Hugo Weaving - Biography - IMDb Hugo Weaving Jump to: Overview (3) | Mini Bio (1) | Trade Mark (6) | Trivia (17) | Personal Quotes (7) Overview (3) 6' 2" (1.88 m) Mini Bio (1) Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4, 1960 in Nigeria, to English parents Anne (Lennard), a tour guide and teacher, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist. Hugo has an older brother, Simon, and a younger sister, Anna, who both also live and work in Australia. During his early childhood, the Weaving family spent most of their time traveling between Nigeria, Great Britain, and Australia. This was due to the cross-country demands of his father's job in the computer industry. Later, during his teens, Hugo spent three years in England in the seventies attending Queen Elizabeth's Hospital School in Bristol. There, he showed early promise in theater productions and also excelled at history, achieving an A in his O-level examination. He arrived permanently in Australia in 1976 and finished his education at Knox Grammar School, Sydney.

He graduated from NIDA (National Institute of Dramatic Art), a college well-known for other alumni such as Mel Gibson and Geoffrey Rush , in 1981. Since then, Hugo has had a steadily successful career in the film, television, and theater industries. However, he has illustrated that, as renowned as he is known for his film work, he feels most at home on stage and continually performs in Australian theater productions, usually with the Sydney Theater Company. With his success has also come extensive recognition. He has won numerous awards, including two Australian Film Institute Awards (AFI) for Best Actor in a Leading Role and three total nominations. The AFI is the Australian equivalent of an Academy Award, and Hugo won for his performances in Proof (1991) and The Interview (1998). He was also nominated for his performance in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). He garnered the Best Acting prize for The Interview (1998) at the Montreal Film Festival in 1998 in addition to his AFI Award and, that same year, won the Australian Star of the Year.

More recently, roles in films such as The Matrix trilogy as Agent Smith and The Lord of the Rings trilogy as Lord Elrond have considerably raised his international profile. His famous and irreplaceable role in The Matrix movies have made him one of the greatest sci-fi villains of the Twenty-first Century. With each new film, television, or theatrical role, Hugo continues to surpass his audience's expectations and remains one of the most versatile performers working today. He resides in Australia and has two children with partner Katrina Greenwood. Though Hugo and Katrina have never married, they've been a committed couple for over 25 years; while Hugo was quoted as saying marriage "petrified" him in the 1990s, by middle of the following decade he said he no longer felt that way, and that he and Katrina have toyed with the idea of marrying "when we're really old". - IMDb Mini Biography By: Lady Nephthys Trade Mark (6) Often plays sinister villains or anti-heroes Roles in science fiction and fantasy films Calm, reserved delivery of his lines. High eyebrows, often arched to dramatic effect Trivia (17) Graduated from the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA).

His parents and baby Hugo left Nigeria before he was one year old. Children with Katrina Greenwood : Harry Weaving (b. 1989) and Holly Weaving (b. 1993). His father worked in the computer industry and moved around a lot. Hugo spent his childhood in South Africa and England before finally settling in Australia. Sister Anna-Jane Weaving had a brief singing career in Paris, France in the mid-1980s. Nominated for the 2005 Helpmann Award for Best Male Actor in a Supporting Role in a Play for his performance in "Hedda Gabler". Attended the same high school as Australian actors Adam Garcia , Hugh Jackman , Andrew Johnston , Reg Livermore , writer Stuart Beattie and radio host John Laws . Attended the Downs School, Wraxall, outside Bristol, whilst living in the United Kingdom, which was also briefly attended by Orlando Bloom . Weaving fractured his hip doing a stunt while in training for The Matrix (1999). He recovered and the fight scenes in the production were shifted to the end of the filming. Since Keanu Reeves had suffered a neck injury at around the same time, the delay worked well for both actors.

