V for Vendetta
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
V for Vendetta (2006)
Production
Budget
$54 000 000
Revenue
$134 686 457
Director
Scenario
Composer
Producer
Actors
Natalie Portman
Evey
Hugo Weaving
V / William Rookwood
Stephen Rea
Finch
Stephen Fry
Deitrich
John Hurt
Adam Sutler
Tim Pigott-Smith
Creedy
Rupert Graves
Dominic
Roger Allam
Lewis Prothero
Short description
V for Vendetta is set in a Britain ruled by a totalitarian regime headed by the chancellor Adam Sutler. After a night-time curfew, a young television assistant named Evey is rescued from secret police officers by a masked man calling himself V. He wears the face of Guy Fawkes and wages a guerrilla campaign against the government, and as Evey learns who he is and what drove him, she is drawn into his plan to rouse the public against the tyranny that has taken away their freedom.
The film was released in 2006 and marked the directorial debut of James McTeigue, who went on to direct Ninja Assassin, The Raven, Survivor and Breaking In. Lilly and Lana Wachowski wrote the screenplay, Joel Silver, Lorne Orleans and Grant Hill produced, and the large credited cast of ninety is led by Natalie Portman as Evey, Hugo Weaving as V, Stephen Rea as Finch, Stephen Fry as Deitrich, John Hurt as Sutler and Tim Pigott-Smith as Creedy. It was a co-production between Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States and cost 54 million dollars, earning 133 million dollars worldwide, a healthy return.
Audiences rate the film highly, with 8.1 out of 10 on IMDb from around 1.2 million votes and 7.9 out of 10 on TMDB from more than 15,000 votes. A critics' rating of 7.3 out of 10 from 255 reviews places it somewhat below those audience scores while still positive.
What's left behind the scenes
- In the scene where V “conducts the orchestra,” and in the final scene, the finale of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Solemn Overture “1812” sounds from street loudspeakers.
- The phrase about God playing dice with the universe is an allusion to Einstein's objections to quantum theory, where he said: "God does not play dice."
- The masks worn by the soldiers around the Parliament building are paintball masks from the company JT.
- To develop a British accent, Natalie Portman worked with dialect coach Barbara Berkeley, who had also worked with Gwyneth Paltrow.
- The film crew was permitted to shoot near the British Parliament and Big Ben only from midnight to 4:30 AM. Furthermore, they were allowed to stop traffic for no more than four minutes at a time.
- Scenes, actions within which take place on an abandoned subway line, were filmed in Aldwych, a small section of the Piccadilly line that was closed in 1994.
- When Evey rises from under the table during V's television appearance, a copy of "Watchmen" can be seen. This comic was also written by Alan Moore.
- The documentary footage of a demonstration being dispersed, shown in the story of Evey's childhood, alludes to the 1990 London riots over the introduction of an unpopular tax – a poll tax.
- The film was originally scheduled to premiere on November 5, 2005, but was subsequently postponed. Furthermore, the very first slogan of the film, written in verse, had to be changed: "Remember, remember the 5th of November."
- The emblem of the British totalitarian party is an ancient heraldic symbol. This symbol was the official emblem of the Free French Forces of General de Gaulle in 1940-1944.
- In the episode where Inspector Finch tells his assistant about his premonition of the future, the murder of a girl in glasses by a security guard is shown. During the shooting, a fountain of blood spurts from the victim's chest, but when the camera angle changes, it is clearly visible that there is neither a bullet hole nor a blood stain on her shirt.
- The film is based on the graphic novel “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, which was published from 1982 to 1989.
- Scarlett Johansson and Bryce Dallas Howard were considered for the role of Eve.
- The variety of roses grown by V was chosen deliberately. In English, this variety is called Violet Carson.
- James Purefoy was originally slated to play V, but he left the project during filming. Hugo Weaving took his place.
- The surname of the deceased assistant of Creedy is Rookwood. The exact same surname belonged to an assistant of Guy Fawkes in 1605.
- Approximately 22,000 dominoes were used in the domino scene. It took 200 hours to build a giant 'V' out of the dominoes.
- The film contains numerous allusions and references to the Latin letter “V” and the Roman numeral five (V): During V’s opening monologue, he speaks 5 sentences that begin with the letter “V,” and his monologue also contains 49 words starting with “V.” V’s camera in Larkhill is marked with the Roman numeral five (V). On the mirror in V’s house is written “Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.” This is a quote from “Faust” – “Through strength of truth, I, living, have conquered the Universe.” When V intends to dance with Evey, he chooses song number 5 on the jukebox. If you look closely at the jukebox in V’s house, all the songs are numbered 5. During the scene between V and Creedy in the greenhouse, Beethoven’s “Fifth Symphony” is playing. The film’s title is, to some extent, a hint at Winston Churchill’s famous phrase “V for Victory.” In the fight scene between Creedy’s men and V at Victoria Station, before throwing his knives, V arranges them into the letter “V.” After the fight, when V is mortally wounded, he leaves a signature in his blood in the form of a “V.” During the explosions of Parliament and the Old Bailey, giant “V”s appear in the sky thanks to fireworks. The letter “V” can also be seen as an inverted “A,” a symbol representing anarchy. The Old Bailey, Larkhill, and Parliament were destroyed on November 5th. When people begin to gather in the square, Big Ben shows 11:05 PM, thus forming a giant “V” on the clock face.
- The Chancellor parody scene is a tribute to "The Benny Hill Show" (1969-1989), which also used the "Yakkety Sax" music and sped-up footage.
- The Parliament building destroyed in the film is not the same building that Guy Fawkes intended to blow up in 1605. The original building was destroyed by a fire in 1834. The construction of the current Parliament building lasted 30 years and was completed in 1870.
- The scrambler that Finch uses in the office is a popular type of pocket flashlight. However, in the film, a red bulb or filter was added to it to give it a more high-tech look.
- The film is banned from distribution in the Republic of Belarus.
- In the scene where Inspector Finch tells his assistant about his visions in Longchill, one of the frames flashing on the screen shows the future of the inspector and Evey: a girl approaches a table where roses grown by V are standing, and the inspector is reflected in the mirror hanging above the fireplace.
- A subway car is filled with boxes labeled “British Fertilizers.” These are chemicals “that can be purchased over the counter” that V used to make explosives. He used the same fertilizers when he was a prisoner in Larkhill and grew roses. With the help of these fertilizers he blew up Larkhill. This is told in the graphic novel, but the film doesn’t explicitly emphasize this fact.
- Natalie Portman readily agreed to shave her head. She said she had wanted to do it for a long time.
- The film is dedicated to the memory of the cinematographer, Adrian Biddle, who died in December 2005.
- Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski are big fans of Alan Moore’s work. The film's script was written in the mid-1990s, even before the sisters began working on “The Matrix” (1999).
Auditions in India
Casting calls in USA
Castingi w Polsce
Кастинги в Україні
