Keanu Reeves & Carrie-Anne Moss on The Matrix 4
It was in mid-May when we heard the hopeful news that the cast of The Matrix 4 had signed 8-week extensions, suggesting that Warner Bros. was feeling optimistic that the cast and crew could get back to filming in the near future. Principal photography had begun on Lana Wachowski’s fourth installment in her groundbreaking sci-fi saga back in February, starting in San Francisco and then moving to Berlin in mid-March. You know what happened next—production was halted on this and essentially every other film due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now that we’re inching towards a return to production, hopefully, a new interview with the film’s returning stars, Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, reveals what brought these two back to the franchise.
Empire has an exclusive with the two actors, in which they reveal that it was the incredible script that brought them back into the fold. “Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me,” Reeves told Empire. “That’s the only reason to do it. To work with her again is just amazing. It’s been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from.”
Moss concurred: “I never thought that it would happen. It was never on my radar at all,” she told Empire. “When it was brought to me in the way that it was brought to me, with incredible depth and all of the integrity and artistry that you could imagine, I was like, ‘This is a gift.’ It was just very exciting.”
The details of the script are, of course, unknown. The little we do know is about the cast and crew—Reeves and Moss are reprising their roles as Neo and Trinity respectively (it appears Jada Pinkett Smith is also returning as Niobe) and will be joined by newcomers Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Brian J. Smith, Jonathan Groff, Priyanka Chopra, and Neil Patrick Harris. The talent behind the camera is equally impressive. Chad Stahelski and David Leitch are returning to the franchise after directing second unit for the original trilogy to help with some of the action set pieces. These two have gone on to become successful directors in their own right, helming John Wick and Deadpool 2, respectively. Oscar-winning cinematographer John Toll will lens the film.
The Matrix 4 is currently slated for a 2021 release, but like all films that were halted mid-production (or never got out of the pre-production phase), the release schedule is fluid. Thus far, Warner Bros. hasn’t specified an exact release date for the film, but excitement about a return to the world of The Matrix remains robust. When the news broke that The Matrix 4 was happening, last August, Warner Bros. Picture Group chairman Toby Emmerich said this to Variety: “We could not be more excited to be re-entering The Matrix with Lana. Lana is a true visionary — a singular and original creative filmmaker — and we are thrilled that she is writing, directing, and producing this new chapter in The Matrix universe.”
Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss agree.
Featured image: Carrie-Anne, Moss Laurence Fishburne, and Keanu Reeves standing against brick wall in a scene from the film ‘The Matrix Reloaded’, 2003. (Photo by Warner Brothers/Getty Images)
