My selections are films I wish I had the chance to work on. Films that I loved that often have specific behind-the-scenes details that would be interesting to experience. Besides being a Great movie, my reason for wanting to work on V For Vendetta is very basic. I want to know how much credit actually goes to The Wachowskis.
The credited director is James McTeigue, who was the 1st AD on The Matrix Trilogy and Speed Racer and whose directing career aside from this is really poor. Meanwhile, the Wachowskis Produced the film, Wrote the script and are credited with running the 2nd Unit. The editing and visuals are indistinguishable from a Wachowski project, and they are known for extensively storyboarding their scripts like a graphic novel so financiers and crew can understand the visual tone. (Plus, there’s the graphic novel for additional reference.)
I’m so curious because not only are their fingerprints all over this, but it’s the 2nd best film associated with them, a true evolution of their style from the first Matrix. Both films contain many long speeches, and here the film cuts to other characters and stories, advancing the plot while we listen to the ideas. As the film crescendos, the intercutting becomes more abundant. The last half-hour is told almost completely in voice-over. This could destroy a film, but the editing is masterful, building the complex story to a very satisfying conclusion. The whole film is a technical marvel. It’s crisply shot, with a wonderful balance of black, white and red. The Art Direction is comic book futuristic, artistic and believable all at once, and the sound design is as good as I’ve heard.
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