While both actors required stunt doubles on The Matrix and its two sequels, they both trained for months in advance of each production and did a lot of the fight choreography themselves. Has suffered from epileptic seizures since he was age 13. Because of this, he made the decision early on not to drive and he has never had a driver's license. In a 2006 interview, Weaving noted he hasn't suffered a seizure in years, but is still reluctant to get a driver's license because "I'm so used to not driving, I'm scared of what I'd do.". Is a pesco Vegetarians - Pesco vegetarians eat fish but no other meat. Partners with Katrina Greenwood (1984-present). He opened Belgrade Film Festival - FEST in 1997. Brother of Simon Weaving . Is nine years older than Cate Blanchett but plays her son-in-law in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Is 18 months younger than Viggo Mortensen, yet plays his father in law in The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Personal Quotes (7) "I was on top of Keanu Reeves , he was on his back and I was on my trunk, and I was breathing down his neck for hours and hours. It was... very erotic." (on filming The Matrix Reloaded (2003)) I do love working in Australia. Generally, the budgets are smaller, the crews are smaller and generally you work at a fast pace. That gives you energy. At the end of the day, you've worked a lot but you don't feel tired. On the big ones, you sit around a lot. That really saps your energy. I think I said something like The Interview (1998) was the most fulfilling experience from an acting point of view. And it definitely was. That was a combination of working with a director who was very open and very prepared, and ... working with [co-star] Tony Martin - just sitting opposite him every day, which is pretty much what we did because the film is essentially a dialog between two men. You're certainly pushed into selling yourself as a commodity in order to sell the product. I will engage in the selling of the film.

But I will try not to engage in the selling of the image, because I find that it's easier to go on and make another film, because the next character is actually obstructed if your image is bigger than it. So the longer you keep the mask on, metaphorically and physically, the better. I'm 'of the world'. There was a time when I thought, 'Oh, I must go back to England. I feel English.' Then I went and the longer I was away, the more Australian I felt. Now, I've come back here and I don't feel entirely Australian. But I certainly feel like this is my country. This is where I live and this is where I want to work. One of the first things that made me want to be an actor was listening to Prokofiev's 'Romeo and Juliet'. I was intensely moved by it. I think I was about nine - I went to see the ballet. That's what made me interested in Shakespeare. I think films have a limited ability to change the world, but that doesn't mean you don't stop trying. You do what's right for you, make the films you believe in, talk about the issues you believe in.

The bigger the risk, the more chance you're going to be crucified, but you have to execute your beliefs in any way you can. In the end ['Cloud Atlas'] has something to say about love and hope and believing in something. It wants to tell us that individual choices can come to mean something universal. See also Hugo Weaving - IMDb IMDb Actor | Soundtrack | Producer Hugo Wallace Weaving was born on April 4, 1960 in Nigeria, to English parents Anne (Lennard), a tour guide and teacher, and Wallace Weaving, a seismologist. Hugo has an older brother, Simon, and a younger sister, Anna, who both also live and work in Australia. During his early childhood, the Weaving family spent most of their time traveling ...

See full bio » Born: Mel Gibson’s ‘Hacksaw Ridge’ 4K, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital Release Dates and Details 7 January 2017 11:28 AM, -08:00 | TheHDRoom a list of 21 people created 21 Sep 2011 a list of 27 people created 03 Mar 2013 a list of 26 people created 22 Jul 2014 a list of 42 people created 29 Jul 2014 a list of 37 people created 08 Aug 2014 Do you have a demo reel? Add it to your IMDbPage How much of Hugo Weaving's work have you seen? User Polls 25 wins & 25 nominations.

See more awards » Known For Captain America: The First Avenger Johann Schmidt / Red Skull (2011) Cloud Atlas Haskell Moore / Tadeusz Kesselring / Bill Smoke / Nurse Noakes / Boardman Mephi / Old Georgie (2012) 2010 I, Spry (TV Movie) Narrator (voice) 2007 The Girl Who Swallowed Bees (Short) Narrator (voice) 2003 After the Deluge (TV Movie) Martin 'Marty' Kirby 1998 Halifax f.p. (TV Series) Det. Sgt. Tom Hurkos 1996 The Bite (TV Mini-Series) Jack Shannon - Coral Island (1996) ...

