The Vendetta Behind 'V for Vendetta' (writer of comic weighs in on the movie)

The NY Times ^ | March 12, 2006 | David Itzkoff

[discostu]

He was a scratch comicbook writer at the time and nobody really thought he'd be one of the few who seperated himself from the masses as a writer to be read without regard to the title. He probably didn't have any kind of representation at the time (few comic writers do) so he signed on the dotted line to get a paycheck. But he does also say they beat him fair and square, he felt he got screwed but understands he signed on the dotted line so he learned from it and moved on. He's never tried to get those stories freed from DC, just himself.

[wallcrawlr]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1599470/posts?page=67#67

[wallcrawlr]

No way dude. The movie sucked.


(Homer on the phone): Yeah, Moe, that team sure did suck last night! They just plain sucked! I've seen teams suck before, but they were the suckiest bunch of sucks that ever sucked! ... I gotta go, my weiner kids are listening.

[Borges]

How would you know if you've never read his work? And the Hugo is an award given to Science Fiction Literature. It's quite prestigious.

[Shqipo]

I found it amusing that in The Constant Gardner (horrid book & movie) the female lead is ranting about American imperialism in Iraq when the book it was based on was written in 2000. Hollyweird just can't help its pitiful self.

[Chiapet]

I found it amusing that in The Constant Gardner (horrid book & movie) the female lead is ranting about American imperialism in Iraq when the book it was based on was written in 2000. Hollyweird just can't help its pitiful self.

I completely agree. One of the saddest and most stagnating developments major market film, IMO, is this tendency to re-contextualize literature (sometimes good lit and sometimes bad) to make it reflect current events. I think they believe it makes the movies more marketable, but they really just end up being mediocre and banal.

[Darkwolf377]

Look ,the movie is entertainment. People are just pushing their own political views into it.

You don't know very much about the director, Brian Singer. ;)

[Darkwolf377]

It's great that they are using the great original John Williams music for the new superman. That score is one of his very best.

It's a good, bombastic score, but as soon as I heard they were re-using it, I knew this would stink. I don't go to the movies to hear old scores re-used, and this is indicative of the creatively bankrupt Hollywood mentality. Granted, John Ottman is no John Williams, but the point is to try to rise to the challenge.

[Borges]

Bryan Singer didn't direct this film. He did the X men films.

[Borges]

At least they are using the score as is and not trying to 'modernize' it like the travesty that U2 pulled on Lalo Schiffrin's Mission Impossible theme.

[Darkwolf377]

Bryan Singer didn't direct this film. He did the X men films.

He directed Superman Returns, which is what I was refering to.

[Darkwolf377]

But the U2 version (which I liked0 was only played over the end credits; Elfman did a good job of using it in the score.

[Darkwolf377]

PS I cut and pasted the wrong clip from the article, for some reason; I made my comment in reference to the line about Superman looking like family entertainment.

[Borges]

My bad.

[Darkwolf377]

And the Hugo is an award given to Science Fiction Literature. It's quite prestigious.

Actually, it's not--it's kind of a joke. It has almost no credibility because it's just a fan award. Any award that keeps going to Lois McMaster Bujold isn't very prestigious.

[Spiff]

We went to see "V" with an expert in the genre. His conclusion was that most of the political tripe was filtered out of the movie, the special effects were spectacular, and left unexplained is why "V" happened to have immediate access to one of the Grand Chancellor's underground torture chambers.

He didn't have access to the Grand Chancellor's torture chambers. Evey wasn't captured by the government, but by V himself, in disguise. She was held in the chambers and "tortured" (water dunking, isolation, etc.) by V. The chambers were in V's underground hideout. V planted the story about the gay actress on the slip of paper in the cell to give Evey the strength to overcome her fear of death and torture so that she would become a defiant freedom fighter. He hated what he did to her, but he felt he had to do it to make her the fighter she wanted to become.

The politics in the film were kind of annoying, especially the over the top lionization of homosexuals, but they were not center to the story. Any oppressive government similar to the one depicted in the film, whether they're systematically exterminating Christians, Jews, homosexuals, or petty thieves for that matter should be brought down. The filmmakers' biases were showing pretty badly, but I don't think that they hurt the central story too badly.

[Darkwolf377]

Actually my bad, not yours, for cutting and pasting the wrong line. Damned technology! I am only this week getting my first laptop--high-tech for me is the doorknob and the light switch.

[Borges]

It's always reffered to as the highest award in the genre. Sort of like the Edgar Allan Poe award for mystery writers. I haven't followed the genre itself closely enough to dispute your point though.

[Centurion2000]

that's kewl.

That Burger King guy is just CREEPY

[Centurion2000]

"Even though you've been raised as a human being you're not one of them. They can be a great people Kal-El if they wish to be. They only lack the light to show the way. For this reason above all their capacity for good, I have sent them you... my only son "

Sounds almost like God talking to Christ