Eve Of The War

Something I've been very keen to discuss with you fellas here as most (all?) of you reside in the U.K. It was announced last week that the Wachowski Brothers (the Matrix guys) are going to be doing an adaptation of Alan Moore's "V for Vendetta" comic mini-series. They have the script done and have cast Natalie Portman as Evey. More info here:<br /><br /><a href='http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7809' target='_blank'>http://www.comingsoon.net/news/topnews.php?id=7809</a><br /><br />I remember some lively discussions on the old board about Spielberg changing the ending and other elements of his version of WOTW because the message of the original story would be too subversive for American movie audiences. So my question, for those who have read the comics (and if you haven't, don't read another word of this until you have done so), is how in the hell could Hollywood produce an even remotely faithful adaptation of a story in which the "hero" is, essentially, a domestic terrorist who brings down a corrupt government and sends the country into a state of anarchy? How are they planning to sell that message to American audiences? Do stories get any more subversive than "V?" Oh yeah, there's that little matter of it being set in futuristic totalitatian England as well...<br /><br />Now if they follow the examples of previous movies based on Moore's work, they just won't worry about being faithful to the source material. I have loved Moore's writing dating back to his Swamp Thing days and I would like nothing more than to see a movie that does him justice, but I just don't see any way this story could fly over here. The Wachowskis & Silver are certainly a good sci-fi team, but frankly I think I'd rather see them try to do Watchmen instead. It was Joel Silver that was the main studio guy who tried to get Watchmen made when Terry Gilliam was going to direct it.<br /><br />Anyone care to chime in on this?

For years I've been dreading a V For Vendetta movie, believing that Hollywood would completely miss the point and just churn out an Americanised superhero/action movie. Needless to say, Moore's work deserves much, much better.<br /><br />However, some recent developments concerning this movie do offer some hope. The Matrix sequels may have stunk, but they made truckloads of money, which may give the Wachowskis enough clout to fend off some of the inevitable studio interference.<br /><br />Also, filming is apparently due to commence in March in Berlin, which is as un-American a city as you can get (see Equilibrium, which was also shot there) and could make an interesting near-future London.<br /><br />And you can't go wrong with Natalie Portman.<br /><br />Interestingly, the planned release date is in November this year. Anyone want to bet that it's November 5th (a very significant date in Moore & David Lloyd's original series)?

The latest issue of Comics International reports that the movie will be set on an alternative Earth, where the Nazis won WWII and are still in power.<br /><br />Ho hum. A regretable but not entirely unexpected development. From Hollywood's point of view, Nazis are a handy, all-purpose, 'safe' group of villains: their beliefs and their actions were morally undefendable, so you can portray them as being totally evil without upsetting any religious/minority pressure groups (although there are still - frighteningly - Holocaust deniers, far-Right extremists and neo-Nazis out there, they rarely picket cinema screenings or attempt to raise a major protest via the media). <br />Also, the threat posed by the Nazis is seen as being in the past, because the Allies defeated them. Therefore we can watch the likes of Indiana Jones, Bulletproof Monk or Hellboy battle against them, safe in the knowledge that everything turned out alright in the end, and Hitler's dream of a one thousand year Reich thankfully remained just a dream. <br />This all means that Hollywood can have V going around blowing things up, and still portray him as a superhero as opposed to a terrorist (although you can probably forget about a cinema release in Germany - U.S. comic books featuring Nazi villains are not sold there, so I assume the same applies to films). <br /><br />Plus, by making the villains such a recognisable group of boo-hiss black hats ("Nazis. I hate those guys" to quote Dr. Jones), the movie avoids drawing any uncomfortable comparisons or parallels with any administration that is currently curtailing people's rights and civil liberties, spying on it's own citizens, and locking individuals up indefinitely without charge...