Truth be told, I think of him primarily as the blind guy in Proof, since that’s the first thing I saw him in that made an impression on me. It’s got a young Russell Crowe in it, too.
Great movie, if you haven’t seen it. There’s a hilarious moment where a cop pulls over their car, with Crowe driving, and comes up to find blind Weaving in the driver’s seat.
I saw Babe years ago and loved it. Imagine my horror, after seeing The Matrix, when I realized that Rex was Agent Smith!
Sure explains a lot about the way things are on that farm, though…
Not as great as my shock when I realised that the guy who could act playing the drug addict rock star in The Dead Pool was Jim Carrey. Culture shock to the nth degree there, I tell you.
Weaving’s done some theatre and some small movies in Australia in the last year or so. I think there’s a series on the Australian ABC with both him and David Wenham running right at this point in time. I don’t think he’s typecast for an Australian audience – maybe because we are used to seeing our actors be versatile?
If anyone hasn’t seen Priscilla Queen of the Desert, it’s fabulous, really worth tracking down.
The sad thing about that is, the US don’t know who David Wenham is, unless you were to say he’s more well known as Faramir.
You could say that about a lot of the actors such as Miranda Otto = Eowen.
Proof is indeed a good movie, as is Priscilla.
I’ve always liked Hugo Weaving, enjoyed him quite a bit as Agent Smith, too, but I do not see him as remaining The Guy Who Is Agent Smith for the rest of his career. He seems like the kind of man who will remain centered, take care of himself, and keep finding good projects.
Indeed…
May I suggest to my American friends that if you can, get your hands on an Australian film from about 5 years ago called “The Interview”. In it, Hugo plays the part of a psychotic serial killer who is incredibly intelligent and has managed to get away with his murders for quite some time. But he has an ego too, and the film centres around the battle of wits between the incredible detective who has a hunch, and the role played by Hugo - in which he’s convincingly playing the part of an innocent wrongly accused - until his ego gets the better of him and he drops his guard.
A powerful, powerful film. And one which truly shows just what a talent Hugo Weaving really is.
As for David Wenham? For those who don’t know, he’s an Aussie who’s got a lot of Colin Farrel about him, if you know what I mean…
Anyone who’s liked what they’ve seen of David Wenham and wants to see more ;), he’s extremely naked and sweaty in this movie. Not a bad little sex comedy, but not outstanding, either; it’s cute if your expectations are low. (Also, the female lead, Susie Porter, is a freckle-fetishist’s dream come true.)
I’ll second this recommendation - very good movie. However, if I recall correctly, the whole point revolves around whether or not he is the serial killer…so you probably should’ve spoilered that **Boo Boo Foo **
Hello Again writes:
> 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.
It’s much more impressive if you do the arithmetic right. 5% of $550 million is $27,500,000. According to the IMDb, Keanu Reeves got $10,000,000 plus 10% of the gross for the first film and $15,000,000 plus 15% of the gross for each of the second two films. I suspect that Weaving is getting something like $10,000,000 for each of the second two films plus a small percentage (less than 1%) of the gross.
How odd… I even used a calculator! Must have tossed an extra zero in there somewhere. I thought my number seemed a little low.
According to KeanuWeb, Reeves took 30 mil OR 15% of the gross – whichever was greater – for M2.
Also to whoever said Weaving could not possibly have gotten 5%, have you seen Matrix Reloaded? It’s like The Neo and Agent Smith Show. Considering that The Matrix was released, and Matrix 2 already written, when he signed on for a second go, I suspect he could name terms that were quite favorable, either in up-front salary or percent.
Yes, but does he knit his brow? It was those specific wrinkles that got me saying “Hey, that’s Elrond!” when I saw *The Matrix.*QUOTE]*Originally posted by Chronos *
**And dropzone apparently didn’t recognize him. QED.
**
[/QUOTE]
QED, nothing! I’ve never HEARD of Bedrooms & Hallways, much less seen it.
Yes. And it’s quite sexy, too.
One of my favs for a light-hearted comedy. I highly recommend renting it.
Doesn’t “Poor Hugo Weaving” sound like a sequel to Good Will Hunting?
Personally, I want to see Agent Smith in a sitcom, like pairing him with a tree-hugging liberal in an Odd Couple type thing or having him teach precocious ‘inner city’ kids - hilarity ensues when the kids realize detention involves physically plugging them into the nearest Mac.
Or maybe he be a politico running for re-election who takes over his opponents…
“Vote for me.”
“Me, too.”
I can’t say that Mr. Weaving will be typecast as the villain Agent Smith to the same extent, say, as was Robert Patrick as the T-1000.
I think this thread is greatly overestimating the market penetration of The Matrix original film. Sure, there are a lot of people who saw the original once or twice, a few people who have seen it obsessively since, lots of people who could recognize a parody of “bullet time” when they see it on The Simpsons, and a handful who own the animated screen-dribble wallpaper for their PCs, but I don’t think this one film will have nearly that effect on his career.
The Matrix was mostly popular, I think, with younger and more tech-savvy viewers. To say he’s now typecast would ignore the rest of the market that didn’t care about, and didn’t see, the original Matrix movie.
Just my opinion.
FISH
You could apply that exceptionally general statement to any actor/movie.
Sorry, but with a name like “Bedrooms & Hallways” it’s showing the earmarks of being a ROMANTIC comedy. Wife and I don’t “do” romantic comedies–it’s one of those things we actually agree on. Need I remind you of her criteria? “Monsters, things blowing up, monsters blowing up things, and things blowing up monsters.”
When I first saw him in LOTR, I had a crazy urge to yell out “Come on, Frodo, off your snatch!” But I didn’t realize he’d been Agent Smith until a friend who saw LOTR on a different day came back complaining about the Matrix references.
I can’t pity Hugo Weaving. After all, he is out of the heels.