CARRIE-ANNE PUTS THE MA IN MATRIX Sep 9 2003

By Lee-Ann Fullerton

MATRIX star Carrie-Anne Moss has exchanged her sexy catsuits for a more mumsy look.

The 35-year-old, who plays motorcycle babe Trinity in the hit science fiction films, gave birth to her first child just days ago.

Carrie-Anne and her husband Steven Roy are now taking time off from acting to enjoy their new baby at their home in Hollywood.

The actress was catapulted to stardom for her part in the tough futuristic thriller and its sequel, Reloaded. But after thefinal film in the trilogy, Matrix Revolutions, is released later this year, the former model will be saying goodbye to Trinity's slinky Matrix costumes She said: ``I'll never be in another movie like The Matrix and I will never be away from home that long again. It's too much work, too physically difficult and too hard on your body.

``Eventually, I want to be a full-time mother who works occasionally -and being an actor you have that freedom.''

B is for Rebecca

by: jason

After checking out Becky live at L.A.'s infamous Viper Room, I got a chance to sit down with Rebecca Lord, the band's lead singer. Here is what she had to say to me on July 18th, 2003, three full weeks before California caught recall fever and Arnold actually became a viable candidate for governor. Pay close attention to her predictions - they may turn out to be quite prescient. Also note how little of the conversation is about the band's bassist, Keanu Reeves. How did we do it? Journalistic integrity. A commitment to focusing exclusively on the facts. Not being star-fuckers. Hell, I don't know - just check out the interview.

Okay, there's one thing I want to get straight before we go any further. Do you prefer to be called "Rebecca" or "Becky"? I couldn't quite figure it out. And we have to get that right, you know - professionalism and all that.

Becky: Well, my name is Rebecca. I guess ever since the band became Becky, they've kind of renamed me. I prefer to be called Rebecca, but it doesn't really bother me.

I just don't like to piss people off by calling them the wrong name.

Becky: No, no・actually, all my friends call me Becky now too. The band name came up because we couldn't think of one. I had ideas, and no one liked them. It's hard to find a good name! My mom calls me Becky, and I always hated it, but then Robert, the drummer, started calling me Becky, and it became a running joke because I don't like it. Then everyone was like, "That's such a great name!" Our guitarist said, "Well, that's the name for the band, 'Becky.' It's a great name because it's so easy!" So we didn't have another name for our first show, and we just went with that.

It seems like you guys are doing pretty well so far.

Becky: Yeah, we're doing really well. We're playing a showcase next week at SIR. It's this recording studio - it's a really awesome place. It's amazing; it has the most high tech sound system! We're playing there for our label. Yeah, I'd say we're doing pretty well. We're productive. We're actually rehearsing in about 30 minutes.

So far, have you guys been playing shows around the Los Angeles area mostly, or have you toured?

Becky: Yeah, we play the Viper Room mostly. We've played there like four times. We've only played like seven shows - we've been doing a lot of recording. We played the Roxy and the Troubador・br>Pretty much playing the Sunset Strip?

Becky: Yeah, but we're gonna get back to playing shows in Silverlake now, that's my goal. We don't go to Hollywood ever, so why go there to play? Plus, it's hard because our friends don't get in, which is a bummer. Our guest list people didn't even get in Monday night. I think we're going to start playing at Silverlake Lounge and Spaceland. I love Spaceland - that's my favorite club. I've never played there, but I've always wanted to.

You're originally from Virginia, is that right?

Becky: Yeah, I'm from Richmond, Virginia, and I went the University of Virginia.

Talk a little bit about how you wound up out here in the La Brea tar pits.

Becky: In the La Brea tar pits?

That's what I call Los Angeles, because it seems to me like once you move here, it's like a revolving door - you might leave, but you'll always come back, and I think it's because the tar pits are right in the center of Los Angeles. It's kind of a metaphor for what happens to people who move here.

Becky: Actually, I lived remarkably close to them. I used to live in the La Brea Park area, so I was about a block from the tar pits.

Oh, wow! So see, my metaphor works!

Becky: Yeah, exactly - it's very fitting. I spent my senior year in Italy, and that's when I decided that I definitely wanted to pursue art as a career, as opposed to academia. I did one of those reality shows, and I was like, "You know what? I have money now, and I'm going to just try to get something going." I moved to New York for a year and a half, and I made a solo record, kind of a pop record. I didn't love it, and I didn't really tour to support it, because I couldn't really have a good live show with that sort of music. It's good - I don't think the songs are bad - it's just not really the type of music I like to perform live, and it's no fun to perform songs you don't like to do live. I didn't have a band, but then I met a woman who was going to manage me. She had managed Jewel, and she lived in Los Angeles. She was like, "Well, it's a lot easier to get things going in L.A.," which I stand by - I do believe that. So I moved to Los Angeles, and I've been here for, I guess, two years now.

Do you like living here?

