. Now, this movie doesn't have the kind of action elements we're used to. I mean, there are a couple of great knife fights, and there's a cool explosion here and there. But it's much more, you know, a dialogue-laced movie. It's a lot of talk and a lot discussion. I just thought it would work. I hoped it would work. I hoped people would like it and go see it." V for Vendetta opens nationwide on March 17.

V For Vendetta Link: http://www.scifi.com/scifiwire/index.php?c...8&id=543&type=8

Lloyd Praises V Film
David Lloyd, who with Alan Moore wrote the graphic novel V for Vendetta, admitted to SCI FI Wire that he was concerned about how the upcoming film version might turn out after receiving the script from co-writers and co-producers Larry and Andy Wachowski. "When I was first sent the script I was kind of disappointed that it wasn't more faithful to the original," Lloyd said. "But the changes they made were quite valid, and I think they kept the core of it completely."
Lloyd, a veteran illustrator, added: "They kept the spirit of it and the integrity of it, all the key scenes and key instances that happened in it. So I think they did a fantastic job."
Set in London of the near future, V for Vendetta, like the graphic novel before it, follows the disfigured and masked V (Hugo Weaving) as he seeks to awaken the country to the fact that their government is corrupt and manipulating the people to accept the need for a fascistic state. V, who resorts to violence to make his point, soon meets a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman), who becomes his ally.
"For me, it was absolutely extraordinary to see it in November," Lloyd said, referring to an early screening of the finished film. (Nov. 5 is a key date in the film, a reference to the 17th-century gunpowder conspiracy in England.)
Lloyd added: "There's one scene that's really amazing and really brought home to me the fact that it was something I had actually done and drawn that was brought to life." Lloyd refers to a key scene that culminates with the two main characters on a roof in the rain.
"When I drew that, I wanted to get it as realistic and believable as possible," Lloyd said. "And seeing it come to life is just like seeing a painting you drew come to life. It's absolutely great. And I saw that throughout the whole film. As it was rolling, seeing the first Shadow Gallery scene, it was just incredible to see stuff like that. I think the changes they made, because they had a shortage of space, they couldn't have possibly put everything in that was in the graphic novel, so they had to abbreviate things and use symbolism more. To me, what it has become [is] like a political cartoon, like the sort of thing you see in a newspaper, where broad sweeps have been made, broad brush strokes on the canvas to represent thoughts and feelings and actions and ideas. I think cinematically it's a terrific transition." V for Vendetta opens nationwide on March 17.

McTeigue Talks V Actor Switch
James McTeigue, director of the upcoming film V for Vendetta, told SCI FI Wire that he'd been shooting for about a month when James Purefoy, who was playing the terrorist V, exited the project. The film's makers-among them McTeigue, writer-producers Andy and Larry Wachowski and producer Joel Silver-turned to Hugo Weaving, with whom they'd worked on the Matrix trilogy.
"We'd been shooting for about three weeks, but like with every film, James wasn't in every scene and wasn't on [set] every day," McTeigue said in an interview. "So there wasn't that much of James there [in the final cut]. I can probably answer the question about why James left. He wasn't comfortable in the mask. It was hard for him to make peace with the mask."
Set in London of the near future, V for Vendetta follows the disfigured and masked V (Weaving) as he seeks to awaken the country to the fact that the government is corrupt and manipulating the people to accept the need for a fascistic state. V, who resorts to violence to make his point, soon meets a young woman named Evey (Natalie Portman), who becomes his ally. The film is based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
McTeigue, who makes his directing debut on V for Vendetta after working with the Wachowskis on the Matrix films as an assistant director, said that Weaving took little time to find his comfort zone while wearing V's mask. "Hugo came in, and he'd done mask work before," McTeigue said. "He really made peace with the mask or knew what was capable in the mask. I think it was a really intelligent, fearless decision that he made just to trust it. I said, 'Trust the mask. Trust me to tell you if you're going to do anything stupid. I won't make you look stupid.'"
The director added: "It took him, like, a day. He'd come over to the monitor, watch and go, 'Oh, if I did that, that'll look better.' I'd say, 'Yeah, maybe fade back into the light there a little bit.' He's such a complete actor that he knows all those mechanics of a film set anyway, like where to be in the frame. So he just got into the role really quickly." V for Vendetta opens nationwide on March 17.

