Hugo Weaving Movies
A graduate of Australia's National Institute of Dramatic Art, blond, idiosyncratic leading man Hugo Weaving made his feature film debut in the socially conscious low-budget drama The City's Edge (1983), purportedly one of the first Australian films to sympathetically portray the adverse conditions suffered by aborigines. In 1991, Weaving received Best Actor kudos from the Australian Film Institute for his portrayal of a blind photographer in Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof. In 1994, the actor earned international acclaim playing Tick, a drag queen with a secret, in the cult favorite The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994). The following year, Weaving was involved in another audience pleaser when he lent his voice to play the sheep dog Rex in Babe. Weaving occasionally appears in U.S. television productions, notably the CBS miniseries Dadah Is Death, in which he played opposite Julie Christie and Sarah Jessica Parker. He also continues to work steadily in Australia, in addition to appearing in big-budget Hollywood affairs such as The Matrix, in which he starred as an evil agent opposite Keanu Reeves and Laurence Fishburne. Following his turn in The Matrix with a few low-key romantic comedies (Strange Planet [also 1999] and Russian Doll [2001]), Weaving made a return to big-budgeted special effects extravaganzas with his involvement in director Peter Jackson's enormous adaptation of author J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. For the sequels to The Matrix, Weaving would return with a vengeance; with hundreds of Agent Smith clones sent to stop Neo (Keanu Reeves) from leading the revolution against the machines. ~ Rebecca Flint Marx, All Movie Guide- 1983
This is an unremittingly grim melodrama about a group of hard-luck, victimized aborigines with no opportunity in life who live in a slum boarding-house on the outskirts of Sydney. Coping via pills, drugs, alcohol, and other destructive means, this collection of misfits should not be taken as representative of aborigines in general. Jack Collins (Tommy Lewis) runs the boarding house and dominates his tenants like a minor dictator. He is having an affair with Laura Wentworth (Katrina Foster) who is also sleeping with Andy White (Ralph Cotterill), an innocent country bumpkin compared to the boarders here. Laura herself is trying to overcome the emotional trauma of incest and a subsequent abortion at the age of 16, while her brother Jim (Mark Lee) is seriously suicidal. When white racists are not causing problems for the aborigines, then the police fill the breach -- there is no clear way out of their abysmal existence. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tommy Lewis, Mark Lee, (more)
- 1986
Christina Stead's novel For Love Alone was a best-seller in Australia, but remains essentially unknown to the outside world. The same can be said for this 1986 film version, likewise a homegrown Australian product. Set in the 1930s, the film stars Helen Buhay as a starry-eyed young girl chafing under the oppressive attitudes of society in general and her father in particular. She kicks over the traces to enter into a romance with college Latin professor Hugo Weaving. Still not realizing that Weaving considers her a pleasant diversion and nothing more, Helen nearly misses out on a chance for happiness with liberal-minded banker Sam Neill. Once she's settled down with Neill, the idealistic Buhay is smitten by another aesthete, poet Huw Williams. Neill encourages this affair, hoping that Buhay will eventually realize that there's more to true love than mere sexual impulsiveness. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Buday, Sam Neill, (more)
Originally released in Australia as Wendy Cracked a Walnut, Almost made it to American shores in 1991, nearly five years after its completion. Rosanna Arquette plays Wendy, whose notions of life have been formed by romance novels. On her tenth wedding anniversary, Wendy hopes that her neglectful husband Ronnie (Bruce Spence) will rekindle his premarital ardor. While Ronnie is delayed by circumstances beyond his control (including a bolt of lightning), Wendy makes the acquaintance of handsome stranger Jake (Hugo Weaving). Convinced that Ronnie is cheating on her, Wendy decides to fight fire with fire by running off with Jake-just like in one of her Harlequin Romances. Ronnie tries his best (which is none too good) to win his wife back, leading to an archly whimsical finale. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rosanna Arquette, Bruce Spence, (more)
- 1987
