Leo's Girl in Margaritaville

Backstage at the /Tonight Show --/ an unglamorous warren of worn out dressing rooms with mostly broken down furniture -- Gisele and the night's main guest, *Keanu Reeves*, were attended to by the crack staff.

In fact, what the /Tonight Show/ doesn't have in physical amenities is made up for by a group of producers, assistants and pages who couldn't be more helpful or professional. The show runs like a well-trained military effort with no weak links along the chain.

Reeves took the room next to Gisele's, but the two had no contact other than on stage. As much as Gisele's group was a traveling party, Reeves' was the complete opposite -- organized, quiet, and earnest. And no partying. When Keanu came off stage, he asked a couple of strangers hanging around the hallway: "Was that OK?"

He did say, as we made small talk, that he was very happy with /The Matrix Reloaded/. He also said he had no immediate plans for other films (the third /Matrix/ also comes out in November) other than a romantic comedy now filming with *Jack Nicholson* and *Diane Keaton*. "It's a supporting role," he said matter-of-factly.

"Why did you take a supporting role?" I asked, considering that he's about to open in what may be the biggest movie of all time.

"It was a good script," he said, simply.

Reeves Reloaded

Keanu Reeves brings a deeper sense of his hero character -- and morefight sequences -- to The Matrix Reloaded.

BRUCE KIRKLAND, Special to The Free Press 2003-05-10 03:13:30

HOLLYWOOD -- The twin sequels to The Matrix are among the most eagerlyawaited films in years.

Perhaps only Peter Jackson's final instalment of The Lord of the Rings-- The Return Of The King is due in December -- has its fans as wired,as weary of waiting and as eager.

But the mysterious Wachowski brothers, co-writers and co-directors ofall three Matrix films, have two sequels costing an astonishing $310million US ready to explode in quick succession.

The Matrix Reloaded is due for full release Thursday and The MatrixRevolutions on Nov. 7. So, it is easy to argue that, packaged together,this is the film event of the year.

Even the habitually wary actor Keanu Reeves -- who is only slightlyless-reclusive than Andy and Larry Wachowski and often either deadpansor stumbles his way through interviews -- is absolutely effusive aboutthe pending release of The Matrix Reloaded.

"I'm very excited about it," Reeves says in an interview deep in theheart of Stage 16 at Warner Bros. Studios, where set decorators havereplicated the rebels' computer command centre on board Morpheus'sinner-Earth spaceship. Being surrounded by the familiar from the filmsputs Reeves in a rare mood to talk to strangers, all of whom had to showpassports or other picture ID to even access the Warners lot. ForCanadian journalists, it was easier to get into the United States onthis trip than it was to get into the studio because of paranoid levelsof security for the screening of The Matrix Reloaded and for theinterviews.

"I can't wait to see it," Reeves says. "All my friends are excited andmy folks are excited to see it. So, it's great to be a part of somethinglike that. It was a great experience acting in them (all three Matrixmovies) and to spend time with the great people and artists that I gotto go through this with. And I'm stoked that my folks are excited aboutgoing to the movies to see The Matrix."

The first film, The Matrix, was a shocking spectacle that galvanizedaudiences in 1999 with its heady and potent alchemy.

The Wachowskis blended unlikely elements such as the thoughts ofcyberpunk author William Gibson with ideas from Greek mythology,Christianity, the Bible, Zen Buddhism, Taoism and the fairy tale storyAlice In Wonderland. They added pop culture cliches, future and retroscience fiction, Hong Kong chopsocky and wire work, plus ballet,Japanese anime, multi-culturalism, ironic humour and dazzling specialeffects.

The F/X included the invention of "bullet time," a camera trick tostutter-stop time during elaborate fight sequences.

The Matrix exploded at the box office, earned $460 million US worldwideand even launched a Mensa-level lecture series at Harvard University.The Matrix Reloaded has much more of the same -- and lots of new tricksand extra layers of questions in the philosophical musings.

There is also substantially enough of Reeves embedded in Neo, hisChrist-like cyber-human character in the trilogy, to turn a conversationabout The Matrix Reloaded into an insight into the reclusive star.

"Well, the platform of the film itself lends itself to that," Reevessays of finding the layers of meaning in the film, in the philosophicalmusings of the filmmakers and, perhaps, within himself.

"Thank God that there is something to talk about because, otherwise,what are they doing? Some other films don't have that ambition."

In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo continues his journey both as the One chosento save what is left of mankind and, in his awakening, as a morecomplete human.

Says Reeves: "I think that Neo, in the beginning of Reloaded, is full ofa lot of fear about what he has to do and about the responsibilitiesthat the community is asking for."

In the same vein, Reeves says Neo's arc is "a development of the birthof a messiah," as well as an exploration of "the identity of a man."

Reeves elaborates, while trying not to give away important plot detailsthat might spoil the fun for audiences

"I don't think the character is such -- what's the phrase? -- areluctant hero. He's accepted it, but I don't think he's accepted itwithout question. I think Neo is trying to find out, 'What's my life?'

"I mean, he says: 'What if I fail?' Right? And it's kind of cool whathappens later on. I don't what to give away the plot, but the aspect ofwhat Neo finds out about being the One, I love that."

Reeves is asked how much he believes in the philosophical basis for thefilms, especially because the Wachowskis introduced him to a series ofserious tomes exploring the Big Questions, such as the meaning of life.

"I don't have my list in front of me," Reeves says of what philosophieshe believes in that are buried in the text of The Matrix films.

"I could probably make a list, but then I'd be doing what the brothersdon't want to be doing (themselves): 'Here's my literal thing.' Theydon't propose a finality to it. They don't say: 'Here's the answer!'They don't do that except -- and this will be revealed in Revolutions --they do come to something. And I think it sounds really goofy, but it'sabout love."

Indeed, in Reloaded, there is more of the romantic-sexual connectionbetween Reeves and his slick, Canadian-born co-star, Carrie-Anne Moss.

"It's great," says Reeves. "It's one of my favourite aspects of thepiece because I get to love someone and I get to be loved by someone andshare that."

Reeves calls his romantic scenes with Moss "some of my best days workingon that project, just because we love and trust each other and enjoyworking together. It's great to feel that. It's great to be able to giveover that loving feeling, that kind of respect and appreciation forsomebody else."

Reloaded is also a far sexier movie than The Matrix, which was morepreoccupied with setting up the big picture saga that could be continuedin Reloaded and finished off in Revolutions. Reloaded has some joyousscenes set in the underground human city of Zion, which is fullyrealized in the new film.

Reeves agrees that Reloaded is sexy and sensual.

"I do. I mean, I think they (the brothers) are interested in flesh andblood. They're interested in the emotions and the flesh and blood oflife and I think they exalt in it."

Reloaded also ramps up the fighting.

Reeves' character Neo no longer needs training. He is the best there is.In one sequence, known on set as the Burly Brawl, Neo battles eviluber-agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) and his 99 clones. In another sequence,he rockets into the sky doing what another character teasingly calls"his Superman thing." In many more scenes, including a spectacular andsurreal Los Angeles freeway car-truck-motorcycle chase, Reeves pushedhis body to the limit as he tried to do the majority of his own stunts.

"Recovering was a little harder," Reeves says, comparing his work on thesequels (which were shot concurrently over 18-months) to his work on theoriginal film.

"This one was a much longer time. I had fights interspersed over a longperiod of time, so, in my time off, I was always training and learninganother fight. I've done five fights for the second one and I have moremoves in the fight with the Smiths than I did in the whole first movie.Probably twice over."

The manner and ease in which Reeves speaks is surprising.

In other interviews, Reeves was monosyllabic and so restrained andawkward, he could barely complete a sentence. For The Matrix Reloaded,he is generous with words.

"In my quiet," Reeves says so quietly it is like a reverential hush, "Iwas working something out."

Fx Whiz Takes 'Matrix' where No Film Has Been

Thu May 8, 2003 01:21 AM ET
By Paula Parisi

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - The 'bullet time' effect in 1999's 'The Matrix' was a shot heard 'round the world, one of those rare bits of 'cinemagic' that transcends film lexicon and permeates popular culture.

The visual effects team behind that movie received an Academy Award for its efforts and so clearly had its work cut out when attempting to up the creative ante again for the May 15 release 'The Matrix Reloaded' and November's 'The Matrix Revolutions.'

But to hear senior visual effects supervisor John Gaeta talk about the work during the thick of postproduction, it sounds like fun.

'It's exciting, but it can also kill you,' he laughs from a cell phone during his daily commute down the California coast from the former Alameda Naval Base -- where Larry and Andy Wachowski's production company, Eon, keeps offices in the control tower -- to Venice.

The base also is home to ESC, the visual effects company formed by the Wachowskis and Warner Bros. Pictures to handle effects for the 'Matrix' sequels, which incorporate more than 2,000 shots on a combined VFX budget said to be in the vicinity of $100 million.

In addition to ESC -- named after the 'get-me-outta-here button' on a computer keyboard and pronounced, by some, 'escape' -- work spilled over to eight or nine other firms, including Tippett Studios, Sony Pictures Imageworks, Giant Killer Robots, Australia's Animal Logic and Paris-based BUF Compagnie. In all, 800-1,000 people worldwide were striving for a synchronized vision.

'This is a massive operation,' Gaeta says. 'It's the biggest thing that's ever been done that isn't ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) doing 'Star Wars.' It's much bigger than 'The Lord of the Rings.' And we got some stellar performances out of these third party compaies.'

To achieve their latest eye-popping visuals, Gaeta and company continued to push the envelope in virtual cinematography techniques and image-based rendering, mapping photographic images over 3-D wireframe models. (A more physically based-method for acquiring impossible camera moves was used to achieve the original film's 'bullet time.') For the 'Burly Brawl' scene -- in which Neo (Keanu Reeves) battles an army of rapidly multiplying Agent Smiths (Hugo Weaving), with the camera whirling by at supersonic speed -- the technology was used to create 3-D scenes that are 100% computer-generated, including the actors.

To achieve what Gaeta describes as heretofore-unseen authenticity for synthetic performers, he worked with fellow 'Matrix' alumni -- including George Borshukov, Kim Libreri and Dan Piponi, the core team at ESC -- to devise the technique that made that possible: 'universal capture,' or, more familiary 'U-cap.'

'What it is we get the shape and the performance in one go, rather than digitizing you, then capturing your motion, then later adding the skin,' Gaeta explains. 'What it does is eliminate the need for scanning.'

