Rock Me Hugo Weaving

We need more Hugo Weaving.

I just finished watching V for Vendetta again and was, as always, hanging on every line uttered by Hugo Weaving. Whether he's inspiring the inhabitants of future London to stand up and fight against their oppressive government, whispering lines from Twelfth Night to his love interest knowing that love is unattainable, or easily reciting an insane tongue-twister with just the right amount of bravado he demands your attention and he rewards you for giving it to him.

There is something absolutely magical about Hugo's on-screen persona and the way he takes scripted characters and makes them his own. For his role as Agent Smith in The Matrix Trilogy he completely transformed himself into a cold and calculating piece of uberware that eventually unraveled and went mad. He delivered a line in the first Matrix movie with such contempt and disgust for the human race that I was right there with him cheering on the destruction of mankind - "There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus. Human beings are a disease, a cancer of this planet. You're a plague and we are the cure." Yes sir, Mr. Smith sir - it is futile for us to resit your supreme Hugocity.

The three things that I remember when I think back on that trilogy: 1) Take the red pill, 2) "I know Kung-Fu", and 3) Agent Smith. I mean, for months after the first Matrix movie came out we were all raising our eyebrows and growling "Mr. Anderson" at each other whenever the opportunity presented itself. Hell I still do it from time to time.

We didn't care who the actor was who was playing Agent Smith -- we just never wanted it to end! And isn't that what makes a great character actor?

In the Lord of the Rings Trilogy, Hugo took on the role of Elrond the Lord of Rivendell and I have to admit that when he first appeared on the screen in Fellowship of the Ring I muttered "Mr. Anderson" under my breath. It was Agent Smith playing Elrond! That impression faded quickly though as Hugo transcended his previous character by putting together an impressive performance as Elrond even though the role was somewhat limited.

We almost didn't get to see Hugo in V for Vendetta as James Purefoy (of A Knights Tale fame?) was originally slotted for the role. Fortunately for all of us Purefoy backed out six weeks into filming and instead we were given a remarkable performance by Hugo Weaving. While he wore a mask for the entirety of the movie, Hugo managed to do an excellent job of expressing his emotions with his body language and really delivered on the beautifully-written dialogue. He fully embodied the character of V and once again we didn't care who the actor was, we just saw V and couldn't get enough of him.

Hugo hasn't had much mainstream success beyond the two trilogies and V for Vendetta. He's done a fair amount of voice-over work in his career and understandably so. If I were in the movie industry I would find a way to get Hugo into my movies in one form or another. Most recently he gave voice to Megatron in The Transformers. I had no idea that was him when I was watching the movie mostly due to the digital effects that were added.

He is listed as having a supporting role alongside Anthony Hopkins and Benicio Del Toro in a remake of Curt Siodmak's The Wolf Man (pictured) which will be released in 2009. While that's encouraging it isn't nearly enough to fill the current void of quality entertainment at our theaters.

Hollywood, for the sake of us all, please smarten up and give this terrific actor more opportunities to create endearing characters like the ones he's already gifted to us.