Becky: Yeah. I mean, I'm an East-coaster at heart, and I always will be, but there are definite advantages to living here. It's cheaper than New York, and there are artists everywhere, especially in Silverlake. Everyone's got some sort of artistic thing, which is cool. People have a really open mind, and different lifestyles. You can really live an alternative lifestyle - not meaning sexually - but you can do a lot that's not generally possible in a lot of areas. You can't really support yourself on the arts anywhere else, unless you're really fortunate. I do well here, and I like it because of the work. Even if (the work) is off and on, it's lucrative when it's on, so it's nice. It's still not my favorite place, but I think it's hard to find a balance between work and home - you can't always be happy in your home and your work. You generally have to find a compromise between the two. I mean, I love my house, and I'm really happy with what I'm doing now. It's about keeping balance, you know? Getting balanced. If I'm feeling out of whack, I go to Maine or something.

Right. To see the trees!

Becky: Yeah, I do that a lot. I go to Northern California all the time, because I'm not a city person in general. I like to be in nature.

Sure. L.A. is kind of just one big parking lot - the cement never ends. So you do have to get away to nature every once in a while.

Becky: And I find that where I live is very healthy, in the sense of just getting away. I live in a Spanish-style house, and it's sort of a compound, with a little garden and a fountain, and it's very isolated. And the neighborhood is very laid-back. The bars are good - I like to go to the more low-key places.

What was the sequence of events that brought you all together?

Becky: I first met Robert in January of 2001 at the gym, which is really funny, because we don't go that often. We just started hanging out, because we were both musicians. So we kind of just got together, and he played keyboards, and I sang, which is fun - we were just screwing around with it. And everyone in our band is a really big hockey player.

Really?

Becky: Yeah. So Robert knew Keanu - he was in a band with Keanu called Dogstar for like twelve years. They met through hockey. I guess they both had hockey jerseys on, and they started talking about hockey or something. So we just started writing music, and then one day this goalie came over from a pick-up hockey game that Robert played, and he was a guitarist. We were at the studio in the house, and we just all started playing and singing and stuff. Robert played drums, and Paulie played guitar, and it sounded really interesting. It was a different type of music than I've ever done, but I liked it.

And so Paulie was the goalie, right?

Becky: Yeah.

Because he looks like a goalie.

Becky: Well, he's got every personality trait of a goalie. Okay, so Keanu was away - he was in Australia doing the Matrixes - but he came back about four months after we had started jamming, and he just fit like a glove. It was great.

That's cool. So, how does the songwriting process usually work for you guys?

Becky: I write the melodies and the lyrics, and Paulie writes the guitar, Keanu writes the bass - everyone writes their own parts, except that I write the melody.

Which comes first when you write - the chicken or the egg?

Becky: I do them simultaneously. I'll hear something, and then come up with a melody. We're really fast songwriters - I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing, but we can usually write two or three songs in an evening. Obviously, they're not all going to be perfect, but we've come up with a lot of our favorite songs that way. It's simplistic writing, but I like it. I'm happy with the songs.

I know that most artists hate to be compared to anybody, but I'm going to take a risk here and say that, from what I've heard, I think you have a wide range of vocal styles, all the way from a Hope Sandoval type sweet sound all the way down to a Courtney Love kind of gravelly growl.

Becky: Yeah, I like doing that. I think it's an interesting mix. I think it covers a lot wider range. I actually love being raspy and coarse - I think in my mind, I'm a lot tougher than I actually am. I don't want to be Courtney Love, by any means, but I like the idea of a woman with strength in her vocals - I like that. It's fun. And I like combining that with the sweet thing, because it's not done enough. It's not often done like that. I think it's interesting.

Yeah, I would definitely agree with you. That's one of the things that struck me at the show - I was very taken by the fact that you could move back and forth between those two extremes, as well as a couple of places in between.

Becky: It's hard, but it's actually fun, because it's really kind of an emotional roller-coaster. I don't mean that in a dramatic way, but it's really interesting to delve into that, even as a writer - just going through the gamut of emotions. We have a song now on our second demo called "I Adore You," which I wrote some time ago. It's the only song that we actually play that the band didn't really write all together. Well, I guess Paulie added some stuff, but almost all of it was written beforehand. I remember when we were recording it, it just kind of shifted. It was a love song, and it became really dark. It's really hard to perform a sappy love song live - it's just like "yuck, jeez!" But then you can make it really interesting by adding a different element. So you have the guy die in the bridge or something, so there's more of a dichotomy, and it's not so cookie cutter - you can be raspy and like "AAAH!" and the rage comes out. I think it's just a matter of choice. But I like that angsty feeling - I think a lot of people feel like that. I don't know. I guess I like the dark side.

Talk for just a few minutes about your experiences singing, from when you started singing to when you started taking it seriously to today.

Becky: Well, I sang in high school, and I loved it. I've always loved singing. My brother used to punch me all the time to shut me up. I sang in college a little bit. I think my influences have been any guitarist that's been around me, because I just kind of followed them with writing - if they played something a certain way, I would write songs over that. So if they played folky stuff, I'd write more folky stuff. And I think that was generally my influence until I really came into my own, like "Okay, this is what I like, this is what I want." But it takes years to figure out what your thing is, and I still haven't fully found out what my thing is. At first it was kind of folky, and then after that I moved to Italy, and it got a lot more poppy. Uh, not really comfortable performing the poppy or the folky. Then I started doing more solo stuff, but not really loving it. Then when I started doing the more aggressive rock stuff, I loved it! It was like getting into a warm bath - it was like "Aaah, this is nice!" All of a sudden, I was able to perform better and I was more confident. I felt like we had more depth, because it wasn't so predictable.

