Screen Time: V For Vendetta

After covering books one through three of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel V For Vendetta, we are getting into the 2005 film adaptation, directed by James McTeigue, written (and perhaps shadow-directed) by the Wachowski Sisters, and starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving. We'll talk about this being a rare case where the film may be better than the book, and what changed from the page to the screen.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome back to Popcorn Book Club. This week we are
going in for some screen time talking the V four
Vendetta film adaptation from two thousand five, directed by James McTeague,
written by the Wachowski sisters and also a sort of
people and they know. I think it was sort of
shadow directed by the Wachowski sisters because it has some
of their sort of like visual flares and they were

(00:26):
like Unit two directors. But all that to say, vitam
movie starry Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving s V and
I'll go on the record as saying it's my most
basic opinion, but I really like this movie. I also
like it. I will say though, since I've seen this
movie many times, including once a couple of months ago. Uh,

(00:48):
I think that after reading it, after reading the graphic novel,
it definitely shifted my perspective of it in terms of
looking at it as not just a movie that I like,
but also as an adaptation. And one of the things
that comes in very early on is the idea of
like romance. And in that very first opening scene where
we see Guy Fox being hanged, Uh, there's the like,

(01:10):
but what of the man? And we see the woman
who's like his wife or whoever in the crowd, and
I'm like, oh, I don't care for that. But like
watching it again, I was like, I don't think we
needed to start with this. I think we could have
started with the two of them getting ready. I think
that this was unnecessary. Yeah, I will say where I
think the biggest misstep of this movie is is the

(01:32):
little romance between V and e V. I don't think
it needs it, but felt felt very like an unnecessary
Hollywood thing. But other than that, I think this is
better than the book. I think it's cleaner. I think
it makes more sense than last week. I think that
it's better than the book, and I do stand by that.
But I definitely did see it in a different light
in terms of adaptation, And there were some things that

(01:53):
I was like, Oh, it makes so much sense that
they did this instead of that. There were other things
where I was like, that really does, Like Alan Moore
is kind of right. This does really change the way
that the thesis is perceived. And if you know, Alan
Moore at the end doesn't have his name in the credit,
It just says from the novel. Illographic novel illustrated by

(02:14):
David Lloyd, it doesn't He's like, no, yeah, he just
disavowed himself. He was like, I ain't write this. I
don't know what this trash is. But I did not
write it. I mean it's a bold stance, like i'd
be like, I hate it. He I didn't he I thought.
He refused. He didn't watch it either. He just read
the screenplay. I read it and like was like, I

(02:36):
hate this, Which it was funny to me because I
my reaction to this movie was I loved it. I
thought the script and the adaptation from a script perspective
was a plus, like just so like taking out all
of the ideas and streamlining and making it really compelling

(02:58):
and really making it about V. I thought the directing
was a little B movie, Like I think I wish
the Wachowskis didn't just shadow directed. I wish they directed
directed it. I know that you mean be like A
versus B. But I was thinking it was very a
lot of similarities to be movie storied, a lot of

(03:21):
the same motifs and themes. Um. Yeah, I think it
was like no offense to the director, but it felt
like almost a director trying to be the witch. How
skis and wasn't quite as adept to be fair, I mean,
James mctigue has not had a long career after this movie.
His biggest credit up until this movie was assistant director

(03:45):
on Star Wars Episode two, Attack of the Clones, a
beloved movie by all movie goer. This was this was
his first feature film. I think it was cool that
the wowskis when I looked it up, because I was like,
why did they direct this? And I got very up
in arms about it. I was like, Oh, they didn't
want to. They wanted a break and wanted to just
kind of direct from the side and maybe probably get

(04:07):
more sleep. Um, so they brought up their first a
d which is a cool thing to do. But h
I really like Alan Moore hated it so much when
I thought there were so many little love notes to
the book in this movie. They're just all these wonderful
easter eggs, like like the dolls in Prothrow Shower where

(04:29):
they don't talk about how he's an avidult calender, but
like if you've read the book, you know, and it's
a fun little nod. Or the show girls in their
show girl costume on Dirty d Tricks Show and you
also reference they reference, Um, there's a little tiny little
clip of Storm Saxon. Yeah, and I do. I think

(04:50):
if you watch it for a second, you see that
the villain is like a really um racist caricature of
an Arab person, which does feel like into thousand five,
And I mean that was a little more bush like
bush era what the racist villain absolutely would be on
a show like that. I particularly liked this adaptation for

(05:15):
the character choices that were made, like letting Ev have
a lot more agency, putting her in a position as
someone who works in the like state media news. UH station.
Also loved the choice of how V was directed and
how he's like much more charismatic, much more like kind

(05:36):
of devilish and fun. And I also liked the choice
that they made for Finch to to actually like let that,
like the very final panel in the book now feels
appropriate for the Finch that was depicted in the movie. Yes,
this person who is like has been working under the
thumb of this like this terrible authoritarian government and is

(06:00):
starting to see how bad they are and is trying
to piece together the puzzle and in the end makes
the choice to let e V send that train. Yeah,
I loved that, and like the fact that she frames
it as hope I think really gives me chills. I
will get to it, but I the end of this movie,

(06:21):
when everyone's removing their maths and we get which I
always whisper quick flashes of her parents and of a
Valerie and of Gordon. Oh, I'm getting chills just saying it.
I find such a such a whamp. I'm like, Oh,
it's so good. They're all there and he's there, and
there I am. And it's an idea, it's effective, effective,

(06:47):
it's super cathartics at the cathartic ending that we wanted
from that we talked about last week of just like
there's hope, and also V goes out the way that
V wants to go out. M yeah, So I really
love that they make e v older. I think it
is weird that she's sixteen in the graphic novel. I

(07:09):
am uncomfortable with it, especially when she gets into that
intense sexual relationship in book two. Uh. But something else
that I really like. I love the scene where VS
introduced and where EV is introduced to V. Because as
I was reading the latter half of the graphic novel,
I was like why why do I like V Like
I don't think I do. And in the movie watching

(07:31):
the movie again, I was like, oh, that's why I've
always liked this character, because he's definitely still a little
like not all they are all the time and doesn't
think the way that I think we would think, as
you're lay people who are not theater people who took
what cyclass. But like in that scene where he does
his like monologue with all the vs and in view

(07:53):
of thisissitude, but I did three vs, I cannot do
the whole thing. And there was a point I was like,
I'm gonna learn this when I was like twenty, I'm
not gonna learn. But I love like when Evie asks
him who are you? And he says who is? But

(08:15):
the form following the function what and what I am
is a man in a mask? And then she's like, right,
I can tell that He's like right, I'm just saying
mask who they are? Like I love that, Like it's
like the Brits say they got good Bana, yeah, and
sand totally right that. Like he is way more fun
and funny in this than he is in the graphic novel.

