This topic is realtive Matrix 2 & 3 making.Please look out "(*** Spoilers ***)" in the title. And all of news items are here.

Huge crowd for Lord of the Rings Australasian premiere

About 20,000 fans braved icy winds and rain to join in a massive street party for the Australasian premiere of The Lord Of The Rings in downtown Wellington last night.

Australian actor Hugo Weaving, who plays an elf called Elrond in the film, said it was the biggest red carpet event he had attended during his career.

"This is extraordinary," he said.

"The whole town stops, the whole country stops, you feel like royalty, you get met by the prime minister."

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark was among the dignitaries, celebrities and stars who took part in the film's local premiere that included a dazzling array of street entertainers.

For Weaving, there was an additional reason to be excited - it was the first time he'd seen the movie due to other filming commitments that clashed with the UK and US premieres.

"This is the first time I'll have seen it," he said.

New Zealand is the third country to premiere the film, after London last week and New York and Los Angeles earlier this week.

The first instalment in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, The Fellowship Of The Ring, was directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, and star's 20-year-old American actor Elijah Wood as the hobbit Frodo.

"It's great to see the old home town turn out like this," Wellingtonian Jackson said.

Australian actors David Wenham and Miranda Otto, who feature in the next two instalments of the trilogy, also made their way down the red carpet this evening.

Another of the film's Australian stars, Cate Blanchett, was unable to attend tonight's celebrations, after giving birth to a baby boy Dashiel this month.

But the crowd saved their warmest reception for blue-eyed Wood, who was cheered at every step by excited fans.

Wood, like Weaving, said it was "by far" the biggest premiere he'd attended.

"London was huge and bigger than anything I'd ever seen before," he said.

"This is unbelievable. Leave it to New Zealand. This proves that the heart of this film lies in New Zealand, and it's a very special thing."

Asked whether he was sick of seeing his image everywhere on promotional posters and media advertisements, Wood said he was so used to seeing it that it didn't bother him anymore.

"It's exciting though, it's a continual story so I'm actually very excited to see how it's going to progress and to see how people respond to it," he said.

Wellington city renamed itself Middle Earth this week to celebrate the film's launch, and the city's leading newspaper, The Wellington Post, temporarily renamed itself "The Middle Earth Post".

The city hosted the filming of The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, shot at nearby locations over the past 15 months on a budget of about $575 million.

New Zealand's fondness for the film was consolidated by its boost to the local movie industry, with a cast of 2,300 and an additional 15,000 hired extras.

Prime Minister Clarke said the world had been quick to associate the movie to the nation in which it was filmed.

"A lot of movies you see, people wouldn't have a clue where they were made," she said.

"The feedback right through the reviews in London last week was everyone knows that this is made in New Zealand.

"I think it's going to see a lot more visitors come to our country and that's jobs for Kiwis."

The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring opens in New Zealand today and in Australia on December 26.

The Australian premiere of the film will be held tomorrow at the George Street cinema complex.

SPOTTED . . . Laurence "Don't Call me Larry" Fishburne shedding his clobber and slipping into his comfy Qantas jimmy-jams during a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles.

Fishburne will return to Sydney after Christmas to continue work on the Matrix franchise . . . Priscilla director Stephan Elliott, back in Sydney after an extended stay in Rio, working out at the Fitness Network in Surry Hills . . . a sweaty and pained-looking Nick Greiner on a morning walk near the Oxford St side of Centennial Park on Thursday.

Australia deports Canadian actor

'Hottie blond barmaid' will not appear in film with Keanu Reeves: Brendalee Doen was to appear in The Matrix Reloaded

Canadian actor Brendalee Doen is in tears at Sydney Airport after being forced to leave Australia after her tourist visa expired. She had been arrested and kept in a detention centre while her case was processed. "It was just terrible," Ms. Doen said. "I was in jail with prostitutes and people that had been fruit pickers."

A Canadian actor who won a role in the sequel to the science-fiction thriller The Matrix has lost her chance to appear in the film after being deported from Australia under the country's zero-tolerance immigration policy.