To kind of follow up a little bit on that earlier Courtney Love/Hole comparison・thank you, by the way, for being so gracious about that. I know most people, even if they don't mind being compared to other artists, if you're not a huge Courtney Love fan it may not be the best thing to hear・/strong>

Becky: Oh, I don't mind. I don't really know her at all. I know that she's sort of an exhibitionist, and that's definitely not what I'm going for. But I don't mind comparisons; it's always interesting.

It sounds to me like a lot of the stuff that you guys have written so far - at least the stuff I've heard - has a pretty solid connection to a punk sound, and a lot of the riffs remind me of early Hole stuff, especially with those power-pop chords. Can you pinpoint the origin of that punk influence? I mean, I can hear it, and if I'm wrong you can tell me. Are you guys all pretty big fans of punk?

Becky: Oh, I love punk music. Robert's not as much・but he loves the Clash. Paulie - it's kind of funny, because a lot of the bands he loves, I'm not really into - loves Blink 182 and Green Day. But I love the Kinks. And I feel like a lot of the things we do have a good Kinks-ish sound. I love the Sex Pistols, and the Clash, and I like a lot of the mod bands. I love Joy Division. And Keanu has remarkably similar tastes to mine - almost identical, which is cool, because his melodies inspire a lot of my writing. He's a really gifted melodic writer, and he writes a lot of melancholy stuff that I love, and it's an interesting marriage with all these pop chords. But all of our influences are very similar.

I was going to say, too, you've got the harder, faster songs, and then there are songs like "Evangeline" that are a lot more mellow・/strong>

Becky: See, that's more like what I used to do - more slow songs. But I've tried to put something into all those mellow songs that's more angsty, and I've tried to develop them more. And I used to be so tentative about playing those. The show you saw had more slow songs・we'd never played slow songs in a show. We just hadn't done it yet. And we just took it and experimented to see if it would work. I don't know if it did, because I'm not in the crowd, but it's interesting. Usually, Keanu and I are vehemently opposed to playing them, because it brings everything down a lot. But Robert and Paulie are fans of doing something a little more dramatic. I just try to put some power behind them. I like slow songs - I usually just like to listen to them, not necessarily to play them. But there are some songs - like "Evangeline," which was inspired by a woman that passed away this year - that I love, you know. And so when I sing that, I don't really mind, because on some level it doesn't bore me. We're all over the place with that, but I think that's okay, because it all comes together at some level.

Keanu's obviously an actor in addition to being the bassist for Becky, and I understand that Robert is an actor as well. In fact, at the show, I recognized Robert from an episode of Melrose Place, believe it or not.

Becky: Oh yeah? He probably did do one of those, I have no idea.

Are you an actor as well?

Becky: No, I'm not. Well, I did one reality show, but I don't consider myself an actor, by any means.

I meant to ask you - which reality show did you do?

Becky: I did "Real World Seattle" and the "Real World/Road Rules Challenge" or something like that.

What about Paulie?

Becky: No, he's not an actor.

Any other entertainment connections? Theater? Comedy? Ice shows?

Becky: No, everyone's really into hockey and music・no, everyone's really a musician at heart. Reeves obviously has a lot of things he's doing, but he's actually a musician at heart, too - he's a great musician.

I noticed at the show on Monday that Keanu wasn't playing with you guys.

Becky: Yeah, he was away - he's coming over in like ten minutes, but he just got back at about 3:00.

How hectic is scheduling for you guys?

Becky: It's okay, because we're not adamant about playing out until we have a record. And it's nice to play locally. He's actually really good about playing whenever he has time. We do have to do a lot around him, but we still play when he's not here. So we don't base our band around him, by any means.

How do you usually deal with that - do you have a back-up bassist?

Becky: Yeah, the back-up played the other night. He's a really good friend from New York, and that was the first time we've ever needed him.

Does he practice with you guys to learn the songs and everything?

Becky: Well, he has been since Keanu's been gone, but normally Keanu is around enough that he practices with us.

Very quickly - what are your three favorite bands at the moment?

Becky: Interpol, Coldplay・and I'm going to have to say Joy Division.

Your forecast: Will George Bush be reelected in 2004?

Becky: Unfortunately.

Will Gray Davis be recalled?

Becky: No.

Will Arnold actually become governor?

Becky:Is that legal?

Yeah, he can become governor. He can't become president, but he can be governor.

Becky: That would be a very sad day.

Do you guys have plans to release an album?

Becky: We're shopping right now. We've got a lot of interest, which is great, and we're showcasing, and we just finished our demo. We'd like to have an album out, but we're not rushing to anything.

Okay, last question then: If you had to characterize the state of the U.S. right now, would you say "Stupor" or "Super"?

Becky: Stupor.

You can learn more about Becky (and hear a bunch of their songs) by visiting their official website: beckyband.com

Warning: 'Matrix' Spoilers Ahead (Well, One of Them Might Be Right, Anyway)

Jasin Boland/Warner Brothers

Keanu Reeves in "The Matrix Revolutions": Christ? Antichrist?