Though it can be done using any cameras, including film cameras, they chose to use five Sony HDW-900 cameras in an array configuration. the actors were scanned making a range of facial expressions. That information was mapped onto wireframes of the actors' cranial structures and later set atop the bodies of motion-captured stunt doubles. The combination of 3-D characters and 3-D sets allowed the filmmakers to unfetter their imaginations using a virtual camera with unlimited mobility.

'Once you have the 'ballet' in the computer, we can precisely capture how each body arcs, swings and rolls then create a negative, an inverse of that motion for the camera,' Gaeta says. 'It's always perfect, full-tilt -- no fake Hollywood punches.'

Another major 'Matrix' effects set piece is the 'Sentinel Reveal,' a superhighway of corrosive sewer pipes patrolled by drone-like Diggers -- 250,000 of them, to be exact. The sequence incorporates towering, 30-foot miniatures -- called 'big-atures,' with the name deriving from the huge environments in the 'Rings' films -- and physical interaction was needed.

But, again, most of the scene was built digitally, 'with a tremendous level of detail and sense of scale,' ESC visual effects supervisor Joe Takai says.

Although the technological expertise and artistic detail required to pull off the set pieces are impressive, Gaeta says the real secret behind the mind-blowing look of the 'Matrix' movies is simpler.

'It has everything to do with the connection between the development of the film and the creation of the effects,' he says. 'There's a linkage from Larry and Andy, with myself, to ESC that is greater and deeper than any standard vendor contract. And if you're to look out in the field, it's only Pixar and maybe PDI that have a really deep linkage to the creative development of their content.'

But Gaeta predicts that such arrangements are 'the wave of the future,' and if he has anything to say about it, effects houses 'will get out of this racket of 'self-destruct projects' for studios that don't really help subsidize the technology side, the growth side. The only way they won't fall is if they create a new formula on which they're given points on a film -- and the only way they can do that is to be co-developers.'

Citing the 'Matrix' model as an example, Gaeta explains that 'the content, the imagery and the concepts are heavily routed through Eon, which squeezes out the ideas. ESC is the one that's bringing the technology to the table, so it's a good collaboration.'

Beyond that philosophical collaboration, the logistical aspects of data collaboration presented an awesome challenge to Eon. The company simultaneously developed and produced not only two large-scale feature films, but also an animated film, an online game and a video game.

Given that volume of work, development of a robust asset-management system was a key plank of the firms' technical strategy. Everything from concept sketches to low-resolution images to high-rez files was databased and accessible from multiple locations.

'We developed, basically, a relational image bank that houses thousands and thousands of shots and images at all resolutions,' Gaeta says. 'We transfer that around to all our different media, and we're like a full-on post facility. I'm sure Pixar does this as well, but in a different way. I mean, Larry and Andy's company is as capable and robust as your most high-end post facility; they're just a couple of directors with the same setup they'd need going into post on any live-action film -- but they've got it exponentially.'

That combination of creative energy and technical savvy has made ESC 'easily more capable than any other effects firm in the industry,' says Gaeta, who works at Eon but was part of the team at Manex, the now-defunct Bay Area effects house that handled the original 'Matrix' film. 'It's a magic combination. In terms of talent and technology, they've surpassed everyone, in my opinion.'

The fate of ESC and its 290 employees is not clear beyond the completion of 'Revolutions.' It is not uncommon for talented effects guns to move from project to project and facility to facility, following their fancy as well as industry demand. But Gaeta hopes for a miracle, even as he laments some industry trends -- specifically, that the volume required by today's tentpole releases has resulted, to a large degree, in the commoditization of visual effects.

'Some of these firms are giant engines, but at the end of the day, in visual effects, they're not known, really, for their product,' he says. 'Visual effects are supposed to be unique, one of a kind -- that's how you move things forward. Without that spark, films are all going to look the same.'

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

'Matrix' is love story, according to Reeves

Keanu Reeves, star of The Matrix and its upcoming sequel The Matrix Reloaded, due out May 15.

Bill Muller
The Arizona Republic
May. 9, 2003 04:10 PM

HOLLYWOOD -- Keanu Reeves wants to understand The Matrix. More importantly, he wants you to understand.

Some of it, anyway. He can't give away too much.

"It's kind of cool what happens later on," says the star of The Matrix Reloaded, rubbing his hands together with a mischievous grin.

Come on, Keanu, let us in on the secret.

"It sounds really goofy," he says, "but it's about love."

OK, but what about all the heavy German philosophy, the religious allegory, the chitchat about cause and effect, fate and choices?

"That's the question," he says. "I think that's one of those, 'Is it a wave, is it a particle?' It's hard to know. It's like the Möbius strip."

Whoa.

If anybody has the answers, it's Reeves, who spent nine months in California and Australia making the last two chapters in the Matrix trilogy - Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which comes out in November - about a dystopian Earth where people live in a computer-generated dream world.

The slick, special-effects-laden sci-fi movies, known for hidden meanings and futuristic kung fu, are the handiwork of Andy and Larry Wachowski, reclusive filmmakers who rarely give interviews.

Explanations are left to Reeves, who's having fun playfully dodging the questions, and other cast members.

Sitting in a mock-up Matrix set on the Warner Bros. lot, Reeves, 38, looks relaxed in slightly tattered jeans, a maroon T-shirt and a blue sports jacket. He is loose-limbed, quiet. When faced with a perplexing question, he squeezes his eyes shut, ducks his head and runs his hands through his hair, a scrunched up, surfer-dude version of Rodan's Thinker.

He apparently spent a lot of time thinking about The Matrix.

"It's about the search for identity, the struggle of life, trying to find out the mythical themes of the messiah, of the lovers, of the teacher, of the shaman," Reeves says. "It's such a great platform for how we can sometimes think about our own lives.

"I tried to understand the whole tapestry of this piece. I felt it was important so I could do my role."

To accomplish that, Reeves dipped into the philosophy embraced by the Wachowskis - universally referred to as "the Brothers" by the cast - but he didn't get too far.

"I got a little bit into Schopenhauer, but with Schopenhauer, you have to just keep going backwards," Reeves says wearily.

"Then I've got to go back to Wagner, and . . . Who does he kill? He hates Hegel. So then he goes into Kant, so then you've got to start reading Kant. (I'm like), 'OK, I've got to do some stretching and some kicking.' "

Along with the deep thinking, the physical load was heavier this time around for Reeves, who plays Neo, the world's would-be savior, who's ably assisted by true believer Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and love interest Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss).

In Reloaded, Neo and his compatriots struggle to defend the human stronghold of Zion against the burrowing machines that run the planet. Meanwhile, his relationship with Trinity has deepened, and more clues are revealed about his true nature.

"Recovering and stuff was a little harder," Reeves says of the martial-arts work. "And this one was over a much longer time. So I had fights interspersed over a long time. So {ellipsis} in my time off, it was oftentimes training and learning another fight.

"I've got five fights in the second one, and I have more moves in the fight with the Smiths (the much anticipated "Burly Brawl" pitting Neo against ever-multiplying copies of his nemesis, Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving) than I did in the whole first movie."

Reeves is so skillful at what he calls "movie kung fu" that Matrix producer Joel Silver caused a stir by suggesting his star could outfight action star Jet Li, who was courted for a part in the film.

"I wouldn't screw with him (Reeves) in an alley," Silver says.

After some 40 Hollywood films, Reeves is definitely formidable on- and off-screen. After first gaining attention as a dopey high school student in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, he's atop the Hollywood hierarchy, playing small, well-received parts (The Gift) as well as anchoring big commercial projects (The Replacements).

"I didn't really have a destination except that I wanted to work in Hollywood," Reeves says of his early career goals. "And I was hoping as a young actor to work here. And I feel grateful for the experiences that I've had. But also, it's something that you have to keep working at to get great roles, hopefully to make worthwhile films."

Reeves was a bit of perfectionist, he says, especially when he felt he didn't quite nail a scene.

"Laurence (Fishburne) was really great about saying to me, 'Hey man, give yourself a break,' " Reeves says. "And Laurence also says, 'You know, there's not really the right way to do something, there are different ways,' and that was really a good lesson for me."

At this point, it's hard to tell whether Reeves is comfortable with fame. At times, he seems just as surprised as everyone else.

"I've gotten more comfortable with meeting strangers, definitely," he says. "When it first started to happen, I wasn't used to it. I wasn't used to people coming up to me on the street, saying my name, who I didn't know."

Behind his boyish countenance, it seems as if Reeves is just in on the joke. In the middle of unraveling the complex philosophy of the movie, he makes a subtle crack.

"You could implement fashion as icon," he says. "What do you dress yourself in and why?"

Later, when a questioner botches the plot from the first film, Reeves explains, then stops.

"Oh," he says with laughter in his voice. "You didn't get that? OK."

He is somehow both earnest and swaggering, as he admits he doesn't quite buy the predestination subtext of the Matrix movies.

"What's that sentence? There's a reason for everything? . . . I tend to go toward you can get a reason out of anything happening."

Perhaps, as with The Matrix, finding the final answer isn't the point.

"Will it (the third film) answer all the questions? No," Reeves says. "Will it ask more? Yeah."

Reach Muller at (602) 444-8651.

The brains behind the The Matrix Reloaded

`The Brothers' who wrote and directed the film shun publicity

PETER HOWELL
MOVIE CRITIC

HOLLYWOOD - The brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski think of themselves as two college dropouts from Chicago who love comic books, science-fiction movies and philosophical literature.

They also happen to be the elusive co-writers and co-directors of The Matrix and its sequels, the most significant and popular sci-fi film franchise since Star Wars. The first Matrix, released in March 1999, made $460 million (U.S.) worldwide and the long-awaited follow-ups The Matrix Reloaded (out next Thursday) and The Matrix Revolutions (Nov. 7) are likely to each top that figure.

As the buzz builds for The Matrix Reloaded, it would seem only natural that The Brothers - as they are commonly known - would be basking in the spotlight. At the very least, they could drive a car or two into a hotel swimming pool, light a couple of cigars with a $50 bill or take turns dating Britney Spears.

Instead, they've retreated into Garbo-like seclusion, refusing all contact with the press and public. So determined are they to maintain their privacy and let their creation speak for itself, their contract with Warner Bros. includes a proviso that they don't have to do interviews or public appearances.

There are no new quotes from The Brothers in the promotional material for Reloaded. Warner simply reissued the old quotes for The Matrix from 1999, in which they gave their reason for making the movie: "We believe passionately in the importance of mythology and the way it informs culture."