Brendalee Doen, 24, was arrested and detained in Sydney's notorious Villawood Detention Centre this month after returning to Australia from a holiday on an expired visa. She became a minor celebrity in Australia this fall with her appearance as a busty barmaid in a television commercial for Cougar Bourbon.

After a nine-day holiday in Japan, Ms. Doen was arrested by immigration officers because her tourist visa had expired two days earlier.

She claims she was targetted because of her high-profile in Sydney and calls the decision to arrest her "tall-poppy syndrome."

Ms. Doen was sent to Villawood, the ominous holding tank for illegal immigrants, and spent three days in the prison while her case was processed. She is now barred from visiting Australia for three years and will not be able to appear in The Matrix Reloaded, which also stars Canadian Keanu Reeves, and is filming in Sydney.

"My life has been turned upside down," she said from London, England, where she is staying with friends. "I had huge things happening, like the beginning of something that could have made me a little star."

Although there is now little chance she will appear in the film, Ms. Doen says she plans a legal challenge to the deportation order because she wants to return to work in Australia.

Critics have denounced the Australian government and John Howard, the Prime Minister, for the policy of detaining any visitor whose visa expires. Tourists who let their paperwork lapse can find themselves thrown into immigration jails along with migrants and criminals who sneaked into the country illegally. They remain locked up until they can raise enough money to post a bond.

The Australian system has drawn censure from human rights groups who complain that even children have been detained. There are also reports of suicides and self-mutilation among detainees.

"It was just terrible," Ms. Doen said. "I was in jail with prostitutes and people that had been fruit pickers."

She says some detainees at Villawood recognized her as the "Canadian Cougar girl" from the bourbon ad. "They kept asking me, 'Why are you here? You're from Canada, the best country in the world.' But I didn't have time to feel sorry for myself."

Originally from Edmonton, Ms. Doen worked in the Toronto and Montreal restaurant industry before travelling to Australia 18 months ago. She was spotted on the street by a magazine photographer and cast in the Cougar commercial in the role she describes as "the hottie blond barmaid." The commercial led to modelling work in magazines and a casting call for The Matrix Reloaded.

"I was the fun party girl chick with the rich boyfriend who just had a wicked life and wicked energy, then I was picked up off the street and thrown into the public eye," she said.

She hired a lawyer who is working on an application to have the three-year ban reversed. But she says she may stay in London to advance her career.

"I'm definitely going to make it here. There's no way I can do what I did in Australia and not have it happen here, with all the compliments I've been getting."

Uni's 'Hulk' pumped up for June '03

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Less than a week after the X-Men staked their mutant claim to the month of May, "The Hulk" has found a home in June.

Universal Pictures will release "Hulk" on June 20, 2003, further clarifying the ever-competitive summer boxoffice battle lines. Other titles slated for release then are Fox's comic book-inspired "X2" on May 2, Warner Bros.' "The Matrix Reloaded" on Memorial Day weekend and Warners' "Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines" on July Fourth weekend.

[Snipped for Matrix]

Square Pictures mystery project revealed

[12.14.01] » Studio's last hurrah closely tied to upcoming Matrix sequel.

As previously reported, Square Pictures is currently involved in at least one more project before the studio is sold due to movie losses. The project is a ten-minute long prequel to the upcoming Matrix sequel, The Matrix Reloaded. This currently untitled CG short will employ techniques perfected by Square Pictures during the creation of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within.

Shots and conception artwork for the project can be found on the recently released Matrix Revisited DVD, which lists the short as part of "Animatrix," a compilation of short sequences produced by popular anime artists. No release date has been mentioned.

Lord of the screen

Move over Harry, the wizardy of JRR Tolkien is about to cast a spell on our cinemas. Arts Editor MICHAEL BODEY reports on this latest phenomenon

CATE Blanchett, as Galadriel, is the first voice the audience hears in the film The Fellowship Of The Ring as she recounts the history of the fabled and all-powerful ring. That fictional tale is somewhat shorter than the one about how a massed army led by a bespectacled Wellington man brought the first volume of the famed The Lord Of The Rings novel to the screen.

