MOVIE DIALOGUE OF THE DAY ― V FOR VENDETTA (2006)

Connection to previous post (1984): John Hurt plays a victim of a dystopian society in 1984 and the ruler of one in V FOR VENDETTA.

Ratings: IMDB ― 8.2/10, Rotten Tomatoes ― 73%, ME ― 75%

V: [Evey pulls out her mace] I can assure you I mean you no harm.
EVEY HAMMOND: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what and what I am is a man in a mask.
EVEY HAMMOND: Well I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.
EVEY HAMMOND: Oh. Right.
V: But on this most auspicious of nights, permit me then, in lieu of the more commonplace sobriquet, to suggest the character of this dramatis persona.
V: Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.
[carves "V" into poster on wall]
V: The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous.
V: [giggles]
V: Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.
EVEY HAMMOND: Are you, like, a crazy person?
V: I am quite sure they will say so. But to whom, might I ask, am I speaking?
EVEY HAMMOND: I'm Evey.
V: Evey? E-V. Of course you are.
EVEY HAMMOND: What does that mean?
V: It means that I, like God, do not play with dice and do not believe in coincidence. Are you hurt?

Hugo Weaving as V and Natalie Portman as Evey Hamond.


Trivia (From IMDB):

The domino scene, where V tips over black and red dominoes to form a giant letter V, involved 22,000 dominoes. It took 4 professional domino assemblers 200 hours to set it up.

On a clock that has an hour hand and a minute hand, the time 11:05 makes a V. These two numbers, 11 and 5, where 11 is November, and 5 is the day of November, spell out: the fifth of November. "Remember, remember the 5th of November."

When shooting the fight in Victoria Station, the stunt-men literally moved in slow motion on set whilst David Leitch (Hugo Weaving's stunt double) moved in real time, making it seem as if he was moving much faster then the Fingermen. The scene was shot at 60fps to slow the Fingermen down even further.

The reason the secret police are called "Fingermen" is because the New Order was arranged on the model of the human body. The Chancellor was the Head; the television station BTN was the mouth; visual and audio surveillance were the Eye and the Ear; Inspector Finch was part of The Nose, the police force, and Creedy's secret police were the Hand.

Certain scenes within the film feature James Purefoy as V, who was originally cast in the role but replaced by Hugo Weaving four weeks into filming. Weaving's voice was simply dubbed over Purefoy's performance. Director James McTeigue said in an interview: "Can I tell the difference? Yeah. Can the audience tell? I doubt it."

When we look into Valerie's flashback, there is a brief scene when she talks about meeting her lover while filming her movie. When we see the scene of her washing clothes in the bucket, the film crew behind her was composed nearly entirely of the real crew for "V for Vendetta".

Evey mentions to Gordon Dietrich that "eggie in the basket" is the same breakfast V made for her the first morning she spent at his place. She fails to mention (or doesn't notice) that Dietrich and V also both greeted her in exactly the same way, not with "good morning" but with, "bonjour mademoiselle." Also, Stan Getz is playing in the background in both instances.

The cast and crew were only allowed to shoot near the British Parliament and the Clock Tower from midnight to 4:30 am, and they could only stop traffic for four minutes at a time.

During the introduction of V to Evey, starting with "Voila" and ending with "coincidence", V uses words that begin with "V" 48 times. Also, the total number of v's in the statement is 55.

For the scene when V emerges from Larkhill, stunt double Chad Stahelski literally walked through fire, wearing just a special fire resistant gel and a g-string. Stahelski's body temperature had to be lowered before the scene was shot, and luckily, it was 3 below zero the night of the shoot. 15 minutes before a take, he would put on ice cold flame resistant clothing, and once he took them off, he would be covered with fire resistant gel which had been icing all day long.

The exchange between Evey and V that ends with V saying, "A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having!" is a reference to a famous paraphrase of the words of American Anarchist Feminist, Emma Goldman (1869-1940). One version of the familiar line attributed to her is, "If I can't dance to it, it's not my revolution." While this particular phrase is not hers, it is a distillation of a passage from her autobiography, "Living My Life" published in 1931.

