Hugo Weaving has called out alt-right groups for using his films, The Matrix and V for Vendetta for their political agenda.
“I am befuddled by it. It just goes to show how people don’t read below surfaces. They don’t read between the lines,” the actor said.
Speaking to The Daily Beast, Weaving added, “They will take something that they think is cool and they will repurpose it to fit themselves when the original intention or meaning of that thing was quite the opposite.”
The 60-year-old said he also noticed right-wing groups co-opting another of his films, V for Vendetta.
Weaving said he has seen groups of people holding guns and protesting against the Black Lives Matter movement while wearing the famous Guy Fawkes mask his character wears in the iconic 2006 movie.
“I was like, ‘Wow, man. That couldn’t be more the opposite of what it stands for! The original V was based on Guy Fawkes, and these guys were trying to blow up the House of Parliament.
“They were young Catholic protesters who were being persecuted by their government, trying to rebel against that, and taking very violent course of action to make their cause,” he said.
The actor continued, “To me, that mask has always represented questioning the government. And somehow now it’s guys who are generally unhappy with what’s going on, or guys who think they look cool.”
“The same with The Matrix,” he continued. “There was something to do with looking cool in black with a gun, and then you can go into a school and shoot people and somehow you’re immune from the consequences of that because you feel like you’re cool.
“You feel like you’re V, or you feel like you’re Neo or something. It’s a very, very shallow reading of the intention of a film.”
In May, The Matrix co-director Lilly Wachowski called out Elon Mask and Ivanka Trump for using her iconic film to promote Donald Trump and the Republican party.
