[For Liza and other Hugonuts] Hugo Weaving About.Com Interview from 2003
The interview is linked here.
For lizamanynames' possible curiousity:
How would you hold your own in a real fight?
It would depend on my need, I think.
Probably pretty badly. It’s Hong Kong movie Kung Fu and I think it’s almost totally useless if you actually want to use it. It looks good and you take time to make it look good, but in a real fight, there ain’t no time and you’ve got to use your wits. If someone were threatening the life of my child, then I’d be a good fighter. If somebody just wanted to steal my wallet, well, maybe I wouldn’t worry about it so much.
Have you seen the Agent Smith PowerAde commercial?
No, I haven’t. But I did read them. I had a look at them.
You had approval?
No. They showed what they were going to do. They wanted me to do them, but I didn’t really want to go there. I haven’t seen them yet.
How do you feel about your character hawking athletic drinks?
Well, we’ll have a look and see. Joel hasn’t gone crazy with the marketing, so I think that’s probably fine, and the ad seemed to be pretty well written to me.
Philosophically, if Smith is no longer part of program, what does his presence mean?
Well, he’s not part of the program because he’s been compelled by a force to remain- - I mean, he has been upgraded. He should return to the mainframe. He should be superceded, but as the oracle says, there are a number of programs that don’t want to go. So, they hide out in the matrix and there’s a compulsion that he has. If Neo is there, he must necessarily be there. I think every force has its oppositional force and that’s exactly what Smith is to Neo. Neo can’t be without Smith and Smith can’t be without Neo.
(Quite a bit more on the three pages, including L.O.T.R, but this includes a few less-known/less talked about subjects. They did do well with the ads too - never seen here except as a DVD extra, same with the phone. And I'm sure the last Q and A could SO be misconstrued as Slash author fodder. XD)
For lizamanynames' possible curiousity:
How would you hold your own in a real fight?
It would depend on my need, I think.
Probably pretty badly. It’s Hong Kong movie Kung Fu and I think it’s almost totally useless if you actually want to use it. It looks good and you take time to make it look good, but in a real fight, there ain’t no time and you’ve got to use your wits. If someone were threatening the life of my child, then I’d be a good fighter. If somebody just wanted to steal my wallet, well, maybe I wouldn’t worry about it so much.
Have you seen the Agent Smith PowerAde commercial?
No, I haven’t. But I did read them. I had a look at them.
You had approval?
No. They showed what they were going to do. They wanted me to do them, but I didn’t really want to go there. I haven’t seen them yet.
How do you feel about your character hawking athletic drinks?
Well, we’ll have a look and see. Joel hasn’t gone crazy with the marketing, so I think that’s probably fine, and the ad seemed to be pretty well written to me.
Philosophically, if Smith is no longer part of program, what does his presence mean?
Well, he’s not part of the program because he’s been compelled by a force to remain- - I mean, he has been upgraded. He should return to the mainframe. He should be superceded, but as the oracle says, there are a number of programs that don’t want to go. So, they hide out in the matrix and there’s a compulsion that he has. If Neo is there, he must necessarily be there. I think every force has its oppositional force and that’s exactly what Smith is to Neo. Neo can’t be without Smith and Smith can’t be without Neo.
(Quite a bit more on the three pages, including L.O.T.R, but this includes a few less-known/less talked about subjects. They did do well with the ads too - never seen here except as a DVD extra, same with the phone. And I'm sure the last Q and A could SO be misconstrued as Slash author fodder. XD)