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

Matrix is the latest hill to climb

Producer Grant Hill has made a name in Hollywood as a man who keeps his cool, writes Garry Maddox.

As credits, they don't come much bigger than Titanic, The Thin Red Line and the Matrix sequels. And with a new version of Brighton Rock on the way, Grant Hill has become another Australian success story in Hollywood.

The one-time executive producer of Steve Vizard's Tonight Live earned his stripes as a leading producer and production manager of logistically complex, big-budget films on Titanic. After a famously difficult shoot in Mexico, James Cameron's film broke box office records around the world and won 11 Oscars.

"He was the only one left standing," says an industry colleague about Hill. "People were running from responsibility left, right and centre but he was there going 'I'm here, let's talk'." And on his talents, the colleague says: "The guy doing that job can never panic because he's surrounded by people who are panicking all the time about everything."

After working with legendary director Terrence Malick on The Thin Red Line, Hill has been overseeing the huge shoot for The Matrix: Reloaded and Revolutions - which have just finished more than 200 filming days in Sydney. At the production's offices at Fox Studios, beneath clocks showing the times in Sydney and Los Angeles, Hill is low-key about his rise into Hollywood stratosphere.

"I've been over there for 10 years and it's taken a while. These few films have been fantastic but I'm very mindful of how fickle things are. So I never take too much for granted."

He adds he could not have got the Matrix sequels up-and-running like fellow producer Joel Silver. But when he moved to Los Angeles after rising through the ranks as a location manager and production manager in Australia, which included working on such American-backed films as Wind and Sniper, Hill found it tough to even get a start in the business.

"I spent pretty much a year knocking on doors, chasing people up that I knew vaguely or quite well and really didn't get anywhere - got started on a few things that collapsed. It was pretty slow going."

After a year as head of production for Village Roadshow Pictures, he faced a major challenge on The Crow when lead actor Brandon Lee was accidentally killed on set.

"It's just an awful experience. One thing you always have to be very aware of, in this position and other positions, is your responsibility and the scope of the [production]. On Titanic, we had 1500 people on the payroll at times. Here we've had constantly 700 or 800 people. When there are that many people and you're doing so many complex things, it's tough. You have to be very aware."

After the Thailand shoot for Cutthroat Island and The Ghost and the Darkness in South Africa, Hill faced vast production difficulties and budget over-runs on Titanic. "It was very hard. It was an enormously complex picture and very ambitious in terms of its scale, basically rebuilding the original ship off the original plans. Nearly 5000 tons that set weighed. It had to be able to be lifted to three different angles and it was a solid steel structure."

The soundstages and the wet tank in Baja had to be built as the production proceeded.

"As one set of people were building a facility, another set of people, at the same time, were starting to make the sets ... Most of the interiors were built in Mexico City at the studios there and trucked down to Baja. That's a seven-day drive for convoys of trucks."

Hill says that on an optimistic day, he hoped the studio could get its money back and maybe even make some: "You wouldn't dare hope for the success that it ultimately achieved."

So how hard is it for a producer when the budget is blowing out?

"It's a lot of pressure for everybody. You're at the cutting edge of all that. Because it's so much money, there are pressures on everybody at all levels of the studio, there are pressures on the producers, there are pressures on the director. We were also working a six-day week, long hours. That period was pretty uncomfortable for everybody but particularly hard for the director."

So what's it like working with directors Larry and Andy Wachowski after James Cameron and Terrence Malick?

"All directors at that level, while they have individual differences, the similarities are the thing that most strike you. They all have a very strong drive in wanting to make the movie they want to make. Their method is different ... but I guess the main thing is that it's a privilege and energising being around them in different ways."

Hill says the length of the shoot and the complexity of most shots - including performances, stunt work, visual effects and set design elements - has been the hardest part of The Matrix sequels.

"Everything is multi-layered. We never have four people sitting around the table chatting where we can rest up.

"That, combined with the length of the schedule, has meant that you really have to design the method and the way you make it rather than just accepting the normal template for making a film. If you're shooting for 14 or 16 weeks, most people can do that as a sprint. But you have people who have been on this for 2 years and we've been filming for more than a year and a half."

