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Spoilers (10)
The Wachowskis approached Warner with the idea of the Matrix and Warner balked at the budget they had submitted, which was over $80 million. Warner instead agreed to give them $10 million. The Wachowskis took the money and filmed the first ten minutes of the movie (the opening scene with Carrie-Anne Moss) using the entire $10 million. They then showed the executives at Warner the opening scene. They were impressed, and green-lit the original asking budget.
Woo-Ping Yuen initially refused to work on the film and hoped that by asking for an exorbitant fee, it would turn off the Wachowskis. It didn't. He next formulated what he considered an impossible request. He said that he'd agree only if he had complete control of the fights and that he trained the actors for four months before they shoot. The Wachowskis complied with his request.
According to costume designer Kym Barrett, Trinity's costume was made with cheap PVC because of much tighter budget. Similarly, Neo's coat wasn't actually a very expensive fabric. It was a wool blend got for three dollars a yard.
All scenes that take place within the Matrix have a green tint, as if watching them through a computer monitor, while scenes in the real world have a blue tint, blue was also used at a minimum in the matrix scenes since the directors thought blue was more of a real world colour despite, ironically, blue being the least often occurring colour in nature. The fight scene between Morpheus and Neo, which is neither in the real world nor in the Matrix, is tinted yellow.
Carrie-Anne Moss twisted her ankle while shooting one of her scenes but decided not to tell anyone until after filming, so they wouldn't re-cast her.
In the combat training program before Keanu Reeves starts his furious attacks on Morpheus, he rubs his nose with his thumb and finger, a similar mannerism of Bruce Lee before he attacks on his opponents. The move was improvised by Reeves.
In the first 45 minutes of the film, Neo has 80 lines. 44 of these lines are questions, just over half of his total dialogue, averaging at roughly one question per minute.
For the cell phone conversation scene between Neo and Morpheus in the MetaCortex office Keanu Reeves actually climbed up the window without a stuntman, which was 34 floors up.
In Greek Mythology Morpheus is the god of dreams. Somewhat ironic considering Morpheus' role here is to awaken people from their dream states to reality.
For Keanu Reeves's scenes set in the real world at the start of the film, his costumes were deliberately shabby and ill-fitting to suggest Thomas Anderson's feeling of not quite fitting into the world.
Will Smith was approached to play Neo, but turned down the offer in order to star in Wild Wild West (1999). He later admitted that, at the time, he was "not mature enough as an actor" and that, if given the role, he "would have messed it up". He had no regrets, saying that "Keanu was brilliant as Neo".
After the lobby shootout, the camera pans back showing the aftermath of the gunfight in the lobby. During this a piece of one of the pillars falls off. This happened by coincidence during the filming and was not planned, but was left since it seemed appropriate.
The studio insisted on a great deal of explanatory dialog as they described the screenplay as "the script that nobody understands".
In 2012, was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry archives.
The filming of the helicopter scene nearly caused the film to be shutdown because they flew the helicopter through restricted Sydney airspace. Laws in the state of New South Wales in Australia were changed to allow the film The Matrix (1999) to proceed.
When Belinda McClory auditioned for the role of "Switch", she was only going for half the role. The character was originally planned to be played by androgynous actors. In the real world, it would be played by a male actor and in the Matrix be represented in a female form, hence the name "Switch". Warner Brothers refined the idea and McClory ended up getting a single female role in both environments.
All the color blue was sucked out of the exterior shots to convey how grim the world of the Matrix actually is.
Shot almost entirely in Sydney, Australia, the location scouts found it very difficult to find burned-out, American-ghetto-looking locations. Many of the urban-decay locations had to be created from scratch.
By the middle of 2002, the famous "Bullet Time" sequence had been spoofed in over 20 different movies.
The glyphs on the computer screens, with the exception of the call traces, consists of reversed letters, numbers, and Japanese katakana characters.