(08:39):
I also really we're talking character changes I really love
what they do with Gordon, who's played by my favorite.
He's basically an invention for the film. The only similarity
is he's, you know, an older man who Evie comes
to for like protection and safety. But in the film,

(08:59):
if you haven't seen, in that, Gordon is a host
of a television program and he's famous and as money. Yeah,
he's laurened Well and he but he hosts the show.
He's Stephen Colbert, he's more. He's more Stephen Colbert. Yeah,
and he In the first night that Eve's out on
the streets, she wasn't trying to work her first night

(09:20):
as a prostitute. She was going on a date to
visit uh Dad Gordon Dietrich at his house, Daddy Dtric
at his house. Um. But we find out that he
sort of invites her as a front, that he is
a closet gay man, and that he you know, is
a member of this party, but is um secretly rebellious.

(09:41):
He has a copy of the Koran, he has banned art,
and eventually he's arrested and killed in a way that
maybe if someone who works in media, I found so
affecting because you sometimes think that like money or fame
or at least like public attention will save you. It's
very much. I mean that he was like he thought

(10:03):
that he was going to have to do a boring
fund phraser of five fine after doing a show that
made fun of the Chancellor. And I know you will
note I think it's viscerally scary to see someone like
that then get his uh it's not come up, and
but then get it made. That was like the moment
where I'm like, oh, this government is fucking scary. And

(10:23):
I felt that fair so viscerally because he was someone
with what should have been power but then was made powerless. Yeah.
I do also feel like I should point out Daniel
where my husband works for a talk show. For a
very long time, he worked for Cool Bear, and every
time he has seen the show that Dietrich puts on,

(10:47):
he points out that it is a terrible show. It's
very dub and done to Benny Hill music, but it's effective.
It's very no. No, yeah, you know, I've seen Monny
Python like I could have done a lot better. Um
so yeah, So Danny Ditrice puts on this um appallingly

(11:08):
bad like vaudeville sketch making fun of the Chancellor, and
I think that's actually really effective because I think to
any modern audience, that show is very bad um and
everybody in their society loves it, like that is the
most rebellious thing they have seen in decades in the

(11:28):
wildly subversa by their standards. I think it's intentionally bad.
I know, my husband just thinks the people making this
movie had no idea what talk shows are in the
head indeed never It's interesting that you said decades because
what's really weird about this movie and watching it again,
the timeline for how long they've been under this dictatorship
was much shorter than I had imagined it in my head. Yeah,

(11:51):
they were still making regular No, it was less because
in Valerie's thing, because the years have been shifted obviously
for the film, because the film came out in two
thousand five, So they were like, we're not going to
set this in the nineties. This is I think it'll
resonate more if we said it in the future, which
is set in UM. So she says, in two thousand five,
I came out to my parents or whatever, and then

(12:13):
in two thousand I think fifteen was when she was
when she was taken but we know, but we know
that maybe they only came for gay people later, because
Evie's parents were taken when she was when she was twelve,
and we can assume that she's probably twenty two now
are younger. But so I I assumed maybe like they
came for political dissidents first and then it just got

(12:36):
worse and worse worse. And also I think we also
have to assume that Valerie was hiding for a while,
that they maybe weren't public about their relationship. I mean,
Valerie was also a movie star. Yea, Valerie might have
had the protection that comes from being a wealthy white
woman in almost any society for a while until she didn't.

(12:58):
Much Like Gordon Dietrich, that whole that whole thing made
me cry. It's so beautifully so the VALERIEU. The Valerie
sequence is maybe one that is the closest to the novel,
and I think it really works. What do you guys think?
I love verbatim from there were They were just like

(13:22):
slight changes that I noticed having read it very recently.
It was like, oh okay, But I think that they
were changes that were meant to honor and uplift the story,
not to take away from it. I think generally the
changes in the movie were made to honor and uplift
the story. To me, as people who really loved the graphic,
I love it. It's very clear they love it. I mean,

(13:44):
I love the choice to of like getting like going
back and forth between Valerie and also e V like
going through the motion or being tortured and like coming
back to the story every like. I loved that sequence.
Also loved the outfits that those lesbians wore to come
out to her parents. I was like, this is what

(14:04):
you think. This is amazing. These outs are insane, seeing
like when was this movie made two thou five, like
two thousand five dystopian lesbian clothes? I was like, nailed it,
loved it. There was a tiny thing that I realized

(14:27):
watching it again this time, because again this is probably
like the fifth or hey, the fifth v um but
at least the fifth time I've seen it. Uh, there was.
He says that the notes were passed to him the
same way that they were passed to her in the cell,
which I'm like, cool, cool, cool, And then I remember

(14:47):
that his entire body was burned in a fire. Where
were the notes made of toilet? Paper. He but he's
the one who set the fire, so maybe he oh yeah,
he set that fire. So and then he emerged through
it and his entire body was burnt. Maybe he'd been
it's paper, Maybe he hit nose pieces. He wanted to

(15:08):
say that, Remember I said, I imagine he read like
hundreds of times. I feel like put it in he
was collecting things. He put a little too. We put
the two of his butt right before the But I
will say into that end, I really liked the detail
of seeing these hands, Like I thought that was a
really good, creepy but perfect moment of like seeing the

(15:33):
hands and because that's all you need to understand is
like that he is not the man behind this mask.
And then it kind of puts that to rest and
in a way that is like delicate and like you
see her at first kind of strike back and then
have this sympathy and like wanting to know more, and
and it gives you that point of interest of like

(15:54):
what did happen to him? If you hadn't read the book. Um,
I really thought so many of the details that enriched
V in this in this movie really made me love
V a lot more. And to that end, I want
to talk about Hugo Weaving. Um we stand stand Hugo.

(16:18):
I feel like we were talking about this on our thread,
but just to bring listeners in that like who was it?
I haven't pulled up um that James pure Purifoy Purefoy
was hired to play V but then he couldn't get
into the mask stuff and was fired and now and
then he believing who played the villain in the matrix?

(16:39):
Who that in that performance in itself I think is
just completely underrated. Um and he was an LTR came
in and it was like I can take use my
mask work from and I'm like, great, we have a
nerdy theater theater major coming in playing V. It is perfect. Um.

