Newsmakers
March, 20 2006

Hugo Weaving, who stars in ‘V for Vendetta,’ says he likes his new rabbinical bearded look

Q&A: Hugo Weaving

This must be Weaving week. The Nigerian-born actor stars in both the new film "V for Vendetta" and a new production of "Hedda Gabler." He talked with NEWSWEEK's Nicki Gostin.

In "V," you filled in at the last minute.
Hugo Weaving, I was actually planting trees up at my property [in Australia], and [director] James McTeigue rang. They were almost four weeks into the shoot, and he said they were having some problems with James [Purefoy] and they made the decision to say goodbye to him, and was I interested and how quickly could I get to Berlin.

In the movie you have a mask on the whole time.
It was actually very important to get the right performance, because there were minute movements in the mask, and if they were out of sync with what I'm saying, it looked ridiculous.

Your costar, Natalie Portman, had a shaved head. I would have felt like rubbing it.
I was always doing that. It's a very pleasurable feeling. I don't know how pleasurable it was for her. She slapped my hand away a couple of times.

You did "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix." Geeks must stop you constantly.
At the moment, with the beard, not really. I have had some strange letters, but they were sort of tragic rather than geeky.

The beard looks rabbinical.
Do you think? The mustache is a bit Nietzsche—a bit too big for my liking. But I like the beard.

Does food get stuck in it?
Oh, yeah. Hopefully, people will say, "Hugo, you've got food stuck." I'm constantly wiping my face after every mouthful.