Martin Furlong 1995 Bordertown (TV Mini-Series) 1989 Bangkok Hilton (TV Mini-Series) Richard Carlisle 1988 Great Performances (TV Series) Charles Armstrong Soundtrack (4 credits) 2008 The Tender Hook (performer: "I'm Your Man", "Ballad of a Thin Man") 1997 True Love and Chaos (performer: "So Long Marianne", "One of Us Cannot be Wrong", "Rock and Roll", "The Ship Song") 1994 The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (performer: "This Old Man" (uncredited), "Ten Fat Trannies" (uncredited), "My Darling, Clementine" (uncredited), "I Will Survive") 1992 Road to Alice (Short) (performer: "Top Of The World", "Suzanne", "That's Entertainment") Hide 1995 Ladies Please!

(Documentary) (special thanks) Hide 2015 The IMDb Studio (TV Series short) Himself 2015 Australian Story (TV Series documentary) Himself 2014 First Contact (TV Series documentary) Himself - Narrator 2012-2013 Vivir de cine (TV Series) Himself 2012 Rencontres de cinéma (TV Series) Himself 2012 Janela Indiscreta (TV Series) Himself 2011 1st Look (TV Series) Himself - Interviewee 2010 Made in Hollywood (TV Series) Himself 2008 Inside Film Awards (TV Series) Himself 2007 Their War (Video documentary) Himself 2006 Designing the Near Future (Video documentary short) Himself 2006 'V for Vendetta' Unmasked (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2006 HypaSpace (TV Series documentary) Himself 2005 Filmography (TV Series documentary) Himself 2004 Cameras in Middle-Earth (Video documentary) Himself 2004 The Matrix Recalibrated (Video documentary short) Himself 2004 The Matrix Revolutions

: Double Agent Smith (Video short) Himself 1999-2003 HBO First Look (TV Series documentary) Himself 2003 Tinseltown TV (TV Series) Himself 2003 The Matrix Reloaded: Pre-Load (Video documentary short) Himself 2003 Filmland (TV Series documentary) Himself 2003 The View (TV Series) Himself 2002 Cameras in Middle-Earth (Video documentary) Himself - Elrond 2001 Behind 'The Matrix' (Video short) Himself 2000 Drama School (TV Series documentary) Himself 1999 Making 'The Matrix' (TV Short documentary) Himself 1994 True Stories (TV Series documentary) Narrator 2006 20 to 1 (TV Series documentary) Tick / Mitzi 2005 Cinema mil (TV Series) Himself 2004 DNZ: The Real Middle Earth (TV Movie documentary) Himself 2002 The Fellowship of the Cast (Video documentary short) Himself - Elrond Personal Details Other Works: (2000, August - September) Played the Duke of Brachiano

 in Webster's "The White Devil" - Theatre Royal, Sydney, Australia.

See more » Publicity Listings: 2 Interviews | 1 Article | 4 Magazine Cover Photos | See more » Height: Did You Know? Personal Quote: I think I said something like The Interview (1998) was the most fulfilling experience from an acting point of view. And it definitely was. That was a combination of working with a director who was very open and very prepared, and ... working with [co-star] Tony Martin - just sitting opposite him every day, which is pretty much what we did because the film is essentially a dialog between two men. See more » Trivia: Hugo Weaving | The One Wiki to Rule Them All | Fandom powered by Wikia Hugo Wallace Weaving is an Australian film and stage actor . Biography Edit Hugo was born on April 4 , 1960 in Nigeria, After spending his childhood in South Africa and the United Kingdom , he arrived in Australia in 1976 . Currently, Weaving lives in Sydney with his wife Katrina Greenwood and his two children Holly and Harry. Despite his career in film, Weaving has continued working as a stage actor, regularly appearing in productions by the Sydney Theatre Company .

Career Edit Weaving had his first major role in the television series Bodyline in 1984. Weaving starred in the Australian film The Dirtwater Dynasty in 1988 and later starred opposite Nicole Kidman in the 1989 film Bangkok Hilton. In 1991 Weaving received the Australian Film Institute 's award for "Best Actor" for his performance in the low-budget Proof. He also appeared as Sir John in the 1993 Yahoo Serious comedy, Reckless Kelly, a lampoon of the famous Australian outlaw Ned Kelly. However, Weaving first received attention overseas with the international hit Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in 1994 . In 1998 , Weaving received the award for "Best Actor" from the Montreal Film Festival for his performance in The Interview . He also did the voice of the Decepticon warlord Megatron in Transformers , Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen , and Transformers: Dark of the Moon . It was his role as the enigmatic Agent Smith in the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix which made Weaving a globally recognized face.

