British actor James Purefoy dropped out of his role in V For Vendetta.

Hugo Weaving was fantastic as the lead in the renowned comic book adaption. However, before Weaving, another actor held the position, and there have long been whispers about his exit.

So, why did James Purefoy abandon the project just as he was getting started?

The 41-year-old A KNIGHT’S TALE star was so fed up with having to wear the facial prop till bedtime that he departed the terrorism thriller and was replaced by MATRIX star HUGO WEAVING.

“That mask is the thing I’ll be wearing through the movie,” he stated before exiting the theater. “We’ll never see my face. It’s a great acting challenge. Wearing that thing takes… a lot of takes.”

“Spider-Man’s mask comes off. Batman’s mask comes off. Even The Elephant Man had eyes. That’s all I ask for, just an eye!

“Every night I’m in that mask for another three hours when I go home. I have mirrors all over my apartment and I live in it until I go to bed. So my neighbours obviously think I’m mad.”

An journalist asked James straight-up whether he abandoned ‘V for Vendetta’ due of the uncomfortable outfit in an interview with Purefoy that was recapped on Twitter. What was James’ response?

“I don’t really talk about it much because we agreed not to.” Of course, Purefoy went on to say that he could refute at least one notion, saying, “It was nothing to do with wearing the mask.”

When the interviewer insisted that the problem was “a voice thing” and that James didn’t sound “menacing” enough, the actor burst out laughing “hysterically.”

Then he went on to say that it was due to “genuine creative differences,” and that he and the producers/director had dramatically different opinions on how the character should be depicted.

Director James McTeigue responded on the topic in an interview with CBR, saying, “Well, you know, James is a great actor. I hope that we can work together at some time in the future. At this point it wasn’t right and Hugo’s a great actor.”

After taking up the character of V, Australian actor Hugo Weaving acknowledges he understands Purefoy’s dissatisfaction with the mask.

He says, “I know the difficulties James was having and I was warned by other people.

“Certain difficulties with the mask. I just think it can feel very hot. You feel quite… cut off.”

V for Vendetta, starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman, has maintained its appeal throughout the years, and fans still can’t get enough of it. It’s one of those films that grows in popularity as more young people become aware of it, and it’s one that will almost certainly maintain its following over time.

To fans, it appears that Purefoy’s version of events is more realistic: it wasn’t the mask that had precise notions about how the person wearing it should act; it was the people behind it who had definite ideas about how the person wearing the outfit should act.