(16:59):
I still felt the real theater major annoying theater major.
Flair I wrote at some point when he was fun,
he was putting up all those dominoes. I was like,
I was like, the dominoes are just for him, and
weeks weeks putting up those dominoes. Do you know how
long it takes putting up as it takes a really

(17:21):
long time. I read on the like Tribuna on IMDb
that it took thousands of hours for multiple people to
put together those dominantes. They were experts. They were domino experts.
Is to be a domino expert, I don't think so.
And also I will say the dominoes are lifted directly

(17:42):
from the graphic novel, but it was a much less
elaborate set up. In the graphic novel, they were like, oh,
we're just going to do the outline and then the circle,
like we're good. Yeah, they filled it in. I got
different colors filling it in, gonna knock it down, like
was in of hours. I mean, how many times I'm

(18:02):
just thinking proper prop work. He didn't even call Evie
in like, hey, even look at this, look at this,
this is gonna be really cool. Look look, I know
I know that I'm like I don't live my life
for other people, and like you should try like doing

(18:22):
things just for you more. But if I set up
all those dominoes, I would definitely like call my mom
like yeah, he did good job. I'd be proud of myself.
And it's like, I want to say, it's weird that
he doesn't just for himself. But in this particular instance,
I was like I don't get it, Like this is

(18:43):
elaborate Okay, I have to go set up thousands of
dominoes just for me. I'll be back slightly back to

(19:04):
the film. I think the movie makes a very strong
choice to want to tie everything up in a much
neater package than the book does, where first there's the
his first main announcement at Jordan Tower is like the
day after I guess, the day of November five, and
he says, in one year, this is what's going to happen.
I'm gonna do this. So the entire movie has the

(19:26):
entire timeframe of one year. But also and also maybe
they was smart and screenwriting just put a clock on it.
But also the most like come together thing that I
think they do is something totally different that's not in
the book. But the idea of this St. Mary's virus

(19:49):
that there was there there are these these testing facilities,
uh lark Hill, like these concentration camps, but at these
concentration camps, the thing that the test saying that they
were doing on v which wasn't really specified in the
graphic novel, if I recall, was we find out in
the film was genetic warfare, not genetic viral warfare, which

(20:12):
is like a now illegal under the Geneva convention, but
they were they were coming up with what they thought
would be the next Adam bomb, which was a a
virus as a weapon, So that is specifically what they
were testing at this place where v was. And then
we find out or the detective discovers that the government
actually used this St. Mary's virus on their own. People

(20:34):
said it was Islamic extremists and then used that to
overthrow the government, which is a not so I mean,
it's it's a little bush to nine eleven, but in
not so veiled uh connection though to like, well, when
there's an act of extreme terrorism from an outside force,

(20:54):
government consolidates power under nationalist identity, like that is something historically,
I mean. And also that they had the cure too,
that was the big part of it. It would be
crazy if they called it something like the China virus
or something, right, Oh yeah, well that would be topical.
I mean that whole part when they were showing the
newspapers and it was like it was eight thousand day,

(21:17):
the government today thousand, and it was just like, oh
even in like the wildest imagination of the wachowskis that
like eighty thousand dead to a government would would be
like ruining. Not imagine if people found out that the
government had done nothing and they were like, we loved

(21:40):
those guys, fought them in for another term. I literally
had to take a nap after I saw that. I
was like, I can't. I just paused the movie and
took a nap because I was like that to people
to like hearing a film to reference like you can't
leave quarantine, I was like, I know, a real bummer.

(22:05):
It also made me very sad because the government like
specifically probably like targeted the St. Mary's School because like, oh,
an attack on children is so Irish. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah.
It turns out there are gonna be a lot of
people being like you should open up St. Mary's like that.
I was thinking, like, oh, just like open up school.
It's no big deal. That's it's everything is worse than

(22:28):
any dystopian director coal To possibly imagined. Yeah, well I
thought it was interesting also how there was I mean,
Alan Moore complains that it's very American and not British
the way he wanted it to be. But I did
think I was just not a great not It's funny
to me that I used to think that like I

(22:48):
was like, yeah, she's doing it and watching it at
this time. I was like, she's trying, love you girl,
but that she needed a better dialect coach. Yes, But
what I was gonna say was there's this scene and
where Creedy is talking to Finch and he's basically accusing
Finch of doing his job poorly on purpose because he
sympathizes with the terrorists. And he's like, well, your family's Irish, right,

(23:11):
It's terrible what St. Mary's did to the Irish, And
there is like a lot of subtle not I mean
it's not subtle, but there's a lot of like racism
towards the Irish. Even before prothero dies, he's talking about
his Irish lighting director of photography Patty. Yeah, he calls
him a Patty. He's like, I don't want to see
him there. Get rid of him. He doesn't know how

(23:32):
to light me. If you don't get a new DP tomorrow,
things are gonna be bad for you. And I'm like,
things are about to be real bad for you. I mean,
you wish you weren't racist in your last moment to
find new people to be racist Melissa Place. Oh, just
while we're on Pro throw him in the shower with

(23:53):
his massive screens all around him, Like what, I just like,
does he loved it to himself? Yes? Right, he's probably
Musk has a bathroom like that, just like yeah, yeah, yeah,

(24:14):
why would you need it if you're not going to
jerk off in the shower exactly? I mean, even if
he's not physically jerking off, he is emotionally jerking off
to the idea of him being the voice of England
and but alternate idea that he is more charitable than
he deserves. Maybe he can't stand to be alone with
his own thoughts, um, Like you know, do you ever

(24:38):
have that thing for you have a lot of anxiety
about like things going on, like you just need the
television on in the backroom that he's mouthing the words
the thought of like you know, maybe he doesn't want
to be alone when he takes a huge ship. Maybe

(25:04):
he's he's guilty, Maybe he feels guilty and doesn't want
to think about I mean, I think you're not wrong
these I mean there are elements of trip to that
where it's like, yeah, these are people who don't want
to think critically. They want to distract themselves constantly well,
and I think that, like, it's interesting looking at this
from the perspective of it being made in two thousand five,
before social media was the behemoth that it is now.

(25:27):
Having all these screens in your bathroom does seem like bananas,
But usually most of us have a screen in the
bathroom with us now. Yeah, And like two thousand five,
my Space existed. Facebook was just about to like become
a thing, but only in collegests. Yeah, it was about

(25:48):
it was. It existed, but it was about to become
like a revolution and destroy democracies. Revolution. You're talking there
because I joined Facebook, I think in two thousand six. Yeah,
And that was when you still needed to be a
part of a network. And it was a big deal
to us when they when they introduced no network, when

(26:09):
anyone could join Facebook destroyed Facebook, did you guys? Yeah? Yeah,
did you guys? Like um when Evie Uh, A thing
that she does in the movie that she doesn't do
in the book is when she opens the window for
v for the pedophile priest that she's like, help me,
I'm the terrorists, I want immunity. Someone's gonna murder you,

(26:30):
and he thinks she's playing along. I thought that that
from a screenwriting point in the moment you're like, shut up, Evie,
But from a screenwriting standpoint and also from like a
narrative standpoint, it does it feels relatable where you're like, yeah,
she has no loyalty to this insane guy. And also
then it gives her like a chance to to grow,
to to get on board with his ideology because yeah,

