ALL SCI-FI

[Bud Brewster]

Boy, did this one ever knock us all for a loop!

The Wachowski brothers managed to sell this idea to the big brass at Warner Bros., and then they gave the cast a homework assignments — a colossal "required reading" list so they would be smart in real life and not just look smart on film.

Here's how Wikipedia describes it.
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The actors of the film were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. Simulacra and Simulation [ — a 1981 philosophical treatise by Jean Baudrillard seeking to examine the relationships among reality, symbols, and society. It was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.

Reeves stated that the Wachowskis had him read Simulacra and Simulation, Out of Control, and Evolutionary Psychology even before they opened up the script, and eventually he was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved.
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So, remember that the next time you hear somebody suggest that Reeves doesn't strike them as being too smart.

Now that the directors had smartened up the cast, they went to work on their bodies. ("Remember, Grasshopper — your greatest weapon is your mind!").

Wikipedia has the skinny on that backstory, too.
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The directors had also been admirers of Hong Kong action cinema for a long time, so they decided to hire the Chinese martial arts choreographer and film director Yuen Woo-ping to work on fight scenes.

To prepare for the wire fu, the actors had to train hard for several months. The Wachowskis first scheduled four months for training. Yuen was optimistic but then began to worry when he realized how unfit the actors were.

Yuen let their body style develop and then worked with each actor's strength. He built on Reeves' diligence, Fishburne's resilience, Weaving's precision, and Moss's feminine grace. Yuen designed Moss' moves to suit her deftness and lightness.
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All this rigorous training and in-depth education sounds a lot like what happened to the characters in the movie -- except the actors couldn't just plug a long scary thing into the back of their heads, shake around in a chair like they had a snake in their shorts, and then hop up to say, "I know Kung Fu . . . "

I'm impressed.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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Great trailer for a great movie. This movie was my first Blu-ray — and I had it for two years before buying a BD player!

My nephew gave me the box set as a gift. I didn't even know it was Blu-ray until I finally got around to watching it after buying the BD player! And at that point it was about the only BD had.


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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[bulldogtrekker]

The Matrix reimagined starring Will Smith in AMAZING fan-made trailer
Ben Arnold, Yahoo Movies UK

In one of the most famous cases of actors turning down roles, Will Smith did just that for the role of Neo in The Matrix. The role instead went to Keanu Reeves and Will Smith went on to do Wild Wild West.

BDT: I like Keanu Reeves in the Matrix series.



The Matrix reimagined starring Will Smith in AMAZING fan-made trailer
by Ben Arnold

Ever imagined what "The Matrix" might have been like had it starred Will Smith instead of Keanu Reeves?

Well, just in case you can't, this slick, superbly well-made trailer, which is currently on its way to going viral, can fill in the gaps.



Made by movie YouTuber The Unusual Suspect, it shows that Will would have slotted into the role with consummate ease, by grafting in clips from his other movies in a seamless fashion........

Youtube link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-AftuW0d8s

LINK for full story: https://uk.movies.yahoo.com/matrix-reimagined-starring-will-smith-amazing-fan-made-trailer-110341109.html

[Skullislander]

The visuals in this series are excellent but I am darned if I can fathom out exactly what on Earth is happening for most of the running time.

Visually superior though, I must say.

The second one with the multiple Smiths fighting Neo and the extended freeway chase / fight scenes are amongst my favorite-ever sci-fi scenarios of all movie History.

THREE is a bit of a convoluted mess but again visually worthwhile.

[Bud Brewster]

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Just to illustrate how one should be wary of IMDB trivia items, compare these two.
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Will Smith was approached to play Neo, but turned down the offer in order to star in Wild Wild West (1999). He later admitted that, at the time, he was "not mature enough as an actor" and that, if given the role, he "would have messed it up". He had no regrets, saying that "Keanu was brilliant as Neo".

Nicolas Cage turned down the part of Neo because of family commitments. Tom Cruise was also considered. Will Smith was approached for the role but turned it down in favor of "Wild Wild West". He later said that turning down the role was the biggest mistakes he ever made.
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

Actually, the two statements are not contradictory, just two statements that may be taken out of the context of a longer interview.

[Krel]

[Bogmeister]

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There are many 'thoughts' sprinkled throughout the premise of this movie. At one point, Agent Smith mentions previous attempts to create a virtual reality for humans, such as a version where there were no problems for mankind. This didn't work and human batteries terminated at a great rate.

Besides hinting at how we're hardwired for effort, this also alludes to the traditional concept of heaven — we were cast out or we cast ourselves out. We're just not made for that, it seems. You can't get much more subversive than that.

Related to that, The One (Neo / Reeves) can be compared to a Christlike figure, of course. There's also a traitor among the good guys, the sci-fi version of the traditional Judas.



Stylistically, it's effective:. The film tints everything in this greenish hue, suggesting the interior code of computers. It works well, mostly, even if they go a bit overboard at times — Morpheus (Fishburne) exits a car at the midpoint and is wearing this bright green tie. I thought, "Jeez, OK — overkill."

I thought there was a bit too much of the martial arts. As with everything, obviously a lot of effort was put into these, but again — overkill and, likewise, too much gun play. I did like the slow-mo and bullet time FX — they're still unique even now, over a decade later.


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Yes, the film holds up well today, a combo of adrenaline-charged action and wild ideas. In my view, the sequels were unnecessary; this is complete unto itself.

A byte of trivia: when Neo's team arrives at the Oracle's apartment, a movie involving rabbits is playing on the TV (a recurring theme is 'follow the white rabbit') — the film is Night of the Lepus (1972).