By DAVID EDELSTEIN

Here, on the surface of the Information Highway, the movie "The Matrix Reloaded" is a subject either closed or on hold until the Nov. 5 release of the final film in Larry and Andy Wachowski's trilogy, "The Matrix Revolutions." A few layers down, though, in the rushing magma of the Internet, predictions of coming plot twists abound. We're talking about millions of words ・a phenomenon akin to a self-replicating computer virus. "Matrix" zealots argue in head-swimming detail over "Reloaded," over the collection of linked short films, "The Animatrix," and over the computer game "Enter the Matrix." In this universe, storytelling that struck some of us as inept is regarded as purposefully ambiguous, while dialogue that thudded like a rain of squishy frogs is rich in veiled meaning.

Here are some predictions I've encountered in my visits to the "Matrix" underworld. Read no further if you want to ensure your surprise in November: in the tradition of monkeys and typewriters, it's possible that one or more will turn out to be prophetic.

1. Neo is a computer program that thinks that it's human.

2. Trinity is a computer program.

3. Everyone is a machine in a simulation devised by humans.

4. Neo is the only human in a machine-devised experiment to study love.

5. Neo is not "the One" but (a) a bystander; (b) a link in a chain that leads to the One; (c) a space alien or (d) the Antichrist.

6. Neo will die, Christlike, and merge with the Matrix to save humanity.

7. The One is really (a) the kid who escaped from the Matrix or (b) Agent Smith, now a virus.

8. Smith was once Neo. Or the Merovingian was once Neo. Or the Architect was once Neo ・and Neo will be the next Architect.

9. Smith and Neo will merge to fight the machines.

10. The Oracle is the real villain and/or the mother of Persephone.

11. Persephone transmitted code in her kiss that allowed Neo to stop the sentinels (a k a "squiddies").

12. Zion, the city for unplugged humans, is another Matrix, which is why Neo could stop the squiddies.

13. Neo will wake up at the desk in his office: that was some mindblowing dream.

14. We are all in the Matrix. The Wachowskis will end "Revolutions" by unplugging us.

Rossdale Joins Constantine

Rocker Gavin Rossdale (of the band Bush) and actor Djimon Hounsou are stepping up the plate to co-star with actor and occasional rocker (with the band Dogstar) Keanu Reeves in Constantine.

The Hellblazer comic book adaptation centers on a man interested in the occult, John Constantine (Keanu Reeves), who partners with a female cop (Rachel Weisz) to fight evil. Rossdale will co-star as Constantine's foe, Balthazar, and Hounsou will play a former peer of Constantine's who has now become a nightclub owner.

Francis Lawrence is set to direct, from a script by Frank Capello.

Variety and The Hollywood Reporter contributed to this report.

Rossdale Heads To 'Constantine'

Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale and Djimon Hounsou are poised to join Warner Bros. Pictures' "Constantine" for director Francis Lawrence. Based on an adaptation of the DC-Vertigo comic book "Hellblazer," the film will star Keanu Reeves along with Rachel Weisz and Tilda Swinton.

The film centers on John Constantine (Reeves), a man who dabbles in the occult and teams with a female police officer (Weisz) to fight evil forces. Rossdale will play Balthazar, a nemesis of Reeves' character, while Hounsou will star as Papa Midnite, the owner of an occult club who was once a demon fighter like Constantine but is now trying to get out of the business.

Rossdale recently signed on for a part in the Brittany Murphy-starring "Little Black Book" and has already completed a part in the soccer-themed "The Game of Their Lives." As first reported here, he has also been working on his maiden solo album in Los Angeles.

Hounsou next stars in Jim Sheridan's "In America" for Fox Searchlight Pictures. He starred opposite Angelina Jolie in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" and recently signed on to join ABC's "Alias." He received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in "Amistad" and is well known for his work opposite Russell Crowe in "Gladiator."

'Constantine' for Rossdale, Hounsou

By Chris Gardner

Gavin Rossdale and Djimon Hounsou are poised to join Warner Bros. Pictures' "Constantine" for helmer Francis Lawrence.

Based on an adaptation of the DC-Vertigo comic book "Hellblazer," the film is toplined by Keanu Reeves along with Rachel Weisz and Tilda Swinton. Set in the occult world, the film centers on John Constantine (Reeves), a man who dabbles in the occult and teams with a female police officer (Weisz) to fight evil forces. Rossdale will play Balthazar, a nemesis of Reeves' character, while Hounsou will star as Papa Midnite, the owner of an occult club who was once a demon fighter like Constantine but is now trying to get out of the business.

Kevin Brodbin wrote the original script, with a rewrite by Mark Bomback and Frank Cappello. Lauren Shuler Donner is producing the project with Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Akiva Goldsman. Benjamin Melniker, Michael Uslan and Dan Kolsrud will executive produce. Donners Co. executive Michael Aguilar also will receive producing credit. Warners senior vp production Bob Brassel is overseeing.

Rossdale, frontman of the band Bush, is rolling along with his newfound feature film career. He recently signed on for a part in the Brittany Murphy starrer "Little Black Book" and has already completed a part in Crusader Entertainment's "The Game of Their Lives." Rossdale is repped by Brillstein-Grey Entertainment.

Hounsou next stars in Jim Sheridan's "In America" for Fox Searchlight Pictures. He starred opposite Angelina Jolie in "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" and recently signed on to join ABC's "Alias." He received a Golden Globe nomination for his role in "Amistad" and is well known for his work opposite Russell Crowe in "Gladiator." Hounsou is repped by the Gersh Agency, Brillstein-Grey and attorney Jerry Edelstein.

