Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 1960 in Nigeria) is an Australian film and stage actor. He is best known for his roles as Agent Smith in the Matrix trilogy, Elrond in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Megatron in the Transformers series, and V in V for Vendetta. His latest role as Inspector Abberline in The Wolfman has captured our attention and so GetFrank got some questions regarding his role answered.

As this character is based on  a real detective – did you do much research?

Hugo Weaving: He is based on a real man so I needed to do research and find out about him. Most of that information was interesting to reference but it wasn’t something I could necessarily bring to the role. While he is a historical figure it’s not a story of his life or an exploration of the real Inspector Abberline. But what is important about Abberline is that he adds another dimension to the film. When Benicio’s character mentions that he was the Inspector that worked on the Jack the Ripper case I think it gives more depth to his character.

It looked like you had fun with this character even though this is a serious film.

Hugo Weaving:  When the writers write well you can enjoy the characters and that enjoyment transmits into the performance. The writing was intelligent; it understood the genre and the requirements. I liked Abberline because there was a lot that he didn’t say which was more interesting than what he did say. He was a man who was withholding information as a good detective does.

But he is also an outsider looking in isn’t he?

Hugo Weaving:  Yes he’s wry. He is quite sure of his world and his world view and he realises he is surrounded by superstitious villagers who are obviously ignorant but in the end his realistic scientific view proves to be the one that doesn’t work.

Do you remember the original Wolfman?

Hugo Weaving: I didn’t grow up watching those movies. I wasn’t a huge fan unlike Benicio, these films were huge for him in his childhood, but I did see the original film more recently. I think it’s a film that is ripe to be revisited.

Do you see the whole Wolfman story as being symbolic?

Hugo Weaving: I think you have to. In order to make a film successful you need to understand why these myths evolved, what they express about our fears and what is it you are actually trying to explore in human nature. Otherwise the film like a lot of horror movies can be quite vacuous. I think as a writer, director or actor in the film you have to engage with the serious underpinnings of the film in order to make it work.

What do you think a werewolf represents?

Hugo Weaving: The animalistic instinctive nature of a human being. We are animals and we have those feelings inside us that we try to restrain and control within the society that we live in. We have rules and constraints but at the same time we are animals and when we are cornered we do lash out, we do kill each other and we do look out for number one. It’s about those instinctive forces within us and it’s about our fears of the unknown.