The iconic sunglasses worn by the Matrix characters are from the cult-ish label Blinde, which prides itself on producing handmade glasses. The company's founder, Richard Walker, had to tender against large companies such as Ray-Ban and Arnette to win the film's sunglasses contract, and set himself apart by scratch-designing pairs of glasses based purely on the characters' unusual names. When his tender was successful, Walker was flown into Sydney where he spent the duration of the Matrix shoot custom-designing sunglasses for the cast in the back of an Oxford Street optometrist.
When Carrie-Anne Moss saw the first cut, it was also the first time she'd ever seen herself in a movie before.
Warner's gave the green light to the movie fairly late during preproduction. For a long time artists working on preproduction were not sure whether the film was ever going to be made.
The Wachowskis harbored their vision for five and a half years, working through 14 drafts of the screenplay. The final concepts took up 500 storyboards.
Before his character's final speech at the end, Keanu Reeves never has more than five sentences in a row to speak.
Nicolas Cage turned down the part of Neo because of family commitments. Tom Cruise was also considered.
Numerous sets of identical twins were cast as extras in the "Woman in Red" scene - in which Morpheus takes Neo through a computer simulation of The Matrix - to create the illusion of a repeating program. Example: the tall man with slicked-back hair and sunglasses in the opening shot is seen seconds later as a police officer writing a parking ticket.
According to weapon provider John Bowring, guns for Keanu Reeves in the lobby sequence and the elevator sequence, were actually plastic lightweight weapons. They made a very faithful cast of MP5K, which weighs about 150-200 grams, so that Keanu could carry them quite easily without worrying about the weight. Heavy versions of the same thing were also made, if they were to fall on the floor.
The name of the company Neo works for is Metacortex. The roots of this word are meta-, which according to Webster's means "going beyond or higher, transcending," and -cortex, which is "the outer layer (boundary) of gray matter surrounding the brain." Thus, Metacortex is "transcending the boundaries of the brain," which is precisely what Neo proceeds to do.
Some personal information can be seen on Thomas Anderson's "criminal record" that Agent Smith glances at when he interrogates Neo: The last update to the file was July 22, 1998 Neo's date of birth is "March 11, 1962" Neo's place of birth is "Lower Downtown, Capital City" Neo's mother's maiden name is "Michelle McGahey" Neo's father's name is "John Anderson" Neo attended "Central West Junior High" and "Owen Paterson High" (named after the film's production designer). Seconds later a photocopy of his passport can be seen. There the place of his birth is CAPITAL CITY USA, his date of birth is the 13th of September 1971, the passport was issued on the 12th of September 1991 and will expire on the 11th of September 2001.
The name of Morpheus' ship, the Nebuchadnezzar, is a Biblical reference to King Nebuchadrezzar II of Babylon, from the biblical Book of Daniel. King Nebuchadnezzar ('the Great') was famous for his conquests of Israel in Biblical times (specifically Judah and Jerusalem). He also built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon (one of the lost Seven Wonders of the Ancient World) for his wife. He has a dream he can't remember but keeps searching for an answer, in Daniel 2:1-49.
Before filming, the principal actors spent four months with martial arts experts learning the fight moves, from October 1997 to March 1998. The actors had originally thought that it would take just a few weeks.
Gary Oldman was considered as Morpheus at one point, as well as Samuel L. Jackson.
When Lana and Lilly Wachowski's screenplay for Assassins (1995) was being made for producer Joel Silver, The Wachowskis brought Silver the script to "The Matrix". The producer was bowled over by their screenplay but not by The Wachowskis' insistence that they direct the film themselves. He told them to cut their teeth by directing something else instead, which is why they made Bound (1996). The success of that lesbian crime thriller proved to be the calling card that The Wachowskis needed to earn the trust from Warner Brothers to direct "The Matrix" themselves.
On the first day of shooting, Hugo Weaving suffered an injury to his leg. It was revealed to be a polyp that had to be surgically removed. For a while, there was a suggestion that the actor would have to be recast, but, by shifting the schedule around so that all of his stuntwork would take place at the end of shooting, Weaving was able to take the part.
