20 facts about the filming of The Matrix

It was legendary!

The Matrix is ​​a cult film that has influenced all science fiction of the 21st century. But how was it filmed and who could play your favorite characters? Here are 20 facts about the creation of the first “Matrix”.

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• The Wachowski sisters entered the industry with the idea for The Matrix, but no one was willing to risk money. Producer Joel Silver suggested that they first shoot something simpler: the erotic thriller The Connection was born.
• Warner Bros. approved the idea for The Matrix, but gave only $10 million. The sisters quickly spent the money – and showed the studio bosses the film’s opening scene. This is where Warner Bros. and forked out for a larger budget.
• The studio has compiled an impressive shortlist of applicants for the role of Neo. Johnny Depp, Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio were there. Even cooler are the actors who turned down the Wachowskis, like Nicolas Cage and Will Smith. The directors confused Smith, who turned down the role and subsequently praised Keanu Reeves a lot.
• Morpheus could be Sean Connery, Gary Oldman, Samuel L. Jackson and Val Kilmer. Connery is famous for turning down the role of Gandalf. But a couple of years before that, he did not understand the script for The Matrix – and gave the iconic role to Fishburne!

• The Wachowski sisters saw Jean Reno as Agent Smith, but the Frenchman preferred shooting in Godzilla.
• Sandra Bullock turned down the role of Trinity because she couldn’t see herself paired with the then-Neo. And then Keanu showed up. Let me remind you that there is excellent chemistry between the actors – they played in several films.
• Carrie-Anne Moss has already starred in The Matrix, a 1993 Canadian TV series.
• The studio insisted on the appearance of a large plot explanation in The Matrix because they were afraid that the viewer would not understand anything.
• The Wachowskis dreamed of working with Hong Kong fight director Wu-Ping Yuen – and gave him carte blanche. The choreographer did not want to make a film with the Americans and asked for huge money – he got it. Instead of a standard couple of weeks to prepare, Woo-Ping spent as many as 4 months with the actors!

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• Bullet time was invented on the set of The Matrix. Everyone liked the special effect so much that in 3 years it was used in 20 films!
• It took 6 months of work and training to prepare for the film’s opening scene.
• It was decided to separate the matrix and reality with the help of color correction. Scenes from the real world were painted in a slightly blue tint, and the matrix was shown greenish.
• The matrix code is actually a mirror image of the Japanese katakana script. The use of the Eastern alphabet was invented by the production designer of the tape, Simon Whiteley. Who would have thought that the matrix is ​​Japanese books about healthy eating!

• Full filming began with the scene in the office, where the agents arrive while Neo is trying to escape.
• Most of the filming took place in Australia. That is why the fiction budget is a modest $63 million.
• The budget for The Matrix was so tight that even the main characters’ costumes were made out of cheap PVC!
• Copies of people inhabiting the metropolis are not computer graphics at all! For filming, they found several pairs of twins, who played in the extras.
• Neo used a Nokia 8110 phone, which was a record-breaking model after the film’s release.
• Remember the lobby action? Keanu Reeves allegedly fired from MP5K, but in fact they are copies that weighed only 200 grams.

• Filming was halted while trying to film the helicopter scene. It turned out that it is forbidden to fly in Sydney airspace. Therefore, we continued to shoot in the pavilion – and how great it turned out!