Warner's dirty laundry

The movie-making giant has learned that a back-stabbing management culture can sometimes be a good thing when it leads to a content working atmosphere, even if it chases away great talent
By Laura M. Holson
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
Sunday, Sep 07, 2003,Page 12

Movies coming from Warner Brothers include The Last Samurai, with Tom Cruise, which is pictured above.
PHOTO: NY TIMES

It does not get any more glamorous here than the premiere last May of The Matrix Reloaded, the sequel to the wildly successful 1999 hit that turned actor Keanu Reeves into a cult hero.

"Oh God, turn around!" screamed a young woman at Reeves as he posed for more than 200 photographers who were lining the black carpet. Will Smith, who did his own star turn in Bad Boys II, waved at fans seated six deep on metal bleachers. Even David Geffen, the billionaire and DreamWorks SKG partner, showed up, quietly slipping into the theater lobby.

Of course, the Warner Brothers Entertainment chairman, Barry M. Meyer, and the president, Alan Horn, were there, too. The two took over the entertainment unit in 1999 after Terry Semel and Robert A. Daly left at the end of a successful 19-year run. Under Horn, Warner Brothers Pictures has continued to dominate Hollywood, churning out blockbusters like the Harry Potter series, Scooby-Doo and Ocean's Eleven. The division had its best year in 2001, with US$1.3 billion at the domestic box office. And the last two years have been among its most profitable.

"Our perspective is not a short-term one ... We are not driven by competition and what appears to be hot."

Alan Horn, president of Warner Brothers Entertainment

But as Horn accepted congratulations that night, some attendees remarked that two people who had played a big part in the studio's success no longer worked there: Lorenzo di Bonaventura, a longtime production executive in the film division who oversaw development of the Matrix series, and Warren Lieberfarb, who had been at Time Warner for 27 years and had turned the company's DVD unit into a profit juggernaut. Their departures spoke volumes about the changes at Warner Brothers.

Warner Brothers had long been regarded as a place where the fine art of corporate back-stabbing was as prized as a good table at Spago. Division presidents rarely talked to one another, let alone shared information, and fiercely defended their turf. In fact, it wasn't enough to have a great quarterly report; your rivals in, say, distribution or marketing had to have a bad one.

Even in such a milieu, di Bonaventura and Lieberfarb stood out as world-class corporate infighters, according to former AOL Time Warner executives.

Now, four years into Horn's tenure, the chill at the studio is beginning to thaw. According to people who work there, the atmosphere is more open, with diverse story suggestions sought and heard. When the studio was deciding which of two Superman scripts to make into a movie last year, Horn asked for suggestions from all departments -- marketing, production, even consumer products -- something unheard of three years ago. Different opinions are tolerated, and conversations are more polite.

But the bigger surprise to many is that Horn, 60, may end up the smartest corporate survivor of all. He endured a power struggle with di Bonaventura that had all the intrigue of a Hollywood thriller.

Amid the upheaval at the studio's parent, AOL Time Warner, Horn has also managed to keep his employees motivated, even though many of their stock options are now nearly worthless. And he deftly handled the situation after Castle Rock Entertainment, of which he was a founder, produced a series of box-office bombs.

"I don't want to sound like some kind of schmo," said Joel Silver, the producer of the Matrix series, who has had a production deal with Warner Brothers since 1987. "But Alan has made the process better. He's not just saying yes to movies. They allow you to get involved in the decision making."

Gung Ho for feel-good

Horn concedes that when he joined the studio, he felt more comfortable running it than one might have expected. But his confidence was perhaps understandable. In 1987, Horn, who attended Harvard Business School and was also a captain in the Air Force, helped start Castle Rock, the maker of blockbusters like When Harry Met Sally and A Few Good Men. Castle Rock was sold in 1993 to the Turner Broadcasting System, which was acquired by Warner three years later.

According to two former Warner executives, Daly, then a co-chairman of Warner Brothers Entertainment, chose Horn over di Bonaventura to become president, giving him sole authority to approve movies. The two have markedly different tastes: Horn practices karate; di Bonaventura is a rock climber and hiker. Horn prefers earnest, feel-good movies while di Bonaventura likes darker comedies and more violent fare.

Many people in Hollywood, even executives at Warner Brothers, agree that di Bonaventura is talented and hard-working. At Warner, where he started in 1989, he was the go-to guy who shepherded the Matrix series and the first two Harry Potter movies to the screen. He was a favorite of filmmakers, including George Clooney, who has a production deal with Warner. But di Bonaventura did not always see eye-to-eye with Horn, according to several people who know both.

One entertainment executive who has worked with them recalled a black-tie Hollywood event where the two were discussing politics with colleagues. When Horn walked away, the executive said, di Bonaventura rolled his eyes and said, "This is the guy I have to work for."

For his part, di Bonaventura declined to discuss his tenure at Warner, and Horn declined to disclose the details of di Bonaventura's departure. But in an interview last June, Horn said: "Lorenzo was very experienced and talented. But there are lots of talented people here."