- R
Harry Ironmaster (Rupert Everett) is an aristocratic and wealthy young man, which in his time and place should put him pretty much on top of the world. However, he is responsible for a horse-drawn coach accident in which his father is killed and he himself loses an arm. Not only that, but his favored pastime of horse-riding is no longer possible for him. His girlfriend, the doctor's daughter, wants to draw him out of his depression, but nothing seems to help. Harry's low state begins to lift when he makes friends with Ned, the very capable driver of a local express coach to Sydney. They are both aware that trains will soon replace these huge wagons, and Ned agrees to work for Harry. This costume drama boasts some beautiful cinematography, and is based on a best-selling novel by Kathleen Peyton. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Rupert Everett, Hugo Weaving, (more)
- 1988
This two-part TV movie, produced in Australia, was based on the tragically true story of an Australian teenager (John Polson) condemned to death for dealing in drugs in Malaysia. Part One set up the circumstances which landed Polson and his friend Hugo Weaving on Malaysia's death row. In Part Two, Polson's mother, played by Julie Christie, races desperately against time to save her son from the gallows. She enlists the support of the Queen of England, the Pope, and a large international organization of concerned citizens--but the Malaysian government remains unmoved. Evocatively filmed in Macao, Dadah Is Death had the bad luck to premiere on American TV opposite the highly rated miniseries Favorite Son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Julie Christie, John Polson, (more)
Jocelyn Moorhouse's feature-film debut is a jet-black comedy starring Hugo Weaving as Martin, a paranoid blind man, made so because he is convinced that his mother, when he was a child, lied to him about the sights she described to him. As an adult, Martin is reclusive and ill-tempered. Perversely, Martin is also a photographer -- he takes the pictures, has them developed, asks friends to describe the pictures to him, and then labels them in Braille to make sure no one is tricking him. His housekeeper, Celia (Genevieve Picot), is also a photographer. Obsessed with Martin, she papers the walls of her home with pictures of him. But this obsession doesn't carry through to their relationship, which is a far from cordial one -- Celia torments Martin and Martin humiliates her. One day at a restaurant, after a nasty confrontation with a waitress who ignores him, Martin makes friends with the dishwasher, Andy (Russell Crowe). Martin invites him home to describe his photographs to him. Back at Martin's home, Andy meets Celia and he immediately falls in love with her. Jealous of Andy, Celia seduces him in an effort to discredit Andy with Martin and drive Martin into her arms. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Weaving, Genevieve Picot, (more)
- 1993
- R
Pop star Phil Collins abandoned his usually sunny persona for a more sinister role in this unusual comedy thriller from Australia. Jonathan Wheats (Hugo Weaving) and his best friend Michael Allen (Peter Mochrie) have a fondness for pranks and a childish sense of humor that is a frequent source of aggravation for his wife Beth (Josephine Byrnes). One night, Beth arrives home in the midst of a robbery. She impulsively grabs a crossbow and kills the masked intruder, who appears to be Michael. While the law clears Beth in what is judged to be an accidental death, Jonathan files the claim on the stolen property including a silver cutlery set. But the insurance company sends out Roland Copping (Collins) to investigate the crime; Copping has a strange kind of wit to rival Jonathan's, as well as a bitter and vengeful streak against the couple who he feels are trying to cheat him. Frauds was the debut feature for writer and director Stephan Elliott, whose next film would be the international hit The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Phil Collins, Hugo Weaving, (more)
- 1993
Anthony LaPaglia, who's probably played more cops than Pat O'Brien, Edgar Kennedy and Fred Kelsey combined, dons brass and blue once more in The Custodian. LaPaglia plays a frustrated Australian policeman who decides to take on departmental corruption in a most unorthodox fashion. When he's not wrestling with bureaucracy and the good-ole-boy network, the policeman must contend with his unhappy marriage. All of the protagonist's various travails come to a head in the offbeat finale. The Custodian cannot be recommended for children, so pop it in your VCR after the little darlings are snuggled in bed. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Anthony LaPaglia, Hugo Weaving, (more)