BoG's Score: 8 out of 10



BoG
Galaxy Overlord Galactus

[Bud Brewster]

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IMDB has 185 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text.
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~ Legendary Hong Kong stunt coordinator Woo-Ping Yuen initially refused to work on the film. Even after receiving the script, which he liked, he hoped that by asking for an exorbitant fee, it would turn off the Wachowskis. It didn't. He next formulated what he considered an impossible request. He said that he'd agree only if he had complete control of the fights, and that he trained the actors for four months before they shoot. The Wachowskis complied with his request.

Note from me: Boy, there'll be no living with Mr. Yuen after he was treated like he was indispensable!

~ The studio insisted on a great deal of explanatory dialogue, as they described the screenplay as "the script that nobody understands."

Note from me: This is one time when the dreaded "studio interference" seems like a good thing.

~ Laurence Fishburne stated that once he read the script, he did not understand why other people found it confusing. However, he had a doubt if the movie would ever be made, because it was "so smart".

Note from me: This relates to previous item.

~ Carrie-Anne Moss twisted her ankle while shooting one of her scenes, but decided not to tell anyone until after filming, so they wouldn't re-cast her.

Note from me: What a trooper! When you wish an actor luck, you say, "Break a leg!" Carrie-Anne's luck wasn't so good, but she didn't let a little thing like a sprained ankle stop her from remembering that "the show must go on!"

~ After the lobby shoot-out, the camera pans back, showing the aftermath of the gunfight in the lobby. During this, a piece of one of the pillars falls off. This happened by coincidence during the filming, and was not planned, but was left, since it seemed appropriate.

Note from me: I would have bet money that the falling piece of stone was carefully planned.

~ To prepare for the scene in which Neo wakes up in a pod, Keanu Reeves lost fifteen pounds, and shaved his whole body to give Neo an emaciated look.

Note from me: That's a shocking scene, and I admire Keanu for the dedication he showed by preparing himself for that difficult scene.

~ The actors and actresses of the film were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. Simulacra and Simulation was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.

Keanu Reeves stated that the Wachowskis had him read Simulacra and Simulation, Out of Control, and Evolutionary Psychology even before they opened up the script, and eventually he was able to explain all the philosophical nuances involved. Carrie-Anne Moss commented that she had difficulty with this process.

Note from me: This is impressive. Requiring the actors to do that much intellectual preparation for their roles — literally "homework" — makes me feel tremendous respect for the Wachowskis.

~ According to the Wachowskis, all animals in the Matrix universe are computer generated images.

Note from me: Bogus claim! The black cat that Neo sees twice within a few seconds was clearly not CGI. And I can't even remember any other animals in the movie.

~ When Carrie-Anne Moss saw the first cut, it was also the first time she'd ever seen herself in a movie before.

Note from me: And I'll bet she was saying to herself, "Does that shiny, black, skin-tight outfit make my ass look absolutely fantastic?" (The answer, of course, is . . . yes.)

~ Numerous sets of identical twins were cast as extras in the "Woman in Red" scene - in which Morpheus takes Neo through a computer simulation of The Matrix - to create the illusion of a repeating program. Example: the tall man with slicked-back hair and sunglasses in the opening shot is seen a few seconds later as a police officer writing a parking ticket.

Note from me: This was a brilliant idea! Normally this kind of scene would have been done by having the same actors portray their lookalike counterparts, with skillful editing combining the various shots. But using the twins allowed the film to make continues takes of each shot without having to cut away before the next lookalike was shown!

~ On the first day of shooting, Hugo Weaving suffered an injury to his leg. It was revealed to be a polyp that had to be surgically removed. For a while, there was a suggestion that the actor would have to be re-cast, but, by shifting the schedule around so that all of his stuntwork would take place at the end of shooting, Weaving was able to take the part.

Note from me: Well, I'll be damned. Another leg injury that threatened to jeopardize the production. Maybe actors should stop telling each other to "break a leg"!

~ The iconic sunglasses worn by the Matrix characters are from the cult-ish label Blinde, which prides itself on producing handmade glasses. The company's founder, Richard Walker, had to tender against large companies such as Ray-Ban and Arnette to win the film's sunglasses contract, and set himself apart by scratch-designing pairs of glasses based purely on the characters' unusual names.

When his tender was successful, Walker was flown into Sydney where he spent the duration of the Matrix shoot custom-designing sunglasses for the cast in the back of an Oxford Street optometrist.

Note from me: What a beautiful bit of irony this presents. For example, Trinity's unforgettable costume was made with cheap PVC because of the tight budget. And yet all of us male viewers are more impressed by her incredibly sexy figure than those sunglasses the character's wear. Go figure, eh?

~ Carrie-Anne Moss performed the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film and all the wire stunts herself.

Note from me: As I said before, what a trooper!

~ The helicopter was a full-scale light-weight mock-up, and its blades were added post-production by the visual effects team.

Note from me: Incredible! I never would have guessed this!

PS: This is how easy it is to add interesting posts to All Sci-Fi!

You just have to combine new information about a movie with your own original comments. I know damn well I'm not the only member smart enough to do this . . . but I seem to be the only one willing to do it on a regular basis!

Help me out, folks! It's fun!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Bud Brewster]

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I own the CD of the soundtrack, but if you don't, here's a suit of the score I'm sure you'll enjoy, compliments of Youtube.
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______The Matrix Soundtrack Suite by Don Davis


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PS: This is another example of how easy it is to make an interesting post on All Sci-Fi. I've been doing this kind of thing since the first version was created in 2006. I keep hoping our members will learn from my examples.

Our most active and loyal members know exactly what I mean, but we've got almost 60 members who have never made a single post!

To those timid folks I'd like to say: Don't be afraid to imitate the master! It's both easy and fun!
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)