Soon after he arrived, Horn embarked on a strategy to make about 25 movies a year, four or five of them big-budget event movies like those of the Potter series. About a third of the 25 would be financed solely by Warner. Another third would be financed with a partner, often Village Roadshow Pictures. The remaining would be rent-a-studio deals in which a production company would pay Warner a fee to market and distribute its movies.

"Terry Semel wasn't afraid to take the big shots, and Alan has more than embraced that philosophy in building his program," said Bruce Berman, who was president of production at Warner Brothers Pictures from 1984 to 1989 and now runs Village Roadshow.

But last year, an attempt to develop some big films stalled. In particular, the studio wanted to make a movie based on the Superman character that would be released as early as this year. But that project fell apart because executives could not come up with a reasonable budget, an actor and a script they liked.

That, Horn contends, was not a bad thing. He said the studio was more apt to send a script back for a rewrite or wait for the right actor. "Our perspective is not a short-term one," Horn said. "We are not driven by competition and what appears to be hot."

Flops

Horn also had other challenges. Warner's sister company, Castle Rock, despite some successes, was coming off a string of box-office flops, including The Adventures of Pluto Nash, a much-maligned film with Eddie Murphy. Combined, those films lost more than US$75 million, according to industry estimates.

That proved nettlesome on two counts for Horn. First, he had approved the movies. Second, he had to cut the overhead at his old company. After a review, he turned over duplicative functions, like the marketing of movies, to Warner Brothers.

"These were my friends," he said. "But for me, without quantifying it, it was the right thing to do."

In July 2002, di Bonaventura was promoted to the corporate position of executive vice president of worldwide motion pictures, still under Horn. But even that did not quell what appeared to be continuing discontent. While Horn has told colleagues that di Bonaventura's political wrangling had little impact on him, many people who dealt with Warner Brothers said it was beginning to affect the staff.

The next month, di Bonaventura, according to three people with knowledge of the incident, met in New York with Richard D. Parsons, the chief executive of AOL Time Warner, and Jeffrey Bewkes, the new chairman of the company's entertainment and network group, and discussed what was then described as philosophical differences with the way the studio was being run. In particular, he was critical of Castle Rock, two of these people said.

Horn heard about the meetings but had planned to seek di Bonaventura's departure before then, the two people said. When di Bonaventura returned to Los Angeles, Horn asked him to leave. Last December he became a producer at Paramount Pictures, but he still has projects at Warner.

Impressionable replacement

With di Bonaventura gone, Horn began to work more closely with Jeff Robinov, a young executive who was promoted to president of production. Robinov, a former talent agent, is considered to be as much of a go-getter as di Bonaventura but is still untested as a studio executive.

Robinov says he spends as much as two hours a day with Horn in marketing and distribution meetings, planning budgets and discussing important projects. He has also developed a close relationship with Dawn Taubin, a longtime Warner employee and president of domestic marketing with whom he often talks on the telephone. "Alan lets people run their groups," he said. "But he's not distant. He knows what's going on."

In the case of Warren Lieberfarb, there was a limit to how much autonomy his bosses were willing to grant.

Lieberfarb, as the former president of Warner Home Video, was largely responsible for the explosion in AOL Time Warner's DVD business.

He reported to Meyer, who was also a longtime Warner employee and a friend. But like many employees, Lieberfarb was upset with the plunge in AOL Time Warner's stock and, with it, the value of his retirement savings.

At the same time, he aggressively advocated that the theatrical, video and television distribution of movies be managed under a single profit center with one executive, preferably him, in charge. Currently, they are overseen separately.

Such a change might also have given Lieberfarb more authority. Lieberfarb brought up the notion of the study in a meeting in November with Bewkes, Meyer and Horn, according to two people with knowledge of the incident; Horn asked to discuss it later, but Lieberfarb pressed the issue. The executives, the two people said, were displeased with Lieberfarb's reaction.

In December, Meyer went to the Four Seasons Hotel in New York, where Lieberfarb was staying, and asked him to leave the company, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

Surprise `Adieu'

Many in the entertainment industry were shocked when Lieberfarb's exit was announced. But according to Silver, the producer, "The notion of fiefdoms had to dissipate; Alan and Barry made that happen."

Lieberfarb declined to discuss his departure, except to say that he had retained a lawyer and was considering entering into arbitration. Of his time at Warner, he said: "I do not think it was fiefdoms. There was a unique level of collegiality and camaraderie to pull for the whole company."

Neither Horn nor Meyer would comment on the specifics of Lieberfarb's exit. But in an interview, while commenting generally on the company, Meyer said: "Loyalty is an interesting thing. No one has to take an oath. But we want executives not to think about what is best for themselves, but what is best for the company. That is a changed perspective."

This summer, The Matrix Reloaded has taken in US$732 million at the worldwide box office, and the studio is eager for the release of The Matrix Revolutions on Nov. 5. And Horn has assembled a slate of what he hopes will be blockbusters. Among the movies are Looney Tunes: Back in Action and The Last Samurai, with Tom Cruise. Next year, the studio is releasing three sequels, Scooby-Doo 2, Ocean's Twelve and the third Potter movie, as well as Troy and the animated Polar Express.

Horn said he could not be happier. "Comfort and trust and stuff like that are important concepts in a work environment," he said. "To the extent there are politics involved in any company it doesn't further advance the ball, the work of the studio. I have maintained that all these people who have left are talented and made valuable contributions. But at some point it's got to be about the team."