Weaving reprised the role of Agent Smith in the 2003 sequels to The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Weaving has continued his success in the role of the Elf -lord Elrond in the three-film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings released between 2001 and 2003 , and in The Hobbit films. character - Did Hugo Weaving Copy Carl Sagan to play Agent Smith? - Movies & TV Stack Exchange Did Hugo Weaving Copy Carl Sagan to play Agent Smith? up vote 20 down vote favorite 1 I happened to be watching an episode of the 80's show Cosmos which was hosted by Carl Sagan. Sitting and listening to his voice, I was puzzled, thinking "Who's voice does this sound like?". I came to the conclusion he sounded just like Agent Smith from The Matrix . My question is, Did Hugo Weaving copy the voice mannerisms from Carl Sagan for the part of Agent Smith? Is there any evidence in the media or through interview why Weaving portrayed Smith like this? It's definitely not his normal speech pattern. NOTE: I know it is hard to prove a negative.

If someone has any information as to why Weaving played the part this way would be sufficient for an answer. For reference, here are two clips, one of Carl Sagan describing the 4th dimension and one of Agent Smith while interrogating Morpheus. Carl Sagan 3 You're not the first to notice it , it's a somewhat popular view. But I think it always remained an urban legend, and I don't think Weaving ever mentioned Sagan as an inspiration. – Walt Apr 25 '15 at 16:52 4 Hugo Weaving says he emulated a “50′s news reader. (maybe it's worth mentioning that Weaving is Australian/British, therefore he had to emulate an american accent) – Oliver_C Apr 25 '15 at 17:17 After watching the video I am sure the voice was a copy but body language is still original – war_Hero Apr 26 '15 at 3:40 @war_Hero - I was just talking about the voice. I'm sure Carl Sagan wasn't into Bullet Time.

– Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Apr 26 '15 at 12:52 1 Carl Sagan spoke with little ego. Agent Smith is A.I and A.I lacks ego. We see over the course of the three movies Agent Smith (in his different forms) changes from egoless to egoist. This may just be a result of the story flow but it would be awesome to know that Carl Sagan was an influence in the dialogue. I am sure he is an influence to the Wachowskis. – Anon Sep 16 '16 at 3:02 Hugo Weaving CLOUD ATLAS Interview | Collider SHARE TWEET 0 From acclaimed filmmakers Andy & Lana Wachowski (The Matrix trilogy, Speed Racer) and Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) comes the stunning, epic and powerful Cloud Atlas , based on the best-selling novel by David Mitchell.

Through various genres and time periods, spanning 500 years, and with the actors playing a variety of characters that cross genders and races, the story contains drama, mystery, action and love, interwoven in such a way that illustrates how everything is connected and that the actions and choices in one era can have consequences in another. The film stars Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Susan Sarandon, Hugh Grant, Jim Broadbent, Hugo Weaving, Jim Sturgess, Ben Wishaw and James D’Arcy. At the film’s press day, actor Hugo Weaving spoke to Collider, in both a roundtable and 1-on-1 interview, about what it was like to finally get to see the film all put together, how he hopes people will be willing to get it a chance , his impression of the book when he first read it back while shooting V for Vendetta, what made this such a special and unique experience, which character he was most excited to embody, and the roles that fans approach him about most often. Check out what he had to say after the jump. Question: What was it like to finally get to see this film, all put together with all of the different stories?

HUGO WEAVING: It’s actually impossible, the idea of sitting through this and pretending I don’t know anything about it. When I first saw this film, I couldn’t see it with [the audiences’] eyes, as if I didn’t know anything about it, and I’d love to, but I never will be able to [do that]. I thought, “If I didn’t know anything about this, you’ve got an establishment of six different threads, six different stars, six different world and six different geographies, and there’s a fantastic scope and a great spread to it and these vistas. There’s a lot of information traveling.” That’s probably what I would be feeling. And then, connecting with each story, I didn’t think it was too hard. As soon as you see Halle [Berry] or Tom [Hanks] or Jim [Sturgess] again, you’re like, “Okay, I’m in that story.” Those stories, individually, are not particularly complex, but most of them are really quite simple in their structure. And then, as you watch it, the parallel nature of those stories do increasingly become one, and that draws you toward the end of the film.