This tale appears to have a happy ending. The Tolkien family, fronted by son Christopher, may not approve of the path their father John Ronald Reuel's book took, but everyone else is ecstatic.

The audience is expectant, the reviews are positive, New Zealand has a director and a film studio now established as a world leader and the island nation has a marketing icon as potent as Crocodile Dundee was for us.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will not only host a Parliament House reception for the film's cast in Wellington on Wednesday, she's appointed a Minister for the Rings, Pete Hodgson, to ensure no opportunity to cash in is wasted.

Yet the film adaptations so nearly didn't get made and the US studio which made them, New Line Cinema, can only now feel comfortable its $575 million gamble has paid off.

As can 40-year-old director Peter Jackson, whose previous reputation was of a cultish, geeky filmmaker behind the infamous splatter movies Braindead and Bad Taste , the misfire The Frighteners and the exception that proved the rule, Heavenly Creatures.

For years, the scruffy New Zealand writer-director had tried to find the means by which he could film the trilogy. In interviews, he hinted at his two ambitious and probably unworkable projects: Lord Of The Rings and King Kong.

A cynic might even suggest his Hollywood-financed effects film The Frighteners was his way of establishing his New Zealand studio and effects house, WETA, so he could make the Rings in his homeland. But that film's failure almost killed Jackson's credentials. It seemed that JRR Tolkien's belief that his books were unfilmable would remain true.

Even this week, Tolkien's son Christopher, now 77, said: "My own position is that The Lord Of The Rings is peculiarly unsuitable to transformation into visual dramatic form."

Nevertheless, Tolkien the elder sold the film rights to Hollywood in 1969 for $27,000, after two decades of badgering. A looming tax bill was the spur, "not that there's any chance of a film being made," he said.

Tolkien died five years later and his children Christopher, John, Michael and Priscilla were left to deal with potential projects.

The family is said to be furious and embarrassed by the 1978 animated film version of The Lord Of The Rings – producer Saul Zaentz's first effort with the rights.

Zaentz, who later went on to produce Oscar-winners The English Patient and Amadeus , eventually off-loaded the troublesome film rights to US independent studio Miramax.

Miramax released Jackson's Oscar nominated Heavenly Creatures in 1994. But even though they had a fan and a hot director to adapt the Rings , they couldn't find a co-investor. In 1998, Miramax's bombastic Weinstein brothers told Jackson to turn the trilogy into one three-hour epic.

Jackson disagreed, but by now his career was on the slide. The Frighteners , starring Michael J Fox, had performed so badly another studio canned Jackson's proposed King Kong remake.

Miramax gave him three weeks to set up the film at another studio although, if he did, whoever bought the rights would have to pay Miramax $23 million in development outlays and give the Weinsteins' executive producer credit and five per cent of the film's first-dollar gross. Even by today's bloated salary standards, the deal was too prohibitive.

Tolkien's notion of his unfilmable book hadn't looked safer.

The major studios weren't interested and the one that was, Polygram, was taken over by an uninterested Universal Studio.

Then came a fateful meeting that has already passed into Hollywood lore. Jackson met with New Line Cinema founder Bob Shaye who, it transpired, was a Tolkien fan.

Jackson's elaborate presentation to him, including a 35 minute documentary spotlighting the visual effects research and development he'd done, took hold, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Although "It's not two movies" were not the words Jackson wanted to hear from Shaye.

"Tolkien did your job for you. He wrote three books. You should make three movies," Shaye apparently added.

The public announcement that New Line would devote $290 million to the three-film series stunned observers. The fact that New Line later increased the films' budgets was bewildering. The budget now stands at $575 million.

And then the world waited. It took 15 months to film, had a cast of 2,300 and hired 15,000 extras.

Even Hugo Weaving told The Daily Telegraph "It's the biggest thing I've ever been in. Astounding." This from a man who's starring in the special effects behemoth The Matrix series, the biggest film Australia has hosted.

