'V for Vendetta' Director James McTeigue Reflects on the Movie's Cultural Legacy 20 Years Later

"V for Vendetta" was released 20 years ago this month, not that you would know it. The film, written and produced by the Wachowskis and directed by frequent collaborator James McTeigue, was based on the comic book series by Alan Moore and David Lloyd. It imagined an ultra-conservative future Britain, inspired at the time by Margaret Thatcher, and an enigmatic figure named V (played in the film by Hugo Weaving), who wages war against the powers that be. (Natalie Portman starred as a woman he rescues and radicalizes.) As the years between the release of "V for Vendetta" have worn on, our . . .