So, I guess that’s what I might feel, but I don’t know. It’s hard. Do you think audiences will be able to give in and give it a chance, and just go on the ride with it? WEAVING: Well, a lot of people have a fear of Shakespeare, for example. Even actors do. People are like, “Oh, I won’t go and see Shakespeare because the language is so hard,” but it is. When you read it on the page, you go, “What?! What does that mean?!” If you go to a Shakespeare play and you’ve never been, you sit there and go, “I’m an idiot! I don’t get it!” I took my daughter to Romeo & Juliet when she was about 13. I had taken her to a few pieces of theater before, and I said, “The language is really different, but just allow it to be what it is and trust that it’s okay.” A couple of times, she leaned over and said, “Dad, I don’t understand.” But, by the end of the play, she was telling me, “Oh, when this person did this and when they said that . .

.” She was using her own language, but talking about what had been said. It’s a very, very simple love story about two families in conflict and the two young people within each family who love each other. It’s a tragedy, and it’s very simple, really. This film is the same. It has great ideas and themes, and it seems to incorporate the breadth of humanity and the cyclical nature of life. There are all those ideas, and yet each story is really quite simple and elemental. The really simple thing in this film is that it’s evident and it becomes evident, if you allow it to become evident. I hope that people seeing this film don’t reject it because it’s different. I hope they don’t go, “I haven’t seen this film. What genre is this film? It’s a mess. What is this film? I give up! It’s terrible!” I hope that doesn’t happen because it deserves a lot more than that. Had you read this book, prior to signing on for the film? WEAVING: Yeah, absolutely! I read the book some years before the film.

I’d been doing V for Vendetta with Lana and Andy [Wachowski] in Berlin, and Natalie Portman was reading it and absolutely raving about it, so we all jumped on and read it. Quite quickly, it became one of the top 10 books I’ve ever read, in my entire life, right from the first sentence with that language. I really loved his love of language and his love of words, and his stylistic brilliance. It forced me to try to find those links, and there are little things there. You had to think about, “What are the actual links? What are the ideas and themes that are being repeated?,” and that was a thrill. So, when I knew that they were doing the screenplay, I was just fascinated to see how they were going to restructure it and what they were going to do. The first thing that Andy said was, “Well, this is told more than a mosaic,” rather than how David describes it as a whole lot of Russian dolls. All of the stories are tied up into one and they parallel each other, and I think that was a great way of making the film.

Did your history with the Wachowskis help reassure you that they could pull off something this epic? WEAVING: Yeah, for sure. Also, the idea of the three of them doing it was genius. Having a like-minded triumvirate of three people who so admire each other and are open to each other’s there, and gathering a cast together that was open to the excitement of doing something different and new, was really important. With this clearly being the kind of film experience you’ll never have again, were you able to enjoy that fact while you were actually shooting, or does it take finishing the project and looking back on it to fully appreciate it? WEAVING: All along the line, every time I come into contact with this material, I feel that way. I read the book and thought, “I have never read anything like this before.” When the first chapter just stops mid-sentence, suddenly you’re not in the South Pacific, you’re in Belgium.

With that book, I thought, “That’s the most extraordinary piece of work.” And then, the script came and I was like, “This is the most wonderful adaptation of that work, and how is this going to work as a film?” But, it was clear from the way in which it had been edited on the page that it was absolutely possible. And then, we got together with everyone and saw the images on the wall, at the first read-through, of the beginning of the film to the end, with characters, actors, scenes and art department stuff, and just walked through that with Lana, and heard Tom’s music, knowing that was going to wrap it all together. So, every step of the way at that first read-through, I knew this was a project that was something really radically different. We could feel it in the air. Actors weren’t reading one role. You were hearing everyone’s voice shift. The writer of the book was there, reading a small role, and the directors were all reading small roles. You knew that everyone there was doing something that hadn’t been done before. Every step of the way, that was in evidence.

