Hugo Weaving Finished With Red Skull

Fanghawk

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Hugo Weaving Finished With Red Skull

If Hugo Weaving has his way, Marvel Studios won't be reprising his Red Skull role for Captain America: Winter Soldier.

Hugo Weaving has starred in an impressive number of geek-friendly films over the course of his career. After coming to mainstream attention as Agent Smith in The Matrix, Weaving went on to represent the likenesses of several highly recognizable characters, such as Elrond from The Lord of the Rings, V from V for Vendetta, and even Megatron in Michael Bay's Transformers. Many roles lent themselves well to additional performances in later sequels, but Weaving has now stated that there is one character he never wants to return to: Hydra Commander Red Skull from Marvel Studio's Captain America.

"I think I've done my dash with that sort of film," Weaving said. "It was good to do it and try it out, but to be honest, it's not the sort of film I seek out and really am excited by. As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great. It stretches you in different ways. But, I increasingly like to go back to what I used to always do, which is to get involved with projects that I really have a personal affiliation with."

Despite his reluctance to return to the role, Weaving does acknowledge the possibility that he could be forced back into the mask anyway. "I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn't want to force someone to do it." Weaving isn't very concerned about that contractual obligation however, because he believes that Marvel is unlikely to bring the villain back for a sequel. "I think the tendency, with those films, would be to probably not bring a villain back. They might for The Avengers, but I didn't think I'd be in Captain America 2 or 3. I don't think Red Skull will be there. And it's not something I would want to do again."

While I certainly respect Weaving's sentiments, the news is somewhat disappointing. Not only did Weaving provide an excellent performance in Captain America, but the Red Skull is also a major figure in the Marvel Comics Universe, equal to villains like Doctor Doom or Magneto. Bringing back the Red Skull to battle the Avengers in future movies is an intriguing prospect made difficult by Weaving's absence. If Marvel were to return to the Nazi-inspired villain, it's hard to imagine another actor who could perform the role quite as effectively.

Source: Collider, via <a href=http://ca.ign.com/articles/2012/10/15/hugo-weaving-doesnt-want-to-play-red-skull-again?utm_campaign=ign+main+twitter&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social>IGN

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Studsmack

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Bummer. I didn't really care too much for Weaving's performance, but disruption in continuity would kill me. They really left it open to interpretation as to whether Red Skull died or not. I suppose they could just write him off, though he is pretty big in Captain America's lore, I take it?

Hmm. Predicament.
 

The Great JT

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Problematic, but not completely unforseen. They could work with this in the context of the Marvel movies. Perhaps being warped across time and space by the Tesseract did something to Red Skull.
 

brunothepig

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It's sad to know that we probably won't see Weaving as Red Skull again (I mean, Marvel could force him into the role but that seems unpleasant for all involved). But this still may not stop Marvel from having Red Skull. For one thing, Banner has already changed actors. Granted, Banner is a bit more important than a villain who doesn't need to be seen again. For another, they could keep it largely unnoticed by having most of his on-screen stuff be with his skull revealed. It's not perfect, but it won't be as jarring as the Banner change, for example.

Or as GreatJT said, the Tesseract broke his face. Or he had to get plastic surgery to hide. Or something.
 

008Zulu_v1legacy

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The Tesseract can act as a portable Bifrost. It just transported him to, what appeared to be, Asgard.

Granted changing a character mid franchise can be a bad thing, though it did work wonders for Banner/Hulk, there are plenty of villains left for Cap to battle with.
 

Pebkio

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Wait, HE was V? Y'know, it was weird, when I saw him in The Lord of the Rings, I recognized him but I didn't think of him as Agent Smith in a robe. But when I saw him in Captain America, I saw him as Agent Smith in a Nazi outfit and then as Agent Smith with a red face. I guess it just speaks to how he didn't fit well into the role.
 

Dirty Hipsters

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I don't think it'd be too difficult to reprise the role of the Red Skull with another actor. Hell, Marvel already did it with the Hulk, and it would actually be pretty easy with the Red Skull, since in the sequels I would assume that he would just have the skull face, meaning that any future actors who portray him would be wearing heavy amounts of make up during the vast majority of the movie.
 

el_kabong

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I don't mind this at all. I vastly prefer that actors/writers/directors only continue something if they truly feel that they want to. If they don't want to be there, it's going to show in the finished product.

I've been a fan of several things over the years. The things I am fondest of are those that the talent behind it put a cap on because they've said what they wanted to say and don't have any more creative itch to pursue the story further. Calvin & Hobbes is probably my most cherished example of this. Using an Escapist example: Apocalypse Lane.

Also, don't want to type-cast the guy, but we already know that Cristoph Waltz plays an excellent nazi. Just saying.
 

Darth_Payn

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Really? Hugo Weaving nailed it as the Red Skull, one of the most capital-E EVIL dudes in the comics! Is Marvel afraid that Weaving will chew up the scenery so much they'll go over budget?
 

ExtraDebit

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I thought red skull was mediocre as a villain, he was conceive just as an excuse for cap. to fight. Every hero and villain have something they fight for, most heroes fight for freedom; villains like magneto fight for the domination of the mutants.

Those are sentiments that people can relate to, and that's what makes good heroes and villains. And what is red skull fighting for? to bring back the nazi...........boring!
 

Something Amyss

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The Great JT said:
Problematic, but not completely unforseen. They could work with this in the context of the Marvel movies. Perhaps being warped across time and space by the Tesseract did something to Red Skull.
It certainly in no way hurts the character.
 

Broken Blade

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Well, that would be a shame, but I respect his decision to back away from the part if it should come to that.

However, I suspect that any replacement actor will be subjected to a thousand "YOU ARE FAILING!!!" memes within a few days of the announcement.
 

Adam Jensen_v1legacy

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I don't want him back either. As far as I'm concerned, Red Skull died in Captain America. I don't like it when they resurrect villains like that.
 

VonBrewskie

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I mean, they changed actors for Hulk. Why not Red Skull? Doesn't seem like that big of a deal to me.
 

Phishfood

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Changing actors doesn't feel like a problem when you never see someone's face anyway.

Still, I can't see any reason to continue with Red Skull anyway - you have to contrive some way for him to survive the crash and then get frozen so he is in the future and then find someone smart enough to know how but stupid enough to unfreeze him. TBH that is not a film I want to see.
 

ScruffyMcBalls

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Bit of a shame really, I thought he wasn't in the first movie anywhere near enough. Even felt as though a bunch of his lines were probably cut. But still, the next movie is a ways off and he might change his mind. Plus, I'm not entirely sure, but I think there were other interesting villains in Captain America's storylines that could be used.
Only time shall tell.
 

Fappy

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Well that's unfortunate. Despite Redskull being cliched as all hell (script) in the movie Weaving did a good job with the character