In an online interview when the film was first released, the Wachowskis revealed that they'd both take the Blue Pill when given Neo's choice.
The last thing shot was Neo getting flushed into the lake when he gets unplugged for the first time.
When Tank is uploading the Martial Arts training to Neo, there is a shot of the computer screen as it scrolls through the various Martial Arts styles. The graphics have a computer image of a person and the title of the style below. The fifth one on the screen is entitled "Drunken Boxing". Woo-Ping Yuen, the fight choreographer for this movie, was director and fight choreographer for Jackie Chan's early hit, Drunken Master (1978) in which Jackie Chan's character masters the style of Zui Chuan, or Drunken Boxing. Some of the other Martial Arts fighting styles being downloaded are Ju Jitsu, Savate, Kempo, Tae Kwon Do, and, of course, Kung Fu.
In the early stages of developing what was to become the famous Bullet Time sequence, visual effects supervisor John Gaeta and director of photography Bill Pope constructed many gimbals and dollies in the hope of creating the effect the old fashioned way. The original dolly they created for the camera would be lead around the action at a tremendous speed, but after many failed tests and broken dollies, they opted for computer graphics, which meant writing an entirely new program for the effect. However, the Bullet Time sequence does still use one very old fashioned technique: still photography.
According to Don Davis, Johnny Depp was Lana and Lily's first choice for Neo, but Warner Bros. wanted Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer. After Kilmer and Brad Pitt said no, Warner Bros. was willing to consider Johnny Depp, and then it came between Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves, who Warner Bros. was pushing. Keanu was always really tuned in to the concept and made a big difference in the casting.
The key of the beginning theme you hear at the beginning of every Matrix movie (rousing strings and horn blasts) ascends by one tone with each movie. The Matrix (1999) starts in the key of E, The Matrix Reloaded (2003) in F-sharp and Matrix Revolutions (2003) in the key of G-sharp.
Laurence Fishburne stated that once he read the script, he did not understand why other people found it confusing. However, he had a doubt if the movie would ever be made, because it was "so smart".
All of the references to street corners (e.g. Wells and Lake) are real intersections in Chicago, USA, The Wachowskis' hometown. The subway train has signs for "Loop," another Chicago reference. The film however is quite obviously not set in Chicago or any other real city (though it was filmed in Sydney).
Carrie-Anne Moss was a cast member of the short-lived television show Matrix (1993).
The Wachowskis simply described Trinity as a woman in black leather in the script, but it was interpreted tremendously by costume designer Kym Barrett.
The book Neo hides his computer discs in is called "Simulacra and Simulation" a treatise by Jean Baudrillard that explores the postmodern concept of simulation and hyperreality. The chapter where they're hidden is called "On Nihilism". Nihilism often involves a sense of despair coupled with the belief that life is devoid of meaning.
The spring-loaded cell phones used in the film were Nokia Stilleto's or 8110's. These phones were produced in limited quantities and were only available in Europe and in Australia.
The film pays a huge homage to Lewis Carroll's "Alice in Wonderland", although there are also references to Karl Marx, Franz Kafka, Zen and Homer's Odyssey. One of the main featured works of literature is "Simulcra and Simulation" by the French philosopher Jean Baudrillaud. The book can be seen lying open in Neo's apartment and was required reading for all the principal cast and crew.
According to costumer Gloria Bava, Neo's original coat was silver gray leather. It was changed because the directors wanted something that was able to billow and float. There is a reference in the script to "liquid sky"; a coat that would liquefy with the surroundings and billowy. Even putting a wind machine under the coat didn't move because leather was too heavy. Costumers finally changed the fabric.
The idea for the movie was created when The Wachowskis were thinking for some new story for a comic book series. They wrote the entire script before their first directorial venture Bound (1996), and worked on it up until the time of production.