Even with what colleagues call "a strong bullshit detector", Hill believes the sequels will be better than The Matrix. "It's an amazingly daunting task, particularly for the directors. You have to exceed people's expectations in going from the first movie to the second.

"And then even though you're filming the third movie at the same time, you have to build in a natural step so the third one delivers an equal increase in the expectations for the second one. Which is a really tricky thing to do. But because Larry and Andy have always conceived of this as a trilogy, it has a solidity of structure that gives you three-quarters of that anyway. You're not trying to find a gimmick, invent a story or bring in a new character."

While he will be on the sequels for some time, Hill and Malick have been developing films. The first to be announced is a new version of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock, to be shot in the UK by director Asif Kapadia.

"I've never gone out deliberately to find things of this scale," Hill says. "It's so much a thing of luck and opportunity. It would actually be quite nice to do something a little more contained. Keep my head down for a while."

IT’S not a good idea to get into buying rounds with KEANU REEVES – last Friday he blew £27,488 on one lot of drinks at a Sydney club.

The star was celebrating the end of filming of the next two Matrix movies and treated the whole party at Tank Nightclub.

Part of his round was 29 cases of Dom Perignon champagne.

Then again, Keanu can afford it – he has been paid almost £32million for making the movies.

'Down Under' tops in Hollywood hit-making

SYDNEY, Australia (UPI) - If Bombay's movie industry is dubbed Bollywood, does that mean Sydney's Fox Studios, which churns out major American blockbusters, could be called Sillywood?

"Absolutely not!" Fox Studio's chief executive, Michael Harvey, told United Press International, with a kind of 'you'll never work in this town again' look in his eye.

Harvey is serious about the local industry and in no mind for nicknames. With films that twinkle gold in the American film industry's eye - the "Matrix" sequels just wound up this week, for example - one might concede the point.

"What we have here is unique in the world," he said. "There is nothing like this place in the U.S. We offer a village atmosphere, a community. Fox Studios in Century City is a concrete jungle by comparison."

Strolling around the lot, it's easy to see his point. At 60 acres, it's small time compared to the big U.S. studios.

The lot is set on a tree-lined site once used for exhibitions and agricultural shows. The beautiful old exhibition halls, with their soaring barrel-vaulted ceilings, have been converted to sound stages big enough to accommodate cityscapes and four-story apartment buildings.

It is prime land, surrounded by parks and literally minutes to the city, airport, exclusive suburbs and beaches.

"A lot of film people from the U.S. love the feel of the place," said Harvey, and his proof is on his office wall: a framed enlargement of a full page ad which Director George Lucas and Producer Rick McCallum took out in Variety magazine as a thank-you after making "Star Wars Episode 2." It reads: "Brilliant crew, brilliant city and brilliant studio."

"That really sums it up," said Harvey. "They like the way we do the business."

Victoria Buchan, who runs a film public relations company on the lot, told UPI it takes a particular kind of U.S. producer or director to enjoy making films Down Under. The ones who like it, love it; the others stay away.

"They enjoy the fact that it's small and away from the mainstream," said Buchan. "They love working with the local crews, with their passion for film making and larrikin streak." (Translation for the 'upover': larrikin, a sort of rowdy moxie.)

In many ways, Sydney is an ideal place for making movies. For the director, there's a range of locations on the doorstep, from desert to jungle to cityscape. There's a film culture with highly rated crew and actors, good weather and a cosmopolitan culture not that different from 'back home.'

For the producer, there's a tax incentive and low Aussie dollar, which help make Australia a cheaper place to shoot than the United States.

And for the stars, there's the benefit of anonymity. Unlike in America, actors here are largely ignored.

It was a factor enjoyed by Tom Cruise when he was here doing "Mission: Impossible 2." Before he arrived, Fox in the United States warned Harvey to bump up security to cope with the crowds that were bound to mob the star.

The adulation never eventuated, and Cruise was able to blend into the scene unnoticed, cheering on his son's soccer team at nearby Queens Park and taking his daughter to school without fear of frenzy.