Matrix Revolutions clip on Don Davis's website

Release Date: 09/03/2003

Composer Don Davis has put up an exclusive audio clip of his score to the upcoming final film in the Matrix trilogy: The Matrix Revolutions.

In an interview with SoundtrackNet, Davis had indicated that the score would be "epic" in nature - and this clip proves he was not kidding around! Go to dondavis.filmmusic.com and check it out!

When SoundtrackNet last talked with film composer Don Davis

by Mike Patti
Release Date: 06/05/2003 Printable Version

When SoundtrackNet last talked with film composer Don Davis, it was just after he composed music for Jurassic Park III. Since that time, he's scored a couple of features, including Behind Enemy Lines, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, "The Animatrix" (a series of nine short films),and The Matrix Reloaded, the highly anticipated sequel to The Matrix. SoundtrackNet had a chance to catch up with Don and discuss his work on these projects.

You recently worked on the score to The Matrix Reloaded, and used similar material from The Matrix. Tell me a bit about the elements you used to create this score.

Well, the Wachowski Brothers and I wanted to make sure there was a continuity between the three pictures. None of us were interested in abandoning what had been established in the first picture; we wanted to expand on it, just like the Wachowskis expanded on their palette. So I was definitely looking to see how I could take those motifs and post-modern concepts and pursue something bigger and more ambitious.

You had to deal a lot with electronica and some stuff by Paul Oakenfold and Juno Reactor...

Well, I didn't work with Paul directly. In fact, I wish I had. I wasn't aware of what he was doing; had I been, I would have given my MIDI files to him to work with. I spoke to him after the release, and I thanked him for what he did because I thought his contribution was really very integral with what I had done- he did something that was complimentary to it, and specifically, by way of tempo, match the cue I had written. He said he had trouble matching the tempo that I used, and I said that I would have been happy to give him my MIDI files had I known that he was involved. It was kind of after the fact. I guess Larry and Andy [Wachowski] were trying some different things out and didn't want me to spin my wheels. So, I didn't really work with Paul per se, but we did use his elements.

Larry and Andy were very interested in having us do something that integrated the orchestral elements and electronica elements. They didn't feel that the needle-drop idea was going to benefit the film. You know, because you're talking about a 15 minute freeway chase and the idea of getting a needle-drop that's going to work with that whole thing just wasn't going to happen. Juno Reactor's Ben Watkins spent a lot of time on those tracks, and had I been doing the tracks, I certainly couldn't have spent that kind of time on them and so I think it was really worthwhile bringing in someone who could concentrate on those tracks. Those kind of guys spend all their time on tracks and they're specialists at that, and there are nuances that if you don't spend all your time concentrating on that sort of thing you can't really know what the details of it are. Likewise, my working with him was valuable because when you spend all your time concentrating on tracks you can't really know the details of orchestral writing. So the meeting of the minds worked out very well, I think.

What is The Matrix Revolutions going to be like, and how might your score differ from Reloaded?

Well, it seems at this point that there is going to be less of the electronica aspect in this movie. There will be some, but percentage wise, quite a bit less than in the previous movies. Also, song placement within the movie should be less. Because much of the movie is the siege, which is an enormous war sequence, I think we're all pretty much in agreement at this point that the orchestra is going to be the main thrust of the score for this picture. It's pretty epic too; I think the main difference between The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions scores is going to be in the epic nature of the latter picture.

What about "The Animatrix", the 9 animated short films? You were involved with that too.

Yeah, I scored all 9 of them. They were all done electronically, with the exception of "Final Flight of the Osiris" which uses sort of a big orchestra, about 50 pieces.

There's also a Matrix video game out, "Enter the Matrix", which has a fully orchestral score. Tell me about that.

Well, unfortunately "Enter the Matrix" came down the pike around the time we just finished spotting The Matrix Reloaded and as such I really couldn't do much in the way of direct participation. So we brought in Erik Lundborg who had orchestrated Behind Enemy Lines and Antitrust for me, and who had also done some orchestration on Reloaded. I gave him all the scores from the first Matrix and I was feeding him stuff as I was working on Reloaded and "The Animatrix", although I don't think there was much for him to work on from "The Animatrix" except for "Final Flight of the Osiris". But he took all that stuff and adapted it for the game and recorded it in Seattle. I think he did a tremendous job. In fact, Larry and Andy mentioned they were very pleased with the integration musically between the movies and the video game. So, Erik was working under my supervision, although I think a better word would be under my "recommendations". I didn't bother him everyday because I knew he had a handle on it and that wasn't necessary. I was really happy with the way that it turned out - I'm really glad that Erik did it.

So after all of this, do you think you'll be all "Matrixed" out?

You know, its funny, on the first Matrix they wanted me to be as creative as I could be, doing something absolutely new, different, big and huge and all this kind of stuff. Then Reloaded came along and it has to be newer, more different, bigger, and I thought, "Wait a minute, when I did the first one I thought that was as huge as I could get it", so its like, where do you go from there? Constantly reinventing the wheel that way gets pretty exhausting. I would think that by the time Revolutions is over I'll have pretty much reached the boundary of what I could do with this. Which is good because I don't think there will be a fourth one - Larry and Andy are insisting that there won't be, so I'll go with that.