New Zealand knows it's big. Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast, has renamed the capital Middle Earth and a government-funded map already shows Hobbit fanatics where the film was shot.

Wellington's city centre will come to a halt on Wednesday night for the film's Australasian premiere, which will be hosted by Jay Laga'aia and PM Clark.

And Wellington boy Peter Jackson will be King for a day. To think, he was one meeting away from being just another director thinking what might have been.

As New Line's Shaye told the LA Times last week: "There's no question that Peter didn't have the experience for a project this big and to be honest, I hadn't liked all his movies.

"But he'd made one movie, Heavenly Creatures, that I really liked," Shaye said.

"And I really liked him: He's a decent guy with no arrogance or hubris. So I believed in his good faith and I bet on his ability. It doesn't sound very rational, but sometimes trusting your instincts isn't a very rational thing to do."

A crew member dropped this recent bit about the car chase shooting that happened in San Fran a few months back: "In certain parts, the cars are completely digital. What this means is that the camera is able to move through them without slowing down".

What is it? Good question ...

The Matrix has garnered an unlikely group of fans - philosophers, academics and other professional thinkers

Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Agent Smith (Hugo Weaver) face off in an unreal world in The Matrix. The film raises a host of queries around the meaning of reality and our ability to influence events in our universe.

The film is more than two years old, but the question remains: What is The Matrix? A John Woo meets William Gibson, kung fu-fuelled bullet ballet with a hit of Alice in Wonderland trippiness and a driving techno-rock soundtrack? Or a thought-provoking allegory on the progressive awakening of the human consciousness and an exploration of the nature of our very existence rooted in the ideas of Plato in 300 BC?

The answer is both.

The hit film, which portrays a future when people unknowingly serve as batteries for machines while "living" in a comforting virtual world called the Matrix, is resonating with academics as much as it did with movie fans when it was released two years ago. It has become a topic of study at schools ranging from Harvard University to the New Acropolis International Cultural Association in Toronto.

While it may seem unusual to create discourse through something as shamelessly about style-over-substance as the Keanu Reeves cyberthriller, science fiction provides a good tool for teaching philosophy. According to James Pryor, a philosophy professor at Harvard University, the genre often deals more directly with larger life issues in a more salient manner than mainstream movies.

In Pryor's class, for example, a discussion about what makes you the person you are might involve Star Trek's transporter and whether or not people are "just a collection of molecules that can be broken down and reassembled or whether our identity, the essence of who we are, would be lost," he says. His students may further examine the nature of identity by reading Spider-Man comics or watching the sci-fi film Blade Runner.

But The Matrix offers numerous philosophical jumping-off points "useful for illustrating and testing different theories," says Pryor, who has incorporated the film into two of his courses, including an advanced theory of knowledge class.

One of the biggest and most obvious issues the film raises is "how you know whether the things you perceive are real or just an illusion," he says.

It's a recurring theme, he explains. In the pivotal blue pill/red pill scene, Neo, the hero played by Reeves, must decide whether or not to "see" the real world. His mentor, Morpheus (played by Laurence Fishburne), asks: "Have you ever had a dream, Neo, that you were so sure was real? What if you were unable to wake from that dream? How would you know the difference between the dream world and the real world?"

Later he asks: "What is real? How do you define real? If you're talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain ..."

Those are the kinds of questions that have made philosophers' heads spin for centuries.

"Given that Neo discovers he is living in a dream world within the construct of the Matrix, it can lead us to further question whether or not we are living in the real world or a dream world," says Pryor. "And how does Neo know that his experiences of breaking out of the Matrix program were real? Maybe it was all part of the program too, and if we're in an unreal world, how could we tell when we've escaped?"

If that's not enough to bake your noodle, how about whether the computer-generated enemy agents in the film have genuine mental lives of their own? If they are just computer programs without self-consciousness, says Pryor, then why does one agent named Smith tell Morpheus he hates being in the the Matrix program among "all the smelly humans"?

"Do you think computer programs could really have enough of a mental life to hate things?" Pryor wonders. "Could they genuinely desire to be doing something other than the task assigned to them? How would we be able to know whether the programs have real mental lives?"