Similarly, Keanu Reeves has been able to live an almost normal life while making the "Matrix" sequels ("The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Matrix Revolutions") at Fox over the past year.

With the advent of digital filmmaking, a new benefit of working Down Under is the time difference between Sydney and Hollywood. Crews can shoot during the day and send rushes to the United States for comment, ready for the next day.

All that was needed to take advantage of all these aspects was the filmmaking infrastructure, and that came in 1996 when Rupert Murdoch developed the site.

Since then, the industry has boomed. Harvey said employment has gone from 6,000 in 1995 to over 15,000 today, while foreign investment in films has more than doubled. Sydney-siders are getting used to the sight of film trucks setting up at the crack of dawn.

The "Matrix" sequels, the biggest film project ever by Warner Brothers, wrapped with a party at Tank night club this week.

According to the film's producer, Joel Silver, one sequel includes "a 14-minute sequence that is the most complicated sequence ever put on film." He said that some of the visual effects were so expensive and time-consuming they will never be repeated for a film. One visual effect for a single shot took two-and-a-half years to create. Another, which involved the lowest filming from a helicopter ever, closed the center of Sydney for three weekends running.

Six hundred miles north of Sydney, on the Gold Coast, is Australia's other major film studio, and the largest production facility in the southern hemisphere.

The Warner Roadshow Movie World Studios are about to start on "Peter Pan," to be made by Universal Pictures, Columbia Pictures and Revolution Studios. At $100 million, it will be the most expensive film ever made in Australia.

Other major projects at Movie World have included the "Flipper" series 3 and 4, "Chameleon II" and "Chameleon III," the "Lost World" series, the "Beastmaster" series, "Magician," "Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde," "Diamondback," "Sabrina Down Under," and "Scooby Doo."

Many see the choice of the studio for "Peter Pan" as a testament to the quality and professionalism of the Australian film industry.

"The Australian film industry is in great shape, and there's no reason it can't go from strength to strength," said Harvey.

An Aussie must say it's great news, for the local industry and the economy in general. The New South Wales premier, Bob Carr, said this week that the "Matrix" sequels contributed over $100 million to the state's economy and created over 3,000 jobs for 18 months, and 10,000 days of work for extras. The cast and crew required more that 20,000 hotel nights.

The only grumble is from some local producers who say it is almost impossible to make Australian movies in Sydney when a big American film is in production.

When they are in town, the big films book up all available studio space and equipment, as well as the best local crews, and keep them on standby just in case they are needed.

These industry insiders asked to remain unnamed. They do want to work in this town again.

The galaxy far, far away is much closer than you think

When it comes to international films, Sydney is turning into Sci-Fi City. Postcode: 2001.

Up to three more big-budget science-fiction movies are heading to Fox Studios now that the two sequels to The Matrix have finished their Sydney shoot.

The Fountain, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, will be based at the studios early next year after location shooting in Queensland.

The next Star Wars episode starts production soon after, with director George Lucas planning to shoot from March the closing chapter to one of the great sci-fi sagas.

And Australian director Alex Proyas, best known for The Crow and Dark City, is waiting for the Hollywood go-ahead for his take on Isaac Asimov's I, Robot.

While New Zealand has been specialising in fantasy - Xena, Hercules and The Lord of the Rings - Sydney has been cornering the futuristic market. The trend highlights the emerging strengths and weaknesses of the country as a location for US-backed films.

The list of sci-fi films to shoot at Fox Studios - in amongst Mission: Impossible 2 and Moulin Rouge - also includes Dark City, The Matrix, Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Red Planet. The TV series Farscape has also been filming at Homebush Bay.

The competitive cost of production - underwritten by the value of the dollar and tax rebates - continues to attract a healthy share of runaway Hollywood films.

Producer Andrew Mason, who has worked on all three Matrix films, says sci-fi is "a great area of film-making for Australia to end up being really good at" because of the genre's commercial success. The biggest films around the world this year included Men in Black 2, Minority Report and Attack of the Clones.