(26:54):
that maybe is what I would do with you know,
he let me out and it's a murderer guy. I
think that was one example of how the screens play
really worked for me in points when the directing did not,
because I there was something about like the way it
was staged and directed and shot that I was like
not in it emotionally with her, Like you weren't just

(27:16):
with her in that moment. You didn't see moments of
her right before feeling terrified, Like it didn't tell that
story to me in that moment, So it felt very jarring.
And maybe it was also because I just read the
book and was expecting a different outcome, But like from
a storytelling perspective, it felt very grounded, like that's what
a young woman would do who felt trapped and had
no loyalty to this man. But uh, but yeah, I

(27:38):
didn't fully buy it. You're right. It would have been
so much better if we got like a moment where
she's like scared and like, yeah, so we see that
internal thing. A good point, thank you, rebuttal Uh. It
felt to me more calculated in terms of she had
Daddy Dietrick's address on a slip of paper in the

(27:59):
shadow gallery and we see her looking at it and
she's like, you know what, you can do this, and
then she takes a moment to try and then be like, oh,
v you know, I want to help more. How can
I help? So it felt more like a woman in
a domestic abuse situation trying to get out, and then
in that moment with the priest, she's like very hurried

(28:21):
because she's like, you have like twelve seconds to help
me get out, and I've been planning this very carefully
and I need you to be better than you are
in this moment and help me. But also why why
did she open the window for? Yeah? That felt confusing
to me. That was the one thing I couldn't wrap
my head around. Yeah, and I because yeah, I just

(28:43):
felt like I didn't buy it from an emotional perspective
like I wasn't with her and worried for her in
that moment. I was more like, Oh, this is a turn,
you know, and not a way that she also cres
on the news all the time, like when she's I
know she's wearing pigtails. But when she says ef Hammond,

(29:05):
presumably he has seen many pictures of Ef Hammon. I
love that His response is like, Oh, I like this
game this is. But it's also like I'm just gonna
keep pettified context thing where it's like, if you assume
someone came from the agency you're you're in that you're primed. Okay.
I've been in situations like that where it's like I've

(29:28):
seen a person's face a bunch of times. Dana, there
was a time in college where we were waiting for
a shuttle together and you were talking to this guy
who had just written a very controversial bed for the newspaper,
and the whole time you were talking to him, I
didn't realize it was him, and he kept looking at
me like he was scared I was going to get
him at him because a lot of black people were
managing at that point. Um The op ed basically implied

(29:51):
the only white men with land should be able to
He was like, yeah, we set that's like when he left,
and you were like, oh, that was I'm not going
to say his real name. I forgot his don't say
I know it, but I'm not going to say it.
But like that was writing mcgriderson and I was like, oh, yeah,

(30:11):
that was so that. I think I'll give him that.
He was expecting a child prostitute in that moment and
not a terrorist. I mean, yes, I also think that
is a little bizarre because in the book, v actually
is very young, Like the fact that she's sixty means
that she is a child. She would still look like

(30:32):
a child. Badily Portman looks twenty five and she cures pedophilia.
She's very pretty, and she's dressed in pigtails. Sure yeah,
and he's like this is great. When that camera whips
to reveal I was like that this is this is
a stretch. I'm sorry, but this is actually this is

(30:55):
too five. Did have that costume ready to go? Yeah,
that's ready to go. And then there's that moment later
in the movie where he dresses up like another person
and it's like surprised, like it felt very much like
he's the master of disguise. It also felt like he Yeah,

(31:15):
not only Portman's pigtail output. It felt like it was
from another movie, Like I was like, oh, this is
like a Hunger Game style where I was like, didn't
like American Pie, Like what movie is that? I will say,
I will defend the movie by saying that is an
almost exact replica of the outfit that wears, but it

(31:39):
doesn't fit the aesthetic. This graphic novel was written in
the eighties. I also feel like her betraying him in
that way does change the like his motive, like the
way he betrays her later by like tricking her into

(32:00):
thinking she's held prisoner, Like there is something. I don't
have a strong opinion of whether that's good or bad,
but it is like it's not just this. Yeah, the
change of him, of her trying to betray him is like,
and then it feels a little vindictive that v did
this thing to her until little punishment. The fact that

(32:24):
she did actively run away and then he captures her
back and tortures her just in the abstract is gross. Yeah,
you say that in those words in that order, because
it also and this is why I also didn't like
this choice. Is I really liked in the movie after

(32:44):
she goes through the process of false imprisonment and shaves
her head and is freed, and the rain and all
that stuff is the rain is beautiful and that whole sequence.
Um when she leaves on her own volition, is like,
I'm what are you gonna do? You're a one to woman,
and she's like, I'm not afraid anymore, and she just
walks away without a real plan. Did she go? Yeah?

(33:07):
Where does she go? I don't know where she goes?
But but I but I felt like, to me, the
more emotionally honest thing for her to do is to
stay under v and not try to escape with the
priest because she is this wanted woman and she was
afraid then. So I don't know, I actually agree with

(33:27):
you where I think a better way to have played
it is that she is in on the plan. She
did not prep it. She's not going to betray him
with Gordon. You know, Gordon's dad dressed the way they
prep that. But in the moment when she's with the priest,
she has a freak ap. Yes, But then I think
they could have played that a little more grounded in
a way that still makes her feel like she has

(33:48):
agency and she's a three dimensional character. But I mean
to go back to what you said. When she does
leave V's lair and finds in a like where did
she go? How did she get that other apartment? How
did she get the like cinder block bookcase that she
put together? She does say fake, I D. We just
don't know how she gets says fake idea and that
people don't I think there's she's they said something like,

(34:11):
oh when people people don't see me as e V anymore,
I think you changed more of me than you know.
Her work friend hands her her wallet and doesn't recognize her. Yeah,
the logistics of it, I mean, if you live in
a city long enough, you know where you can go
to get a fake. I D like I know where

(34:32):
to go in l A to get a fake. I gad,
I've lived in Chica. I mean I grew up in
l A. Also, so like I was a teenager, I
knew where people would go to get fake. I did
get a fake, I D when I was a teenager,
when I was like nineteen. But I don't know where
that guy is. He's I don't think I don't know.
I mean there are places anyway, regardless, I'm not encouraging

(34:56):
anyone to get Where would I go to get a fake?
You tell me how to do cry, Well, you go
to fake? I d in my city dot org. But
what I want to say my take on the priest thing,
and then I want to definitely move us away from that.
I don't want to harp on it too much longer.

(35:16):
But for me, the thing about the graphic novel one
six team, and she is not aware that V has
killed anyone other than the Fingerman at that point. Um. Also,
he didn't kill pro Throw in the graphic novel, he
just made him definitely, so she in the movie she

(35:41):
knows that he killed pro Throw. So she's like, oh,
I'm with a murderer, okay. And I think for me,
her making that choice to try and extricate herself in
this situation, like it was one thing when he was
blowing up a building and like doing news broadcasts for
for like a revolution, but this is a whole other level.

