How Lighting Turned the ‘V for Vendetta’ Mask Into a ‘Character Unto Itself’

Few pieces of movie wardrobe leave the screen and take on a life of their own in the real world. One from a 2000s cult favorite did exactly that, and the man behind the camera has finally weighed in.

The mask worn by Hugo Weaving's titular character in the 2006 action blockbuster "V for Vendetta" was meticulously crafted before the actor ever brought the character to life.

Thanks to the effort poured into the iconic prop, it became a star in its own right, with just as much staying power. Director James McTeigue, 58, acknowledged as much while reflecting on the film's 20th anniversary this year.

In a recent interview with People, he said that "what makes the film timeless and live on is the mask," adding, "I don't think anyone had any idea that that's what would happen, that it would be used in various political movements."

The filmmaker believes that it "happened because people got what the mask was about, that there is more power in 'we' than there is in 'I.'" For the film to work, McTeigue knew the mask had to be just right, since it would become the movie's defining image.

"What I wanted to do making a film was make the mask have a character unto itself. Obviously there's V beneath the mask, or whoever that person is, and Hugo Weaving playing the character," he explained.

"It needed to have more texture, so the light operated on it in different ways; you could make it look sinister or you could make it look suspicious or you could make it look benevolent or you could make it look creepy if you wanted to," the director said.

"I did a range of lighting tests," he continued, noting that he relied on different lighting as a "tool, depending on what the scene was, to give different expressions to the mask whenever I wanted to do it."

"With the art department and the [director of photography], we did tests, and then I used that throughout the film in different ways to give the mask a different personality depending on what the scene was," he added.

Two decades on, he believes "that's what has made the film live on, and that's why we're talking about it now, because it has this mask that is timeless, and the film is timeless in a way because we go through these political cycles all the time throughout history."

"You can watch the film now and hold it up to the political cycle we're in and just go, 'Oh, that seems like it's close to what's happening,'" he remarked.

Set in a dystopian society, "V for Vendetta" centers on Natalie Portman's Evey, a young woman whose life changes when she meets a masked freedom fighter determined to bring down their oppressive government. The thriller draws its story from Alan Moore's graphic novel of the same title.

Joining Portman and Weaving on screen was Stephen Fry, who played Gordon Deitrich. The actor described working on the film more than 20 years ago as "a treat from start to finish."

"I came in knowing one thing — that I was going to have scenes with John Hurt, whom I had met and knew a little but had never worked with, and that this alone would be an unforgettable treat. As indeed it was," he recalled.

"One of the deep pleasures of being associated with this picture is the number of times people have come to me and praised its acute relevance," Fry went on.

"It's an anniversary now that one meets with a mixture of pride and shame. Pride in how well the film was put together by James McTeigue and the Wachowskis and shame in how little our society has done to prevent its prophetic nature from being disproved," he reflected.