"Australia is not an easy fit for duplicating American street life," Mason says. "You can't expect to easily make films here that are supposed to look like contemporary or even period American cities.

"There's the difficulty of making the streets look the same - you have to actually dress them and add all the cars. You also have a different ethnic mix which matters if you want large numbers of extras to look like an American urban environment."

Hollywood producers looking to keep their budgets down can have Toronto double as New York, or Vancouver as Los Angeles. But sci-fi films just need lots of sets.

"That's what Australians are rather good at," Mason says, adding that the demand for sci-fi films has brought a need for more sound stages. "There's a very definite Field of Dreams factor. If you build it, they will come."

The Australian producer for The Matrix: Reloaded, and The Matrix: Revolutions, Grant Hill, says the Sydney shoot was "a universally pleasant experience for most people" on the production.

"For something that has shot for 270 days - we've moved continents, we've had difficulties here and there - it's been fantastic. We've never really lost our momentum."

On the way back to San Francisco for 12 weeks of shooting miniatures, Hill is both pleased and amazed that Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and other stars managed to stay "below the radar" in Sydney.

"That's a really good thing in terms of attracting cast and having them enjoy the experience. I also think it's good in a general sense for the town and the movie industry. It's only film-making."

Lone rider - Sydney's wrapped in Matrix

Date:24-Aug-2002
From:Daily Telegraph
Author:Michael Bodey

Lone rider - Sydney's wrapped in Matrix

Matrix industry worth $200m to economy

Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss have gone home, Keanu Reeves won't be far behind and Hugo Weaving is making a mini-series in Melbourne.

After more than 200 filming days, the two sequels to The Matrix are finally finishing their Sydney shoot.

While Fox Studios has hosted some major productions since it opened - including Mission: Impossible 2 and the last Star Wars episode - The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions have been a virtual industry.

The Premier, Bob Carr, said yesterday that the "giant undertaking" involved 800 full-time and 2500 part-time jobs over 18 months. There was work for 60 actors and 10,000 days' work for extras. "The Matrix producers say the contribution to the NSW economy exceeds $200 million."

Amid secrecy, directors Larry and Andy Wachowski started work on the sequels with a 70-day shoot for two major scenes in San Francisco. Early next month, they start a further 12-week shoot back in San Francisco.

Reloaded is to open in US cinemas next May with Revolutions following in November.

Earlier this year, producer Joel Silver said the final weeks of the Sydney shoot involved "a 14-minute sequence that is the most complicated sequence ever put on film". This period included three shoots from a helicopter on consecutive Sundays to give a "canyon-like perspective" of the city around dusk.

Silver also said the sequels aimed to be about something meaningful rather than just escapist action. "It's so weird to say this but it's a treatise on our times and where we're going and how to not go there. It's about global warming and the Catholic Church. It's about all that stuff that's going on in our lives that we can't really grab on to." The sequels were not separate movies. "It is one enormous movie that's being cut in half and being shown in two halves."

Reeves, who returns as the hacker-turned-hero Neo, gave a glimpse of the plot at a press conference. "The story goes outside The Matrix and starts to concern itself with machines in Zion. [Neo] is told by the Oracle that he has - it's not a destiny - choices that he will have to make that will affect the survival of the human race."

As well as Weaving, the Australian actors in the sequels include Robyn Nevin, Steve Bastoni and Lachy Hulme.

Hollywood stardom for Better Homes twins

Identical twins Adrian and Neil Rayment have been catapulted from doing an ITV1 makeover show to Hollywood stardom.

The former handy hunks, 33, in Carol Vorderman's Better Homes, play the arch villains in The Matrix Reloaded, also starring Keanu Reeves.

Adrian said: "I think it's because Warner Brothers had a specific idea for the characters.

"We just fitted the bill because we're identical twins.

Neil told C4's RI:SE: "Hollywood is a very different world to what we were used to. It was like coming out of the frying pan into the fire.

Filming The Matrix Reloaded proved perilous. Both twins, who are expert in the martial art Shokotan karate, threw themselves into action scenes.