That quote and others were attributed to "the Wachowskis," not to either Larry, 37, or Andy, 35, of whom very little is known.

There's no promotional photo, either.

In fact, The Brothers haven't allowed their images to be part of a promo package since the release of the first movie in 1996, the noir thriller Bound.

The duo are so publicity shy, it's highly unlikely they'll even show up at the Cannes Film Festival on Thursday, when Reloaded makes its European debut as part of the festival's prestigious official selection.

They wouldn't be caught dead on a red carpet.

Thus it's no surprise that the Wachowskis were no-shows at Warner's Soundstage 16, the hanger-sized building in Burbank where the press gathered to interview the stars and other players of The Matrix Reloaded.

But even without the Wachowskis in attendance, their presence still loomed large. (Much like the spectral twin villains played by Neil and Adrian Rayment in Reloaded, whom it is tempting to see as artful projections of The Brothers.)

To the stars and other players behind The Matrix film franchise, the Wachowskis are figures of mystery and wonder, inspiring complete confidence and blind obedience. All involved in The Matrix, from lead star Keanu Reeves on down, profess total devotion to The Brothers, to the point where they're willing to risk major injuries to achieve the best stunt effects possible.

Reeves said he immediately agreed to make concurrent sequels to The Matrix, even though he's not a sequels kind of guy - he turned down a big-money offer to make Speed 2 because he didn't like the story.

The Brothers, though, had him from the first page of the Reloaded script.

"The scripts were great," said Reeves, who plays the cyberpunk hero Neo, mankind's best hope against a world ruled by evil machines.

"I had such experience and faith in Andrew and Larry Wachowski, I just said `yes'. I was in Chicago and I got the two scripts and I just sat down and read them.

"I thought they were very moving and exciting and original. I thought they had done such an incredible job.

"There's some really great surprises in there."

Reeves also agreed to participate in more fight scenes than before, despite the pain of the neck surgery he endured before making The Matrix.

So determined was he to give The Brothers the realistic fighting they craved, he would regularly jump into tubfuls of ice to soothe the many aches he sustained making Reloaded and Revolutions during a gruelling 18 months of rehearsing and filming in California and Australia.

His co-stars Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne suffered even more. Moss who plays Neo's leather-clad lover and fellow robot fighter Trinity, broke her leg during filming, but struggled on regardless.

Fishburne, who plays Neo's mentor Morpheus, badly injured his wrist, forcing him to wear a soft cast for six weeks.

To make things even tougher, the cast and crew also had to fight the gloom of the deaths of key Matrix player Gloria Foster, who played the inscrutable Oracle, and of newcomer Aaliyah, a singer/actress who was to have been one of the main figures of the underground city of Zion, the last human outpost against the marauding machines.

And as if all that wasn't enough, the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, came right in the middle of filming, casting a pall over the set just as it had over the rest of the world.

But everyone wanted to do justice to the Wachowskis and The Matrix, Moss said, despite the setbacks.

"I don't know if you can remember (the long credits) at the end of the movie, all the people it took to make the movie. I was just like, `Oh, my God.' And every person from the set decorators to the set painters to the construction people ... I mean, people were so inspired to work on this film and really cared and really wanted to do it. And why? It was because of them."

The Brothers haven't let success go to their heads, apparently, but they have changed since the success of The Matrix.

"They're definitely evolving as human beings and growing and changing, just like all of us have changed so much," Moss said. "They're even more committed and even more dedicated. They also had so much more on their plate.

"They're setting the tone for the whole thing. So they're responsible for inspiring a big group of people. They're interesting, complicated people, just like all of us."

Fishburne agreed that the Wachowskis have changed since The Matrix, but "I'm not sure exactly how, because Larry and Andy are very private people. They don't share the intimate details of their lives with very many people. Actually, outside of their immediate family, I don't know who they share those things with."

They may not be willing to talk to the press, Fishburne said, but they give their all to their movies.

"The obvious thing to me is that they put themselves under a great amount of pressure, to make sure that these two movies meet the expectations that they have for them. Not necessarily anybody else's expectations, but their own expectations. I think they put themselves under a tremendous amount of pressure."

Asked to describe the Wachowskis' directing style, Fishburne dodged the question, careful not to intrude on The Brothers' privacy.

"How would I describe it?" Fishburne teased, pausing for a very long minute. "Hmmm ... it's a good question. You'll have to get back to me. I'll let you know."

The newcomers to The Matrix team are just as loyal to The Brothers and as careful not to say anything to annoy them.

"The Wachowski Brothers are very unique," said Jade Pinkett Smith, who debuts in Reloaded as Niobe, a Zion warrior.

"Larry and Andy are probably two of the smartest people I know. Larry reads everything. He reads everything, you know what I mean? One thing I've learned through Larry and through Andy also is that life is about research."

The Brothers research includes the films of Stanley Kubrick, Ridley Scott and the Coen Brothers, the religious teachings of Christianity, Buddhism, Gnosticism and Taoism and such diverse books as Jean Baudrillard's Simulcra And Simulation, Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland and Kevin Kelly's Out Of Control.

Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who plays shady lady Persephone, said the Wachowskis are even harder to figure out than her character, who also debuts in Reloaded.

"Larry and Andy are so mysterious, both of them," she said.

"So mysterious. And actually, I'm so sad that I didn't have time to get deep in the relationship with them.

"Because I would have loved to know where The Matrix is coming from. Which kind of philosophy they read.

"I would like to know what kind of experience they had because this film is much more than a visual movie, it's much more than a beautiful special-effects movie. There's a deep meaning, a philosophy of life. It's a story about love, about man looking inside himself and looking for answers ... there's something really religious about this movie."

If there's one thing you don't do with The Brothers Wachowski, it's to try and split them.

"They're like a matched set," said Michael Aries, the producer of The Animatrix, an animated prequel to The Matrix that the Wachowskis are launching as part of an ambitious multi-media assault to promote and extend the franchise.

"I've tried to play them against each other and that doesn't work." He said they're close and have the kind of relationship that allows them to complete each other's sentences. "They share the same sensibility, but they definitely have different personalities."

Really? How different?

"I don't know if I can, or I should really characterize them," Aries said, getting more cautious. "Actually, they both have amazing senses of humour and they're both incredibly smart."

Couldn't he say a little more than that?

"Well, I've felt that Larry is much more likely to speak first and speak in a very direct way. Whereas Andrew tends to think things through for a while, and then drop a bomb afterwards. It's kind of a delayed reaction. They definitely have a sort of give-and-take rhythm, but I've worked at times with them where there's a certain good cop/bad cop rapport going on, as though I'm being interrogated. Sometimes Andy is the good cop and sometimes he's the bad cop. And vice-versa."

John Gaeta, the computer wizard who has supervised the creation of the Oscar-winning special effects seen in The Matrix, probably knows the Wachowskis as well as anyone. He well knows both their "hilarious" and their "stressful" sides.

"They're very intelligent, they're very funny, they're very specific in what they want. They don't beat around the bush trying to find the thought or the idea. They know it ... It's a fantastic blend between the very intellectual and the very light-hearted. It's a nice balance."

The Brothers are also as crazy as foxes. When you've got everybody else saying such nice things about you, why bother to say it yourself?

MTV Movie House - Ask:Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves fields questions from fans, revealing the training and stunt work that makes "Matrix" action look effortless and giving a taste of the bikes and bands that keep him running.

Q: Was it fun to re-team with the cast of "The Matrix" after all this time? — Alisa

Reeves: Absolutely. I love everyone who I worked with. I felt so lucky and grateful to be around so many talented artists — and great people. It's been some of the best days of my life.

* * *

Q: What did you do to get in shape for "The Matrix Reloaded"? What was the training like? — Jaime

Keanu Reeves: It was basically a couple of hours of stretching in the morning and then about an hour and a half of kicking. Then lunch. Then after lunch, warm up, a little more stretching and then work on either weapons or choreography. If there was no choreography, I'd work on weapons and more kicking, maybe punching and that's about it. And just trying to eat right, lift some weights, stuff like that.

We started with four months of training before principle photography. If we were filming and there was a fight coming up, I would rehearse or train on the weekends. Sometimes, after filming, we do some weight training or conditioning training, which was basically just running. ... The whole experience of it was about 22 months.

* * *

Q: What was it like doing all that crazy wire work? Was it hard? — Lindsey

Reeves: The funny thing about the wire is that when you don't do it right, it hurts. If you do it right, it's the easiest thing in the world. It's kinda like life, you know? You do it right — easy! You don't do it so well — hard!

You have to give so much energy to make it look effortless. ... You got the wire behind, the thing is upside down, you're crashing into trees, you're landing on the ground. But if you have enough focused energy and you do it, then they are really fun and you're there.

* * *

Q: I was wondering if you have an action figure of yourself. Is that weird at all? — Jeana

Reeves: I do, actually. Is it weird? It's funny. My first one was in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure." They had some Bill and Ted dolls that were quite hilarious. They also had the Bill and Ted cereal made by Purina, which was even funnier because, I don't know if you recall, but Purina was a famous maker of dog food.

For "The Matrix" they have done some figures. Some of them are actually quite extraordinary. There are some that come out of Japan that are really well done. It's funny, but in a cool way, too. When I was in acting school, when I was 16, I didn't think there would be an action figure, but even now at 38 it is still kind of funny. But it's also really fun. I have a friend who collects them so he's like, "When do I get the dolls? Give me the dolls," and I'm like, "OK, man. You can have the dolls."

* * *

Q: When you were shooting "The Matrix," did you think it would be as big as it became? — Renae

Reeves: No, I actually had no expectation. I knew that I really loved the script when I read it and really had a great experience making it and really enjoyed the film. I thought that Larry and Andrew Wachowski, the writers and directors, did an amazing job. And the actors in it and the performances ... I thought it was really a cool film, but I had no idea how people would react to it.

It's very exciting right now just having all these films come out, that there is so much excitement about them. My friends are like, "I can't wait to see it." I feel very grateful and lucky to be a part of it. It's a once in a lifetime experience.

* * *

Q: What's the next project you're going to work on after the "Matrix" movies? — Faren

Reeves: Right now I'm working on a film that has no title, directed by Nancy Meyers who did "What Women Want" with Mel Gibson. It's got Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson in it. I play a doctor who falls for Diane Keaton. And Jack Nicholson falls for Diane Keaton. It's kind of a romantic comedy. it has been great to work with such extraordinary actors. Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson — pretty fantastic.