- 1993
- PG
Following up his debut, Young Einstein (1988), Yahoo Serious wrote, directed and starred in this broad comedy as the titular hero, a modern-day, fictional descendant of a real-life Australian Robin Hood, Ned Kelly. Carrying on the family tradition of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, Ned crosses the wealthy Sir John (Hugo Weaving), who arranges the sale of Kelly's coastal property to a Japanese buyer. Forbidden by the Kelly family code of honor from stealing to profit himself, the motorcycle-riding Ned decides to raise the money needed to save his lands by going to America. Stateside, his bank robbery scheme falls through, but he finds stardom as the lead in a Hollywood motion picture that might give him the money to foil Sir John's greedy plans. Ned also encounters romance with a teller, the appropriately named Robin Banks (Melora Hardin). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Yahoo Serious, Melora Hardin, (more)
- 1994
This Australian drama, based on the novel Priest Island by E.L. Grant, tells the tale of a man exiled to a lonely island after he is caught stealing sheep. The story is set in an unnamed time in an unknown time. Peter had been stealing the sheep to pay the dowry for his beloved, Jean. He is sentenced to spend his life on an uninhabited island with only a few simple tools. If he leaves the island, he will be killed. While he learns to survive, Jean is forced to marry another. She gets pregnant but loses the baby during childbirth. Mary is a servant at the local inn. She is curious about the rumors of a good looking man exiled on a nearby island. She goes to the island with some chickens and a goat. Though Peter still mourns the loss of Jean, he and Mary soon become lovers. Mary bears him a son. Later a priest comes to baptize the child and marry the couple. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Aden Young, Beth Champion, (more)
- 1994
- R
- Add The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to QueueAdd The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to top of Queue
The usually menacing British actor Terence Stamp does a complete turnaround as Bernadette, an aging transsexual who tours the backwaters of Australia with her stage partners, Mitzi (Hugo Weaving) and Adam/Felicia (Guy Pearce). Their act, well-known in Sydney, involves wearing lots of makeup and gowns and lip-synching to records, but Bernadette is getting a bit tired of it all and is also haunted by the bizarre death of an old loved one. Nevertheless, when Mitzi and Felicia get an offer to perform in the remote town of Alice Springs at a casino, Bernadette decides to tag along. The threesome ventures into the outback with Priscilla, a lavender-colored school bus that doubles as dressing room and home on the road. Along the way, the act encounters any number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while Bernadette becomes increasingly concerned about the path her life has taken. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Terence Stamp, Hugo Weaving, (more)
- 1995
Blending rough-and-tumble drama with romance, this story is set in Australia shortly after World War II, when waves of immigration brought thousands of people to Australia's rural prairies. Baringa is a small town built around an abandoned military base; primarily home to migrant laborers, Baringa is the temporary home to people from all over the vast Australian continent, as well as many of the European nations, some of whom are looking to start a new life, while others are trying to live down their pasts. Originally produced as a mini-series for Australian television, Bordertown featured Cate Blanchett, three years before she rose to fame with her breakthrough role in Elizabeth; the cast also includes Alex Maglet, Geoff Morrell, Christine Tremarco, and Hugo Weaving. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