Adrian said: "There is always the risk of injury. I also got hit in the face by glass and had to be stitched up by Don Johnson's surgeon.

"But we saw rough clips of the movie and it looks amazing."

23/08/02

25-minute car chase in "Matrix Reloaded"?

Talk about a long sequence...

Colin Kennedy, editor of Empire Magazine, recently revealed to the The Evening Standard that the widely discussed car chase sequence in "The Matrix Reloaded" will be as long as 25 minutes.

The car chase sequence has been a hot topic of discussion among Internet movie buffs for quite some time now. A stretch of road was constructed by the production company specifically for the reason of filming the sequence. One rumor states that in the film, the Agents will be morphing from driver to driver during rush hour in order to capture the gang.

Thanks to CountingDown.com (http://www.countingdown.com) for the lead.

Bellucci is also due to appear in The Matrix sequel Reloaded with Keanu Reeves and Men Of War with Bruce Willis. But she denies using controversy to establish herself in Hollywood circles.

She said: "To survive, I have to be able to work a little bit everywhere and to respond to interesting proposals.

"I don't want a career in Hollywood, I want to stay in Europe. But if an interesting offer comes from the States, I will obviously take it.

"That is why I did The Matrix Reloaded. It's a very hush-hush project. What I can say is that I'm very happy to be a part of it.

"I loved the first one, it was much more than an action film. It's really a philosophy of life and it's a love story and it's so deep."

Animatrix and Reloaded Updates

First up, the Official Matrix Site has posted a batch of new stills from the upcoming animated Matrix DVD Animatrix. Featuring a batch of short stories set in the Matrix universe, this DVD is set to be released in 2003. Check out the link above for images.

Next up, Countingdown.com reports on an article in the "Mail on Sunday" which interviews the cast and crew of the Matrix film:

Keanu Reeves and a producer both talk about how hard and secretive the production has been:

'It was tough,' says Reeves. 'I don't think people understand just how physically taxing this work is. I had to go on a very strict diet and endure vigorous, rigorous training. I started in October 2000 and have devoted my entire life to these films ever since.' The directors of the original film, brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, are secretive to the verge of paranoia about the sequels.

'The scripts were written in a special ink that couldn't be photocopied,' says one producer. 'The sets were closed. Nobody was allowed to bring in cameras and we all had special passes. They even hired a security firm to bring more minders and guards. It was like Fort Knox.'

Reeves says:?We are all aware that we are involved in making history. It's a great honour to be involved in these films. None of us wants to ruin it for the fans by remaining so secretive but we don't think anyone will be disappointed.' What can be revealed, however, is that Reeves's character, Neo, goes to an underground city called Zion, inhabited by 250,000 people who have escaped their cyber-imprisonment.

Finally, the New York Times ran an article on how The Matrix changed action movies:

And finally, some people see in movies like "The Matrix," a tendency toward greater thematic and character complexity in the action genre -- and away from the simplistic revenge plots that drove the genre for most of the last 15 years. This may be wishful thinking, of course.

"Once you have seen a movie like 'The Matrix,' you can't unsee it," said Paul Dergarabedian, chairman of Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles-based company that monitors movie box-office totals. "And it changed the way people thought about action movies, and what they expected of them.

'The Matrix' gave this type of movie a brain," said Jeanine Basinger, chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University. "It really did change everything. Filmmakers now realize that action doesn't have to be dumb. Moviegoers have always known this, but it's taken until now for filmmakers to catch up. So a whole thing lies ahead, which is really going to be the maturing of this entire genre, whoever the stars are going to be."

Visit the links above for more. Cinescape also talks to Keanu Reeves about his injury while filming. Check it out!

Ben Austin in The Matrix Sequels

| Ben Austin talks about his role in The Matrix sequels: "I was originally cast as a dead soldier, but as I was the only one-armed man they had, they gave me many of the gory scenes," he said. "It was good fun."