What are some of your film music influences?

The obvious ones are still there, you know, the Goldsmiths and Williams are pretty hard to dismiss. But it will actually be interesting to see what happens when these composers actually do pass. I think it would be interesting checking out exactly what their legacy is going to be when they are gone. I mean, we've really only been able to assess Stravinsky after he died. His legacy certainly still continues, but so will Boulez's and even Williams'. The nature of film scoring is such that trends and fashions have a lot more to do with it then they do with concert music. So, it will be interesting to see, once John Williams is no longer with us, how his legacy will play out. Even now, I think that there is some negativity associated with any attempt to expressly deal his legacy, unless one is scoring Jurassic Park III or doing what Bill Ross did on Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It seems that it isn't fruitful for film composers to try and build on that legacy. In fact, building on any sort of legacy, or lineage in film scoring seems to be frowned upon. I'm not really sure why that is, that shouldn't be the case.

Right, because there are some aspiring film composers are seemingly trying to write like John Williams or "be" the next John Williams. I guess that's just not the nature of the industry or of the direction that film music is going.

I'm not so sure that younger composers are trying to be like John Williams because if they are, then they're failing! But I think possibly it has more to do with the infusion of popular music on film scoring - and record type composers aren't really geared towards the "John Williams" type of thought pattern. I think one thing we're seeing now, in spades, is that since the record industry is crumbling fast, due mostly to Napster and the proliferation of on-line piracy, many record / songwriter-type composers are getting out of the record business and they're trying get films to score, and they're getting them. In addition to that, film directors and producers at this point in time have grown up in a rock music culture and orchestral music is becoming more and more foreign to them. So I think for that reason, to try and perpetuate the John Williams legacy is going to become difficult.

In your first interview you did with SoundtrackNet, you talked about the first The Matrix, and you've done more films since then. Tell me about Jurassic Park III, in which you had to deal a lot with Williams' material. What's it like having to deal with someone else's material and trying to copy it and make it fit with the film?

Well, in that case, it was pretty daunting, because when you casually listen to John’s themes, they don't sound that complicated or unusual, but they are unusual, unusual in that they are unusually good! He got me all of his sketches from the first two Jurassic Park movies and I just started looking through them and I said to myself, "Jesus, what have I gotten myself into!?" There's such integrity in his music, and it's very subtle integrity, you know, just the integrity of the line. Every line that he has in there is so rich with potential harmonic information. So, I'm going through it and it's like, "Man, I don't know if I can hack this!"

You also came up with your own "family" theme for the movie, which was more of a romantic idea...

Well, I guess more romantic than the other things that [Williams] had written for that show. Romance wasn't explored that much musically in those films because it wasn't explored that much in the action. But, Jurassic Park III, you know, it's kind of a dumb movie, but I thought it was kind of interesting the way they came up with the premise for going to this island again. The deception that the Bill Macy character came up with to get Grant to go back on the island was kind of interesting in that he and his wife were divorced but they're really still in love with each other. And you know, they were motivated to do pretty extraordinary things because they both loved their son, which was a fairly rich premise on which to base a score. So, that was kind of a weird situation, kind of couched in this big popcorn movie that really didn't make too much sense except that we got to see more dinosaurs!

Right, which called for a lot of action music.

Yeah, well, I tried to justify everything I did by comparing it with something Williams did in the first two. I didn't want to go off on some weird tangent that had nothing to do with the other two pictures.

Aside from being a film music composer, you're also a concert composer. What are some of your concert music influences?

That's an interesting question because I used to have fairly clear influences. I saw myself as part of a lineage that seems to be kind of disintegrating. I originally thought of myself as a composer from the mold of Lutoslawski or Berio. But since Lutoslawski's death, I think that there's been a lot less focus on his work than I thought there would have been. I also look up to Boulez a lot and it seems that Boulez's influence is fading quite a bit. It seems that the only times his pieces are performed are when he comes around to conduct them. He's still in big demand as a conductor but when Boulez comes out with a new piece, which is pretty rare actually, it isn't greeted with the kind of anticipation that a premiere of his would have been 20 years ago.

What are you working on now?

I'm working on an opera right now called "Río de Sangre". It's a spec project that I've been working on with a librettist, Kate Gale. We actually finished the libretto last summer, just before I got started on The Matrix Reloaded stuff, so I’ve really barely been able to begin writing.

So, it's kind of on the back burner right now?

Well yeah, I've been able to fit it in, a couple of weeks here and a couple of weeks there but that's a fairly uncomfortable way to work. I do have a commission from the Los Angeles Master Chorale to present excerpts from it. I'm going to write these excerpts before I write the actual opera. So, hopefully when I go back to write the opera I can just plug the excerpts back in!

Change the clothes, Keanu

Aug 28th ... scruff in Beverly HillsPicture: BIG	The photo taken on 2nd September.

NOW you’d think super-rich Keanu Reeves could afford a change of clothes — especially a new pair of shoes. The picture above shows the scruff on a phone in Beverly Hills last Thursday dressed in purple suit, red T-shirt, sunglasses and taped-up shoe.

The picture below was taken in Los Angeles on Tuesday — the actor’s 39th birthday — with him wearing the same outfit,