A young pig fights convention to become a sheep dog -- or, rather, sheep pig -- in this charming Australian family film, which became an unexpected international success due to superior special effects and an intelligent script. The title refers to the name bestowed on a piglet soon after his separation from his family, when he finds himself on a strange farm. Confused and sad, Babe is adopted by a friendly dog and slowly adjusts to his new home. Discovering that the fate of most pigs is the dinner table, Babe devotes himself to becoming a useful member of the farm by trying to learn how to herd sheep, despite the skepticism of the other animals and the kindly but conventional Farmer Hoggett (James Cromwell). Because technically impeccable animatronics and computer graphics allow the farm animals to converse easily among themselves, first-time director Chris Noonan can treat the film's menagerie as actual characters, playing scene not for cuteness but for real emotions. The result is often surprisingly touching, with Noonan and George Miller's script, based on Dick King-Smith's children's book and, indirectly, a true story, seamlessly combining gentle whimsy and sincere feeling. These same qualities are embodied by in Cromwell's beautifully understated performance as Farmer Hoggett, which anchors the film. Despite its unlikely premise and low profile, Babe's inspirational story was embraced by audiences and critics, and the movie became an international sleeper that won an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. It was followed in 1999 by the less successful Babe: Pig in the City. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
This rental contains both Babe and Babe: Pig in the City
This rental contains both Babe and Babe: Pig in the City
- Starring:
- James Cromwell, Christine Cavanaugh, (more)
- 1997
A pregnant back-up singer in a Melbourne band finds herself saddled with two fellow travellers (one of whom is the father of her child), who are using her to escape the vengeful drug dealer they just robbed. When Mimi first asks her lover Haniff to travel with her to Perth so she can make peace with her estranged mother, he refuses. But then his pal Dean robs his own brother Jerry in part to feed his own addiction but also to spite Jerry for going out with Ariel, the girl Dean wants for himself. Jerry is a tough cookie and does not take the theft well. Armed and dangerous, he sets off for revenge. Needing to get out of town pronto, the two fugitives decide to tag along with Mimi. While speeding across the desert, the trio pick up Morris, an aging hippie who makes his living singing sad folk songs in cafes and bars. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
Craig Monahan made his directorial debut with this Australian police drama in which unemployed, poverty-stricken Eddie Rodney Fleming (Hugo Weaving), after losing his wife and home, is dragged from his apartment by police and subjected to a brutal interrogation. Eventually, it becomes terrifyingly apparent to Eddie that the police consider him a serial-murder suspect. Detective Sgt. John Steele (Tony Martin) and his assistant, Detective Sgt. Constable Wayne Prior (Aaron Jeffrey), make audiotapes of their efforts to get Fleming to confess. However, they are unaware that they themselves are being investigated and are being videotaped by an internal affairs unit. The question of Eddie's guilt or innocence is effectively concealed for most of the movie. Gordon Davie, Monahan's co-scripter and the film's technical consultant, was a police officer with the Victoria Crime Squad for 16 years. The Interview was shown at several 1997-1998 film festivals (London, Montreal, Melbourne). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Weaving, Tony Martin, (more)
Rose Troche (Go Fish) directed this British romantic comedy with various gay characters in London. Impish Darren (Tom Hollander) urges lonely Leo (Kevin McKidd of Trainspotting) to get a more active social life, as does neighbor Angie (Julie Graham). When friend Adam (Christopher Fulford) gets Leo to join the therapy group run by New Age-styled guru Keith (Simon Callow), Leo meets good-looking Irishman Brendan (James Purefoy), who's just ending a lengthy relationship with his business partner, Sally (Jennifer Ehle). Sally just happens to be Leo's high-school sweetheart. It's not long before Leo and Brendan pair off. Shown in the Market section at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin McKidd, Hugo Weaving, (more)
The second film of Emma-Kate Croghan, who made her debut in 1996 with Love and Other Catastrophes, Strange Planet is a romantic comedy about two apparently different groups of friends. During 12 months, we follow six characters and their problems in search of love and happiness. Judy, Alice, and Sally live together and are best friends, but they have different needs and ambitions. Judy tries to cure her passion for elderly men by concentrating on her career; Alice suffers from a broken heart and high morals; and Sally wants everything. Ewan, Joel, and Neil run a law firm together and also have their problems. Ewan does not like his new adult life of responsibility, so he quits; Joel's world falls apart when his wife leaves him; and Neil is desperately looking for someone to love. The coming of the millennium provides the crucial moment when they meet in a secluded beach house on New Year's Eve 1999 and everything is unraveled. The film was screened at the Stockholm International Film Festival in 1999. ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Claudia Karvan, Naomi Watts, (more)