* * *

Q: I hear that you have a new band. Can you tell me about that? — Stephanie

Reeves: While Dogstar was in hibernation, the drummer, Robert Mailhouse, started and was part of another group. They were looking for a bass player, so I sat in with them and we meshed really well. We've played a couple of shows. We're making some demos. It's called Becky.

* * *

Q: I hear you're really into motorcycles. What kind of bikes do you have? Can you do any tricks on them? — Jo

Reeves: The trick is trying to stay on. I have a couple of Norton Commandos. I have a '72 Combat Commando and a '73 850. Those are my prides and my joys. No tricks, just, you know, staying on and enjoying the scenery. Going there and coming back — that is, as fast as you can.

MTV Movie House - Video Picks;Hugo Weaving

Hugo Weaving, best known for his role as Agent Smith in the "Matrix" films, navigates through a selection of critical favorites at the video store while pointing out previous roles in his own virtual "Me Me Me Festival."

"2001: A Space Odyssey"
One of the great directors of all time, as everyone knows, is Stanley Kubrick. There's a great character in this called Hal. And Hal has an extraordinary voice. He's not a human being, but he's one of the major influences on Agent Smith.

"Romper Stomper"
Here's a film with an old friend of mine, Mr. [Russell] Crowe. It's a "bone-crunching" movie, apparently. It is actually. This is an absolutely extraordinary film and I suggest you all see it if you haven't.

"Aguirre: The Wrath of God"
Klaus Kinski. He's dead now, but he was a madman as an actor. This film by Werner Herzog, although it's a period piece, it's kind of filmed like a documentary and it makes you feel like you're really there. Everyone dies in the end, but you should see it anyway.

"8 1/2"
This is one of the most beautiful films ever made by Federico Fellini, "8 1/2." That's kind of Fellini's, well, it's like his life. It's beautiful.

"Children of Paradise"
It's on everyone's top-ten list and it's also in mine. It is a masterpiece. It is utterly beautiful. It's very long, but who cares? It's gorgeous.

"Kind Hearts and Coronets"
A colonel film about a goodie. It's a very, very — it's a black comedy, a classic black comedy. Alec Guinness plays, I think, about ten different roles in it. And it's a gem.

"About a Boy"
It's quite fun. Toni Collette, I think, is just about the best actress in the world. She's got a little cameo role in this, but she's wonderful.

"Bad Taste"
Bit of Peter Jackson here, "Bad Taste." Very bad taste, fantastic film. Peter Jackson is, of course, the "Lord of the Rings" director.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring"
Agent Smith doesn't turn up in this one. Well, sort of, in another form — he's got pointy ears. This is pretty good. ... Someone's having a Me Me Me Festival!

"Babe"
We've got to do another "Babe," I think. I only do trilogies: three "Matrix," three "Lord of the Rings," two "Babe"s.

"Proof"
Actually, this is my favorite, by a wonderful director called Jocelyn Moorhouse. It's got Russell Crowe and a great Australian actress called Genevieve Picot.

"The Interview"
This one is also a favorite, which you may not have seen. It's basically me talking to this guy at a table. And it's "riveting."

"The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert"
"Priscilla," of course. That's fun. [Pointing at video cover] Which one is me? The one with the nice ass. There's Guy Pearce and Terence Stamp.

"The Matrix"This is the first big budget film I ever did, really. I've worked on a lot of small films in Australia. This was a big departure for me and it turned out pretty big. An extraordinary experience. We filmed it over a long time. I got to get pretty fit and it was totally grueling, but wonderful to do. The two directors Larry and Andy Wachowski were great friends and geniuses. If you haven't seen it, I'd be very surprised.

These are my three picks: "Children of Paradise," "8 1/2" and "Aguirre: The Wrath of God." And I'm going to go and watch them now just before I go and see the premiere of "The Matrix Reloaded."

Want more? Check out Celebrity Picks A-Z.
Like these Picks? You Tell Us

Back to Movie House Main

Interview : Carrie-Anne Moss

Carrie-Anne Moss was looking radiant in her pregnant state. Clearly relishing impending motherhood, the 36-year Matrix star says that she plans on taking it easy and enjoying what she hopes is the first of many. "Not sure how many but one at a time," she says smilingly, adding how much she loves being pregnant. "I never thought it would be quite as hormonally challenging just in terms of emotions," she says laughingly. "So one minute you're happy and then the next what do you mean you don't have chocolate ice cream?"

Not quite sure what qualities will make her a good mother, Moss says that "I'm first of all really excited to be one and meet this person that's going to be my close companion for 18 years. I'm also excited about learning from my kids and I hope not to project too much onto them as to whom or what they should be." Having children also affects the actress's professional choices, she admits, including where to make movies. "Now that I've done the hardcore location, being away for two years of your life in Australia, I won't do that again," she admits. Yet she has no regrets about that experience, filming the Matrix trilogy in Sydney. "It was awesome, but I really made a conscious choice to enjoy and experience it. I really created an environment there that was really supportive of my experience, I lived in a great place, surrounded myself with great people, my husband visited and I went home, I had friends visit and family visit and it was incredible. But would I do that again? Well first of all movies don't ask that of you, but you it's like making your commitment, it's your work. It's one thing to make your commitment in your work a few hours a day or 9:00 to 5:00 or a few months if you're an actor but I'm ready to make other things a commitment now," she insists.

It was an unknown Carrie-Anne who audiences took to their hearts as the tough but complex Trinity in the 1999 blockbuster hit. Between The Matrix and its two sequels, the actress has certainly evolved, she says. "I'm much stronger this time around! I really take this experience to make these films in me and I really learn and I'm growing each time I do one. Physically it was challenging and I'm always up for a challenge even so this is hard in this case. It was such an experience to show up everyday for 2 years and to give all I could to Trinity and to the Brothers. It was very intense and a great experience in my life." It was also clear why Moss and her other cast members were eager to return to the Matrix environment, even before reading the scripts for both Reloaded and November's Revolutions. "We love the movies and we'll never be able to articulate to you where that comes from. You'd really have to be part of it to understand it and everyone on the movies were inspired to give everything from the set painters, to the catering, assistants and everything, because of the brothers. They really set the tone and really inspired people to want to show up for them." Moss continued to be drawn to Trinity, because she says that she was able to identify with her on a personal level, such as "believing in things strongly such as faith and strength. If I believe in something or in someone, I'll argue with anyone and yet at the same time I'm really completely the opposite and really soft, squishy, emotional and a big cry-baby." Moss was sent both scripts simultaneously and her response was immediate. "I sat down, I read them and I wept, not only because of the stories but because I was like: Oh my God I'm so lucky that I get to be in this movie that I believe in. For an actor that just doesn't happen very often and it happened to me three times with these movies and these ones had so much more of the philosophy in the films," she says with genuine elation.

But working on the two Matrix sequels was also a painful experience for her. Before the commencement of principal photography she broke her leg during the first week of training in Los Angeles. "I was on the wire, had a bad landing and I broke my leg." The actress says that the accident taught her a painful lesson. "It made me aware that even in a movie you could hurt yourself. I needed to know that in making this movie because it was quite dangerous at times on the set, especially when we were doing the motorcycle and driving." Ironically, it was Moss who ended up riding a motorcycle for one of the film's more hair-raising stunts. Ironic, because unlike either stars Fishburne and Reeves, Moss has always had a deep fear of motorcycles, a fear that she was able to finally confront. "It is wonderful to overcome a fear, to actually do something in spite of your fear. My fear is still there and I wouldn't do it again but I understand loving them, like loving the wind in your hair and the freedom but I prefer to drive fast in a car." Another scary moment in Matrix Reloaded, but on another level, was a hot and heavy sex scene between Moss's Trinity and Reeves' Neo. "It was more the leading up to it that was nerve-wracking, but in the end it was tastefully done and there was no nudity on the screen which was important to me. It's a beautiful scene and it's important for the story, because it was significant to see the deep sense of love between them. But it's easier when you like and respect the person and so doing it with Keanu made the whole thing easier than with a stranger. I had never done a love scene before. I'm nervous about it and it's not something I'm comfortable with", Moss admits.

No wonder that part of her training in Australia involved regular sessions of Pilates, which helped her enhance a different side to Trinity in the process. "I wanted to have a softer energy around the character this time and Pilates gives you an incredible amount of strength in your core, but it doesn't really give you the bulk that weights do. Then when I broke my leg I rehabbed doing Pilates which was great. I'm a huge advocator for it."

At its core, however, the Matrix films are more than an action film. As action-oriented as they are, Carrie-Anne believes that the films' popularity have as much to do with thematic substance. "The morals of the films are that Love conquerors all, destiny, believing in your past, making choices that support your destiny, being responsible for the choices that you make, believing in something that you're willing to fight for that you think is important, believing in good, freedom and believing that unless you have a choice then there's no freedom. Having a choice gives you freedom and then it's being responsible for that choice."

"THE MATRIX RELOADED" OPENS ACROSS MOST MAJOR TERRITORIES ON MAY 15TH, 2003.

Keanu Reeves gets 'Reloaded' for 'The Matrix'

Keanu Reeves gets 'Reloaded' for 'The Matrix'

Vanessa Sibbald
May 08, 2003

Sitting across from Keanu Reeves during interviews for "The Matrix: Reloaded," it is quite clear that he is no longer the same boy from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure," even if he does use the word "stoked" occasionally.

Dressed casually in a black t-shirt with a suit jacket, Keanu comes across like an actor who takes his work very seriously, not to the point of being obnoxious, but definitely more seriously than the Keanu from "Bill and Ted," shot nearly 15 years ago.

"Adolescence ... I mean characters like Rimbaud got a handle on it I guess pretty early on, but, in my quiet I was working something out," Reeves smiles at the changes he's undergone since he first started acting in the early '80s.

At the moment, Reeves is focused on his current project, the first of two sequels to his 1999 film "The Matrix." It's clear the film brings out the boy in Reeves; his energy for the work is contagious. But the actor comes across as a very expressive person in general, often using his hands while talking and often quoting lines from the films (and sometimes with a French accent).

"I'm very excited. I can't wait to see it," he says about the premiere of "Reloaded."

Later in the interview, he enthuses about a key scene in the film; "Don't you think it was neat, the Architect scene? Isn't that? I don't want to give away plot, but the aspect of what Neo finds out about being the one. I love that."

"Reloaded" may just be the most highly anticipated film of 2003, thanks to the success of the first film. While fan expectations are high, Reeves says there were only two people he was trying hardest to please in the making of the film.

