FROM THE NEWS ARCHIVES OF CINEMA CONFIDENTIAL

Natalie Portman says "V is for Vendetta"
POSTED ON 01/05/05 AT 4:30 A.M.
BY ETHAN AAMES

Variety reports that "Garden State" and "Star Wars" actress Natalie Portman is in final talks to star in "V is for Vendetta." The picture will be produced by Joel Silver and the Wachowski Brothers, who also co-wrote the screenplay. James McTeigue, who was the first assistant director on the "Matrix" films, will making his directorial debut. The project will eventually be distributed by Warner Bros.

"V" will be based on the Alan Moore graphic novel of the same name and tells the story of "an alternate future in which Germany wins WWII and Great Britain becomes a fascist state. A terrorist freedom fighter known only as 'V' begins a violent guerilla campaign to destroy those who've succumbed to totalitarianism, and recruits a young woman he's rescued from the secret police to join him."