This is to celebrate last year’s 25th anniversary of the premiere in Westwood, California of The Matrix which won four Oscars in 2000 for Best Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing & Best Visual Effects – John Gaeta. It was also nominated for an Oscars cheer moment with Neo’s bullet dodging backbend. The story focuses on the computer hacker Neo being led by a beautiful stranger to a forbidding underworld, where he discovers the shocking truth that life as he knows it is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence. Starring Keanu Reeves as Neo, with Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity and Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith, the film was directed and written by Lilly and Lana Wachowski. One line has entered popular culture with the decision forced on Neo as to whether to take the blue pill and return to normal life, or take the red pill on his path to discovery as to how deep the “rabbit hole” is. The opening action scene took six months to train for and four days to shoot. It was shot almost entirely in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The iconic sunglasses worn by the characters are made by the company Binde, renowned for producing handmade, and were made throughout the shoot in the back of an Oxford Street, London optometrists. Moss later said she could not go out wearing sunglasses as she was instantly recognised. The “Bullet Time” sequences have been spoofed in many movies since. The cast spent months learning martial arts. There was great reliance as featured in the film on Simulcra and Simulation by French philosopher Jean Baudrillaud, although there are references to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Franz Kafka, Zen and Homer’s Odyssey. Matrix is a late Latin word for womb. All of the references to street corners and the subway train Loop in the film are from Chicago, Illinois, the Wachowski’s hometown, but none of the film was shot there. During the film’s Trinity chase scene at the start, Nashville, Tennessee’s BellSouth building and L & C Tower are visible behind the agents, whilst San Francisco’s TransAmerica and Coit Towers are seen behind her as she jumps through a billboard. The film was so successful that it has had three sequels – Reloaded and Revolutions in 2003 and Resurrections in 2021. Many stars were under consideration for the main roles, but either turned them down or failed to be selected.
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