FILM · 2005
V for Vendetta
32 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (32)
- #001
The domino scene, in which V topples black and red dominoes to form a giant letter V, used 22,000 dominoes and appears at roughly 1 hour 40 minutes into the film. It took four professional domino builders 200 hours to set up.
- #002
At around the 1-hour mark, in the scene where V emerges from Larkhill, stuntman Chad Stahelski walked literally through fire wearing only a special fire-resistant gel and a pair of briefs. Stahelski's body temperature had to be lowered before the scene was shot, and by chance the temperature on the night of filming was three degrees below zero. Fifteen minutes before the take he put on ice-cold, flame-resistant clothing, and when he removed it he was coated in the fire-resistant gel that had been kept frozen all day.
- #003
Cast and crew were only permitted to film near the British Parliament and Elizabeth Tower (also known as Big Ben) between midnight and 4:30 a.m., and they could stop traffic for only four minutes at a time.
- #004
One of the film's biggest challenges was how to bring V to life from beneath an expressionless mask. Great effort therefore went into combining lighting, performance and Hugo Weaving's voice to create the appropriate mood for each situation. Because the mask muffled Weaving's voice, all of his dialogue was re-recorded in post-production.
- #005
The secret police were called "Fingermen" because the New Order was modeled on the human body. The Chancellor was the Head; the BTN television network was the Mouth; visual and audio surveillance were the Eyes and Ears; Inspector Finch was part of the Nose, the police force; and Creedy's secret police were the Hand.
- #006
While filming the fight at Victoria Station, at around 1 hour 55 minutes, the stunt performers moved in slow motion on set while David Leitch (Hugo Weaving's stunt double) moved in real time so that he appeared to move much faster than the Fingermen. To slow the Fingermen down even further, the scene was shot at sixty frames per second.
- #007
In the graphic novel, illustrator David Lloyd often subtly altered V's Guy Fawkes mask to match the mood or tone of a particular scene. The producers considered designing several different masks but ultimately decided to change the shadows and lighting in post-production instead.
- #008
The original comic book series was created by Alan Moore. However, after his negative experience with From Hell (2001) and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003), Moore decided to refuse all money and credit from Hollywood for any adaptation of his work. He therefore gave all the money he could have earned to the artist who drew the characters alongside him, and he refused his own "created by" credit on the film.
- #009
All of V's dialogue was dubbed. Initially, a mask with a small microphone inside was designed, along with another microphone designed to sit along Hugo Weaving's hairline, but neither worked very well.
- #010
Natalie Portman was looking forward to having her head shaved, saying it was something she had wanted to do for a long time.
- #011
In the original graphic novel, V's goal was anarchy, not freedom. Alan Moore heavily criticized the film for turning the comic's "anarchy versus fascism" structure into what he saw as an exploration of "American neo-liberalism versus American neo-conservatism," which he felt should have been set in the United States rather than Britain.
- #012
At around 1 hour 15 minutes, during Valerie's flashback, there is a short scene in which she mentions meeting her lover while making a film. Nearly all of the film crew appearing in that scene were members of this film's own crew.
- #013
In the Parliament Square scenes, every actor, performer and technician carrying a weapon was background-checked. Barcodes on each weapon part were scanned to track who was authorized to use them.
- #014
V's explanation to Inspector Finch about Adam Sutler's rise to power closely parallels the account Leo Tolstoy gives of Napoléon Bonaparte's rise to power in France in Part I, Chapter III of the Epilogue to War and Peace.
- #015
Adam Sutler blinks only once in all of his scenes.
- #016
At around 9 minutes, Madam Justice is traditionally depicted blindfolded to represent justice that cannot see and therefore cannot be prejudiced or discriminatory in any way. This film shows the statue of Justice above the Old Bailey criminal courts without a blindfold, as it has stood since 1907.
- #017
Because of his military and explosives experience, V wears a mask in the guise of Guy Fawkes, who is famous for his involvement in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot he was assigned to carry out. The plot, planned by Robert Catesby, was a failed attempt by a group of provincial English Roman Catholic conspirators to kill King James I of England (James VI of Scotland), his family and much of the Protestant aristocracy in a single blow by blowing up the Houses of Parliament during the State Opening.
- #018
V's alias "Rookwood" is the surname of another conspirator in the 1605 Gunpowder Plot, just as Rookwood's associates are named "Percy" and "Keyes."
