translated from Spanish: The Matrix is 20 years old and here are 10 facts you didn’t have

Let’s be honest: in 1999 no one was waiting for “The Matrix”. Yes, the trailers were well, but Keanu Reeves had disappeared from the screens after “Speed: maximum speed” and the rest of the cast were unknown cigars. The truth is that in 1999 we were counting the days to see “Star Wars: the phantom menace” and nobody was going to wait in line to see a hacker and kung-fu film with the actor in “Bill & Ted”. On 31 March of that year “The Matrix” was released in the United States, and through the young Internet began to get fascinated comments from a public who could not believe what I was seeing. This was the science fiction of the future cinema, something that was very clear when “The phantom menace” was released two months later in disappointment to die-hard fans of Star Wars.En Argentina was worse because the releases were almost stuck. On June 10, came “Matrix”, 8 July “Star Wars”, and not with the best will in the world we could defend that film of George Lucas which was filmed in 1977. “Matrix” had to Neo, Trinity and Morpheus. “Star Wars” a couple of British actors gaining substantial checks, the worst child actor of history, and Jar Jar Binks. The winner was clear. All those who saw Matrix at that point were obsessed, as those who discovered it years later on cable and DVD. But while we bought us the black pilotitos and fell in the shower imitating the movements of Keanu, there are many secrets of the film were revealed years later. Here are 10 that you not imagined.

Keanu Reeves wasn’t the first choice for the role of the Savior of Zion. The first choice of study was Will Smith, who prefers to shoot the “Wild Wild West” failure. The directors wanted to Johnny Depp, who also said that not. Brad Pitt, Leo diCaprio, Val Kilmer… all refused, to the point that the study said “and if we change the gender of the protagonist?”. The Wachowski agreed, and offered the role to Sandra Bullock, who also said that not only the script it Neer. She missed it.

For the scene in which wakes up in the capsule between all human asleep in the Matrix, Reeves made an extreme diet with which lost 8 kilos in a week, in addition to shave every body hair.

There are different versions of the film, depending on which country it was premiered. In the English version are missing about ten seconds corresponding to headers, a type of shot that it is forbidden to show in the United Kingdom, even in films banned for under 18s. In the israeli version, for some reason, missing the scene in which Spoon goes to the kitchen to invite others to see Morpheus and Neo fight.

In addition to obvious references such as “Blade Runner” and the anime “Ghost in the Shell”, a large precursor of “The Matrix” was science film “City in darkness” (“Dark City”) Australian fiction that is e streno a year earlier and was a public failure. Many of the decorations of that film were used on the sets of The Matrix, also filmed in Australia. When the director of “City in darkness”, Alex Proyas, saw Matrix, he said that “imitation is the most sincere compliment.”

The ideas that inspired “The Matrix” come from different universes, but the Wachowski began his career in comics, so it took several elements of this ninth art. Morfeo name refers to the God of sleep, but directors gave to Laurence Fishburne the comic “The Sandman”, to replicate the calm personality of the protagonist, who has the same name. The way in which Morpheus “deprogrammed” neo is taken directly of the comic “The invisible” (the author Grant Morrison commented that “they should have followed stealing for the aftermath”).

Carrie Anne-Moss, the actress who played Trinity, injured his ankle in the trials leading up to the shooting. Terrified that replaced it, decided not to inform the production and filming throughout the film with that pain. Wound resented once again shortly after starting work on the sequel, forcing directors to delay filming for weeks. And, incidentally, in the third film the actress directly broke a leg.

The Wachowski needed actors to understand the philosophical proposal of the script, and therefore gave them a stack of books to read between outlet and outlet, in particular “Culture and simulacrum” of Jean Baudrillard – which is the book in which Neo hides cash in one of the first scenes of the film. In this work, Baudrillard examines and makes constant references to the story of Jorge Luis Borges “the Rigor in science”.

The film is full of citations to books that talk about the perception of reality. The fourth 101 live Neo is a reference to the eponymous “1984” torture room. The White Rabbit, of course, comes from “Alice in Wonderland”, “Matrix” was the name of cyberspace in the novel “Neuromante” of William Gibson and the phrase with which Morfeo welcomes you to Neo in virtual reality (“Welcome to the desert of the real”) p ertenece to the aforementioned Jean Baudrillard.

In the famous scene where Morpheus says to Neo the way which works the Matrix, the protagonist is distracted with a woman dressed in red. If you take the good, you’ll see that each one of the extras in this scene seems to be repeated. This is not a special effect. The Wachowski made a casting of twins in all Australia to reinforce the illusion of a simulated system that, like a video game, repeated characters with the same face. And all out in a scene that lasts less than a minute.

While Matrix is a film that speaks of the illusions of digital, most of the special effects were practical (created live during the filming). These include not only the iconic shooting in the lobby of the hotel, but the dizzying Keanu Reeves walk by the bordecito of the building, after escaping from the office cubicles.

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Original source in Spanish

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