15 Sorta-True Things About Hugo Weaving

2. True

 

3. Plausible.. Hugo's said many similar things over the years about his NIDA education.

 

4. I can't find the source for this quote, but it's plausible, with the caveat that Hugo has repeatedly stated he prefers small budget Australian films as an actor.

 

5. True

 

6. I can't find any confirmation of this incident... it's not mentioned in any of Hugo's interviews I have from this period or after. Hugo has often retold the story of getting "completely trashed" with his costars at a drag bar, and having to be carried home impaired by the film crew. (The incident is also colorfully recollected in producer Al Clark's book Making Priscilla). Hugo also twisted his ankle in a fall down the stairs while shooting the prom video for "I Love The Nightlife". The plate glass window story sounds in tune with what was a crazy, entertaining project for everyone involved, but it's odd that it hasn't been reprinted anywhere in 15 years. I'd love to see the original source for this... plausible but unconfirmed.

 

7. True, but bear in mind Hugo's children felt these emotions over a dozen years, and in reaction to many different projects. Most recently, Hugo has said "...They're lovely, modest kids. Whether they're proud of me or not, I'm not sure. I'm just Dad." (WHO Weekly, 20 July 2009)

 

8. True, though Hugo never said he'd move to Berlin, just that he loved to work there. (He filmed V for Vendetta in 2005 at Studio Babelsburg in Berlin). He's also said he enjoys working in London, New York and San Francisco. Basically, anywhere but LA. ;)

 

9. True.... this is the only new information in this piece. Hugo has only mentioned Ga'Hoole in one other piece, but didn't give a character name or say it was his favorite voice role. But since he applauded the production's choice of letting Australian actors use their native accents, and Grimble is a heroic character, this does sound like a role Hugo would warm to... I'd love to see the source interview.

 

10. True. From a 2006 interview.

 

11. Hugo most commonly expressed these sorts of reservations in the mid 1990s, but has always been humble and self-effacing. I can't find the specific source, but he's said many things that were very similar over the years.

 

12. True. Fans will remember this from several Matrix-era interviews.

 

13. This is the one outright falsehood in the piece... and is an item I've tried without avail to have removed from IMDb. It's the sort of foolish rumor-mongering and conclusion-drawing that creates the sort of misconceptions about epilepsy that Hugo has battled since he went public with his condition in 1992. (Hugo gave an optimistic, understated interview to Australian Woman's Day to create awareness and give hope to others with the condition... the magazine betrayed him with tabloid style headlines about a "horror brain disease" and Hugo's supposed "fear of dying" from it. The latter was a quote taken out of context; Hugo said that, in the midst of seizures, he had all sorts of irrational thoughts and fears, not that he literally feared he would die.) In a 2006 interview, Hugo clarified that he hadn't suffered a seizure in years (he suffered about one a year at the time of the 1992 piece), that his triggers were stress and information overload, and that epilepsy had never affected his acting.

 

There was a frightening incident during a 2000 preview of The White Devil, but it had nothing to do with strobes or epilepsy. Hugo collapsed and briefly stopped breathing during a strangulation scene late in the play. He was quickly revived, and returned the following night to resume performances; the rest of the run went without incident. All contemporary accounts of the incident note that Hugo was suffering from the flu... I even found a mention of this in Sir Ian McKellen's blog The Gray Book, his account of the making of The Lord of the Rings. McKellen mentions that Hugo had to leave the LOTR set to appear in The White Devil, and had an incipient case of the flu before departing. Hugo's subsequent descriptions mention that both he and his costar got overly involved in their performances during the faux strangulation as well. Hugo has never mentioned epilepsy as a cause in the incident, and is not the sort of person to lie about such things. As I mentioned before, his form of epilepsy was never triggered by strobe lights either... anyone who's seen the climactic battle in The Matrix Revolutions would instantly realize Hugo has no problem with strobes. ;) I don't know where this silly story got started, and I'm disturbed that an Australian paper, which should know better, would cite unsourced IMDb trivia without any corroboration. The inclusion of this item has made me scrutinize every other part of the piece--probably more than is strictly necessary--because it calls the article's author's (compiler, really) reliability into question. A good reporter will cite sources and provide context for quotes. I have several articles in my Flickr archive in which Hugo describes The White Devil incident, and added a piece from Qantas with a detailed account, as well as a more accurate recent mention in the Sydney Morning Herald, which accompanied an article about Cate Blanchett's minor injury onstage in A Streetcar Named Desire this week. No strobes were involved in that event, either. ;)

 

14. True, but I had to dig... this was mentioned in a 1994 interview. ;)

 

15. True .