Pausing for a moment, Pryor's musings chase the white rabbit from The Matrix into our world. "Do you think we have more free will than machines could ever have? Aren't our choices and desires just as determined by the laws of nature as their choices are determined by their programming?"

In the end, Pryor says we're left wondering, "What is it that gives you a mind? Could a computer have a mind?" If not, "What's the difference between you and a computer?"

"It's like Star Wars," says Francaise Soria, director of the New Acropolis, explaining why The Matrix has become a regular lecture topic at the non-profit cultural centre that offers courses in philosophy and mythology. "It has timeless teachings in how The Matrix reflects and relates to the human experience that are [analogous to] the fundamentals of Hinduism, the teachings of Buddha. It's a modern movie that reflects archetypal principles," becoming a rabbit hole to exploring the human adventure.

Soria compares Neo's plight in the film to the man chained in the cave in Plato's Myth of the Cave. "The allegory of a man who tries to set himself free only to realize that life in the cave is a lie is much like The Matrix, about this progressive awakening of the consciousness" as Neo begins to realize the world in which he thought he was living isn't real.

While the tagline used to promote the film -- What is The Matrix? -- is designed to pique the interest of moviegoers, it also speaks to our own search for identity and meaning, according to Soria.

"It's a realization of our limitations, the feeling of being trapped, the feeling that something more exists in life, and like the movie in front of our eyes, in life we are more a spectator than an actor," she says. "It's about questioning the truth in that."

There's a very strong religious theme in the film. Neo is presented as a Christ figure. He is called The Chosen One, the saviour of Zion, the last city on Earth. He questions and doubts his purpose. He is betrayed by one of his own people, killed and resurrected.

And much like the question of whether Neo is going to heed his calling, Soria says the film is about each of us heeding our own calling. "It's about whether or not I'm being completely true to myself, my dreams and aspirations," she says.

"It's the idea that something else exists and we have a choice of staying in our comfortable lives, not changing, or going further," she says. "It's the crossroads of life" -- as shown when Neo meets Morpheus and is given a choice: The red pill or the blue? Fantasy or reality? Subsistence or existence?

"That's a major moment in the movie," says Soria. "Am I going further? Am I going to start walking toward authenticity, toward truth, which involves giving up a certain comfort, accepting that I'll have to go through tests, to grow?"

Soria says when the choice is made, it becomes about preparing oneself for the journey ahead, represented on the screen by Neo's martial-arts training, "which symbolizes the self-mastery that we have to attain to get rid of our fears, our doubts, [and] learning how to use the mind, how not to be tricked by the mind. As in the movie, it's very well shown how the mind can be just a program that is actually mastering us."

Finally, there's the climactic showdown between Neo and the forces of the Matrix, "which represents the battle with our own shadows and our own dragons, to use a medieval image," says Soria. "And so it's the fight for what we believe in and again there is always this choice: Am I going to fight for these values I believe in or am I just going to submit to my fears?"

As Morpheus says, "There is a difference between knowing the path and walking the path."

And as Keanu Reeves might say: "Woah ..."

The New Acropolis is holding a lecture on the philosophy of The Matrix on Dec. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at its offices at 20 Craighurst Ave., Toronto. Tickets are $12 for adults and $9 for seniors and students. For more information, call (416) 486-7198. bhooper@nationalpost.com

Samantha Mumba in Zee Matrix???(*** Spoilers ***)

Date:10-Dec-2001
From:Showbiz Irend

Samantha Mumba in Zee Matrix???

13-12-01 news
Samantha Mumba in Zee Matrix???

Irish Pop babe Samantha Mumba is set to rock Hollywood if rumors are true that she is to star in the third Matrix film, The Matrix Revolutions.

Reports in the Irish press claim that the sexy 19-year-old Dublin singer and actress is being head hunted by Warner Brothers for the movie, which stars Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne and Carrie Anne Moss.

