'V For Vendetta' at 20: We Spoke to Its Director About the Increasingly Relevant Comic Adaptation

A brutal leader employs men in masks to abduct people off the streets. A news media controlled by his government carefully manages the messages it puts out, lying more often than not. Millions are killed by a disease that could have been prevented by that government. No, we’re not talking about life in 2026; we’re talking about V for Vendetta, the James McTeigue-directed adaptation of the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd, which was released on March 17, 2006, 20 years ago today. Upon its release, V for Vendetta was a moderate success, grossing about $135 million against a production budget of around $50 million. But it was 2006, years before comic book adaptations would level up in a way few could have imagined, and well before anyone in the U.S. imagined our lives would come to so closely mirror the dystopia of the present. Starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving and adapted by the Wachowskis, the film was a little ahead of its time, and not always in a good way. But, watching it now, it feels even more relevant than ever. It’s a cathartic, powerful work of cinema that we were fortunate enough to chat about with the film’s director. To celebrate the film’s anniversary