The original comic series was originally created by Alan Moore. However, following his negative experience with From Hell (2001) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Moore decided to reject all money and credit from Hollywood on any adaptations of his work. Thus, he gave all the money he would've gotten to the artist who drew the character with him, and rejected his own "created by" credit from the film.

All of V's dialogue was dubbed. Initially, a mask was designed with a small microphone inside, and another mike was designed to sit along Hugo Weaving's hair line, but neither worked very well.

Madam Justice is often depicted wearing a blindfold to represent justice that does not see, and cannot be biased or discriminatory in any way. This film shows the statue of Justice that has stood above the Old Bailey criminal courts since 1907, which is not blindfolded.

The exact same font is found on all the posters and signs seen throughout the movie except the posters for Valerie's movies.

Natalie Portman looked forward to shaving her head bald, saying she'd wanted to do that for a long time.

In the comic, illustrator David Lloyd often subtly changed V's Guy Fawkes mask to suit the mood or tone a particular scene. The filmmakers considered designing a number of subtly different masks, but they ultimately decided to alter the shadows and lighting in post-production.

Natalie Portman worked with Barbara Berkery, the dialectologist who also worked with Gwyneth Paltrow, to perfect her English accent.

The scenes in the abandoned London Underground station were filmed at Aldwych, a Piccadilly line station that closed in 1994. The branch still has tracks and electricity, meaning trains can still operate.

Andy Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, huge fans of the original comic series, wrote a draft of the script in the '90s before they worked on The Matrix (1999), which shares several similar themes.

After Finch's stealthy visit to Larkhill, he explains he has a 'feeling' of knowing what has happened in the past and what would happen in the future. The montage of the future happenstances clearly shows Evey setting the 'Scarlet Carsons' in a vase and as she walks out of frame, and Finch's reflection drinking from a glass in the mirror on the wall behind, can be seen clearly. This could be a foreshadowing to indicate that Evey and Finch end up together. Also the scenes yet to happen in the film like V being shot by Creedy's men and Evey looking up, at the explosives stacked in the train are clearly seen.

The name of the rose which V uses as a calling-card has been changed for the film. In the book, it is a real variety, 'Violet Carson' (named after the British actress and pianist Violet Carson). The film changes this to 'Scarlet Carson' - presumably under the assumption that the audience would think the name referred to its color, not to a person. It is, in fact, yellow.

Background checks were conducted on every actor and technician who carried a weapon in the Parliament Square scenes. The bar-codes on each piece of weaponry were scanned, to track the individuals authorized to handle them. 

The "scrambler device" Finch uses in his office is a popular type of pocket reading light, with a red bulb or filter added to make it look more high-tech.

The two tanks used in the Parliament Square scenes were real decommissioned army tanks. Each night, prior to transporting the vehicles to the shoot, each tank was inspected by government security personnel to ensure the weaponry was not functional and had not been altered in any way. They were then taken via truck to the location, with no stops allowed during transport, and were accompanied by armed security officials the entire way.

Evey and Gordon watch a spoof skit on the Gordon Deitrich Show, in which a fake V teases a fake Sutler. After "Sutler" trips, the music switches to a fast-paced tune. The song is "Yakety Sax", also known as the theme from The Benny Hill Show (1969), and the sped-up comical chase that follows is a clear reference to such antics on the Hill Show.

The name Evey is pronounced EV, with E being the fifth letter of the alphabet, V being five in Latin and Y being the 25th letter (5 squared)

The line about God playing dice with the universe comes from Albert Einstein's objections to quantum theory, in which he said that "At any rate, I am convinced that [God] does not play dice."

In the original graphic novel, V's cause was anarchy, not freedom. Alan Moore was very critical of the movie for changing what he called the "anarchy vs. fascism" structure of his graphic novel into what he saw as an exploration of "American neo-liberalism vs. American neo-conservatism" that should have been set in the U.S. instead of Britain.