"I'm just trying to live up to what the brothers, Larry and Andy Wachowski, the directors and writers, want. I'm trying to realize their dream. That's the pressure I felt. To be able to do what they wanted me to do," he says.

"Reloaded" continues Neo's story, after his discovery in "The Matrix," that what he thought was the real world was instead a computer program called The Matrix. After meeting Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), he is awoken to the real world and there finds out that he is "the one," the one person with the ability to change the codes in The Matrix with his own will.

"It's the development of the birth of a messiah and the identity of a man," explains Reeves. "I think Neo in the beginning of 'Reloaded' is full of a lot of fear about what he has to do and the responsibilities that the community is asking of him."

While many have tagged Neo as a reluctant hero, Reeves doesn't see the character that way.

"I don't think the character is such a reluctant hero. I think he's accepted it, but I don't think he's accepted it without question," he says. "Neo is trying to find out 'what is my life' and he's not just taking it ... he says, 'What if I fail?'"

Part of the success behind "The Matrix" was its innovative action scenes.

For "Reloaded," the directors upped the ante, not only increasing the number of action scenes, but also their length and bravado.

"I've got five fights in the second one, and I have more moves in the fight with the Smiths than I did in the whole first movie. Probably twice over," he laughs, admitting that much of his time off between shots was spent learning moves for another fight scene.

Another reason behind the success of "The Matrix" is that the film doesn't try to be a simple action or science fiction fantasy. Instead, the Wachowski brothers filled the story with religious and philosophy context, ranging from Catholicism to Taoism, and the writing of Nietzsche, just to name a few. While the famously private Reeves is reluctant to reveal his own beliefs, he does admit that they are similar to many brought up in the film.

"I don't have my list in front of me, and I should probably make a list but then I'd be doing what the brothers don't want to be doing, 'Here's my literal thing,'" he says. "Yes. My answer is yes ... but they don't propose a finality to it; they don't say, 'Here's the answer.' Except for, and this will be revealed more in 'Revolutions,' they do come to something and I think, it sounds really goofy, but it's about love."

But it says it's the questions that the film brings up that make it so appealing to audiences.

"That's one of the great things about film, it's a public medium. It's a great thing of sharing and sharing ideas and points of view, I love that about the film," he says.

NO KEANU RAVES FROM 'MATRIX' BOMBSHELL

*** I VISUALIZE that the shooting was so tough that the cast could not make effor to try to understand each other.

Carrie-Anne Moss, star of "The Matrix: Reloaded," reveals more than just her aggravation with co-star Keanu Reeves in the June issue of Esquire magazine.

May 9, 2003 -- Carrie-Anne Moss may be one sexy girl in "The Matrix: Reloaded" - but co-star Keanu Reeves says she's also one lazy girl. While filming the sci-fi sequel, Carrie-Anne injured a leg two weeks into rehearsals - and was forced to spend six weeks hopping around on her one good leg.

But whenever she tried to rest her sore limb, Reeves showed not a shred of sympathy, she tells Esquire.

"He'd call me lazy," she says. "If I sat down and tried to take a break, he'd say, 'What are you doing?' It kinda drove me crazy."

And that wasn't the only thing that had Carrie-Anne climbing the walls. She says her steamy nude scene with Keanu was tough to shoot.

"I'm such a private person, and sexuality is such a private thing," Moss says.

The self-conscious starlet also says that she sobbed through an early screening of the first "Matrix" flick.

"I just can't stand my voice sometimes, or how my face looks," she says.

No Matrix 4 to be shot in OZ

May 10 2003
Los Angeles

Billion dollar Hollywood producer Joel Silver has confirmed there will not be a Matrix 4 no matter how many millions The Matrix Reloaded makes when it hits cinemas worldwide next week.

The sci-fi action Matrix films were conceived as a trilogy so the third in the series, The Matrix Revolutions, scheduled to open in Australia in November would be the final chapter.

''That is the end. It is concluded. This story is over,'' Silver, a veteran producer whose films have grossed more than $US4 billion ($A6.24 billion) worldwide, told reporters in Los Angeles.

The stars of the Matrix films echoed Silver, saying the Matrix writing and directing team of Andy and Larry Wachowski had made it clear there would not be a fourth.

''Let me tell you. There is not going to be a fourth ... this is it, they saw it as a trilogy,'' Jada Pinkett Smith said.

Keanu needs a break

09may03

AUSSIE wine quaffer Keanu Reeves has said he's way too knackered to come back to Australia for a fourth Matrix.

And in a further snub, the former Bondi floater has confirmed he won't be making it back for The Matrix Reloaded Sydney premiere next week.

The star of the trilogy instead indulged his fans back home this week by working the press line at the film's Los Angeles premiere and signing autographs.

Reeves' Aussie co-star Hugo Weaving, who plays the relentless Agent Smith in the sequel, attended the LA premiere but won't be making it home for his moment of fame either.

With The Matrix Reloaded due out next week and The Matrix Revolution to hit cinemas in November, Reeves says he's had enough. He's pooped.

It's ta-ta to Sydney and on to the internet for his Penfolds Grange Hermitage, according to Entertainment Tonight.

On day 211 of back-to-back shoots for The Matrix Revolutions, the star of the sci-fi action flick cited pure exhaustion as the reason he won't be coming back to Sydney where he made his home during the filming of the $1 billion plus trilogy.

Asked whether he'd be ready for a Matrix 4 when the trilogy finished up in cinemas, the star revealed: "It will be someone else. I'm tired."

While Reeves says he "feels like a Sydneysider" after spending so long in the Harbour city, homesickness got the better of him.

"I'm going to cry. Don't make me cry. This film pushes you ... I mean, acting is something I think is beautiful, but it is just missing home and missing friends and family, that's the hardest thing," he said.

Reeves against the machine

May 9 2003

Carrie-Anne Moss prefers black.

Keanu is back battling Agent Smith and his minions in this year's hottest film. Garry Maddox plugs himself into The Matrix Reloaded.

Only occasionally did the action spill into the streets of Sydney. Except for the odd night or weekend shoot - including a camera-equipped helicopter swooping over the business district - filming the two sequels to The Matrix largely took place behind the nondescript brick walls of Fox Studios.

The security was so tight - to prevent leaks about two of the year's most anticipated films - that scripts were printed in black on purple paper with the receiver's name stamped over it. Try photocopying that!

After redefining the sci-fi blockbuster with The Matrix, Chicago-born brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski set new standards for filmmaking endurance and technical complexity with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.

The $US300 million ($476 million) sequels, in which Keanu Reeves battles to save humanity as the hacker-turned-saviour, Neo, took 270 days to shoot and involved plenty of pain.

Carrie-Anne Moss, who returns as the leather-clad Trinity, broke a leg training for a wire stunt. Laurence Fishburne, who is the ultra-cool Morpheus, needed a cast on his wrist after another training accident.

And Hugo Weaving, the malevolent Agent Smith, injured a disc in his neck while being yanked backwards on a wire.

While Reeves avoided anything too serious, he would have felt the pain after 93 takes of one fight scene alone. During the training for the shoot, he would sit in a bathtub full of ice to ease the hurt.

"It was relentless," says the Australian executive producer, Grant Hill. Weaving says it

was "really draining on a lot of people".

Think about how long it usually takes to make a film. An Australian feature with a budget between $3 million and $10 million will shoot for 25 to 50 days. Reloaded and Revolutions shot for 209 days in Sydney alone.

There were also two shoots in California - one for a freeway chase on a specially constructed stretch of road, the other for miniatures.

Then there were the visual effects that set new standards in the first film.

Where there were 412 such shots in The Matrix, there are more than 1000 in Reloaded, including Neo battling 100 Agent Smiths, Neo flying at 3000 kmh over the Matrix megacity and the 14-minute freeway chase involving two martial arts battles.

When it was released in 1999, The Matrix became a worldwide hit nd won four Oscars. Fans responded to the engaging story about a computer hacker who learns that his reality has been constructed by machines that want to eliminate humans.

They enjoyed the movie's action-film pace, the philosophical reflections, the cool style and stunning visual effects.

In Reloaded, Neo has to protect the last safe haven for humanity, Zion, from a horde of 250,000 attacking "Sentinels".

"The second film is really a personal quest for Neo," Reeves says. "He's going through a process of trying to come to terms with what he's been asked to do. He's on a further quest for the truth and this means he has to fight harder than before and confront visions of the future."

Despite the gruelling shoot, Weaving loved working with the Wachowskis again.

"I'm always fascinated by their minds and their imaginations and their ability to bring that imagination to some sort of concrete reality," he says. Then he offers a hint about what these enigmatic characters are like.

"If they walked in the room and sat down, you'd have a couple of umming and ahing, slightly geeky, shuffling kind of guys, in shorts and baseball caps probably, and they wouldn't say much," he says.

"If you went out and had a meal, you'd learn a bit more about them. You'd have a drink and they'd start chatting and you'd think these guys are really smart.

"But they're definitely human beings. They've got their feet on the ground.

I find them very entertaining and warm and had a lot of laughs."

Hill, who ran day-to-day production for the Wachowskis, knows all about tough films to make. He worked on the famously troubled Titanic, which survived production problems, studio politicking and budget blow-outs before breaking box-office records around the world and winning 11 Oscars.

He describes the Matrix sequels as "the most complex visual effects project undertaken" for the screen, including even The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

"What makes it so relentless is firstly the fact that you're doing two movies together," says Hill. "The two movies are also very complex and you're filming over a long period of time on two continents.

"Then you've got all the multimedia platforms being done, which all tie-in."

As well as the video game Enter the Matrix, the tie-ins include the nine animated shorts that make up The Animatrix and a website that fleshes out the story in the soon-to-be trilogy.

While they are famously reluctant to talk about the films, the Wachowskis also felt the pain.

"The last three or four weeks prior to the handover of the first movie were pretty hectic, with last-minute visual effects and sound fixes and whatever," says Hill. "After working for three years, they finally got to finish a movie. On Friday night about 11, they got to go home and have a few drinks on Saturday, sleep Sunday then come in on Monday and pick up the new one."

The trilogy will close - and the Wachowskis can rest - when Revolutions is released in November.

Costume drama

Even the costuming for the Matrix sequels was a major project. Australian costumer designer Kym Barrett, who worked on the original Matrix as well as Romeo + Juliet and Three Kings, spent 700 days on the sequels. Barrett says her job was more technical this time around.

"The more money you get, the more political things are," she says. "You can't kind of hide away and scribble down pictures."

