ABC Sydney
November 21, 2008
Adam Spencer

 

AUDIO LINK

 

It's been a while since we've seen him in a big budget film, but next year will see Hugo Wallace Weaving star in The Wolfman, a remake of the 1941 film of the same name, also starring Benicio del Toro and Anthony Hopkins.

He's no stranger to the Hollywood blockbuster - think Agent Smith in The Matrix films, and Elrond, the Elven Lord in the Lord of the Rings. But he is equally known for his support of the Australian film industry and small budget films including Little Fish, Proof and The Interview.

Hugo recently joined Adam Spencer in the 702 studios to talk not only about his career, his early life as a nomad, his thoughts on teh Australian film industry and his interesting introduction to vegetarianism. He remembers, at a very young age having ethical problems with the actual chewing of meat.

"I actually had emotional problems with the idea of it as a young child, but it wasn't really until I had my own children, and my son at age 4 said, 'Dad, is chicken chicken?' And I was suddenly propelled back to my own childhood, my son couldn't let it go so I had to say to him, 'Look, some people don't eat meat'."

So his son then and there became a vegetarian and the rest of the family soon followed.

Hugo explained to Adam that these days he tries to do one big film, one small film and a play each year.

He also acknowledged there may be some in the industry who don't ask him to do their films because he's considered 'too big'.

"There's a strange sort of idea that once you take one step up this perceived ladder, you can't go back down, that as the budget gets bigger, you've got to keep working on bigger budget films and I've never subscribed to that crazy notion."

Use the audio links under the picture to download or stream the conversation to your computer.