I was always aware that it was quite radical in its conception, and very unconventional, in its structure, and really joyously unconventional in the way we had to deal with it, from day to day, as actors. And then, seeing the film for the first time, you went, “This has a visual beauty, scope and sweep like Lawrence of Arabia had, but there’s six of them. It’s like Lawrence of Arabia and 2001. It’s got all of these ideas, images and geographies involved.” Coming back together with this people and having such a good, strong connection with them is unusual, to that extent. Was there a character that you most excited about taking on and exploring? WEAVING: I think I was most looking forward to exploring Georgie, for a lot of reasons. He’s a voice inside something else’s head. Playing a character who’s not necessarily human, but is an idea and a concept and the rod inside your own head that stops you from liberating yourself is fascinating. We all get to this conflicted place where we argue with ourselves, internally, but I got to play one of those voices, and yet he’s on the screen.

The interesting thing about that character was how we were going to film that. If you see him as a human, then he becomes a human, and he’s not. If you see him come into the frame, it means he’s walking from somewhere. Where did he walk from? He doesn’t walk ‘cause he’s inside Zachary’s head. So, when you see something happening to Zachry, then you can see Georgie. When Zachry hears Georgie, he turns and Georgie is there ‘cause he can see him. And then, he’s taken back to the world. And then, he fears something else and Georgie can be there again. That, to me, was really fascinating. I talked to Lana and Andy about how to reveal Georgie and the insistent vocal nature of Georgie. In the book, everything Georgie says is in italics. His voice, his message and his drive is the important thing. That was great. And I just loved the language. I love David Mitchell’s language, and I love the language [of that world]. That language is the most rich, muscular and vital language, of all the languages in the piece, because that world has been the most stripped back and destroyed.

The language in the book that is the most minimal are the voices in Neo Seoul, where language is cheapened and dying. One of the great things is that, in the rebirth in the last story, that language is actually at its richest. You’ve played a number of physically transformative characters, in the past, but did this set of characters challenge you in new ways? WEAVING: The biggest challenge for me, as an actor, is to be informed, prepared and focused, at the same time. I had to just keep on working, prepping, reading and imagining, all the way through, but on the day, the biggest challenge is always to let go of all that and just be open to others. That’s what we do, as actor. We play with each other and we stimulate each other, and we have to be prepared to be stimulated by the other. That’s always my big challenge. I’m always trepidatious and excited about what I do. I wouldn’t choose to do it, unless I was really excited about it, in some way.

The most difficult thing for me was Nurse Noakes, not because it was a gender shift, but more to do with the time I didn’t have to get used to the massive prosthetic and fat suit. We didn’t actually have time to really test that. It wasn’t a nasty problem. That was just a fact. So, I had to jump in and trust that I could do it and it would be okay. There are always those sorts of technical challenges that you need to overcome. Was any of it harder than V for Vendetta, where you didn’t even have a face? WEAVING: One of the reasons I wanted to do V was because of that. He’s a masked man. That’s his character, and that’s what he does. That was very liberating. I had always loved doing mask work at drama school, so the opportunity to express from behind a mask and through a mask, when that mask is totally fixed, was a huge challenge. It’s a character who’s talking his head off, but you’re looking at a totally unchanging face. But with Noakes, the challenge was that, when you’ve got that amount of prosthetic on your face, how does your face move?

Those are technical challenges you want to try to overcome before you’re on camera, but sometimes the window of working that gets quite small. That’s when it’s wonderful to be in a group of actors who are all in the same boat. We were all doing the same thing. That spirit of bravery and jumping in was so palpable. That’s what we all did, and that was fun. Throughout your career, you’ve balanced doing memorable roles in bigger movies with smaller character-based projects. What do fans approach you about, most often? WEAVING: It depends on the person, really, and their experience of me. If you were living in Sydney and you went to the theater a lot, you’d just see me as a theater actor who works at the STC. And if you were someone interested in Australian film, not that there are many people like that in Australia, you would definitely know me as someone who does a lot of low-budget Australian films, playing pretty conflicted characters in contemporary urban or outback dramas. I tend to play flawed men with all sorts of weird weakness and aggressions.