The windows that Trinity crashes the helicopter into are apparently those of the Columbia Pictures screening room in Sydney, Australia.
Carrie-Anne Moss auditioned with the scene in the nightclub where she first approaches Thomas Anderson.
When Mouse is cornered by the SWAT team during the raid, the guns he pulls out are a pair of cam-operated, electrically-driven 12-gauge automatic shotguns with 25-round drum magazines, capable of firing at 900 RPM. They were built specially for the movie by John Bowring, the film's key armorer.
By filming in Australia, the film-makers kept the final budget at $60 million. The movie would not have been green-lit by Warner Bros. otherwise because it would have cost a then-record $180 million for a U.S.-based production.
Gillian Anderson turned down the role of Trinity.
The first day of shooting was the scene where Neo receives the phone from Morpheus in the office and attempts to flee from the agents.
Russell Crowe turned down the role of Morpheus. He said. "I just didn't get it. I couldn't get past page 42. That world was just not interesting to me".
The Wachowskis approached Hugo Weaving to play Agent Smith after seeing his performance in the movie Proof (1991).
When Morpheus is explaining "What the Matrix is" to Neo, he uses the phrase, "Welcome, to the desert of the real." This is a paraphrase from Jean Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation", the hollowed-out book where Neo keeps his illegal software. The quote can be found in Chapter One - The Precession of Simulacra, Page one, Paragraph 2, "It is the real, and not the map, whose vestiges persist here and there in the deserts that are no longer those of the Empire, but ours. The desert of the real itself." NB: The American title of Baudrillard's book is Simulations. It was published by Semiotext(e) in 1983.
According to producer Barrie M. Osborne, The Wachowskis originally wanted the Trinity chase on real rooftops rather than on a stage.
According to Lana Wachowski, for the slow-mo bullet ripple effects, Sound Designer Dane A. Davis put bullets on strings and whirl them around his studio. Also he digitized raindrops against window panes to create the sound of the Matrix code.
According to the inscription on the Nebuchadnezzar's core, the ship was "Made in the USA" in the year 2069. It also states that it is a "Mark III, No. 11" model, which is a possible reference to Mark 3:11, which reads "And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, they would fall down in front of him shrieking, 'You are the Son of God!'"
While asleep (inside the Matrix) at the beginning of the movie - one of Neo's illicit computer searches revealed that Morpheus had eluded authorities at Heathrow airport.
To prepare for the wire fu, the actors had to train hard for several months. The Wachowskis first scheduled four months for training. Woo-Ping Yuen was optimistic but then began to worry when he realized how unfit the actors were. Yuen let their body style develop and then worked with each actor's strength. He built on Keanu Reeves' diligence, Laurence Fishburne's resilience, Hugo Weaving's precision, and Carrie-Anne Moss's feminine grace. Yuen designed Moss' moves to suit her deftness and lightness.
During the Trinity rooftop chase at the film's beginning, two distinctive city skylines are noticeable. Nashville, Tennessee's BellSouth Building and L & C Tower are visible behind the agents. San Francisco's TransAmerica and Coit Towers can be seen behind Trinity after she jumps past the Guns & Ammo billboard.
When Neo is meeting with the Oracle, the music playing in the background in her apartment is Django Reinhardt's "Nuages". Following this tune can be heard Duke Ellington's "I'm Beginning to See the Light".
For the "Ultimate Matrix Collection" DVD re-release, the film was given a totally new, clean DVD transfer to replace the grainy one that had been on DVD since 1999, and give it the clear, sleek look of the sequels, which had not been seen since the theatrical release.
"Know thyself", the phrase in the kitchen of the "oracle", was the inscription above the entrance of the Delphic Oracle.
The first time he saw the movie, Laurence Fishburne said, "Morpheus scared the s*** out of me."
After Smith sends Neo flying backwards with a punch to the chest, Neo spews blood before getting back to his feet. Once he does, he taunts Smith in a fighting stance. The stance branches from the style Hapkido.
