20 facts you might not know about 'The Matrix'

The story of “The Matrix” begins with “Assassins,” a forgotten 1995 movie starring Sylvester Stallone and Antonio Banderas. That script was written in part by the Wachowskis, and they sold the project to Warner Bros. in 1994. At the same time, they were able to sell two more pitches to the studio. One for “Bound,” and one for “The Matrix.” “Bound” became the first movie the Wachowskis directed, and that helped them get the juice to direct “The Matrix” themselves.

Smith was a huge movie star in the ‘90s, perhaps the biggest we had. He had his pick of projects in the wake of “Independence Day” and “Men in Black.” Smith was approached to star as Neo in “The Matrix,” but was skeptical if the special effects could be pulled off as described in the script. As a result, Smith turned down “The Matrix” and instead made…”Wild Wild West.”

After Smith declined to play Neo, a few more names were bandied about. Nicolas Cage turned down the part, which is wild to think about now. The Wachowskis, meanwhile, wanted Johnny Depp. It was actually the studio that boosted Reeves, who ended up with a career-defining role.

Reeves arguably rose to fame in a very different kind of role, namely as Theodore “Ted” Logan in the “Bill & Ted” movies. Often his distinct speaking patterns and generally demeanor got him pigeonholed in the minds of many, which certainly did not serve him well when he tried to stretch for, say, a “Bram Stoker’s Dracula.” While Reeves had done action before, it was more along the lines of “Point Break” or “Speed,” nothing involving this level of fight choreography. Also, Reeves’ star was arguably on the wane by the time filming began in March 1998. After 1994’s “Speed,” Reeves was in films like “Johnny Mnemonic,” “Feeling Minnesota,” and the infamous “Devil’s Advocate.”

In a way, it’s almost surprising that Kilmer wasn’t in “The Matrix.” Not only was he considered for the role of Neo before it went to Keanu, but he was also considered for Morpheus. In the end, that role went to Laurence Fishburne.

Tank, brother of Dozer and a human born outside the Matrix, was played by Marcus Chong. That last name may look familiar, and you aren’t wrong. Marcus is the adopted son of Tommy Chong. We think there is an outside chance that Tommy may have smoked some marijuana before watching “The Matrix.” However, Marcus Chong would not appear in the sequels, and the whole situation got messy and ugly enough that Chong sued Warner Bros. and AOL Time Warner over it.

If you were an actor on “The Matrix,” you had to get some reading in. Specifically, the book “Simulacra and Simulation” by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard was required to be read by most of the cast and crew. It was one of the Wachowski’s influences for the themes and philosophy of the film.

“The Matrix” has some ambitious fight scenes modeled off of Hong Kong’s esteemed martial arts cinema history. Given that, the Wachowskis figured they would go right to the source. They hired Chinese director Yuen Woo-ping to help work on the famed wire-fu fight scenes.

“The Matrix” is synonymous with “bullet time” special effects, which featured time dilation being manifested within the film as things “slow down” for Neo as he learns to understand the rules of the Matrix. This is exemplified by him dodging bullets because they are slowing down around him. The movie definitely popularized the term “bullet time” and helped bolster people’s awareness of the concert, but it did not invent the special effect. In fact, John Gaeta, who led the special effects team on the movie, cited Michel Gondry as an influence for the bullet-time effects, and in fact, in 1998 the same effect can be seen in “Blade.”

On “The Matrix,” Reeves’ stunt double was a guy named Chad Stahelski. This would prove to be a beneficial meeting for both of them. Reeves would go on to star in “John Wick,” which was co-directed by Stahelski in his directorial debut. Stahelski also directed both sequels. By the way, Stahelski suffered broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder filming “The Matrix,” so we can only hope the pain proved worth it for him.

That rooftop that Trinity is on when she escapes from Agent Brown? If It looks familiar to you then you may be onto something. That set was actually left over from the movie “Dark City” and was recycled for “The Matrix.”

Given that prior to making “The Matrix” the Wachowskis had only made “Bound,” it’s impressive they managed to get a budget of $63 million for the movie. Fortunately, that gamble paid off for all parties involved. The film grossed $465.3 million worldwide and was the fifth-highest-grossing movie in the United States that year

“The Matrix” received four Oscars nominations, but they were all in technical categories. The movie was up for Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Editing, and Best Visual Effects. However, the technical prowess of the movie was quite admired by the Academy. It went four-for-four, winning all those awards.

Many consider “The Matrix” a classic of the “cyberpunk” genre. One of those people? That would be William Gibson, the author who is credited with coining “cyberpunk” and establishing many of its tropes and styles. Gibson proclaimed Neo his favorite science fiction hero ever and also said the movie is “arguably the ultimate cyberpunk artifact.”

“The Matrix” wasn’t only influential, making wire-fu a much bigger part of American film. It also inspired parodies pretty much the second it became a hit. In fact, you can see parodies of “The Matrix” in “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo” and “Scary Movie,” and those films came out in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Even “Shrek” worked in a parody in 2001, and animated films have a long lead-up time before release.

The movie was filmed in Sydney, Australia, but things didn’t always go smoothly. Production was shut down for a time because they had flown a helicopter through restricted airspace. In the end, New South Wales actually altered their laws to keep the production from filming. Hey, the area became a popular shooting spot for American movies afterward. Maybe it paid off.

Moss, who played Trinity, basically credits the movie with giving her a career. However, it was not her first acting role by any stretch of the animation. In fact, she had a main role in a 13-episode Canadian fantasy-adventure show. The name of that show. “Matrix,” of course.

The Wachowskis had an ambitious plan for the movie, obviously. That also meant really have to sell the studio before getting the budget necessary to make it. In an effort to do that, they went all out for a storyboard. The directors hired two comic book artists – Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce – to create a 600-page storyboard that went shot-by-shot through the film.

Naturally, a movie as successful as “The Matrix” was going to inspire sequels, and while they proved to not be quite as popular, they were still successful in their own right. They were also paired together in more ways than one. “The Matrix Reloaded” and “The Matrix Revolutions” were filmed back-to-back, and not only that they were actually both released in the same year, 2003.

There had been talk for some time about a return to the world of “The Matrix.” In 2017, the plans did not involve the original cast or the Wachowskis, with Michael B. Jordan considered for the film. That didn’t come to fruition, which allowed Lana Wachowski, Reeves, and Moss to all return for "The Matrix Resurrections" in 2021. While it was unfortunately released during the pandemic which cut into the box office, fans of the franchise seem to really enjoy the return.