But then, the majority of people outside of Australia would definitely know me from The Matrix or The Lord of the Rings because they’re the films that have reached the largest audience. If people have seen V for Vendetta, they may not know it’s me, anyway, because I’m in a mask. So, it depends on your experience with me, but certainly the character that most people would mention would be Agent Smith, I would say. We also talked to Weaving about Transformers, Red Skull, and The Hobbit. Click here for what he had to say . Cloud Atlas opens in theaters on October 26th. Related Content Hugo Weaving on The Matrix Reloaded - Film4 Film4 Hugo Weaving on The Matrix Reloaded Hugo Weaving on The Matrix Reloaded Sometimes, being "The One" isn't quite enough. When science-fiction adventure and cultural phenomenon The Matrix hit cinema screens in 1999, Keanu Reeves may have been the Hollywood star splashed across the posters, but the movie was virtually hijacked by Nigerian-born Australian actor Hugo Weaving as the deviously intelligent computer program Agent Smith.

Best known at that time for playing flamboyant transvestite Mitzi Del Bra in 1994's The Adventures Of Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert, Weaving delivered a distinctive movie villain and brought a sense of sly humour and idiosyncrasy to the role - despite having almost turned it down. "My agent told me about it, and it wasn't my kind of thing, so I said no; but later, when I read the script of the interrogation scene, I thought it was really funny, and I started thinking he could be an enjoyable part to play." Four years on from his apparent destruction at the end of the first movie, Agent Smith returned to plague Reeves' reluctant messiah Neo in The Matrix Reloaded. Weaving was delighted to return, and despite some initial doubts about signing up for the mammoth 270-day shoot ("I'd never repeated a character before and I was worried about just 'going through the motions'"), he was soon unconcerned about following up the massive success of the original.

"There's always some of that kind of pressure there," he says, "but The Matrix was conceived as a trilogy, so the sequel deepens and develops the story rather than just trying to out-do the first film." One of the biggest developments for Weaving was his character's new-found ability to duplicate himself like a computer virus, and in Reloaded's most spectacular sequence, Neo finds himself fighting for his life against scores of Agent Smith clones. "Unfortunately, it was just the one paycheque," laughs Weaving. "I thought it was a great idea and very funny in the script – but it was bizarre when we came to filming it. I started to see dummies and masks of Smith everywhere, and working with this team of 12 stuntmen all of whom were dressed like Smith. It took some getting used to. I had a good laugh when I saw the finished scene, though." The Matrix Reloaded was inevitably a box-office juggernaut, but to Weaving it's the themes of the Matrix movies that distinguish them from other action blockbusters. "Essentially, it's a titanic struggle between intuition and controlling intellect," he says, "and it's asking lots of important questions. Is choice an illusion?

How free are we?" Latest from Film4... Rock Hudson stars in Raoul Walsh's western, which traces the evolution of a Texan gunslinger. On Film4: 18 Jan 5:15PM A summary of the critics and film professionals who voted for the top 50 Horror films of the 21st Century Register with Film4.com Hugo Weaving doesn’t mind wearing a mask - TODAY.com Today.com Hugo Weaving doesn’t mind wearing a mask 2006-03-15T22:35:08.000Z comment () He’s been in the “Matrix” and “Lord of the Rings” trilogies, which grossed a mere $4 billion-plus in worldwide box office. Lines he’s uttered infuse the pop-culture lexicon. Yet, he’s pulled off being a successful movie actor while remaining relatively anonymous. “Shhh. Shhh,” Hugo Weaving hushes, laughing conspiratorially. That’s the way he likes it. The 45-year-old Weaving has always maintained that becoming famous or making it big in Hollywood was never a goal. And his career choices bear that out, typically low-budget Australian films.