Barrett enjoyed the invention that was going on everywhere.

She had to create different fabrics to look identical under varying conditions. Neo's outfit was a lighter fabric when he had to fly.

He had another fabric when he was being soaked by rain and yet another when he had to fight.

While her outfit is usually patent leather, Moss needed a different fabric when she showed her kung-fu expertise. And sexy rubber clothes had to be created for Monica Bellucci, who plays the temptress Persephone.

Barrett says audiences rely on costumes to fill in the gaps when it comes to characters.

"His costume this time tells us that Neo has moved on," she says. "He's now got a focus, a mission. It's constructed so that it makes him stand up straight, it makes him feel more confident. I try to do that with all the characters, mirror the way their character has evolved."

THE MATRIX RELOADED
Directors: Andy and Larry Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith
Opens: May 16
Rated: TBA

Keanu An Thrax

Keanu An Thrax

06 May 2003 The Matrix one Neo and Sum 41 have been filmed for cameo appearances in the new Anthrax video 'Safe Home'.

Guitarist Scott Ian confirmed the rumour in this online post from www.anthrax.com:

"If you've been checking out our site for a while you may have seen pictures of Keanu Reeves shooting a cameo for the 'Safe Home' video. Well it's true. How fucking killer is that?!! He was so cool to do that for us. So many other people we contacted said they would do it, but when it came down to it, they flaked. People way less busy then Keanu. He's only the star of the most anticipated movie of the year, and what will be the greatest Sci-Fi epic of all time, THE FUCKING 'MATRIX' TRILOGY!! And he's going to be in an ANTHRAX video. SUM 41 is in it as well. They give us props everywhere they go and they went and did it on their own and gave me the footage. Very fucking cool. So expect a kick-ass performance clip with a cherry on top."

A U.S. tour with Motorhead is to kick off Wednesday (May 7th) is scheduled to kick off Wednesday night (May 7). Ian commented, "I'm excited to get back on tour in the States. It's been 15 months since the Priest tour. We've done two European tours since then. It's time to kick some U.S ass. We'll be doing an hour and fifteen minute set. Expect lots of new and old. Something from every record. The dates we did with Motorhead in Europe last year were so good and I have the same expectation from these dates. Time to represent. Show me how you do it motherfuckers. Let's go!"

Anthrax will be conducting a headline U.K in June and early July, with confirmed dates as follows:

Jun. 28 Nottingham, Rock City
Jun. 29 Cardiff, University
Jun. 30 Sheffield, Leadmill
Jul. 01 Glasgow, Barrowlands
Jul. 03 Manchester, University
Jul. 04 London, Astoria

Keanu's Gift For Matrix Stuntmen

May 7, 2003

Generous "Matrix Reloaded" star Keanu Reeves has splashed out on 12 motorbikes worth more than $200,000 US as a parting gift for stuntmen on the sequel.

The 39-year-old actor spent weeks perfecting crucial fight scenes - that sees him take on an army of a 100 clones - with the twelve stand-ins.

So he bought them each a Harley Davidson motorcycle as a token of his appreciation.

A source on the Toronto set says, "We couldn't believe it when the truck carrying the bikes turned up. It isn't the sort of thing we would expect from him, but that doesn't mean it wasn't appreciated."

Keanu Reeve's Gift For Matrix Stuntmen

Generous Matrix Reloaded star Keanu Reeves has splashed out on 12 motorbikes worth more than $200,000 as a parting gift for stuntmen on the sequel.

The 39-year-old actor spent weeks perfecting crucial fight scenes - that sees him take on an army of a 100 clones - with the twelve stand-ins.

So he bought them each a Harley Davidson motorcycle as a token of his appreciation.

A source on the Toronto set says, "We couldn't believe it when the truck carrying the bikes turned up. It isn't the sort of thing we would expect from him, but that doesn't mean it wasn't appreciated."

Photo Copyright Chris Weeks / Getty Images

The Woman of the Matrix

May 6, 2003

By Cindy Pearlman Advertisement

In a cold, drab world where machines have taken over, it takes more than man alone to heat things up.

Three up-and-coming actresses show up in "The Matrix Unloaded," opening May 15, but they don't just nurture Neo's world. European star Monica Bellucci is a mysterious woman with ulterior motives; Jada Pinkett Smith is the Han Solo of the team as warrior Niobe, and Carrie-Anne Moss is Neo's love interest and fellow butt-kicker Trinity.

Each went through grueling training during 270 days of shooting on two continents. How did they negotiate traveling in a parallel universe while looking like they just stepped out of the pages of Vogue? Plug in:

MONICA BELLUCCI

CHARACTER >> Persephone, a mystery woman in a strange place who feels jilted and wants some love from Neo ... or else!

Years ago, when she was trying to make the jump from model to actress, Monica Bellucci nabbed a small role in the movie "Bram Stoker's Dracula." The role required her to kiss Keanu Reeves, which served as an odd prelude to "Matrix Reloaded," in which her lips are locked with his once again.

Did he remember her? "Of course!" says the animated Italian beauty. "Men never forget me! I kiss very well!"

She laughs and says, "Honestly, my attitude was very different back then. I was shy. My English was terrible, and I couldn't even get the words out to ask for a glass of water before kissing him. What I do remember is that Keanu was just as shy as I was, which made me sigh with relief."

These days she's a bit more outgoing as a mystery woman from an old version of the Matrix program. "My character is a woman who is not human, but she wants to feel human emotions," she divulges. "There's something tragic for her, but also dangerous because it's all a big game. I'm a big test for the love shared between Trinity and Neo. I think of my test for them as a metaphor for life. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger."

As for the behind-the-scenes action, Bellucci marvels, "Carrie Anne Moss and I got along wonderfully. It's so beautiful when two actresses actually get along."

Bellucci also shows up for a short time in this fall's "Matrix Revolutions," and she doesn't regret that both roles are small. "Oh, I don't care if I'm in one scene or in a movie for two hours. The only thing that's important is that the audience remembers me," says the 35-year-old native of Perugia, Italy, who starred in "Malena," "Tears of the Sun" and the controversial "Irreversible."

Next up is a role as Mary Magdalene in "The Passion," directed by Mel Gibson, and then a movie with her husband, actor Vincent Cassel. They'll play "James Bond-like secret agents. It's a dark movie, but it's being made in France, and all we do is dark movies. At least the one good thing is that I'll be kissing my own husband."

JADA PINKETT SMITH

CHARACTER >> Niobe, a fierce warrior woman from Zion who decides to fight for her people while stuck in a love triangle of her own.

Most women who have just given birth like to sit back, nurse their child and dream up ways they will shed the weight. Jada Pinkett Smith, 31, was on a program that she will forever dub "The Matrix Shape-Up Plan."

"I started training two weeks after my daughter Willow was born, during a time when I just wanted to cozy up in bed with the baby. You can't even imagine what it was like to go to a warehouse where my kung-fu team would say, 'OK, now we're going to stretch.' I was like, 'Stretch? I can barely walk from here to the mat!' "

Oh, stretching didn't mean just touching her toes. "No, men would come over, sit on my back and lean into me. That's how limber I had to be to do this work," moans Pinkett Smith, who says the training was worth it. "I had the movie role of a lifetime and a body that made my husband, Will Smith, very happy. Very, very, very happy!"

The Baltimore native says she was thrilled that the Chicago-based Wachowski brothers, Andy and Larry, wrote the part for her and even waited for her to give birth and get in shape. "I think of her as the Han Solo of the film. She ain't about no bull----. Excuse my language, but she's not for a whole bunch of mess. That's what I loved about her," the actress says.

Yet, her role seems smaller than some fans would expect. "You're only seeing part of her story in 'Reloaded,' and watching the film, I was like, 'Damn! She's just hard!' But in the next movie, 'Revolutions,' you'll see more of my romance with Laurence Fish-burne's Morpheus character, too," she promises.

As for her real-life romance with Smith, she says life in a two-star household is good.

"Ain't no stars in our house. It's just Will and Jada and them kids," she says, laughing. Do they ever fight over who changes diapers? "I'm just a control freak, so instead of yelling at Will for not doing something the way I want it done, I'd rather do it."

She adds that for their three kids--Trey, Willow and Jaden--"We both act as disciplinarians. There is no good guy or bad guy in our house. We both put it down."

They also plan to work together in the near future. "Will and I are teaming up in many ways," she says. "We want to do an action-comedy together as a husband-and-wife team."

They're also prepping to produce a TV show called "All About Us" that reportedly is about their real life.

"It's very loosely based on us because it's about a blended family," Pinkett Smith confirms. "But we've taken the element of Hollywood out of it. We didn't want the mom to be talking about working with a grip because everyone would say, 'What the hell is that?' "

Pinkett Smith, whose earlier films include "Set It Off," "The Nutty Professor," "Bamboozled" and "Kingdom Come," says humorous real-life situations might make it into the show, but they'll just change a few details.

You can't get much better than a recent surprise birthday party Smith threw for his wife. "Will tells me we have to pick up Trey [his son from his first marriage]. He tells me that Trey is on the Universal lot with his mom Sheree. I'm cussing Will out going, 'Why do we have to meet her all the way in the city? Why can't she meet us? Will is like, 'I don't know.' I said, 'This is just ridiculous!' I was giving him all this heat and when we drove onto the lot, it was a surprise party for me."

What did Will do? "He just smiled because he's so used to me giving him heat about something!"

CARRIE-ANNE MOSS

CHARACTER >> Trinity, Neo's love interest and fellow freedom fighter when it comes to man (and woman) against machine

Carrie-Anne Moss is the first one to say that women can get a break in "The Matrix." In fact, a week into training for two of the biggest movie sequels in film history, she broke one of her legs.

"A wire stunt went bad, and my leg was the victim," she moans. Not one to sit it out, Moss was back in the gym a few days later to observe. Eight weeks after being fitted for her cast, she was back on the wires.

"I looked at my broken leg as a challenge to overcome. I'm the kind of woman who is all for obstacles being put in my path because then I can really get to work," says the 36-year-old from Vancouver, British Columbia.

Moss likes playing both the lover and the fighter in Trinity. She's especially proud of a naked love scene in "Reloaded" with Reeves.

"I was pretty nervous about it, but Keanu is a good friend of mine. I trust him and respect him," she says. "It was important to me to give that scene truth because love is such an important part in this film. In the end, I thought the love scene turned out beautiful and tasteful. I think women are going to really like it."