(36:01):
So I need to get out. And for me, the
reason that she opened the window because you asked that,
and I did have to think about it. But me,
for me, the reason that she opened the window is
because she needs v to be able to come inside
so that they can take him. So she is able
to help with the capture of then she can get
the amnesty that she's asking for. I'm not saying it

(36:23):
was the best choice, but I'm saying this is how
it makes sense. Makes sense. Thank you, It makes sense. Yeah.
I think that is very grounded that someone who has
lived within a system her entire life and works for
this system would not want to immediately throw that all
away for a murder stranger. And she also does have
the moment where she realizes that she makes the police

(36:44):
officer the detective and she was like, why did I
do that? So she she kind of has her moments
of helping him. She was unwitting in the beginning. She
was like, I'll just go on a walk with this
man that saved me from being raped by the police,
and then he blows some stuff up, and then she
actually assists him with time, and then he kidnaps her
and then she finds out that he used her I

(37:04):
d to go and murder the Voice of England, So
I think that there's a progression there. Oh yeah, he
used her idea I forgot. I forgot about that, Karama.
I'm back on board. Yeah yeah, I'm here too. Okay,
I gotta really quick put my hair in pigtails and
seduce the priest. I'll be back in the plot. Then

(37:38):
she goes to stay with Gordon, which is a sequence
that I genuinely love. I love I really like him
as he's very funny. He's one of the characters in
this who is kind of a rare character in this
who seems to have a really lovely sense of humor.
He makes her the eggs. What do you guys call that?

(37:59):
In my family, we always called it hole, egg in
a basket, called it hole in the eye, which doesn't
make any sense. But never I have been in the basket.
That sounds terrified. We called it egg in a bird's
nest in my house. You no, I've never had that.
Was like I saw that. I was confused by what
it was like, what which really I thought? The first
time that V made it, I was like, well, this

(38:20):
is a cool dystopian breakfast to yourself. It's fun. You
use like a little glass and you cut up and
then it's very easy to do it. One slice of
bread and one egg, okay, great and a cookie cutter
fun shape if you want, what's it called hole in

(38:40):
the Eye's family understand, could be a lot of things, okay.
I also really liked the storytelling of this storyline where it's,
you know, in the beginning, you think he's a creepy
older man that's trying to have sex with e V
and like Daddy d trick, and it's like, as soon

(39:03):
as that was said, I'm like you, Like, I just
was a meeting them, and then I saw him like
that guy and then they go over and you know,
and I'm like, oh, he's actually really sweet and when
is he going to be a creep And I was like, oh, no,
he's not, agree and then it just became so lovely
in such a sort of surprising relationship within this movie.

(39:25):
In many ways, he's like a version of Fee that
continues to operate within this society. He secret room to
where he has art in the Koran and things that
would get him killed if anybody found out about them,
and then does unfortunately does. I did also wonder though,
like did he have this secret room built first and

(39:46):
then put the things in it? Or did he have
the things and then put them in a secret room
that he then had built. Like what was the progression
and like, how did he explain to the contractors what
he was getting got He gotta have a secret first,
you don't. You don't get this stuff unless you have
the secret room ready to go. That's what I'm thinking.
But then what do you say to the contractors? Do

(40:06):
you say, like, this is my play room, like you're
Christian Gray, Like what's the A lot of people panic
Crimson room. Yeah, I didn't even think or just make
it a regular room and put a big bookshelf in
front of it. Yeah. Yeah, these are things that you
think about in a dystopia. You gotta prep your secret
Keran room. Did we ever get a sense of what

(40:29):
his show was like before the No. I think just
like bad like Carson, Yeah, like British panel show. Yeah,
like a bad version of the Graham Norton Show. Yeah,
like perfect. Yeah. I love Graham Norton. I loved all

(40:50):
the teeth. I loved all the portrayals of TV and
media in this because like the reporters as well, just
to like kind of tangentially but like the report, like
the his reports felt very box news vibes, which like
she she blinks a lot when she does a story. Yeah. Um.
But I also loved and it's such a minor detail

(41:13):
of this movie. I love the shots of people watching
television in their homes because you get to see how
normal their homes look. And I think a lot of
people think that, you know, if we lived in the dystopia,
it would look like soil and green, like everything would
be terrible and falling apart. And no, their homes look
really lovely, like at least one couple is some really
nice built in bookshelves. It looks really pleasant and normal.

(41:35):
And that happens right, and autocracy grows up around you
and things keep looking normal for a lot of people
unless you're a minority, or a reporter, or not straight
or not sis, and then everything looks horrify. I think
that's a really good point, And because it was connected
to something that I like the change of e V

(41:57):
having this job because she as like a young, pretty
white woman, she would have a job in this society,
and it does feel like she has that privilege even
if and it is like comfortable for her, even if
she is living in this authoritarian regime, and it does
feel like in the book the options for women are

(42:21):
a lot more limited. She has a female boss in
the movie. Yeah, And that's why this feels more grounded
and more relatable, especially to today, because it's like, oh,
you can still have creature comforts in regimes that are
very scary. And I like the choices of seeing thee

(42:42):
like the families at home, because you don't get that
in the book really, like you don't get to see
the effects of like what V is doing or what
EV is doing, and what essentially what the government is
doing either. But I love seeing like that one scene
where the young girl starts to realize that the news
is then she gets up and is like bullocks, And
I'm like, this is such a great tiny detail just

(43:04):
to show that, like what he the idea that vas
pushing is starting to like seep its way into people's consciousness.
And I think the movie makes a very smart choice
of taking the core climax of the novel, which is
that V is purposely sewing chaos to tear down this
totalitarian government. Sending out the masks to people is like

(43:27):
a tangible that's very smart, where it's like, yeah, if
you want to sell better than poetry, if you want
to sew chaos, and he does. Don't send people weird poems,
send them symbolic masks that kind of make them feel
empowered to do things they maybe otherwise wouldn't. And also
it makes it harder to identify him, and it makes

(43:50):
it more like this isn't just me. I'm not the
only one. Anyone who puts on this mask is a
part of this. Oh yeah, and that's why I love that.
Like Spider Man, I was gonna say, it's like Spider
Man into the Spider Verse, anyone can wear the masks
that at the newsroom where he broadcasts, and then he
puts his mask and all those people. It's such a cool,

(44:11):
um like cinematic scene. But it also how the mask
shifts in the movie is like in the beginning, it's
like essentially hostages are wearing these masks so that the
police doesn't know who who is who, And then thousands
and thousands of people are wearing these masks because they're

(44:31):
all him, and so I feel like that's a really
cool device within the movie. Another small logistic thing though,
he said, like seventy mask and this is like, I guess,
did you see in two thousands five when it was
made for me. It was about the logistics of getting