Among the paintings in V's lair are Waterhouse's "The Lady of Shalott", "Puberty" byEdvard Munch, "Bacchus and Ariadne" by Titian, and "Elohim Creating Adam" by William Blake.

When V meets Creedy, he says, "Penny for the Guy." In England, children ask for money to buy fireworks around November 5th, "Guy Fawkes Day." On that day, children make a Guy Fawkes mannequin to be burned on a bonfire in the evening, amid fireworks.

The account of Adam Sutler's rise to power that V delivers to Inspector Finch closely parallels the account Leo Tolstoy gives of Napoléon Bonaparte's rise to power in France in Part I, Chapter III of the Epilogue to War and Peace.

Hugo Weaving based his accent on Harold Wilson, British Prime Minister from 1964-1970 and 1974-1976.

Euan Blair, son of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, worked as a runner for the film's production company. The role drew criticism after actor Stephen Fry suggested that political connections affected obtaining permission to film in government buildings. The producers strenuously denied the allegations. Conservative MP David Davies told the Sunday Times, "It smacks of sheer hypocrisy that Blair's government is willing to arrest a woman for simply making a protest in Whitehall but is happy to open the doors when Blair's son turns up in a film which is about parliament being blown up."

The plot of the film is remotely similar to that of the Alexandre Dumas père novel 'The Count of Monte Cristo' as both stories revolve around characters who escape from imprisonment and proceed in seeking revenge on all of those responsible for their incarceration.

The tag line references 'The Bonfire Prayer.' It commemorates 'Guy Fawkes night', November 5th, when a Catholic plot to overthrow the British parliament was foiled. Several variations exist. One version is "Remember, remember, the fifth of November, gunpowder treason and plot. I see no reason why the gunpowder treason should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, 'twas his intent to blow up the King and the Parliament. Three score barrels of powder below, Poor old England to overthrow. By God's providence he was catch'd, with a dark lantern and burning match. Holloa boys, holloa boys, make the bells ring. Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! Hip hip hoorah! A penny loaf to feed the Pope. A farthing o'cheese to choke him. A pint of beer to rinse it down. A faggot of sticks to burn him. Burn him in a tub of tar. Burn him like a blazing star. Burn his body from his head. Then we'll say ol' Pope is dead. Hip hip hoorah! Hip hip hoorah!" It is still recited in full at the famous Lewes bonfire night celebrations in East Sussex.

Natalie Portman researched her role by watching the Sam Green and Bill Siegel documentary The Weather Underground (2002), and reading "Faith and Treason,"Antonia Fraser's book about Guy Fawkes, as well as the autobiography of Menachem Begin, founder of the Irgun Party in Israel.

Several of the main themes (music), when written out on a staff form the letter V if the notes are connected, dot to dot. Specifically the theme that's played at the beginning of "The Dominoes Fall," or the piano solo during "Valerie."

In the movie Mr. Creedy says: "You've got nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks. We have guns." This line is similar to one from Mr. Almond in the book, a character that was excluded from the movie.

Natalie Portman was chosen for the role of Evey over Scarlett Johansson and Bryce Dallas Howard.

The voice-overs about the futility of non-violence and the definition of humanism that can be heard during the end credits are sound bites from speeches given by Malcolm Xand Gloria Steinem, respectively.

All of the models (the Old Bailey, the Clock Tower, and the Houses of Parliament) were built at tenth scale. Together, they took 20 people 10 weeks to build.

In the memorial for those that died as a result of the virus, the statues are of children playing "Ring a Ring o' Roses". It is often assumed that the nursery rhyme was created in reference to the Great Plague of the mid 17th century, however this connection is considered baseless.

Evey winds up living with Finch. While Finch is explaining about his trip to Larkhill to Dominic you see a quick scene in which Evey is walking away from a vase of Scarlet Carsons, Finch is in the mirror holding a drink.

V wears a mask in the guise of Guy Fawkes who is most famous for his involvement in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, which he was placed in charge with executing due to his military and explosives experience. The plot, masterminded by Robert Catesby, was a failed attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic conspirators to kill King James of England and VI of Scotland, his family, and most of the Protestant aristocracy in one swoop by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during its State Opening.

