It took a ‘beautiful’ script to get Keanu Reeves to agree to come back to The Matrix franchise.
The 55-year-old actor and his co-star Carrie-Anne Moss discussed what it took to get them on board to reprise their famous roles in an interview for the upcoming Heroes Issue of Empire magazine.
The Matrix 4 sees a return to the dystopian world of Neo and Trinity alongside characters played by Jada Pinkett Smith, Jonathan Gross and Priyanka Chopra.
Red pill, blue pill: Keanu Reeves and his co-star Carrie-Anne Moss discussed what it took to get them on board to reprise their famous roles in an interview for the upcoming Heroes Issue of Empire magazine
‘Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me,’ Keanu told Empire.
Adding: ‘That’s the only reason to do it.’
The Matrix franchise is the brainchild of transgender sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski who created and wrote the billion dollar trilogy.
Over the years the sisters had been fervent in their stance that they wouldn’t make another film after The Matrix Revlolutions and Keanu said that he was grateful to be working alongside them again.
‘Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me,’ Keanu told Empire. ‘That’s the only reason to do it.’ (Pictured in November)
‘To work with her again is just amazing,’ Reeves said of Lana. ‘It’s been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from.’
Details of the plot in the fourth Matrix film have been kept under wraps, so it is unclear how Neo and Trinity will feature in the forthcoming flick.
Carrie-Anne Moss revealed that she didn’t think they would ever make a fourth film in the franchise.
‘To work with her again is just amazing,’ Reeves said of Lana. ‘It’s been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from.’
‘I never thought that it would happen,’ she told Empire ‘It was never on my radar at all. When it was brought to me in the way that it was brought to me, with incredible depth and all of the integrity and artistry that you could imagine, I was like, “This is a gift.”‘
Adding: ‘It was just very exciting.’
The Matrix first hit theatres in March of 1999 and became a sci-fi smash, earning $465 million worldwide with $171 million coming in domestic box office revenues.
The Matrix Reloaded earned $741 million worldwide upon its release in May 2003, and The Matrix Revolutions made $427 million internationally, six months later.
The Matrix 4: The Matrix franchise is the brainchild of transgender sisters Lana and Lilly Wachowski who created and wrote the billion dollar trilogy and the pair are returning to helm the fourth film which began filming in San Francisco in February
Lilly Wachowski revealed that the franchise was ‘born out of a lot of anger’ over her own feelings of oppression prior to her transition in 2016.
The transgender filmmaker, 52, discussed the origins of the classic sci-fi films, which she made alongside sister Lana, 54, who also transitioned in 2008, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Detailing how she felt making films helped her journey of self discovery, Lilly said the trilogy was ‘born out of a lot of anger and a lot of rage, and it’s rage at capitalism and corporatized structure and forms of oppression.’
‘I never thought that it would happen,’ Carrie-Anne told Empire ‘It was never on my radar at all. When it was brought to me in the way that it was brought to me, with incredible depth and all of the integrity and artistry that you could imagine, I was like, “This is a gift.”‘
The Matrix 4 was forced to extend production by eight weeks due to the coronavirus pandemic which shut down Hollywood.
According to Variety, after filming kicked off in San Francisco, there was a plan to move production to Europe but shooting never got started in Berlin, Germany because of COVID-19 complications.
Keanu and Carrie-Anne’s full interview is available in the new issue of Empire on sale Thursday 11 June.
The Matrix 4 is set for release sometime in 2021.
Hero: Keanu and Carrie-Anne’s full interview is available in the new issue of Empire on sale Thursday 11 June and The Matrix 4 is set for release sometime in 2021