(44:53):
those masks, and like also just people are different sizes
in their bodies. And he didn't just said masks. He
also sent like caps and hand and I have a
very large head. Most hats do not fit in my head.
So I'm just like, where did he get all these
one size fits all hats and cakes? They're like baseball

(45:14):
hatsened by the hats. I just know that the sending
out the mass, I assume that everyone just like went
out and bought those tips. No, you can see the
when it's open. Yeah, he said the cakes. Well, I
will say there is something about this movie that I
enjoy in terms like in terms of the heightening of

(45:35):
it to make me a little bit of a superhero,
like not a full superhero. And he does die, he
is mortal, but like he is like those matrix he
and whatever, like with the knives and the swishing swishing
of the knives because in the book he is larger
than life. He is like it does feel kind of

(45:57):
like a demi god. And so it is all of
these moves then feel of a piece. It's like, I
believe the way you can move around a room, makes
me believe you can set up those dominoes and makes
me believe you couldn't figure out how to ship seventy masks.
He does. They do mention in like a tiny aside
that during during the experiments that subject five got heightened

(46:20):
reflexes and like they give him superpowers and super it's
a little X Man. Yeah, he's not very I liked
me either. I think maybe some executive was like, he's
very good at dodging knives? How did he do that?

(46:41):
A little aside, It's like he loves and I like
that in the movie. Another thing that we don't get
in the book is he he loves the Count of
Monte Cristo, which is just like kind of fun and
for like a little personal detail, and he likes that
it's romantic and its sweet. Yeah, if you get your sweet. Yeah,
it makes me seem like a lot more fun to
hang out with. You you can eat like anabasca, to

(47:03):
watch a movie with. If he's always quoting Alistair Crowley
at cross, I mean, I love that cat power on
this jukebox practice Antony and the Johnson's I was like, Okay,
he's he's got a great He's got great taste in music.
Practicing cat power another point in that he's getting you right, Anthony,

(47:27):
very Anthony practicing his sword work against the night. That
armor is adorable, adorable, while quoting the movie at the
same time pretty cute. I mean, that's afraid of that guy.
This V is so great, And this V to me
gets the ending that I wanted in the book, which

(47:47):
is like he shows up to a to a situation
that he will not win. Obviously, it's like all of
Prothero's men, and so to have him like take all
these bullets and then be like, Okay, now my turn,
I was like, this, this is the ending that I
wanted for him. Yeah, he gets to hear and I
forgot this is the first time you've seen the movie

(48:09):
because I was waiting for them my turn, and like
waiting I wish I could experience that the first time again.
He's like him describing how he was going to kill Creedy.
It was so fun, and it was like exactly because
I'm so used to watching like superhero superhero movies where

(48:29):
they actually can't die, and so it is so fun
to see him have these like cool higher level moves.
But then he is still a mortal man, Like that
is what was so satisfying about it to me, Yeah,
two things. One, I the scene where he's like, this
is how I'm going to kill you reminded me of

(48:50):
the scene in Charlie's Angels the film where Drew Barrymore's
character is like, I'm gonna tackle all of you and
then I'm gonna moon walk out of here. And then
she does it, and I'm just like, I love when
you set up a goal, a hypothesis and then use
alved it with your experiment. It's like that there and
that scene which you were like, yeah, it's the ending

(49:10):
I wanted. I totally agreed. And it also to me
felt like the best example of the screenwriters taking an
element from the book and then translating it into being
satisfied where what they took was like, what VI's plan
was is he knows that in this system there's going
to be backstabbing and discord among the party members. But
rather than do this like weird elaborate puppet master ruse

(49:34):
that wouldn't make sense, he literally goes to Creedy, sets
up this backstab, and then reaps the results like we
see the cause and effect in a very clear way,
where even though the pieces are the same as they
were in the book and the point is the same,
the cause and effect is much cleaner, much clearer. And
then we get this fun moment which we get a

(49:55):
dramatic death. Yeah, I love the creaty does not understand
the oncept the bullet froof bulletproof best, just like why
are you dying? Also the best if I mean, I've
knock on wood, never gotten hit by one. They would
knock you down. They don't stop. They stopped you from dying,
but they also you'll like be bleeding or bruised. Right, No,

(50:18):
it wasn't perfect. But also he was like, but I
don't understand how you are still alive, And I'm like,
it's clearly a bullet proof situated. You are a cop.
You should know me. I mean that ending too, of
having Um the High Chancellor being killed by Creedy felt
really satisfying too, instead of I mean, I know they

(50:38):
intentionally streamed blind Rosemary out and Helen Higher out of this,
and I think it. I think it worked. I think
the addition of the good reason, I think for good reason. Yeah, no,
the problem in this dystopia is not the patriarchy and
I do feel like that's different the book, where, yeah,
the powerlessness of women in that society is a big

(51:01):
part of the book. Yeah, so like not having those
two I think was again a great a great choice
on the on the Wachowski sisters to like not add
any more extra extraneous stuff just to honor the book.
I thought that was a great choice. And the only
time we even get the other body parts of the

(51:23):
Norse Fire Party are during like when Adam h his
name is it's not Adam Susan, Adam Sutler and this
they made it sound more like, oh oh, I didn't
think about that, but yeah they did. I read that
on IMDb. That was not an organic realization. I thought
they were just like the last name Susan, that's yeah. Yeah,

(51:45):
I thought the same thing where they were like it's
sort of weird. But I was saying, there's like the
the only time we get like, um, that's the names
like Dascom and Etherd just he's like Bethridge, how are
things at the year you know that I could say.
The only thing about the ending that was a little
unbelievable was well, little tiny Natalie Porman being able to

(52:06):
pick up the like she did. She was not working out,
she didn't do foreshadowing of strength being used. Can I
pick up the Bleeding Man? Last week? I promised that
there was more I wanted to say about the destruction
and creation two sides of anarchy, And I think that
we get this lovely scene where Evie is like God

(52:29):
is in the rain, and she's gone out to the
rain to sort of like have her renaissance moment literally
rebirth moment um. But they enter they like intersplice it
with the scenes of the coming out from the fire
and fires used to destroy and rain is used to create.
And I thought that was really interesting. There we go

(52:50):
said the moment. I was just going to say. Then
the end where he gives her the choice to pull
the I think it's great because you know, the choice
should be to the people. What I didn't love was
m I don't mind a kiss. I think a kiss
to a mask can be sweet and can be earnest.
I didn't love the I love you. We don't need

(53:12):
them to love you can okay, But Valerie loves everyone
like I think the movie and the kids they don't,
they don't play it. I would have That's why I
was okay with the kids. I kissed to me would
have played like a Valerie love but the way they
play it feels like a play it as a love story,
especially like that moment when he when Evie leaves and