The reports claim that Sam will take over the role left vacant by the tragic death of the RnB star Aaliyah, who died during the summer in a plane crash.

Sam may play the role of Zee in the movie if she gets the role which is due out in December 2003 after the second film, Matrix Reloaded, which will be out in May 2003.

Aaliyah's character Zee was due to have a small role in Matrix Reloaded, and had a major role in Matrix Revolutions. It had been rumoured on the Web that Aaliyah had not filmed any scenes and had only practised some fight sequences.

Sam is due for her first bout of film stardom next year when the long awaited The Time Machine(This link is from imdb.com) comes out across the world.

The singer is currently working on her singing career and is hoping her latest single "Lately" makes it into the charts at the end of this week.

----------------------
If you are interested in Samamtha Mumba,please check http://www.mumba.co.uk/

''Harry,'' ``Rings'' squeeze future holiday schedules

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Finding a lucrative release date is one of the toughest tasks in Hollywood. Studios must focus not only on their own pictures but on all chess pieces on the board.

But in a new twist on the dating game, both of this holiday season's key pieces -- ``Harry Potter (news - web sites)'' and ``The Lord of the Rings'' -- have already had an impact on next November and December, and possibly the 2003 holidays.

New Line's ``Rings'' trilogy has long been scheduled for three consecutive Christmases. Warner Bros. has claimed next Nov. 15 for its ``Harry Potter'' follow-up, which just started lensing. Such a long lead time is unusual for mega-franchises -- ``Star Wars'' may be the only other one to scare rivals away by announcing its date a year or more in advance.

The issue for 2002 and perhaps 2003 is whether other contenders will be able to find profitable slots, as ``Monsters, Inc.'' and possibly this weekend's champ, ``Ocean's Eleven'' already have.

``Going around those specific dates will be tough,'' said Jim Tharp, distribution chief at DreamWorks, which is eyeing next holiday season for ``Catch Me If You Can.'' ``The third part of a franchise doesn't typically do as well as the sequel, but this is also a different situation because of the lack of time in between the films.''

Complicating matters further, Warner Bros. may throw a third heavyweight franchise into the mix: The studio is mulling a provocative alternate route for 2003, which would offer only six months in between its upcoming ``Matrix'' installments. The studio's distribution president, Dan Fellman says he hopes to launch the second and third ``Matrix'' pictures in May and November and push the third ``Potter'' into 2004. ``We may want to take more of a break,'' said Fellman.

The burning question: Will audiences?

Reuters/Variety REUTERS

LOS ANGELES (The Hollywood Reporter) --- Bugs Bunny, Superman and Harry Potter (news - web sites), make way for the Terminator.

On Monday, Warner Bros. Pictures wrapped up a domestic distribution deal for "Terminator 3," the third installment of the Arnold Schwarzenegger action franchise, ending a buyer frenzy that had attracted attention from nearly all of the major studios.

It's unclear exactly how much Warners shelled out for its piece of the action, but it is known that the producers were asking for $50 million against 50% of the gross for domestic theatrical and all ancillary rights. However, the current deal does not include ancillary rights, such as video/DVD, for the first two films.

Intermedia is fronting the cost of the pricey film, which has been estimated at north of $160 million, including an onscreen budget of $120 million. That pricetag includes a $30 million payday for Schwarzenegger, more than $5 million for director Jonathan Mostow and the various legal fees and payouts associated with clearing the high-profile series for a third go with a different set of players.

C-2 Pictures' Mario Kassar, Andrew Vajna and Joel Michaels will produce along with Mostow/Lieberman's Hal Lieberman. Intermedia co-chairmen Moritz Borman, Nigel Sinclair and Guy East will executive produce. Production is scheduled to begin in April for a planned 2003 bow.

The deal gives Warners arguably three of the highest-profile tentpole films for 2003, with the summer "T3" bow bookended by the back-to-back sequels to that other high-tech actioner, "The Matrix." "T3" fits squarely into Warners' stated ambition to roll out high-profile franchise pics.

