V for Vendetta

V for Vendetta (2006)

Timing: 2:12 (132 min)

7.899/10
15448

7.823/10
262611

8.1/10
1200000

All about film

Video 16

Photo 122

Actors and characters

Release date

2006-02-23

Country

Germany, United Kingdom, United States

Production

Silver Pictures, Virtual Studios, DC Vertigo, Anarchos Productions, Fünfte Babelsberg Film, Warner Bros. Productions

Genre

Action, Thriller, Science Fiction

Budget

$54 000 000

Revenue

$134 686 457

Website

http://vforvendetta.warnerbros.com/

Director

James McTeigue

Actors

Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, Stephen Fry, John Hurt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Rupert Graves, Roger Allam, Ben Miles, Sinéad Cusack
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Joel Silver, Lorne Orleans, Grant Hill, Lilly Wachowski, Lana Wachowski, Ben Waisbren

Operator

Adrian Biddle

Composer

Dario Marianelli

Artist

Stephan O. Gessler, Cornelia Ott, Christian Schaefer

Audition

Lucinda Syson

Editing

Martin Walsh
All team (283)

• Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski are big fans of Alan Moore's work. The film's script was written in the mid-1990s, before the sisters began working on "The Matrix" (1999).
• Scarlett Johansson and Bryce Dallas Howard were considered for the role of Eve.
• 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.
• The film is dedicated to the memory of the cinematographer, Adrian Biddle, who died in December 2005.
• Natalie Portman readily agreed to shave her head. She said she had wanted to do it for a long time.
• James Purefoy was originally slated to play V, but he left the project during filming. Hugo Weaving took his place.
• To develop a British accent, Natalie Portman worked with dialect coach Barbara Berkeley, who had also worked with Gwyneth Paltrow.
• 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.
• 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 masks worn by the soldiers around the Parliament building are paintball masks from the company JT.
• 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 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."
• 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 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 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.
• 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 film is based on the graphic novel "V for Vendetta" by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, which was published from 1982 to 1989.
• The variety of roses grown by V was chosen deliberately. In English, this variety is called Violet Carson.
• 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 is banned from distribution in the Republic of Belarus.
• 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 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.
• 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.
• In the scene where V “conducts the orchestra,” and in the final scene, the finale of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s festive overture “1812” sounds from loudspeakers on the street.
• 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.
• 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).
• The film is based on the graphic novel “V for Vendetta” by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, which was published from 1982 to 1989.
• 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.