(53:35):
he is left alone and he like throws his mask
and cries. It's like Beauty and the Beast. It's very
Beauty and the Beast where he's like, I just wanted
to see your face one last time. That's like a
line actually out of Beauty and the Beast. And he's like,
I promise, I promised, too good mess and make it

(53:58):
like a little weirder, I promise. He really does such
a good job of bringing life to that mask. Like
I know we joke around like the Juggle, but like
he really did. He's very expressive, crazy, he's clicking his
hair around all the time. And also what's wild to

(54:21):
me is that the whole all of his audio was
done in post. Oh we didn't know that. That's so cool.
I mean, he was saying things while he was there.
Obviously he wasn't like miming, but they had to redo
everything in post and so it was a great physical
performance and then a great voiceover perform and then voice

(54:42):
over a little bit that was from the first guy.
Oh yeah, could you tell could tell I was looking?
I think it would. I think they probably just used
it for like like fill our shot, you know what
I mean, like some basic shots that they couldn't read. Well. No,
he worked for like six weeks before were he like,
but we don't know what they saved and what they
didn't they you know, call it Eric Stoltz worked for

(55:05):
six weeks on Back to the Future before they fired him. Yeah. Yeah,
in her it wasn't supposed to be Scarlett Johansson. It
was someone else, Samantha Mors, Samantha Morton, and they were
like all of Joaquin Phoenix's um acting is against Samantha Morton.

(55:29):
Oh that's very interesting. I didn't know that. A lot
of fun voice over and casting facts that we're getting here. Um,
what was I going to say? I do think this
is This is the one time where I was like,
I think this is that other dude the scene where
it's the show within the Yeah, I was like, I

(55:49):
think it's that other guy there where he's being he's
like being a little scamp and he's got his little
I think it's neither I think it's just a rand
him guy. You think that was just like a bubble. Well,
I also think what's interesting about this is like he
did such a good job with it, but it also

(56:10):
is a character that lends itself to such great physicality
because this character is so theatrical and like so there
is so much body movement. I think about in comparison
The Mandalorian, where I get very frustrated with that show
because it's just like Pedro pascal is behind that mask.

(56:30):
Why can't we just see Pedro pascal um And it's like, oh,
there's just a lead character that gives us nothing. But
that's because it's a stoic man behind a mask and
that's boring. But a theatrical man behind a mask is great. Yeah,
he like flips his hair like an anime character all
the time. Very fun. Love it stars to come out,

(56:55):
It's great. I love the hair. Also. Yeah, I don't know.
I always really enjoyed the like help me to I'm Chic,
I work I work close from Chico. I really loved
the Shadow Gallery. I thought it was like better than
I could have imagined. And I feel like whatever location
that was was so cool. It wasn't like I was.
I guess since this two thousand five, it wouldn't have

(57:17):
been as but like nowadays, that probably would have been
some kind of green screened situation of some like magical
sort of place. But I like that it just felt
like a real um cool, old English uh built it.
It also to me feels much more um homy and
exciting than the shadow gallery that we get in the book,

(57:41):
which like I can't picture its dimensions, but the shadow
gallery in the movie, like I want to listen to.
They just invent new dimensions. In the third book, did
you know there was an elevator here? Well here it is?
Uh yeah. In the end, I think Creedy's journey, which

(58:02):
doesn't involve LSD, but he still figures out he somehow
without LSD figures out where uh these hideout is sorry,
not creaty Jesus Christ. Uh uh, Finch figures it out
even without l s D gets there. But let's e
v pull it because at this point he had come

(58:22):
on this journey and realized that this government needed to fall,
and I think that that is a very hopeful and
cathartic moment. And then it's paired with this tear jerker
of a finale. Yeah, I think what I like the
best is that the shots of Gordon and Valerie and
the audience are so fast it doesn't it doesn't make it,

(58:48):
you know, it doesn't condescend, yes, and it does blend
them with the other people that we've been watching watch television,
the family, the little girl. Like I think that's really yeah,
what you were saying, we never talked about the little Yes.

(59:09):
Uh she be describes it in voiceover or someone else
does that with all this like finished does that with
all this chaos, someone is going to do something and
people are going to boil over. And what happens is
this girl wearing a v mask is spray painting and
upside down anarchy symbol which I obviously immediately recognized. If

(59:30):
the vehiclego and uh, he shoots her, he's a plain
clothes finger minute turns out, but the crowd is furious,
and the crowd moves on him in a way that
shows that everyday people are rising up against the government.
And uh, yeah, I'm just gonna say, I think when
um policeman shoot unarmed young people, people absolutely should rise

(59:53):
up against them. I mean, I think it's also it
was a very hopeful ending that like all of the
folks in the v masks are walking towards like the
wall of military men and they put their guns down,
and I was like, this is such a hopeful choice,

(01:00:15):
but it's seeing but it's the orchestrated because all the
hierarchy are all dead, can't follow orders, Like it's like
they're just there. I was just following orders people, but
there are no orders. So it's because they're like what
They're like, Adam Seller is not coming through and there
will go to Creating and they're like, Creating is not
coming through, you know, like it's like he figured out

(01:00:36):
the system where it's like with no orders to obey.
They just were like, oh we don't. It's like toys
without anyone to play with. I mean, I still think
it's a very hopeful. Yeah, it's very optimistic. I want
to go back to the young woman who died um.
I think that it's really interesting. In the news reports

(01:00:56):
after that, they talk about riots in Brixton and and
I was like, I don't know a lot about England,
clearly because I asked the other day, like in one
of our previous recording sessions, does England have just the bbs,
so clearly not very in the note about England. So
I looked up more about Brixton because it's a place
I had heard of in like grime music. I'm like, yeah,

(01:01:20):
Brixton blah blah blah blah blah. Like I was like, okay,
I don't know what that means. So, and Brixton was
actually the site of riots in the eighties, So I
thought that was a really interesting nod to the origins
of the story. Look at that, right, I learned that.
Thank you. Yeah. I think where the book, you know,
Ellen Moore was mad that they, you know, didn't make

(01:01:41):
it specifically about Margaret Thatcher and anarchy. I think that
it the movie working so well and resonating so well,
I do think speaks to the universality of the themes
and it is it feels very weird that an author
wouldn't be like excited about that. I think it's so
it's cratchy. It also seems like we're talking it seems

(01:02:05):
like an author that is too precious with their work.
That's what I mean what it comes down to, because
we're talking about all the changes that we really like
that we felt like made the story better, and I
feel like for Allen Moore, it's basically like every every
change is a comment and a criticism on his work.
I would assume, is I mean, you're allowed to feel

(01:02:25):
that way, Like there are lots of writers who don't
want to watch movie adaptations off their work because they
just want it. That's fine. Yeah, taking his name, for
taking his name on so much and vocal about it,
and you're like, I don't I hate it. I wonder
what he thinks of the current Watchman because I I

(01:02:47):
think he probably likes it more. I bet not. I
bet like this is a good movie, yeah, the show
or the movie the show I'm talking about the show,
which is also good to go, Yeah, the movie of
the movie is bad, but this is a good movie

(01:03:08):
and he hates it, which leads me to believe that,
like the Watchman TV show is so good, but probably
Alan Moore and he's like where the Wizard Cave is like,
but in my imagine sequel it goes like this, Like
he doesn't seem like someone who can let go of
his characters. It's just his right and he's still letting
them make It's like he's like, if the people want

(01:03:28):
this thing. I'll let them have it, but I'm not
going to say that I condone it. Yeah, I think
it's kind of funny. I like the I like the
quirkiness of it. And it's like, oh, Alan Moore, you're
just like letting these kids run around with their books.
Be like, I, oh, those stupid kids have it frimas. Yeah.