" 'The Terminator' and 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day' were revolutionary motion pictures, both artistically and commercially, and we couldn't be happier to be involved with the highly anticipated third installment of this innovative franchise," said Warner Bros.' Alan Horn, president and chief operating officer, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura, president of worldwide production, in a joint statement. "We look forward to working with Arnold Schwarzenegger and our colleagues at C-2 and Intermedia to bring 'Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines' to fans throughout North America in 2003."

Added Kassar and Vajna: "We had a very difficult time making the final decision on the domestic distributor, but in the end, Warners pulled out all of the stops and committed the full support and extensive resources we wanted from the entire AOL Time Warner organization."

Released by Orion Pictures in 1984, "The Terminator" grossed about $80 million worldwide, with the follow-up "Terminator 2" far outpacing the first, pulling in more than $500 million worldwide. Kassar and Vajna picked up the rights to do a sequel in 1997 at bankruptcy auction for the assets of Carolco Pictures, the company that they founded and where they produced "T2."

After having helmed the first two installments, James Cameron would have been an obvious choice for a third picture, but the relationship between Kassar and Vajna and Cameron was known to be tenuous when they began packaging the new project. When the duo announced in June that they had brought Schwarzenegger on for a third film, Cameron was not involved, and Schwarzenegger's efforts to woo him were unsuccessful.

The Matrix Revisited

The Matrix Revisited

Starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Gloria Foster and Joe Pantoliano
Directed by Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski
Written by The Wachowski Brothers
Village Roadshow Pictures (Warner)
123 minutes
R
MSRP: $19.98

he Matrix has long been out on DVD—after all, the film was released way back in 1999. With the first of two sequels not expected until 2003, think of The Matrix Revisited as a stopgap, a link between the groundbreaking film's past and future. In fact, its name—The Matrix Revisited—suits the tone and purpose of this DVD perfectly.

A slick behind-the-scenes documentary, The Matrix Revisited offers a unique look into the making of the original film—and offers (precious few) glimpses of what is to come. Free of the typical pretense of canned B-roll electronic press kit interviews, The Matrix Revisited culls together current interviews with the entire cast and crew involved, as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the original flick. The insight provided by this footage has more depth than the short featurettes included on the movie DVD itself.

From the outset, this disc outlines just how gutsy a film The Matrix was to make. And it never stops from there.

There are several paths that lead toward The Matrix Revisited: It's available as a standalone disc for $19.98, for $39.98 as a two-disc set with The Matrix film, and for $100 as part of the Gold Collection, which includes special packaging, a 16-page illustrated book, a senitype image from the movie and a 35mm film frame.

Dreaming up a dark future

Starting with a 1997 snippet with Lorenzo DiBonaventura, president of worldwide theatrical production at Warner Brothers, it becomes clear that the movie's concept was well beyond anything the studio had initially expected when it took on the project from Andy and Larry Wachowski, the writing-directing brothers who had the vision to bring The Matrix to life.

This smoothly edited, energetically scored documentary offers numerous Matrix trivia bits along the way. Want to watch how Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) injured her ankle during practice? You can—and witness how she persevered through pain to still get the shot. Did you know that Keanu Reeves (Neo) was seriously injured when he agreed to do the movie? That injury to his cervical spine required surgery shortly before Reeves was required to start training for the intense fight sequences throughout the film (the actors trained for four months). Reeves was required to wear a cervical brace around his neck so his spine could have time to fuse properly—that's why Neo has fewer kick moves than others in the film. You can even learn what books the Wachowski brothers had Reeves read before he picked up the actual script.

As insightful as this disc is, it's not perfect. You can argue the entire disc itself is one big "extra"—but the Go Further section has a surprising lack of bonus content tied to the behind-the-scenes theme. There are excerpts from kung fu master Yuen Wo Ping's fascinating blocking tapes, which outline the martial arts moves as they're being rehearsed; a look at the animated shorts, created by some of Japan's great animation directors, that are set to premiere on the film's Web site; an all-too-short sneak peek at what's to come in the sequel (think elaborately choreographed fight scenes and car chases) and coming video game (also choreographed by Ping); a feature on Internet fans; and how they shot a tight scene in cramped quarters. Considering some of the more cleverly things that other recent releases have done (such as Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace and Shrek), that dearth of material is felt.