Women have turned Trinity into a bit of a role model. "It's a great role because she really has an impact on women," Moss says. "I've had women come up to me and say, 'Thank you for Trinity because she gives me the strength to know that I can really go out there and do it.' "

The quiet actress, who also starred in "Red Planet," "Memento" and "Chocolat," says the fame associated with playing this sort of pop-culture icon is a bit scary.

"What helps is that Keanu is super-duper famous but he lives a really normal life," she says. "I'm a private person, too, and live a very simple life with my husband [actor Steven Roy] and. ..." She pats her stomach because Moss is due to give birth to her first child this summer.

Is there more action in her future? "I wouldn't play another character like Trinity out of respect to her and respect to the film," Moss says. "I don't want to be the leather-clad, kicking-butt girl with another name. It would be like cheating on Trinity."

Which leads to one of Moss' biggest problems. In fact, it's a decorating challenge that even the "Trading Spaces" gang couldn't figure out?

"When we wrapped the last 'Matrix' movie, the Wachowski brothers gave me a gift, which was my Trinity jacket and glasses encased in glass. It plugs in with a light," she says, adding, "I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. Right now, it's in storage. But someday, I'll put it in a surprising part of my house--like where I stack toilet paper or something."

Wait--doesn't it belong in the living room where people can come in and gasp? She laughs and cries, "No way! I'm embarrassed just thinking about it."

Big Picture News Inc.

Bellucci Rates Keanu's 'Matrix' Kiss

By Vanessa Sibbald
Mon, May 05, 2003, 03:05 PM PT

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - In "The Matrix Reloaded" (Opening May 15) Italian stunner Monica Bellucci plays a temptress who threatens to come between lovers Neo (Keanu Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss). In fact, in one scene, she even gets to kiss Neo right in front of Trinity. For Bellucci the scene brought back some old memories.

"Nine years ago we did 'Dracula' -- I was just a model at the time and I did a little, tiny moment in the film, which was the kiss with Keanu. So every nine years I kiss him," she tells Zap2it.com.

"For me it was funny because at the time; I was so far away from the movie business, I never thought one day I could be an actress. I was just a model that Francis Ford Coppola saw in a picture and I jumped in that movie by coincidence," she says. "What I had to do in the film was kiss Keanu Reeves who at the time was already a movie star."

"Nine years later I grew up and I made my choices and I worked on myself and I went to Italy, France, whatever," she says. "Now I'm back here and I have to kiss him again. It's like a circle."

In the film, Bellucci plays Persephone, an old program in the Matrix that can either help or hinder Neo on an important mission.

"She doesn't feel almost anything, but she can feel things through others. So there is something really sad and tragic about her; she's mysterious, sensual, dangerous, but she's also desperate," says Bellucci.

In order to shoot the kiss in the movie, Bellucci had to spend two days making out with Reeves -- over and over again.

"It was a long, long scene because for them the scene was so important," she explains. "We had to do the scene, I don't know, 20 times? Fifty times? Many, many times -- but it wasn't painful and Keanu's a good kisser."

"A good kiss means when an actor can give. And it's important because, for this kiss, I couldn't do anything," she says. "All my [character's] reactions come from the way he kissed me."

She smiles. "He did very well."

Jada Pinkett Smith Shares Her 'Matrix' Past

By Vanessa Sibbald
Mon, May 05, 2003, 01:05 PM PT

Jada Pinkett Smith, who stars as ship captain Niobe in "The Matrix Reloaded" (opening May 15), had the role tailor-made for her. But that's because she has a history with brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski, writer/directors of "The Matrix" trilogy, thats date back to the first film in 1999.

The actress and her husband, Will Smith, were both approached for the first "Matrix"; Will was offered the lead role of Neo, which was taken by Keanu Reeves, while Jada was considered for the female lead.

"Will knows for an absolute fact that he couldn't have done the job that Keanu did. He knows it would have been a different movie with him in it. He thinks he probably would have ruined it," she tells Zap2it.com.

Jada, however, was given another chance to be part of "The Matrix" when writer/directors Larry and Andy Wachowski approached her to play Niobe.

"What I loved about Niobe was that she was created for me... I met the Wachowski's for the first 'Matrix' so I really didn't need to read anything when I was told 'They created this character for you.' 'Really? Any nudity?' 'Nope.' 'All right then! Let's get it on!'" she laughs.

Though her husband didn't get another chance to be in the film, Smith says there isn't any jealously between them. Plus, he did get to visit her on the set during the nine months she was shooting the film.

"He's just really happy for me because he knew how much I loved the first one and to be able for it to come back around again and for me to have the opportunities to be involved," she says.

But demands of the film, including the extended time apart from her husband, took its toll on the couple.

"We always said we wouldn't work at the same time, and this one, he actually was doing 'Ali' and then he got nominated for the Oscar," Jada explains. "So this one made it a little difficult -- made it very clear that we cannot work at the same time. We made it work this time, but it's not a pattern that we want to develop."

While Niobe is introduced in "Reloaded," fans will have to wait to really get to know the character.

"You haven't seen her journey yet, her journey is in the video game and the next movie," Smith says, referring to the third film in "The Matrix" trilogy, "The Matrix Revolutions," and the videogame, Enter the Matrix.

Laurence Fishburne Gets Religious About 'Reloaded'

By Vanessa Sibbald
Tue, May 06, 2003, 07:05 PM PT

Laurence Fishburne is in an exceptionally good mood as he sits down in a replication of the Zion set on the Warner Bros. lot. Stars and journalists have congregated to discuss "The Matrix Reloaded," the second film in "The Matrix" trilogy, which will conclude when "The Matrix Revolutions" opens this November.

In "The Matrix" Morpheus, named after the Greek god of dreams, was the head of a crew of humans freed from the Matrix, a computer program created in order to enslave human beings so that machines could use them as an energy source. Half-leader, half-prophet, Morpheus risks all in order to free Neo, who he believes to be "the one," a prophesized messiah of sorts who will free the rest of the human race by being able to manipulate the Matrix.

It may sound complex, but Fishburne says the tale is a very old one -- and that's what helped make the film so popular.

"It's the retelling of the old myth in a modern context. The old myth is like 3,000 years old and they've used some very clear, recognizable archetypes in the characters; Trinity and Morpheus and Neo, this whole sort of reluctant messiah, hero's journey -- it's a story that痴 been with us for a long time. They've just taken that story and adorned it with things that are very, very recognizable in our contemporary world," he says of the directors, Andy and Larry Wachowski.

In "Reloaded," the myth continues, although it takes some turns the fans may not expect.

"Once Neo takes on the mantle of being the one, the way that Morpheus has functioned for most of his life, all those things cease to really work for him so he has to make a huge adjustment of how he moves through the world," Fishburne tells Zap2it.com, but much of this will take place in "Revolutions."

"Here's what it is: in the third movie Morpheus becomes more of a follower than a leader. He has to follow and sometimes that's hard for a leader to do," he says. "It's interesting, you get to see the resolution of that at the end of the third movie. All the relationships get resolved. Myself and Niobe, Neo and Trinity, Neo and Morpheus, even our relationship to the Oracle has kind of a resolution."

While Fishburne has received critical praise for his performance as Morpheus, executives at Warner Bros. originally were not thrilled about having him in "The Matrix," leading the Wachowski brothers to have to convince them to allow Fishburne to play the part.

"I know that the Wachowskis fought for me, but I read the script and I knew I was playing Morpheus. I knew I was playing Morpheus when I read it. I've had that happen one other time for 'King of New York'" he says.

But returning to the part was "nice," he admits.

"It's nice. Some of the preparation is the same. Some of it is easier, some of it's harder because I had to reveal more, so that was a bit scary -- he's not just a guy with glasses who's scary and cool," Fishburne says. "It's wonderful, it's a chance to play superheroes. It's wonderful."

Plus there's the fact that in "Reloaded" and "Revolutions," Fishburne's wife, Gina Torres, got to play a small part, meaning she spent some time with him on set.

"That's a long story that I won't go into," he says about Torres' casting. "All I will say about that is that the Wachowskis were brilliant enough to cast my wife in this. And she was happy."

In fact, Fishburne had a lot of praise for the Wachowski brothers, but his biggest kudos were reserved for their writing skills.

"Their greatest strength to me is that they're writers, they're fantastic writers. They write things that are so layered, 15-20 meanings in an exchange of four lines between three people -- which is always what great writing is. So if you know that, you can take that and trust it, surrender to it and invest in it if you want. Put some shit in it that they weren't expecting," he laughs.

Supporting the myth behind "The Matrix" is a mishmash of iconic and religious references, sprinkled with musings by philosophers dating back to man's very beginning. While Fishburne says the "spiritual voodoo mumbo jumbo" wasn't the reason for doing the film, he does agree with most of it.

"A lot of that spiritual and philosophical stuff is stuff that I spend a lot of time developing in myself -- I started developing in myself maybe 15 years ago -- so it's kind of in me," he says. "I don't think of myself as being a philosopher or as being particularly religious, but I do think of myself as being a spiritual person.".

"In every doctrine and every dogma and every spiritualism, in every religion there are some basic spiritual truths," he elaborates. "All these things are road maps for human being to use to try to live better lives, to try to make themselves better people. I am familiar with those concepts because I spend a lot of time reading shit, that's all. I'm making it up as I go, I'm trying to do the best I can to be the best human being I can."

But he says that wasn't the thing that intrigued him most about the original film.

"I don't know if it had anything to do with me saying yes to 'The Matrix'. I wasn't focused on the philosophical elements as they are layered into the story, I was really intrigued by the idea that there's this world where there's one world that's real and there's another world that's in your head," he says.

Next up, Fishburne is returning to the director's chair for a big screen adaptation of Paul Coelho's novel, "The Alchemist" -- another spiritual story that explores the idea of man's destiny.

"I believe in the power of dreams and I believe it's our responsibility to make our dreams come true and I believe that everybody has a dream," Fishburne says of his reasons for taking on the project. "And I believe this book is one of those touchstones; it's one of those things when people read it, it re-energizes them and makes them feel like they can achieve those things. That's a positive thing."

Touching on similar ideas as "The Matrix," Fishburne isn't worried he'll be treading on old material.

"I think it will be very different; it won't be as dark. The idea that machines are using us as batteries is pretty severe, you know?" he laughs.

Carrie-Anne Moss on the Sexier Side of 'The Matrix Reloaded'

By Vanessa Sibbald
Tue, May 06, 2003, 06:05 PM PT

Carrie-Anne Moss is radiant as she sits down to discuss her latest film, "The Matrix Reloaded." Perhaps adding to her glow is the fact that the actress is about five and a half months into her first pregnancy with husband, fellow actor Steven Roy.

