Did Hugo Weaving Copy Carl Sagan to play Agent Smith?
I happened to be watching an episode of the 80's show Cosmos which was hosted by Carl Sagan. Sitting and listening to his voice, I was puzzled, thinking "Who's voice does this sound like?". I came to the conclusion he sounded just like Agent Smith from The Matrix.
My question is, Did Hugo Weaving copy the voice mannerisms from Carl Sagan for the part of Agent Smith? Is there any evidence in the media or through interview why Weaving portrayed Smith like this? It's definitely not his normal speech pattern.
NOTE: I know it is hard to prove a negative. If someone has any information as to why Weaving played the part this way would be sufficient for an answer.
For reference, here are two clips, one of Carl Sagan describing the 4th dimension and one of Agent Smith while interrogating Morpheus.
Carl Sagan
Agent Smith
Best Answer
The documentary The Matrix Revisited (Wiki • IMDB • Amazon) features an interview with Hugo Weaving (starting at approximately 48 minutes in, a segment called "The Interrogation Room") in which he says that he wanted a "neutral accent" for the character and for him to be "not robotic but not really human. I kept thinking about a '50s newsreader or someone like that." This is (in the documentary) followed immediately by Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) saying that he sounds like Walter Cronkite. Here's Cronkite's final broadcast for comparison:
Following Fishburne's comment, the documentary shows Weaving saying:
And also the more I hung out with Larry and Andy [Wachowski] the more I think I picked up on their rhythms. Larry and Andy both have an incredibly deep voice and I think that kinda -- Agent Smith started to kinda talk like that a bit as well.
So in conclusion, his stated influences were an archetypal 1950s newsreader and the Wachowski brothers. While I agree that he sounds uncannily like Carl Sagan when he plays Agent Smith, he doesn't seem to have acknowledged Sagan as an influence for the portrayal.
Pictures about "Did Hugo Weaving Copy Carl Sagan to play Agent Smith?"
Who is Agent Smith based off of?
"Hugo Weaving got the idea of how to play character Agent Smith in the Matrix after watching Red Dwarf, a popular British sitcom. In the episode Holoship, Hugo decided that the character Captain Hercule Platini is how he was going to play the famous role in the Matrix."How does Agent Smith duplicate?
Smith gains the power to copy his physical form onto any entity in the Matrix by phasing his hand into their body and spreading a black liquid that transforms them into a copy of himself, resulting in an ever-growing army of Smiths connected by a single consciousness.Did Agent Smith take over the Matrix?
Neo sacrificed himself to stop the spread of Agent Smith, which the Matrix could no longer control. All Neo wanted in exchange for saving the machine world was peace between the machines and humans. They agreed to his terms and sent him into the Matrix. There he allowed himself to be absorbed by Smith's program.Why did Agent Smith Destroy the Matrix?
He hates mankind and the matrix, especially because of its smell. He sees mankind as a plague for the earth and wants to cure it. He fears to be infected by this plague, but does not recognize that he already shows emotions and weaknesses like humans do.Agent Smith Interrogation
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