A friend said he saw Weaving in one of the Lord of the Rings movies, and someone in the audience yelled out, “Look out! Its Agent Smith!” And everyone laughed.
Weaving was terrific in a number of movies, notably Priscilla Queen of the Desert. Has becoming Agent Smith in the Matrix typecast his career?
Fortunately, I had never seen the Matrix when I first saw LOTR. When I finally did see it, I had the opposite reaction: “Hey, why is Elrond trying to kill you?”
“We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start. All that we’re asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a certain ring to Mordor.”
He was also the voice of Rex the sheep dog in the movie Babe. Very funny to listen to when you are thinking of Agent Smith “Pigs do not herd sheep - that’s just the way it…is”
Weaving’s unique vocal pacing and delivery - which he seems to exaggerate in the Matrix movies, but is still part of him - is the characteristic that marks him. Now that his delivery is linked to Smith, it does seem like he is branded. William Shatner is not nearly as skilled an actor, but he also has a unique vocal style - spoofed way too many times for me to try to repeat here - that once it got linked to Capt. Kirk, he was labelled for life…
Somehow I don’t think ol’ Hugo is too upset about it. At least, he doesn’t have time to be upset about it, as he is so busy counting all his money.
He is an actor who takes his craft seriously.
[sub]Still I’m sure the money softens the blow.[/sub]
At worst, he ends up as Christopher Walken. Not such a bad thing. I’d love to see him host SNL.
Good lord, he’s in not one but two of this decades highest-grossing trilogies (if I may speak in advance for ROTK and Matrix 3). I’m sure he’s rather well off as a result of the films.
I’m sure he’s not too upset about it. After all, he never has to do anything he doesn’t want to do ever again. Matrix 2 made $550 million worldwide. Let’s imagine he gets 5% of gross (Keanu signed for 15% of gross), that’s $2,750,000 just for this one film.
PS – that dude would have been funnier in the movie theater if he’d said at just the right moment, “Well, Mr. Frodo, it seems you’ve been living a double life.”
I would kinda like to point out that actors go into the field because they -like- to act. It’s why you see some really good actors go into really bad movies. Sure, super-wealth is nice (and if anyone wants to help me with that, feel free! :)), but I doubt most good actors would make a ton of cash and then just say “Okay, I’m done now.” (Yes, I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but I’m saying in general.)
It’s a cross-dressing Agt. Smith w/ pointy ears and a tiara!
“Miiiister Frodo…”
Seriously, I don’t think he’ll be typecast. When he took the role of Agt. Smith, “The Matrix” was a not-too-heavily promoted film directed by 2 unknown brothers that grew by word of mouth. When he took the role of Elrond, he was still fairly unknown to the world outside of Oz and signing on for 3 movies/over a year was pretty risky. Especially for a movie of that stature. He’s a skilled theater actor and has had some great luck/smarts in the projects he’s chosen.
Some actors go into acting because they love the art. Some “actors” go into acting because they love the fame. It takes all kinds.
Yes, let’s imagine. Then, let’s wake up and realise that studios only ever give percentages to A-list actors on blockbusters (though sometimes you’ll find a name actor getting a percentage on a lower budget film in return for forgoing some or all of their fee).
Reeves can demand a percentage because he is the one person without whom there is no film; Fishburne might be able to claim a much smaller percentage - perhaps 2% - because he’s a major name actor, but Weaving is neither. Bearing in mind that his character was killed in the first movie, he should be thanking his lucky stars that he got the gig at all.
Weaving probably got somewhere in the vicinity of $1m for TMR. Not an inconsiderable sum, still, but not a percentage.
**
There’s quite a few jokes about it. The best one goes roughly thus:
“It seems you’ve been living … two lives. In one life, you’re Thomas A Underhill, pie taster for a respectable Hobbiton bakery. You have a round front door, grow your own mushrooms, and … help the Sackville-Bagginses take out their garbage. In the other, you go by the name of “Frodo” and are in possession of virtually every magic ring we don’t have a name for.”
Evil Death, one thing that’s happening now in all the press about “The Matrix”. Just like you, they keep refering to Keanu Reeves as “Reeves”. This is extremely confusing to me. I always have to stop and think, “Who is this Reeves person, and what does he have to do with the movie?” And then I remember, “Oh. KEANU Reeves. Duh.” It would make more sense if they called him Keanu, rather than “Reeves”. He’s one of those one name celebrities.
(confession)
As I have given up memorizing movies, it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I figured out Elrond and Agent Smith were played by the same actor. And I am generally pretty good at obsessing on who is whom. I don’t think he needs to worry about typecasting. For instance, if he had a role in which he smiled pleasantly you’d never recognize him.
He smiles very pleasantly in Bedrooms & Hallways, thank you very much.
Their is a thread floating around here that tells how much Weaving made (it had to do with that lawsuit by “Tank” Chong from the first flick).
That’s funny - while I do know him as Agent Smith, I had an awfully hard time not seeing Elrond as a drag queen, first and foremost.
I remember noticing that Elrond was familiar, somehow - and then finally realizing who it was. The characters look different, but Weaving has quite a distinctive face and voice.
I’ve seen some very funny pictures of Elrond Smith floating around the net. Hugo in his suit and sunglasses with that thing Elrond wears on his head. Funny stuff.
I imagine he’ll get tired of being those two characters eventually, but (since both series are done filming) I’m sure he’s working on other projects and probably reaping the benefits. Other actors like Patrick Stewart have talked about how, limiting as it can be to have one REALLY famous character, it does open a lot of doors for you.
Well, he was wearing a dress…
And dropzone apparently didn’t recognize him. QED.
But seriously, were it not for the fact that Lord of the Rings came out at the same time as the Matrix movies, he might get typecast. But in addition to being a damn good Smith, he was also a damn good Elrond. He’ll be remembered for both, and the characters are different enough that he’s established himself as versatile.
And as for not figuring out that they were the same actor, it wasn’t until I read a thread about X-Men 2 that I realized that Magneto was Gandalf. I still don’t quite believe it, subconsciously.
While I don’t think he’ll be typecast to the same extent as previous actors (e.g. several Star Trek Characters), I do believe Hugo will be remembered more for his Agent Smith role than his Elrond portrayal.