I saw this. It was a pretty darn good adaption.

Not perfect but good.

The Benny Hill scene was worth the price of admission in of itself!

'V' For Victory: 'Vendetta' Takes Box-Office #1 With $26.1 Million
Controversial action film outruns 'Failure to Launch' by over $10 million.
by Alyssa Rashbaum
Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving in "V for Vendetta" (Warner Bros.)
Natalie Portman and the creators of "The Matrix" won a battle at the box office this weekend with "V for Vendetta."
The action/adventure film bowed at the top of the box-office ranks, earning more than $26.1 million, according to early estimates. Set in a futuristic Britain run by a totalitarian regime, "V For Vendetta" features Portman as Evey, a woman saved by a masked vigilante who goes by the name of V. As Evey grows to understand V's plot against the government, she joins his revolution.
With "V" making a statement at #1 this week, last week's big winner, "Failure to Launch," dropped to #2. Starring Matthew McConaughey as a man in his 30s who sees nothing wrong with living with his parents and Sarah Jessica Parker as the woman who makes it her mission to prove him wrong, the film earned more than $15.8 million (see " 'Failure To Launch' Addresses National Epidemic: 'Adultescents' ").
http://www.vh1.com/movies/news/articles/15...equestid=310289

Vendetta for 'V'? The Picture May Have A Problem - But Which One? By Kurt Loder
Also: The man who sold death, and the killer by the Bay.
Hugo Weaving in "V for Vendetta" (Warner Bros.)
Having dealt with "V for Vendetta" a couple months back, after seeing an early screening (see "This Movie Will Kick Your Ass"), I don't think there's any need to rehash - it's a cool movie; by all means go see it.
Afterward, though, check out some of the oddly grumpy reviews that have been popping up prior to its release. In The New Yorker, David Denby called the film "a dunderheaded pop fantasia that celebrates terrorism and destruction." Time writer Lev Grossman asked, "Who thought this was a good idea?" You might think this movie was the match that would finally send this tinderbox world up in flames.
Does the protagonist of "V for Vendetta" qualify as a terrorist because he kills evil people and blows up symbolic buildings? It's a cliché to say that one person's terrorist is another person's freedom fighter, and it's not always true. Were the saboteurs of the French Resistance during the Nazi occupation of their country in World War II terrorists? Are actual terrorists not killers who make no distinction between their enemy and innocent civilians? I don't think V - who is striking back against the murderers who not only have enslaved his country, but who once maimed him - qualifies as a terrorist in that way. In comparison with the actual terrorists we know so well today - people who videotape their most hideous crimes for posting on the Internet - V, although clearly a troubled guy, seems relatively noble.
The movie does have a problem, though, and I think Alan Moore, the author of the "V for Vendetta" comics, nails it in a recent MTV.com interview. In adapting his story, which was written back in the 1980s, the Wachowski Brothers have awkwardly imposed upon it a very contemporary, Hollywood-style anti-Bush agenda. There's nothing wrong with doing this, of course - millions may cheer. But the attempted visual link at one point between the Bush and the Nazi eras, and the Red State-baiting observation (not present in Moore's original story) that the dictator Sutler started out as a devoutly religious conservative, are strained and ungainly. As Moore suggests in his interview, if the Wachowskis had had the courage of their convictions, they would have relocated the story to this country and mounted a full-frontal assault on their target. That would have been honest, at least.
The movie probably wouldn't have been so cool, though.
http://www.vh1.com/movies/news/articles/15...equestid=296964

V FOR VENDETTA ARTICLE: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/interviews/sfw12314.html

V For Vendetta Review: http://www.scifi.com/sfw/screen/sfw12385.html

Hundreds of fans turned out March 16 for early IMAX showings of V for Vendetta in New York and were given Guy Fawkes masks like the one worn by Hugo Weaving in the film; the movie opened on IMAX and in conventional theaters on March 17.

Natalie Portman pics:

http://boloround.wordpress.com/2006/12/19/natalie-portman/

Very cool, dude.