One of the most endlessly relevant and timeless action movies of the current century, V for Vendetta has a championed legacy that stems in large part from the excellent action sequences peppered throughout the political rebellion story. Yet somehow, in the 20 years since it first hit theaters, I never fully clocked that the stuntwork was handled by the masterful future John Wick filmmakers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch, who’d previously worked with director James McTeigue on the Wachowskis’ Matrix franchise.
McTeigue spoke with CinemaBlend to celebrate the film’s 20th anniversary, and along with geeking out about V for Vendetta’s stellar ending, I asked his thoughts about bringing Leitch and Stahelski with him into his directorial debut (which Lana and Lilly Wachowski produced and co-scripted with David Lloyd). Here’s what he told me, as seen in the video above:
I'd already had a relationship with them from all the Matrix films. So, you know, Chad was Keanu's stunt double on all three movies. Dave was one of the Agent Smiths. They were always talented. Dave was, you know, I think he made like a parody movie while we're making the second and third Matrix, and use some [cast]. He used Fishburne, and probably used Carrie-Anne. So when it came to making V, because they were extraordinary stunt guys, and they wanted to go to the next thing, I made them stunt coordinators, because they're our friends.
Being Keanu Reeves' stunt double in the Maxtrix movies should be a good enough job resumé to get just about any gig imaginable. And V for Vendetta provided the chance for Leitch to show off his skills without the need to worry
Then, you know, Dave is under the mask a lot in the film, right? There's some sequences that Dave's in: the domino sequences, the Fingermen in the alley, the knives at the end. And you know, they were great at stunt-coordinating, That knife-throwing sequence at the end is, like, amazing; plus other stuff in that film.
And then the next film I did after that was Ninja Assassin; that that was their first second-unit directing gig. So, you know, they went on. Yeah, it's cool to see what they're doing. Chad is like the John Wick guy. And Dave is now the action guy, right? Like, he's the sort of preeminent action director of films that have come from the stunt background.
Easily one of Natalie Portman's best movies, V for Vendetta is one that will no doubt hold up very well against just about any future movie sharing any of its subgenres, thanks to all the talent on board behind the scenes. Not to mention all the awesome practical effects on display, with few wildly obvious uses of CGI. And anyone who says otherwise is no doubt one of Sutler's goons. As cool as it'd be to see that proposed TV series take place within the DCU, I won't get too tyrannical if it doesn't pan out.