Carrie-Anne Moss performed the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film and all the wire stunts herself.
To prepare for the scene in which Neo wakes up in a pod, Keanu Reeves lost 15 pounds and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look.
Ewan McGregor turned down the role of Neo, as he was filming Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
The actors of the film were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew. Keanu Reeves stated that the Wachowskis had him read Simulacra and Simulation, Out of Control, and Evolutionary Psychology even before they opened up the script, and eventually he was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved. Carrie-Anne Moss commented that she had difficulty with this process.
Sandra Bullock turned down the role of Trinity because she couldn't see herself acting alongside the actor the studio intended to play the role as Neo. This was before Keanu Reeves was cast. She later regretted this decision.
Despite widespread rumours, Sean Connery was offered the role of the Architect in the sequels, not that of Morpheus.
For Agent Smith's voice, Hugo Weaving emulated a 1950s news reader. Laurence Fishburne compared him to Walter Cronkite.
"Tastee Wheat", which is mentioned when Mouse is trying to describe the food in the real world, was replaced by "Sex Crispies" in the German version of the movie.
The bending of spoons in the Oracle's apartment is a nod to the 1970s psychic-pop fad of telekinetic spoon-bending (proven to be simple stage magic), most notably by Uri Geller.
David Duchovny turned down the role of Neo in order to star in The X Files (1998)
The powerful sidearm used by the Agents in all 3 Matrix films is the Magnum Research/Israeli Military Industries Desert Eagle .50 AE.
Hugo Weaving stated that the character of Agent Smith was enjoyable to play because it amused him. He developed a neutral accent but with more specific character for the role. He wanted Smith to sound neither robotic nor human, and also said that the Wachowski's deep voices had influenced his voice in the film. When filming began, Weaving mentioned that he was excited to be a part of something that would extend him.
Filming the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling, Chad Stahelski, Keanu Reeves' stunt double, sustained several injuries, including broken ribs, knees, and a dislocated shoulder. Another stuntman was injured by a hydraulic puller during a shot where Neo was slammed into a booth.
Cypher, whose last name is Reagan, wants to be "important, like an actor," a wink to President Ronald Reagan.
Prior to the pre-production, Keanu Reeves suffered a two-level fusion of his cervical spine which had begun to cause paralysis in his legs, requiring him to undergo neck surgery. He was still recovering by the time of pre-production, but he insisted on training, so Woo-Ping Yuen let him practice punches and lighter moves. Reeves trained hard and even requested training on days off. However, the surgery still made him unable to kick for two out of four months of training. As a result, Reeves did not kick much in the film.
On a computer, a "cookie" is a piece of personal data. The Oracle gives Neo a literal and a figurative cookie.
Principal photography wrapped at 1:01 AM with the scene where the characters are inside the wall, climbing down. Principal photography took 25 weeks/118 days.
Keanu Reeves gave $80,000,000 USD of his $114,000,000 USD salary for The Matrix (1999) to special effects and makeup staff.
The Wachowskis instructed Laurence Fishburne to base his performance on the character Morpheus in Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics.
Due to Keanu Reeves' neck injury, some of the action scenes had to be rescheduled to wait for his full recovery. As a result, the filming began with scenes that did not require much physical exertion, such as the scene in Thomas Anderson's office, the interrogation room, or the car ride in which Neo is taken to see the Oracle.
Yun-Fat Chow turned down the role of Morpheus.
Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die", edited by Steven Schneider.
There are many who might legitimately claim to have invented the time-freezing photographic technique used in the movie. It might have been French director Michel Gondry who used it for the first time in a commercial (for an insurance company) and then in a video clip for Björk. It might have been architectural graphics artist Matthew Bannister who, in his academic work, suggested that motion and time in video could be separated, and proposed an apparatus for doing it much like that used for the film (but who was unable to make it work with then-available technology). Or even artist Tim MacMillan who demonstrated the technique on British television in 1993. It may be that each of them, and others, invented it independently.