The only other down side to the disc: The InterActual Player 2.0 that's included with the disc exhibited some temperamental behavior on our Windows 98SE PC system; however, the disc worked fine with other DVD player software.

The benefit to using the disc in your DVD-ROM drive: You can view a frenetic, fun clip of footage, as well as link directly into The Matrix's site.

Fans of the movie will not want to miss this disc; fans of filmmaking may find the insight into the making of this complex feature. But if you have no interest in the movie or special effects wizardry, there's nothing here for you ... move along. — Melissa

The San Jose Mercury News reported that sets used in the Northern California shooting of the upcoming two Matrix sequels are being recycled rather than trashed. Filmmakers used more than 8,200 tons of building materials to construct sets that included a six-lane freeway, a huge cave and tenement fa軋des.

Warner Brothers, the city of Alameda, the ReUse People Inc. and the local waste authority recycled the lumber to help build housing for low-income families in Mexico. The steel was used as is; 48 fire escapes and 60 decorative moldings were sold to local contractors; polystyrene blocks were sent out for use in insulation material; and the freeway set was crushed and will be used as road base, the newspaper reported.

Published Sunday, Dec. 2, 2001, in the San Jose Mercury News

Discarded movie sets recycled for new uses

`MATRIX' MATERIAL TURNS INTO HOUSING, INSULATION AND MORE BY DENNIS ROCKSTROH

As I gaze across the old Navy runways at Alameda Point, I can confirm that the mystery freeway is gone.

But, not to worry, it should be back soon in a theater near you.

The 1.5-mile, six-lane freeway to nowhere was part of the set for the upcoming sequels to the movie ``The Matrix.''

Just in case you didn't see this sci-fi thriller, let me bring you up to date:

Our hero, Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, is a mild-mannered software writer by day and a brilliant hacker at night. He's needed by the cyber-revolution led by Morpheus, played by Laurence Fishburne, and a warrior Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss.

Here's the problem they are wrestling with: The world as we know it does not exist. It's an elaborate facade created by a malevolent cyberintelligence to placate us while our life essence is farmed to fuel a campaign to dominate the real world.

The movie battle was on.

Anyway, the war is not over, thus the need for the two sequels currently in production in Australia.

The Warner Bros. crew was in Oakland and Alameda Point this summer, filming at three sets and on the streets of Oakland.

Tons of material

There was the cave set that filled an entire airplane hanger. The cave was made of 45 tons of material, wood and polystyrene blocks.

The tenement set consisted of eight building fronts, three and four stories high. They were made of wood with a brick kind of fiberglass covering. In all, it was made of 92 tons of material.

The freeway set used more than 8,200 tons of concrete, 20 tons of structural steel and about 200 tons of lumber.

And all of that is gone now.

But here's the story: Instead of hauling all that out to the dump, the set material was recycled.

I learned this from the Alameda County Waste Management Authority. One of its goals is to encourage recycling of material that otherwise might be headed for a landfill.

The effort to reuse the material from the three sets was a joint project by Warner Bros., the city of Alameda, the ReUse People Inc. and the waste authority.

The folks at the authority figured that about 95 percent of the sets was put to use.

The ReUse People crews handled all of the deconstruction and distribution of the material. Its crews dismantled the set, piece by piece.

Leftovers

The lumber was sold to a company that builds housing for low-income families in Mexico. Forty truckloads went south.

About 80 percent of the steel was used as is, with the rest recast for use again.

Some 48 fire escapes were sold to area contractors along with more than 60 decorative moldings.

The polystyrene blocks were sent out for use in insulation material.

And the mystery freeway was broken up, crushed and sent off to become road base.

Just what became of one of the signs on the freeway remains a mystery.

But if you're in someone's den sometime, and you see a sign with pictures of kangaroos and the words, ``Next 8 Miles,'' tell them you know where that came from.

You read it in the news.