Animatrix

: Oh My Fucking God! The Wachowski Brothers hiring animators from America, Japan, and Korea to produce (I think it was) 12 animated short stories based on supporting characters from the future Matrix movie. This will be a supplemental, much like the web site was for the first film. They showed a clip and I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THIS. Even if the next two movies suck (which I doubt they will), this animation will be woth it! Each story takes on a different animation style (traditional, CG, anime/manga, and various mixtures within). Once again...WOW!

Reeves teases MATRIX RELOADED

By: CHRISTOPHER ALLAN SMITH AND MICHAEL TUNISON

In a quick interview with CINESCAPE’s own Mike Tunison, Keanu Reeves teased next May’s MATRIX RELOADED, and sketched out a bit what the plot of the sequel is.

As Reeves marveled about the film, “the ambition of what [director/creators] Larry and Andrew Wachowski want to do, where they want to put the camera and the environments that they want to shoot in…”

Some of that ambition took a toll on Reeves, who had a “minor trauma” to his leg while conducting the massive, months long shoot which is to end this month.

“It’s just harder, more sophisticated,” Reeves said of the RELOADED combat “Instead of one-on-one fights, there are multi-fights and more weapons.”

Those fights take the form of new villains played by twins Neil and Adrian Rayment, who play MATRIX incarnations of a new virus which is running through the meta-world.

“I thought that they made a great film [in THE MATRIX] – you know, there is such a great style to it, there is great ideas, there is a freshness to it,” Reeves said. “If you relate to the picture, there is a great vitality. I've met people who don't like it, who were just like, ‘Whatever,’ but if you do respond to it, there is a freshness and vitality to it and an excitement of cinema. I mean, yeah, I'm glad to be in it.”

For the full look ahead at the MATRIX sequels, pick up a copy of CINESCAPE’S SEQUELMANIA, on stands now.

How The Matrix Changed The Rules for Action Movies

By deftly using the computer's capacity to create alternative worlds, the filmmakers Andy and Larry Wachowski were able to put their hero (Keanu Reeves) into an astonishing, gravity-defying world that was satisfyingly complex and mind-blowing. Echoes of that film are still being felt, and there will be not one but two "Matrix" sequels in 2003 to cement its influence.

In the old action movies, we knew it wasn't actually the star scampering across the top of that moving train, but a stunt man. And when there were close-ups of the star, it was on a safe sound stage, far from the moving locomotive. "We knew it wasn't Sly Stallone climbing those mountains," Mr. Rothman said.

But on the computer, anything is possible. So "The Matrix" showed us Mr. Reeves -- in full close-up, not a stunt man -- running up the sides of walls and flying through space.

"It used to be that a lot of action stars were there for their physical skills, but 'The Matrix' really killed that," Mr. Garner said. "You can't now just go up to a guy and hit him with a stick and that's enough. Movies like 'The Matrix' have opened up this world where anything is possible. So you don't need action stars who can really do those things. You can hire people for their acting skills instead."

That is why, Mr. Garner said, this next generation of action stars will much more likely be in the Ben Affleck or Tobey Maguire mold -- accomplished performers who build their characters and then let the computer do the stunts.

And finally, some people see in movies like "The Matrix," a tendency toward greater thematic and character complexity in the action genre -- and away from the simplistic revenge plots that drove the genre for most of the last 15 years. This may be wishful thinking, of course.

"Once you have seen a movie like 'The Matrix,' you can't unsee it," said Paul Dergarabedian, chairman of Exhibitor Relations, a Los Angeles-based company that monitors movie box-office totals. "And it changed the way people thought about action movies, and what they expected of them.

'The Matrix' gave this type of movie a brain," said Jeanine Basinger, chairwoman of the film studies department at Wesleyan University. "It really did change everything. Filmmakers now realize that action doesn't have to be dumb. Moviegoers have always known this, but it's taken until now for filmmakers to catch up. So a whole thing lies ahead, which is really going to be the maturing of this entire genre, whoever the stars are going to be."

According to rumours in Sydney, where the crew has just finished the 71-week shoot, the helicopter sequence took more than two years to plan and film. It was shot in the dead of night on a street chosen for its timeless appearance. Filming was shielded from curious onlookers by huge screens.