(01:03:49):
So yeah, Alan Moore has said he wants nothing to
do with HBO stand Watchman's love that for him. That's
that's I was ready to let him be like, yeah,
people like this, this is cool, but he's He's consistent
if nothing else except for from hell he loves Stopwatch.
Really really, we were like, wow, Helen Whore is happy.

(01:04:15):
We just want him to be happy with something. But question, So,
this movie was made in two thousand five, a thing
that we have said multiple times. But my question is
the world now is very noticeably different than it was
in two thousand five, and arguably two thousand five is

(01:04:37):
more similar in the way that the world was to
the nineteen eighties when when we forbid that it was written,
then two five is to now. Even so, if this
movie were to be made today, how do you think
it would be different? Like are there things that you're like, Oh,
there's no way this would fly in an adaptation today,

(01:04:59):
or this feels very dated, Like I'm curious about like
looking at this in for some of you, having seen
it for the first time, how that feels. Okay, I
saw this in theaters and I don't remember people thinking
it was a hyper political statement. Um, like maybe they did. Um,
but there are so many alright, guys who have a

(01:05:21):
profile picture of v for Vendetta. Um, so apparently there
was a way to like watch this movie and be
like I love Donald Trump Andrey for Vendetta, and I
don't know how those two things fit together in your break.
I mean, I was gonna say, I think that it
probably will be adapted again very soon, and it will

(01:05:41):
be a limited series for HBO. Like I think this
kind of movie if they were made now, I think
most of these kinds of like big idea movies are
now limited series or or several or like Hyman's Tale Washman,
and I think they would include all of the other characters.
I think they wouldn't include Rosemary and Helen Higher And

(01:06:02):
they would be all of these um different sort of
storylines wrapping together and uh and it would probably add
more story than it would subtract. Think it would be
also dark as hell, like I can imagine that it
would be. The adaptation for this in Your in the
limited mini series would be like very bleak given what

(01:06:25):
we're experiencing, right, I think we are going to get
a sad cabaret if they love I feel like a
prestige drama loves like sad sexualization, like when it can
something can be both very sexy and very sad. Yes
atab oh yeah, West World, or I think of Natalie

(01:06:46):
Portman in Closer, um yeah, where she's like, oh, lying
is the most fun a girl can have without taking
her clothes off, but it's better if you do. Obviously
that was a play first, great adaptation. I love that
movie up and also if it were made into an
HBO limited series, Alan Moore would want nothing to do.

(01:07:06):
That's the one thing we go through line Taylor's all
this time. The thing that very famously happened was Natalie
Portman actually shaved her head and that was the real
footage that they used. I just kept thinking, like what
if they fucked up? Like she has to be crying
for that, and I was just like, oh, my god,
they only get one shot. I know entertainment baby hadn't

(01:07:30):
seen that clip in pop culture, just like reused over
and over and over again. To see it in the film,
I will say it made me laugh. I know that
will not the intended purpose and that he had like
having yeah, just having seen this like crying Natalie Portman,
and then it did not have the effect that I

(01:07:50):
think it would have had if I had not seen
all the other crying Natalie Portman's that's kind of the
danger with seeing media, not danger, but kind of the
collateral damage of seeing media later than it actually, like
later than immediately, because we memify and like make things
into gifts so quickly and turn them into something else.

(01:08:14):
And like, I haven't seen Marriage Story. I never will
watch Marriage Story, but that scene where um Adam driver
punches a wall has just been I'm not going to
take it seriously if I watch the movie. Yeah, it
is better than the meme. The meme made me not
want to watch the movie because I'm like, there's a
dumb movie. And then I was like, oh, it's actually

(01:08:36):
much better than that, right, and things are better in context.
But something I wanted to say about the shaving scene.
Is that it's like in The Four year Old Virgin
when they need to do the waxing scene. They really
did that to Steve Carrell, and they had one shot
because you cannot fook waxing, Like I mean, there's a
lot of those one shot things you know, done in

(01:08:56):
certain movies, and it is I feel like everything comes
down to camera focus. It's like, because that's a lot
of the time why things get you know, they need
to go again as you know, it's actually depending on
the director, but like acting comes last to it usually,
and it would I would just laugh so much if

(01:09:16):
it's like they did the scene she was cropped full
crying shaved. It's like, oh god, we're yeah, we're a
little soft on the focus cameras. They used three cameras
for that makes sense. One one has to get them. Yeah. Um,
So before we wrap, any final notes on be for

(01:09:37):
Vendetta the film A plus adaptation good, really enjoyed it.
Would suggest it to all friends the best adaptation of
the ones that we've watched. I would say, yes. I
mentioned last week there are a small handful of films
that I think are better than the books they're based on.

(01:09:58):
The Vendetta I think is one of them. Fight Club
is another, and it's a it's a pretty small list.
And then there's a very very short list. I e.
One film that is exactly true to the book. They're
exactly the same, and that is Holes. Holes is a
perfect adaptation. I've said it before, I think I said it.
We were talking about like normal people, you'll have not

(01:10:20):
seen Holes and read the book. It is perfect. Like
I will not I will die on that hill, I
will die in that hole. Um well, on that note,
I've been wanting to say van Archy in the UK
this whole time and have now found a reason to say,
oh no, perfect but Vanarchy in the UK. That's our

(01:10:51):
show for the week. Thank you so much for listening.
I'm Danish Schwartz and you can find me on Twitter
at Danis Schwartz with three z s. You can follow
Jennifer Wright at jenn and Ashley Wright Karama, Donqua is
at Karama Drama, Melissa Hunter is at Melissa f t
W and Tan Tran is smart enough to have gotten
off Twitter, but she is on Insta at Hank Tina.

(01:11:12):
Our executive producer is Christopher Hessiotes were produced and edited
by Mike Johns special thanks to David Wasserman. Popcorn Book
Club is a production of I Heart Radio