Hugo Weaving is fascinating, as both an actor and a human being. Whether it’s in memorable roles in bigger features (i.e. The Matrix trilogy, V for Vendetta and The Lord of the Rings trilogy), in smaller character studies or on the stage, he definitely makes an impression. While at the press day for the filmmaking masterpiece Cloud Atlas, where he plays six characters over races, genders and periods of time, Collider was fortunate enough to get to speak to him about his work during an exclusive interview.

While we will run what he had to say about the epic experience of making Cloud Atlas closer to the film’s October 26th theatrical release, we did want to share what he had to say about three other films he’s been involved with – The Hobbit, Transformers and Captain America. During the interview, Weaving said that he only found out that The Hobbit movies would be a trilogy quite recently, that not only has he not been called to voice Megatron for another Transformers movie, but that he’s never actually even met Michael Bay, and that even though he signed a multi-picture contract with Marvel, he doesn’t see Red Skull returning. Check out what he had to say after the jump.

Collider: When did you find out that The Hobbit movies would be a trilogy, and what were your thoughts about that?

HUGO WEAVING: I found out The Hobbit was going to be a trilogy quite recently, when everyone else found out about it. Originally, when I said goodbye to Pete [Jackson] in L.A., I said, “I’ll see you on The Hobbit,” and he said, “Well, I’m not doing The Hobbit.” And then, it was, “We are doing The Hobbit, but I’m not going to direct it.” And then, it was, “Well, I am directing it now.” And then, it was, “Actually, we’re doing The Hobbit in two films.” So, when I went to shoot it out there, there were two scripts and two films. Now, I’ve just found out, not that long ago, when it was announced. He said, “Well, we’ve got all this fabulous material and these wonderful people.” They hadn’t filmed the final battle sequence yet, which would have been at the end of 2. For a number of reasons, they decided that there are three films in there. I hope there are. I don’t know. I was truly there for four or five weeks and enjoyed myself, and went home again. My knowledge of the workings of Middle Earth, at the moment, are very minimal.

As the voice of Megatron, has Michael Bay called about the next Transformers movie yet?

WEAVING: No. That’s a weird job for me because it honestly was a two-hour voice job, initially. I was doing a play and I actually didn’t have time, anyway. It was one of the only things I’ve ever done where I had no knowledge of it, I didn’t care about it, I didn’t think about it. They wanted me to do it. In one way, I regret that bit. I don’t regret doing it, but I very rarely do something if it’s meaningless. It was meaningless to me, honestly. I don’t mean that in any nasty way. I did it. It was a two-hour voice job, while I was doing other things. Of course, it’s a massive film that’s made masses of money. I just happened to be the voice of one of the iconic villainous characters. But, my link to that and to Michael Bay is so minimal. I have never met him. I was never on set. I’ve seen his face on Skype. I know nothing about him, really. I just went in and did it. I never read the script. I just have my lines, and I don’t know what they mean. That sounds absolutely pathetic! I’ve never done anything like that, in my life. It’s hard to say any more about it than that, really.

Since Marvel makes everyone sign multi-picture deals, did you have to sign one when you did Captain America? Could they ask you to do Captain America 2 of The Avengers 2?

WEAVING: I did that for Captain America. I think the tendency, with those films, would be to probably not bring a villain back. They might for The Avengers, but I didn’t think I’d be in Captain America 2 or 3. I don’t think Red Skull will be there. And it’s not something I would want to do again. I’m glad I did it. I did sign up for a number of pictures and I suppose, contractually, I would be obliged to, if they forced me to, but they wouldn’t want to force someone to do it, if they didn’t want to. I think I’ve done my dash with that sort of film. It was good to do it and try it out, but to be honest, it’s not the sort of film I seek out and really am excited by. As an actor, to do all sorts of different films is great. It stretches you in different ways. But, I increasingly like to go back to what I used to always do, which is to get involved with projects that I really have a personal affiliation with.

Look for more of our interview with Hugo Weaving closer to the release of Cloud Atlas.