To read about how the sequels will be hyped and how audiences reacted to Revolutions when it was tested, click here.

Audience Test Response to Revolutions: "Amazing"

'The advertising budget and the money we spend on promotions and PR are rolled into one. People won't have the time between the second and third film to forget the hype.

'Next year will be the year for Matrix. You won't be able to open a magazine or turn on the television without seeing Keanu or one of the stars.

How can an audience miss a film if it simply refuses to go away? The only danger is that fans turn their backs on the third film after they've seen the second. But we've tested it with audiences and the response has been amazing.

We're confident that we have two huge hits on our hands.' The original film won an Oscar for its special effects and much is expected from the sequels.

You must be kidding,' he says. 'All I can give you is an overview. The first film was about birth, the second is about life and the third is about death. The look of the sequels is more sophisticated and demanding. Instead of one-on-one fighting, I fight one against many. There are some cool new weapons as well. I've been trained in new martial-arts skills. I have surprised even myself in some of the scenes.' In the first film, computers had taken over the world and imprisoned humans in a 'virtual' reality.

Keanu Reeves and a producer both talk about how hard and secretive the production has been:

'It was tough,' says Reeves. 'I don't think people understand just how physically taxing this work is. I had to go on a very strict diet and endure vigorous, rigorous training. I started in October 2000 and have devoted my entire life to these films ever since.' The directors of the original film, brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, are secretive to the verge of paranoia about the sequels.

'The scripts were written in a special ink that couldn't be photocopied,' says one producer. 'The sets were closed. Nobody was allowed to bring in cameras and we all had special passes. They even hired a security firm to bring more minders and guards. It was like Fort Knox.'

Reeves says:?We are all aware that we are involved in making history. It's a great honour to be involved in these films. None of us wants to ruin it for the fans by remaining so secretive but we don't think anyone will be disappointed.' What can be revealed, however, is that Reeves's character, Neo, goes to an underground city called Zion, inhabited by 250,000 people who have escaped their cyber-imprisonment.

Nona Gaye's character Zee is described as a 'mystical woman of Zion'. The article also tells us why Marcus Chong, who played Tank in the original Matrix, will not return. Apparently, he fell out with the producers over a bizarre incident in which he allegedly broke into the Matrix production offices.

What about bullet time?

Everyone was blown away when the first film had "bullet time" in it,' said one insider. 'That was a composition of live and still photography, enhanced by computers to create this amazing, fluid-like effect. There is more of that in the sequels and a new technique that will blow everyone's socks off.'

Special effects supervisor John Gaeta says: 'We've expanded on the bullet-time technique, although there has been a lot of pressure to do the effects without spending military-size budgets.'

Laurence Fishburne sounds almost evangelical when describing the special effects in the new films. 'We are doing things with cameras and technology that will set the standard for the future,' he says.

Reeves says: 'We have invented new technologies for this film. In the first one, we invented bullet time, but this will be an even wilder ride.

Reeves had this to say about whether he is ready for the media onslaught that is inevitable: 'Who knows? I just hope the fans enjoy the films. Then I will have done my job.'

Japan Matrix advertisement

Date:03-Aug-2002
From:999

Japanese Matrix advertisement is here

The movie includes its trademark "bullet time" special effects which make the stars defy the laws of gravity.

Keenu Reeves promises in the same article: "It's going to set new standards. This is the biggest project ever taken on by a film company."

"We have spent two years filming all the scenes and special effects from every different angle."

UPDATED: 'ArmAnd' tells us:

i would not pay much attention to the mirror matrix article about the use of bullet time in the new sequels as they often use bogus and unresearched information.

(Thanks to 'Squirk')

The movie includes its trademark "bullet time" special effects which make the stars defy the laws of gravity.

Keenu Reeves promises in the same article: "It's going to set new standards. This is the biggest project ever taken on by a film company."

"We have spent two years filming all the scenes and special effects from every different angle."

UPDATED: 'ArmAnd' tells us:

i would not pay much attention to the mirror matrix article about the use of bullet time in the new sequels as they often use bogus and unresearched information.

(Thanks to 'Squirk')