For the scene when Neo wakes up in the pod connected to the Matrix, the pod was constructed to look dirty, used, and sinister. During the testing of a breathing mechanism in the pod, the tester suffered hypothermia in under eight minutes, so the pod had to be heated.
For the subway scene, the set was first planned to be shot in a real subway station, but due to the amount of the actions and the wire works, the decision was made to shoot on set. The set was built around an existing train storage facility, which had real train tracks.
Laurence Fishburne said that Morpheus was like being Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader in one character.
The dojo set was built well before the actual filming. During the filming of these action sequences, there was significant physical contact between the actors, earning them bruises. Because of Keanu Reeves's injury and his insufficient training with wires prior to the filming, he was unable to perform the triple kicks satisfactorily and became frustrated with himself, causing the scene to be postponed. The scene was shot successfully a few days later, with Reeves using only three takes. Woo-Ping Yuen altered the choreography and made the actors pull their punches in the last sequence of the scene, creating a training feel.
The helicopter was a full-scale light-weight mock-up, and its blades were added post-production by the visual effects team.
Author Sophia Stewart had a case pending against the directors, producers, and studios behind the Matrix and Terminator movie series, claiming that they were all based on a 35 page screen play treatment she wrote in 1983 called The Third Eye. Although the case was rejected because of the litigant's failure to present evidence in a timely fashion, Stewart continues to discuss her version of events online. For example, the "John Connor" and "Neo" characters are (she claims) the same individual in her treatment.
The Nebuchadnezzar was designed to have a patched-up look, instead of clean, cold and sterile space ship interior sets as used on films like Star Trek (1966). The wires were made visible to show the ship's working internals, and each composition was carefully designed to convey the ship as "a marriage between Man and Machine".
The Wachowskis had all the lead actors read "Simulacra and Simulation" by Jean Baudrillard, "Out of Control" by Kevin Kelly, and "Introducing Evolutionary Psychology" by Dylan Evans and Oscar Zarate in order to better understand the world of the movie. In the film, Neo actually hides his illegal computer files in a copy of Baudrillard's book.
Agent Smith refers to Cypher as Mr. Reagan during their meeting. This makes him the only character in the movie beside Neo to be identified by both their Matrix identity and their real world "handle" identity.
When Neo fights Morpheus in the construct, the three pieces of music that play on the score are termed the "Bow Whisk Orchestra" by composer Don Davis. It consists of a semi-improvisational piece with Asian instruments by Davis, the song "Leave You Far Behind" by Lunatic Calm, and another piece by Davis called "Switch or Break Show". Both "Bow Whisk Orchestra" and "Switch Or Break Show" are anagrams of "Wachowski Brothers". Also, when Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity return to the building after visiting the Oracle, the piece of music that plays is called "Threat Mix". Later, when in the same building Morpheus fights Agent Smith, the musical piece is called "Exit Mr. Hat". Both "Threat Mix" and "Exit Mr. Hat" are anagrams of "The Matrix".
The antique television Morpheus shows to Neo in the construct is an AWA (Amalgamated Wireless - Australasia) Radiola "Deep Image" Model 209C or very similar model, circa 1958. Its bottom speaker section with fabric grille is missing, probably removed by set design to create a cleaner appearance.
William Gibson's novel Neuormancer was an influence on the film (in particular, use of the term "Matrix"). After watching the film, Gibson commented that the way that the film's creators had drawn from existing cyberpunk works was "exactly the kind of creative cultural osmosis" he had relied upon in his own writing; however, he noted that the film's Gnostic themes distinguished it from Neuromancer, and believed that it was thematically closer to the work of Philip K. Dick.
This wasn't Keanu Reeves' first cyberpunk part. He also played the title role in Johnny Mnemonic (1995).