- #019
(Around 1 hour 2 minutes) The "scrambler device" Finch uses in his office is a popular type of pocket reading lamp, fitted with a red bulb or filter to make it look more high-tech.
- #020
The Houses of Parliament destroyed in the film are not the same buildings Guy Fawkes planned to destroy in 1605. The original Parliament buildings were lost in an 1834 fire; the current buildings were erected on the same site and took thirty years to build, being completed in 1870. They were heavily destroyed again during World War II and rebuilt to their original design in the late 1940s.
- #021
This was cinematographer Adrian Biddle's final film. He died of a heart attack on 7 December 2005, and the film is dedicated to him.
- #022
(Around 1 hour 10 minutes) The film omits or changes several significant details to make V and his actions more morally appealing. The government is also more malicious in the film but less human, while the authorities in the graphic novel are more complex. Chancellor Sutler (Adam Susan in the novel), for example, is an odd, timid man who sincerely believes in fascism and leaves all major decisions to F. A. T. E., a supercomputer that does not appear in the film. V, meanwhile, is far more violent and less selective about whom he kills, often killing innocents in the process; his goal is anarchy, not freedom, and he treats Evey, who is only 16 in the novel's prison scenes, far more harshly. Gordon Deitrich is a criminal and Evey's lover, and he is killed by another criminal. The film's central plot of the government targeting its people with a virus attack also does not appear in the book, where a nuclear war is debated while those responsible are concealed. All these changes enraged Alan Moore, who claimed the fascist government of his work had been "defanged" and refused to take any credit for the film.
- #023
The two tanks used in the Parliament Square scenes were real, decommissioned Army tanks. Each night, before the vehicles were moved to the shoot, every tank was inspected by government security personnel to ensure the guns were not operational and that nothing had been modified in any way. They were then transported to the location by truck with no stops permitted along the way, escorted by armed security officers.
- #024
The film draws a duality between V and Evey: at the start, V and Evey make similar preparations as they begin their work (there are even mirrored panning shots of V and Evey). Both are disfigured (V has scars and Evey loses most of her hair). V was created through fire, symbolizing destruction and revenge (the laboratory fire scene). Evey, by contrast, is reborn through water, symbolizing rebirth and forgiveness (the rainy rooftop scene). The film ends with V's death, symbolizing the end of pain and revenge and making room for Evey, forgiveness and rebirth.
- #025
For the parts of the film in which Hugo Weaving has a Northern English accent, he based it on Harold Wilson, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1964 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1976.
- #026
Asked in an interview what he liked about his role, Sir Stephen Fry said, "Being beaten up! I'd never been beaten up in a movie before and the idea of being clubbed to death really excited me."
- #027
(Around 47 minutes in) If you listen closely while Bishop Lilliman is being killed, you can hear V say "now open your mouth and stick out your tongue." when the scene cuts to the surveillance device. In the novel, the Bishop dies after eating a poisoned communion wafer.
- #028
In the graphic novel, Gordon Dietrich is not only Evey's lover but also a slimy, mocking man and, rather than a victim, an accomplice and perpetrator within the system. In the film he is a gay man who criticizes the system, hides his homosexuality and ultimately dies for it. Sir Stephen Fry, who plays Dietrich, passionately defended these changes to the character, being both an ardent advocate of gay rights and a critic of the government.
- #029
The rose V uses as his calling card was renamed for the film. The book features a real variety called "Violet Carson" (named after the English actress and pianist Violet Carson). The film changed it to "Scarlet Carson", presumably on the assumption that viewers would think the name referred to a color rather than a person. It is in fact an orange-pink/salmon color.
- #030
(Around 2 hours in) At the end, where people remove their masks, you can briefly see characters who died in the film, including the girl with glasses, Deitrich and Valerie, suggesting that their cause and memory live on. It is also the second time black people are seen in the film outside of flashbacks; the first scene featuring a black person comes when two men are in bed and one of them is arrested.
- #031
Natalie Portman worked with dialect coach Barbara Berkery, who had also worked with Gwyneth Paltrow, to perfect her accent.
- #032
Lilly Wachowski and Lana Wachowski, who were great fans of the original comic book series, wrote a draft of the screenplay in the 1990s before working on The Matrix (1999), which shares many similar themes.
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