What if virtual reality wasn't just for fun, but was being used to imprison you? That's the dilemma that faces mild-mannered computer jockey Thomas Anderson (Keanu Reeves) in The Matrix. It's the year 1999, and Anderson (hacker alias: Neo) works in a cubicle, manning a computer and doing a little hacking on the side. It's through this latter activity that Thomas makes the acquaintance of Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), who has some interesting news for Mr. Anderson -- none of what's going on around him is real. The year is actually closer to 2199, and it seems Thomas, like most people, is a victim of The Matrix, a massive artificial intelligence system that has tapped into people's minds and created the illusion of a real world, while using their brains and bodies for energy, tossing them away like spent batteries when they're through. Morpheus, however, is convinced Neo is "The One" who can crack open The Matrix and bring his people to both physical and psychological freedom. The Matrix is the second feature film from the sibling writer/director team of Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski, who made an impressive debut with the stylish erotic crime thriller Bound. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, (more)
- 2000
One of Australia's best-loved children's books is brought to the screen in this animated comedy-adventure from down under. Bunyip Bluegum (voice of Geoffrey Rush) is a koala bear who has lost his parents and can't find them. While many of his friends and relatives fear that Bunyip's folks are dead, Bunyip is certain they're still alive, and sets out on the road to find them. In his travels, Bunyip makes several new friends, including landlocked sailor Bill Barnacle (voice of Hugo Weaving), a penguin named Sam Sawnoff (voice of Sam Neill), and Albert (voice of John Cleese), a magical pudding who can change flavors at will and never runs out, no matter how much people eat him. But the mean-spirited wombat Buncle (voice of Jack Thompson) discovers Albert and decides he wants the magical pudding all for himself, and Sam, Bill, and Bunyip must come to his rescue. The Magic Pudding is based on the illustrated children's story by Norman Lindsay, who outside Australia is best known for his more controversial artwork for grown-ups; his paintings favored sensual depictions of nude women, and his story later formed the basis of the 1994 film Sirens, in which Sam Neill played Lindsay. Toni Collette and Dave Gibson also contribute to The Magic Pudding's voice cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Cleese, Geoffrey Rush, (more)
- 2001
- R
Most people fall in love and get married, but one man does it the other way around in this romantic comedy from Australia. Harvey (Hugo Weaving) is a private detective who derives the bulk of his work from unhappily married people wanting to know if their spouses are being unfaithful. Harvey finds this work depressing and wishes he could quit to devote himself to writing crime fiction. Harvey's career has also given him a rather jaundiced view of romance, which is unfortunately confirmed when he's hired to keep tabs on a college professor and discovers he's having an affair with one of his students -- who also happens to be Harvey's fiancée. Harvey's best friend is a publishing executive named Ethan (David Wenham), who is happily married to Miriam (Rebecca Frith). Or that's what Harvey thinks; he soon learns the truth when Ethan confesses he's been having a passionate affair with Katia (Natalia Novikova), a beautiful woman from Russia. Katia's visa is about to expire, and Ethan is desperate to keep her from going back to Russia; the easiest way to allow her to stay in Australia would be to marry her, but Ethan doesn't want to divorce Miriam just yet. Instead, Ethan offers to make a deal with Harvey -- Ethan will pay him a large amount of money if he'd be willing to wed Katia. While Harvey is not enthusiastic about the idea, the money would allow him to stay home and write, so he reluctantly agrees. But after a few weeks of marriage, Harvey finds himself falling in love with his wife, and he begins looking for a way to steal her away from Ethan. Russian Doll won the prize for Best Original Screenplay at the 2000 Australian Film Institute Awards. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Hugo Weaving, Natalya Novikova, (more)