The scar on Evey's forehead is in the shape of a sideways V.

The symbol of the Norsefire Party is one form of an ancient heraldic symbol called the "Croix de Lorraine". A similar symbol was adopted as the official symbol of GeneralCharles de Gaulle's Free French Forces between 1940 and 1944. It was later used for various Gaullist political parties in France, notably the RPR (Rally for the Republic).

Adrian Biddle's final film. He died on 7 December 2005 from a heart attack. The film is dedicated to him.

The musical theme accompanying the explosions in the beginning and at the end of the film is Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "1812 Overture".

In the montage scene shown when Detective Finch is describing how he felt everything was connected in a long chain of events, they show scenes from throughout the movie. One scene that is shown but hasn't actually occurred is Evey, her hair grown long again, in a room next to a vase of scarlet carsons. As she steps away from them, you can see in the mirror the reflection of Detective Finch, raising a glass to drink from - as he has done many times in the film. This suggests that he and she will be living together (or at least friends) after the end.

James Purefoy was originally cast as V. Purefoy left the production over creative differences with the film-makers.

The building used for the wide-angle shot of Evey on the balcony actually exists, although certain architectural details were digitally modified. It is located at 1 Cornhill, London, and is just across the street from the Bank of England.

Body Count: 73.

At the end of the fight in the train station, when V stumbles against the wall, trying to get back to Evey, V leaves a bloodstain in the shape of a V.

In the original graphic novel, the leader's name is Adam Susan, not Sutler.

Keira Knightley auditioned for the role of Evey Hammond.

After V sends out Guy Fawkes masks to everyone and the riots start, the TV announcer mentioned that the first riots started in Brixton. This is a reference to the Brixton riots of 1981 in London.

The supervising art director, Kevin Phipps, and the production designer, Owen Paterson, are listed on the Larkhill staff list.

The song "Long Black Train" foreshadows on Inspector Finch's alarm in the morning of November 5th, when the film ultimately ends.

The masks that the soldiers wear outside The Houses of Parliament are JT X-FIRE brand paintball masks.

Included in the images seen on T.V. as Valerie talks about America's war growing worse and then eventually coming to London, is footage of baby Jessica McClure being pulled out of the well she fell into in Texas in 1987.

At the set of Prothero's bathroom, a collection of dolls can be seen in the background. This is a reference to the graphic novel where V burned the dolls.

In the special features of the DVD, John Hurt states that the film is rather like a combination of Nineteen Eighty-Four (1984) and Alien (1979), both of which he starred in.

Just to the left of the jukebox is the painting "Giovanni Arnolfini and His Bride" (1434) by Jan Van Eyck.

According to the police archives, the St. Marys virus outbreak started May 13, 2006.

When V cooks eggs for Evey, he hums along to "The Girl From Ipanema."

Most of the forbidden objects in V's shadow gallery are classical works of art and culture. A few are modern, including The Vitra Lounge Chair by Eames and Valerio Bottin's Bubble Lamp.

Costume designer Sammy Sheldon had only 5 weeks prep time.

The song that plays on the jukebox in the scene where Evie tells V that she is leaving is "I Found a Reason" by Cat Power.

In the original graphic novel, the leader relies on a centralized computer system called Fate to help maintain control.

The film has many similarities to George Orwell's novel 1984 oddly enough John Hurt stared in it's film adaptation but played the hero instead of the villain (which he plays in this film)

Prior to shooting the movie, director James McTeigue studied the Gillo Pontecorvo film The Battle of Algiers (1966)

In one scene recalling THE MATRIX, V enters a building and is challenged by a guard. V opens his coat, revealing a large stash of weapons. The guard curses in surprise. There is a similar scene near the end of THE MATRIX.

In the end where the people remove their masks, you can see characters who have died in the movie, including the girl with glasses and Valerie.