The shot as Trinity tells Neo, "you know exactly where it ends", was filmed on Elizabeth Street (Sydney NSW Australia) looking north alongside CityRail's - Central to City Circle - train line from where Campbell Street also intersects with Wentworth Avenue. The white wooden scaffolding illuminated to left was actually there before filming. Shot at night, the rain was added by a firetruck. Local street signs were pulled out and remained uprooted street-side days after location filming had moved on.
Hugo Weaving had to undergo hip surgery after being injured during fight training, which completely shifted the shooting schedule. Consequently, Weaving's fight scenes were completed at the end of the production in order to allow time for him to heal.
During all the scenes that take place inside the matrix system all scenes are tinted green so that it gives of a computer effect.
As of April, 2016 a research team at DARPA working on a project which focuses on Targeted Neuroplasticity Training (abbreviated: TNT) which involves the use of electrodes put at the base of the neck and the use of electrical impulses to influence a persons neurotransmitters. The purpose of which is to allow agents to learn languages and other complex subjects in a fraction of the time. It is similar Neo being plugged into the training program to learn complex skills faster except not as medically invasive.
The first trace program gives a view of the City's area code, but the camera zooms in before it can be completely determined, leaving the phone number as (3?2) 555-0690. Three locations exist in the United States with similar codes: Chicago (312), Delaware (302), and the northwestern Florida peninsula (352). Since the original script indicates that the number is #312-555-0690 and there are numerous other references to Chicago in the film, we can assume that the area code is 312.
During the scene in the Oracle's living room where Neo meets the Potentials, Night of the Lepus (1972) is on the television in the background.
Jada Pinkett Smith auditioned for the part of Trinity. She later played Niobe in The Matrix Reloaded (2003). Her husband, Will Smith, was offered the role of Neo but he turned it down.
After reading the script, Carrie-Anne Moss stated that at first, she did not believe she had to do the extreme acrobatic actions as described in the script. She also doubted how the Wachowskis would get to direct a movie with a budget so large, but after spending an hour with them going through the storyboard, she understood why some people would trust them. She underwent a three-hour physical test during casting, so she knew what to expect subsequently.
Janet Jackson was initially approached for the role of Trinity but scheduling conflicts prevented her from accepting it. In an interview, she stated that turning down the role was difficult for her, so she later referenced the film in the 'Intro' and 'Outro' interludes on her tenth studio album Discipline.
According to Marcus Chong, the actors were encouraged to make their characters stoic and repressed.
The name of the City's subway network is CityRail, which also happens to be the name of Sydney's suburban rail network.
The office building in which Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, and the outside view of the building was a large, several-story high sheet of background.
The fight scenes sound effects, such as the whipping sounds of punches were created using thin metal rods and recording them, then editing the sounds.
Lou Diamond Phillips was sent the script, but was later told by his agent that the movie would flop.
The Wachowskis' approach to action scenes drew upon their admiration for Japanese animation such as Ninja Scroll (1993) and Akira (1988). Ghost in the Shell (1995) was a particularly strong influence. 'Joel Silver' (I) (QV) has stated that the Wachowskis first described their intentions for the film by showing him that anime and saying, "We wanna do that for real".
The lobby shootout was inspired by the works of John Woo.
The song, "Dissolved Girl" by Massive Attack, that plays when Neo is sleeping and is contacted by Trinity isn't found on the film's soundtrack.
The Agents' costume was designed to create a secret service, undercover look, resembling JFK (1991).
Leonardo DiCaprio turned down the part of Neo, supposedly because he was concerned about the amount of special effects.
The film bares a couple of similarities to the "Terminator" films: The film takes place in a dark post-apocalyptic future, which machines have taken over the world. Morpheus and a band of rebel warriors are fighting to free humanity from the machines and the Matrix computer program. Neo is believed to be the chosen one whom will destroy The Matrix and end the war behind man and machine. Neo, Morpheus and Trinity wear sunglasses and leather outfits. Trinity rides a motorcycle in one scene. Neo works as an employee of a computer company and is also a computer hacker. Agent Smith, an law enforcement program, has the ability to change into the form of other individuals in The Matrix and one of the weapons Neo uses on the Agents is a Gatling gun.