- 2001
- PG13
- Add The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to QueueAdd The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring to top of Queue
New Zealand filmmaker Peter Jackson fulfills his lifelong dream of transforming author J.R.R. Tolkien's best-selling fantasy epic into a three-part motion picture that begins with this holiday 2001 release. Elijah Wood stars as Frodo Baggins, a Hobbit resident of the medieval "Middle-earth" who discovers that a ring bequeathed to him by beloved relative and benefactor Bilbo (Ian Holm) is in fact the "One Ring," a device that will allow its master to manipulate dark powers and enslave the world. Frodo is charged by the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) to return the ring to Mount Doom, the evil site where it was forged millennia ago and the only place where it can be destroyed. Accompanying Frodo is a fellowship of eight others: his Hobbit friends Sam (Sean Astin), Merry (Dominic Monaghan), and Pippin (Billy Boyd); plus Gandalf; the human warriors Aragorn (Viggo Mortensen) and Boromir (Sean Bean); Elf archer Legolas (Orlando Bloom); and Dwarf soldier Gimli (John Rhys-Davies). The band's odyssey to the dreaded land of Mordor, where Mount Doom lies, takes them through the Elfish domain of Rivendell and the forest of Lothlorien, where they receive aid and comfort from the Elf princess Arwen (Liv Tyler), her father, Elrond (Hugo Weaving), and Queen Galadriel (Cate Blanchett). In pursuit of the travelers and their ring are Saruman (Christopher Lee) -- a traitorous wizard and kin, of sorts, to Gandalf -- and the Dark Riders, under the control of the evil, mysterious Sauron (Sala Baker). The Fellowship must also do battle with a troll, flying spies, Orcs, and other deadly obstacles both natural and otherwise as they draw closer to Mordor. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) was filmed in Jackson's native New Zealand, closely followed by its pair of sequels, The Two Towers (2002) and The Return of the King (2003). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Elijah Wood, Ian McKellen, (more)
- 2001
Based on the novel by Luis Sepulveda, this drama stars Richard Dreyfuss as Antonio Bolivar, an elderly man who lives in a small village along the Amazon River. Many years ago, Bolivar and his young wife came to the village as part of an effort to colonize the area; the couple was welcomed by Nushino (Victor Bottenbley), leader of the native tribes, but after a fever took the life of his spouse and attacks by fortune seekers caused the natives to turn their backs on the white settlers, Bolivar has been virtually alone, with only one close friend in the village, an aging dentist named Rubicondo (Hugo Weaving). Bolivar passes his time by reading florid romance novels passed along to him by Josefina (Cathy Tyson), Rubicondo's mistress who works as an aide for the village's mayor, Luis Agalla (Timothy Spall). Agalla, not an especially scrupulous man, has been selling illegal hunting permits to visitors hunting big game, and one of his customers made the mistake of killing and skinning a pack of jaguar cubs; the mother of the cats found the hunter, and tore him to shreds. Now likely to attack any human she sees, the mother jaguar is roaming the jungle near the village and must be found before she can kill again, and Bolivar steps forward to help with the dangerous assignment of finding and capturing the vicious cat. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Dreyfuss, Timothy Spall, (more)
- 2002
Australian filmmaker Stavros Kazantzidis directs the dark comedy Horseplay. Con man Max Mackendrick (Marcus Graham) wants a bit of horseracing action, so he marries the snobby Alicia Coxhead (Tushka Bergen), the daughter of famous horceracer Barry Coxhead (Bill Hunter). However, Max gets eternally barred from the sport after he gets caught swapping horses. Undaunted, Max and his sex-addict sidekick Henry (Jason Donovan) come up with a plan to make a million dollars at the Melbourne Cup. He needs the money to get back at his nemesis Barry and to reunite with his needy ex-girlfriend Jade (Natalie Mendoza). He hires two crooks (Jacek Koman and Robert Menzies) for an elaborate kidnapping scheme that inevitably and quickly goes awry. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marcus Graham, Tushka Bergen, (more)