In the last scenes where everyone is taking off their masks, we see Gordon Deitrich (played by Stephen Fry) removing his mask to reveal a face without wounds, though he had suffered wounds on face during the struggle with Fingermen and was said to be dead by V.

Spoilers ―

There is a duality in the movie between V and Evey. As it is shown at the beginning of the movie V was created through fire (laboratory fire scene), signifying destruction and vengeance in contrast with this, later on in the movie (rooftop scene), Evey is reborn through water signifying rebirth and forgiveness. The movie ends with V's death, symbolizing the end of suffering and vengeance, leaving room for Evey. And so vengeance dies leaving room for forgiveness and destruction yields in front of rebirth.

When the commandos capture Evey outside Dietrich's house, one commando is obviously V. If you look closely, you can see burnt flesh through the eye holes in the commando's mask for a split second. 

Hugo Weaving appears unmasked while V is pretending to be the old man who gives the information to Inspectors Finch and Dominic. He also appears unmasked, though with his face always in shadows, while a disguised V acts as the guard/torturer of Evey while she's imprisoned. Despite rumors to contrary, he doesn't appear at the climax while all the Londoners watch Parliament being blown up, though he does appear in the crowds in Lark Hill flashbacks.

The Houses of Parliament destroyed in the film are not the same buildings which Guy Fawkes planned to destroy in 1605. The original Parliament buildings were destroyed in a fire in 1834. The current buildings are built on the same site and took 30 years to build, finishing in 1870. They were largely destroyed again in World War Two and rebuilt to the original design in the late 1940s.

There are repeated references to the letter "V" and the number five throughout the film. For example, V's introductory monologue to Evey begins and ends with "V", has five sentences, and contains 49 words that begin with "V". Similar references are made through V's background, choice of words and action. V is held in Larkhill cell number "V". A favorite Latin phrase of V's is said to be from "Faust" but in fact was a motto of the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley: "Vi Veri Vniversum Vivus Vici" ("By the power of truth, I, a living man, have conquered the universe". The word "Vniversum" is mis-spelled in the movie and original comic as Veniversum; ). In a dance with Evey, the song V chooses is number five on his jukebox, though all the songs on his jukebox are numbered "5". When V confronts Creedy in his home, he plays Beethoven's "Fifth" Symphony, whose opening notes have a rhythmic pattern that resembles the letter "V" in Morse code (...-). The Symphony's opening was used as a call-sign in the European broadcasts of the BBC during World War II in reference to Winston Churchill's "V for Victory". The film's title itself, is also a reference to "V for Victory". In the battle with Creedy and his men at Victoria station, V forms a "V" with his daggers just before he throws them. After the battle, when V is mortally wounded, he leaves a "V" signature in his own blood. The destruction of Parliament results in a display of fireworks which form the letter "V" (just like at the beginning with Old Bailey), which is also an inverted red-on-black "A" symbol for anarchy. Like the Old Bailey and Larkhill, Parliament was destroyed on the fifth of November. Also, Big Ben shows the start of the group of Vs at 11:05 pm, creating a giant V on the clock face. 11:05 is also the month and day format for the 5th of November. The fireworks at the end of the movie also form the letter V. It is also noted that in roman numerals, the number 5 is represented by a V symbol.

It's commonly believed that Delia is the only character who dies that same way in the movie as in the novel. If you listen closely while the bishop is being killed, when the scene cuts to the surveillance van, you can hear V saying "now open your mouth and stick out your tongue." In the novel, the bishop died after eating a poisoned communion wafer.

V does not kill Creedy in the graphic novel; he is killed in a political subplot. Also, it is Mr. Finch who mortally wounds V in the novel, not Mr. Creedy.

V's pseudonym, "Rookwood", is the last name of another conspirator at the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, as are the names of Rookwood's friends "Percy" and "Keyes".

In the movie, the Old Bailey is blown up at the beginning, and the Houses of Parliament are blown up at the end. In the graphic novel, the Houses of Parliament are blown up at the beginning, with the Downing Street saved for the grand finale one year later. The graphic novel also has the grand finale on the 10th of November, not the 5th.