When we are introduced to Neo, he's asleep at his computer. Images are seen rapidly changing on the screen, one of which is the front page of an actual Arabic newspaper. Loosely translated, the title of the newspaper means "Midday". Additionally, the main body of the page is about the negotiations between Lebanese Christians and Syrian President Al Asaad in the late 1990's.
The Wachowskis hired Woo-Ping Yuen to be the fight choreographer based on his work on Fist of Legend (1994).
Keanu Reeves was dressed in tight-fitting clothes to make him feel more confined in "everyday life."
The phone in the envelope that Neo receives from Morpheus is the Nokia 8110 a.k.a the Nokia "Banana Phone". It was the first commercial phone to have SMS functionality.
Drake, Nas, B.o.B, Rakim, Ab-Soul, Mac Miller, Machine Gun Kelly, cflynna, Kendrick Lamar, Common, Rick Ross, Donavan LaMond Johnson, Lupe Fiasco, Wale Folarin, Jay Z, Lil' Wayne, Gucci Mane, Lil' Kim, Currency, The Game, Danny Brown, Scott Mescudi, Jeezy are all hip hop artists that mention the Matrix in their music.
In the last scene, in which Agent Smith's chasing Neo through a building, as Neo's looking for an exit, he runs through an apartment occupied by 2 old women (right after Tank said for Neo to go to his 'other left).
On the TV, is The Prisoner (1967), the iconic late-60's TV series, in which a secret agent (no name officially given) has been abducted, and awakens to find himself imprisoned in an unnamed Village.
The landmark series supposes how 'we're all prisoners.'
On the TV, is The Prisoner (1967), the iconic late-60's TV series, in which a secret agent (no name officially given) has been abducted, and awakens to find himself imprisoned in an unnamed Village.
The landmark series supposes how 'we're all prisoners.'
Joel Silver had optioned the Wachowski's screenplay long before they made Bound (1996), a film which became their calling card.
Michelle Yeoh was considered for the role of Trinity.
Many actors at the time were considered for the part of Neo, the most highly considered actors were Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio, Keanu Reeves & Will Smith. DiCaprio passed on because he feared there would be too much special effects; Depp passed on and chose to star in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas; Will Smith turned down the role, which ultimately went to Keanu Reeves.
Joe Pantoliano had worked with the Wachowskis before on Bound (1996).
The movie playing at The Oracle's apartment is Night of the Lepus (1972).
The song that Neo is listening to when Trinity contacts him is called "Dissolved Girl" by Massive Attack. Curiously enough, the song is not on the film's soundtrack even though it was the first song ever played in the film and is part of a significant scene.
Spoilers
The date stamp on the phone trace program in the opening sequence reads "2/19/98". The date stamp on the phone trace program in the closing sequence reads "9/18/99". This means that the events in the movie take place over exactly 19 months.
When Neo gets in the car with Trinity for the first time, Switch refers to him as "coppertop". Coppertop is a slang for the Duracell Battery, which is the battery Morpheus shows to Neo as he explains how the human race became an energy sources.
Sets from the film Dark City (1998), including rooftops, buildings and others exteriors sets, were used in this film. The rooftops that Trinity runs across at the beginning of the film are the same ones that John Murdoch runs across in Dark City.
The hotel and room number where Neo has to pick up the phone to get out of the Matrix (at the end) are the same where Trinity awaits the police in the beginning of the movie.
A deleted subplot reveals that Morpheus has previously believed five other people to be The One, all who died after attempting to fight the Agents. In The The Matrix Reloaded (2003), the Architect explains that there have been five previous versions of the Matrix before the current one, each with its own version of the One, meaning that Neo again has five predecessors.
A prosthetic stomach was used for the scene where the agents hold down Neo so that Agent Smith can activate the bug that digs into Neo's belly button.