In his latest movie, “V for Vendetta,” you never see his face. It’s hidden behind a mask — and he’s the title character! (These days much of his face is covered with a full beard for a stage production of Ibsen’s “Hedda Gabler” that he’s doing here with Cate Blanchett.) “I think,” Weaving says, “when your image becomes so big that it’s hard for a viewer to see a character, then I think you’re in danger as an actor of being unable to perform what you should be doing. And it becomes harder for you to successfully create another human being ... So the idea of playing this man in a mask and never being seen was wonderful.” ‘Mr. Anderson!’Mention Weaving’s name and you’re likely to get a blank look. But you’ll get instant recognition by reciting Agent Smith’s creepy salutation from “The Matrix.” You’ll hear it echoed in everyday life: A mailroom staffer — employing Weaver’s evil lilt — calls out to a friend, “Mr. Anderson.” Ditto a guy on the street, shouting to a pal down the block.

The Australian actor smiles when these recent evocations of someone he’s played are relayed to him. “Look, I loved Smith. I thought he was a great comic character. I thought he was a great film villain as well. But he’s also a villain who’s been written with such enormous humor. Larry and Andy [Wachowski, the brothers behind “The Matrix”] enjoyed writing that character enormously, and that’s the thing I responded to when I first read it — was how much fun it would be to play that man. Because he’s an agent of control, he’s a construct, he’s not a human being, he wears his own mask as well, really. He starts to kinda feel these emotions, and he has the most fantastic dialogue.” No doubt, Mr. Ander-- ... er ... Mr. Weaving. Paydays from the big-budget movies — including “LOTR,” in which he played the elf leader Elrond — give him the financial security to pursue other things creatively. “But I don’t really see it like that. They’ve certainly given me financial rewards. And I’m very grateful to those.

Thanks to ‘The Matrix’ particularly, I’ve been able to buy an old dairy farm about three hours’ north of Sydney. Katrina and I and the kids go up there very regularly,” Weaving says, referring to his partner of 22 years (they’ve never married) and their teenage son and daughter. He figures most of his work in the near future will be either on stage or in more small Australian movies. “And if I can from time to time work on something larger and better-paid, then fantastic. But ultimately it’s always going to come down to the script, and whether that script is something that sort of fires my imagination.” His creativity has been stoked by voicing the dog Rex in the animated “Babe” movies, and playing a drag queen in “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” a murder suspect in “The Interview” and a blind photographer in “Proof” (a 1991 film not to be confused with last year’s adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play).

‘More exciting than daunting’Now in “V for Vendetta” — starring Natalie Portman (in the role for which she shaved her head) — he’s got the male lead in a movie with more than a shoestring budget. Because he’s wearing an immutable full-face mask during the whole movie, Weaving concedes: “I have to say when I started, I thought ... ‘Well, this might not work. But, oh well, jump in and try to make it work.”’ James McTeigue, an assistant director on the “Matrix” films who’s making his directing debut with “V,” felt it would work “from the moment Hugo put the mask on.” “He has a theater background, which is important to the character. He also has a great physicality and a fantastic voice,” offers the protege of the Wachowskis, who wrote the “V” screenplay. Weaving’s character V has elements of the protaganists from “The Count of Monte Cristo,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” — even “Batman” with his flowing cape. “There’s a number of characters throughout literature and film history that he sort of echoes.

But he’s absolutely his own being as well,” Weaving says. “It was more exciting than it was daunting. And so if something’s more exciting than it is daunting, I always think, ‘Ooh, that’s quite good.” Weaving also was attracted to the movie since he thought it densely packed with ideas, and topical ones at that. Although the source material — a graphic novel — was written in response to Thatcherite Britain in the ’80s, he notes, it’s been rewritten and springs very much from today’s world. Critics already have addressed the film’s political themes, especially since V could be seen as T — for terrorist. The word terrorist is “used to such an extent actually that it’s almost become meaningless, I think. It’s an unhelpful label a lot of the time,” Weaving says. As he observes, it depends on who you are, what side you’re on, what you believe — as the old saying goes, one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter. “I certainly don’t advocate terrorism as a way of progressing and understanding people, nor do I believe labeling everything as a terrorist act is helpful either,” Weaving says.

“I think we need to look beyond those labels and try to understand when people do certain things what is it that brings them to perpetrate that stuff.”

Question: Which character did Hugo Weaving play in the film The Matrix?
Answer: Agent Smith