Hugo Weaving has been discussing his experiences working on the new HOBBIT film, as well as TRANSFORMERS and CAPTAIN AMERICA, with some pretty interesting insights, the best of which is that he never actually met Michael Bay. Oh and if you fancy a drinking game, have a swig every time you see the word ‘Hobbit’ in the final section of this piece. Regarding those robots in disguise and his relationship with their director, he said:
‘My link to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him. I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really.’
So it’s safe to say he doesn’t really give a toss about TRANSFORMERS, which you can tell from his voice work as Megatron, who sounds like the most bored robot in cinematic history.
‘That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially. I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way.’
We can assume that he won’t be back for TRANSFORMERS 4, which I think everyone will be happy about. But will he be back in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER or the AVENGERS sequel?
‘I think the tendency, with those films would be to probably not bring a villain back. They might for THE AVENGERS but I didn’t think I’d be in CAPTAIN AMERICA 2 or 3. I don’t think Red Skull will be there. And it’s not something I would want to do again. I’m glad I did it. I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn’t want to force someone to do it, if they didn’t want to.’
So is one of Hollywood’s most prolific villains all done with being a blockbuster antagonist?
‘I think I’ve done my dash with that sort of film. It was good to do it and try it out, but to be honest, it’s not the sort of film I seek out and really am excited by. As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great. It stretches you in different ways. But, I increasingly like to go back to what I used to always do, which is to get involved with projects that I really have a personal affiliation with.’
He is clearly talking about smaller, independent productions, but there’s no doubt he has a personal affiliation with the LORD OF THE RINGS franchise, to which he will be returning with the upcoming HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY. He is taking something of an unexpected journey himself, as he didn’t realise there would be so many films to do.
‘I found out THE HOBBIT was going to be a trilogy quite recently, when everyone else found out about it. Originally, when I said goodbye to Pete (Jackson) in L.A., I said, “I’ll see you on THE HOBBIT,” and he said, “Well, I’m not doing THE HOBBIT.” And then, it was, “We are doing THE HOBBIT, but I’m not going to direct it.” And then, it was, “Well, I am directing it now.” And then, it was, “Actually, we’re doing THE HOBBIT in two films.” So, when I went to shoot it out there, there were two scripts and two films. Now, I’ve just found out, not that long ago, when it was announced. He said, “Well, we’ve got all this fabulous material and these wonderful people.” They hadn’t filmed the final battle sequence yet, which would have been at the end of 2. For a number of reasons, they decided that there are three films in there. I hope there are. I don’t know.’
THE HOBBIT (if you were doing that drinking game you must be absolutely wankered by now) AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY is directed by Peter Jackson and stars stars Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch, Andy Serkis, Luke Evans, Evangeline Lilly, Elijah Wood, Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Richard Armitage, Orlando Bloom, Christopher Lee, Aiden Turner, Ian Holm, Billy Connolly, and Lee Pace. It will be released on 14th December.
Source: Collider
Rob Burch
Oct 15, 2012 at 2:09 pm
Rather a shame about Transformers, cos I thought he was well cast as Megatron, for what it’s worth.
Wonder if we’ll see him tackling a rom-com next…
A
Oct 15, 2012 at 11:32 pm
They hadn’t filmed the final battle sequence yet, which would have been at the end of 2. >>> Is this the Battle of Dol Guldur? Hmmmm. And then I heard somewhere that Cumberbatch (The Necromancer) is not going back to NZ to film. Interesting.