"I'm very, very excited to have a baby. It's all good," she smiles.

If it seems that Trinity is miles away, that's because she is. Moss has recently sworn off action flicks that require her to do extensive training.

"It's just physically too difficult. It's hard on your body and you want to do things that take care of your body, you don't want to trash your body, you know?" she tells Zap2it.com.

But in talking to the actress, it appears that Moss may have made this choice before she started work on "The Matrix" sequels, which were shot back-to-back -- before she broke her leg during the shoot and before she decided to have a baby. Going into the project, Moss says she decided early on to cherish the project because it would probably be the last of its kind in her career.

"When am I ever going to be in a movie like this again? Never probably. When am I going to work for two years of my life on one project? Never. It doesn't happen as an actor, you work three months," she says. "I had an assistant and I had a trainer and I had somebody cooking for me -- I don't have that life. I wanted to really take it in and enjoy it because I don't know if that will ever happen again for me like that."

"And I loved the people so much, I loved the story, I loved the character that I'm playing and I really wanted to respect the whole process. I wanted to take it as school, I guess, life school. And not be just asleep through it and just be about the work and have it be over. I wanted to feel everything and be in everything."

Unlike many franchises, which milk their concepts until the last penny is squeezed out, Moss says that the directors, Larry and Andy Wachowski, have made it clear that "The Matrix Revolutions," which is set for release in November, will be the end of "The Matrix" -- at least in film.

"They've completed their story and I feel like I've completed my story with it," she says. "I loved it and I mean, I really loved every minute of making all three of the movies, but I think you know when a good thing is over.

She adds that when the Wachowskis approached her to do the two sequels after the success of the 1999 film, she accepted without even reading the script.

"If you knew them, you would say yes because they're so incredible that you want to be part of it. Also the first experience of making 'The Matrix' was so fantastic for me."

Moss says she was surprised by the success of the first one and the fame that came with it, which she calls "incredible" and "overwhelming."

"I started to get the feeling as I was driving down Hollywood Blvd. seeing the lineups still a month later that people were really into this movie. And people were being so affected by Trinity and the movie, but girls coming up to me and talking about 'you're a girl hero.' I just thought I was having this personal journey," she laughs.

"I think Trinity is just the greatest character that I could ever play. I don't expect to play another woman that wonderful," she adds.

In the sequels, fans will get to see a more sensual side of the character.

"You get to see more of her, not just the warrior side -- you get to see the woman and I like that so much. Because it's much more interesting to play someone who's got many layers and levels to them," she says. "It was challenging to find the romantic side of her because I'm so used to playing Trinity in a very hard-core, serious ... I mean, physically I look different when I put on the Trinity outfit, my face changes. I don't know what that is, I get more intense and my whole face gets tighter."

Picking up where the last film left off, in "Reloaded" Trinity and Neo are now a couple -- at least as much of a couple you can be given that Neo's mission is to free humans from the Matrix.

"I like the relationship that Neo and Trinity have because I felt that it was these partners who loved each other, respected each other and were part of each other's purposes," she says. "I believe that when you're with the right partner, then you can fulfill your purpose in life more easily. I think you can pretty much be with anybody if you choose to be, but there's certain people when you're with them you feel like you can do anything and they're supportive of that. I felt that energy in the relationship."

Keanu Reeves, who plays Neo in the films, agrees, adding that the romantic scenes were his favorite to shoot.

"I think the relationship between Neo and Trinity were my favorite days, to work with Carrie-Anne just because we love and trust each other and enjoy working together," he says. "But that relationship, it's great to feel that; it's great to feel and give over that kind of respect and appreciation for someone else."

Still there was one scene in particular which made Moss nervous. A love scene between Trinity and Neo required both actors to be nude.

"You know I was a bit nervous about the sex scene. It was my big worry," she laughs. " I had a little anxiety about it because I'm a pretty private person and I'm not into nudity yet at the same time I wanted to make a beautiful scene and give them what they wanted. Ultimately it just worked out really well."

"I thought it was so beautifully done."

"The Matrix Reloaded" opens in theaters May 15, 2003.

Keanu Reeves Gets 'Reloaded' for 'The Matrix'

By Vanessa Sibbald
Tue, May 06, 2003, 06:05 PM PT

Sitting across from Keanu Reeves during interviews for "The Matrix Reloaded," it is quite clear that he is no longer the same boy from "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" -- even if he does use the word "stoked" occasionally. Dressed casually in a black t-shirt with a suit jacket, Keanu comes across like an actor who takes his work very seriously -- not to the point of being obnoxious, but definitely more seriously than the Keanu from "Bill and Ted," shot nearly 15 years ago.

"Adolescence... I mean characters like Rimbaud got a handle on it I guess pretty early on, but -- in my quiet I was working something out," Reeves smiles at the changes he's undergone since he first started acting in the early '80s.

At the moment, Reeves is focused on his current project, the first of two sequels to his 1999 film "The Matrix." It痴 clear the film brings out the boy in Reeves; his energy for the work is contagious. But the actor comes across as a very expressive person in general, often using his hands while talking and often quoting lines from the films (and sometimes with a French accent).

"I'm very excited. I can't wait to see it," he says about the premiere of "Reloaded."

Later in the interview, he enthuses about a key scene in the film; "Don't you think it was neat, the Architect scene? Isn't that? I don't want to give away plot, but the aspect of what Neo finds out about being the one. I love that."

"Reloaded" may just be the most highly-anticipated film of 2003, thanks to the success of the first film. While fan expectations are high, Reeves says there were only two people he was trying hardest to please in the making of the film.

"I'm just trying to live up to what the brothers, Larry and Andy Wachowski, the directors and writers, want. I'm trying to realize their dream. That's the pressure I felt. To be able to do what they wanted me to do," he says.

"Reloaded" continues Neo's story, after his discovery in "The Matrix," that what he thought was the real world was instead a computer program called The Matrix. After meeting Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), he is awoken to the real world and there finds out that he is "the one" - the one person with the ability to change the codes in The Matrix with his own will.

"It's the development of the birth of a messiah and the identity of a man," explains Reeves. "I think Neo in the beginning of 'Reloaded' is full of a lot of fear about what he has to do and the responsibilities that the community is asking of him."

While many have tagged Neo as a reluctant hero, Reeves doesn't see the character that way.

"I don't think the character is such a reluctant hero. I think he's accepted it, but I don't think he's accepted it without question," he says. "Neo is trying to find out 'what is my life' and he's not just taking it... he says, 'what if I fail?'"

Part of the success behind "The Matrix" was its innovative action scenes. For "Reloaded," the directors upped the ante, not only increasing the number of action scenes, but also their length and bravado.

"I've got five fights in the second one and I have more moves in the fight with the Smiths than I did in the whole first movie. Probably twice over," he laughs, admitting that much of his time off between shots was spent learning moves for another fight scene.

Another reason behind the success of "The Matrix" is that the film doesn't try to be a simple action or science fiction fantasy. Instead, the Wachowski brothers filled the story with religious and philosophy context, ranging from Catholicism to Taoism, and the writing of Nietzsche, just to name a few. While the famously private Reeves is reluctant to reveal his own beliefs, he does admit that they are similar to many brought up in the film.

"I don't have my list in front of me, and I should probably make a list but then I'd be doing what the brothers what the brothers don't want to be doing -- 'Here's my literal thing,'" he says. "Yes. My answer is yes ... but they don't propose a finality to it; they don't say, 'Here's the answer.' Except for, and this will be revealed more in 'Revolutions,' they do come to something and I think -- it sounds really goofy, but it's about love."

But it says it's the questions that the film brings up that make it so appealing to audiences.

"That's one of the great things about film, it's a public medium. It's a great thing of sharing and sharing ideas and points of view -- I love that about the film," he says.

Next after the "Matrix" sequels, Reeves is set to star in the film "Constantine," based on the comic book series "Hellblazer."

"I've read a few of the comics, but I really like Constantine's ambivalence, his vitality," Reeves says of the project. "I really like his anger, but I also love his kind of underlying grace, his underlying love of humanity. It's kind of the ultimate presentation of the existential 'God is Dead' it literalizes Heaven and Hell in a kind of Catholic background and then he's denying God and denying the devil."

"The Matrix Reloaded" opens nationwide on Thursday, May 15, 2003

Producer Joel Silver of The Matrix Reloaded (Warner Bros.)

Top Secret

"We really have a scheme to not talk about what you're going to see," Silver begins, though his inner showman promptly betrays him. "We really want to have our fans see it for the first time. So, we're really careful. I mean, it does continue the story in a really vast way. The first story [the original The Matrix film] was a little movie, if you look at it. It's all on a renegade ship that has a very charismatic leader who believes that there is a guy out there who can help solve this long history of warfare between man and machines. He feels that this guy can help them and he has to have this guy realise that he can. Well now [in The Matrix Reloaded], the story starts with, 'How do we do this? Can we do it?' It's a very complex tale, and we're telling it - as we say with the videogame on all formats. And that's true. The videogame is coming out at once on PlayStation 2, on Xbox, on GameCube and the movie is the same way, it exists in all formats in that if you want to perceive it as an incredibly spectacular visual FX action movie, that's there. If you're looking for an incredible love story, it's there. If you're looking for a really philosophical view of what's happening in our lives today, right now, it's there. All these things are there. It's planned that way."

Anyone seeking closure during the six-month window between the May release of The Matrix Reloaded and the November arrival of The Matrix Revolutions would best be advised to look elsewhere. It's been promised that The Matrix Reloaded will end with the cliffhanger to end all cliffhangers. "They are one movie," Silver says of the sequels. "The Wachowski brothers are really very talented and they crafted a structure of a conventional movie in Reloaded, but it really is the first half a much bigger movie. Oh boy, it has a cliffhanger."

Though The Matrix Revolutions, which reportedly is set mostly in the decimated real world, will likely conclude the saga, buzz is already building about the possibility of The Matrix 4 and beyond. Silver won't rule out the possibility. "Well, the story that the boys wanted to tell ends in Revolutions," he comments. "I mean, could they continue the story, the characters? Look, they can. All of this stuff that we're talking about, they wrote. They wrote all of this. They are passionate about the project, about this idea that they came up with, about this world that they've created. I'm sure that if they wanted to continue writing whatever they can, they can. This story does end at the end of Revolutions."