For many, watching The Matrix on screen is a mind-blowing experience, which means you can only imagine what it must have been like to be one of the first to read the script and trying to put the stunning and, at the time, unique visuals to it. As one of the stars of the series, Jada Pinkett Smith has been recalling how when she first read the script for the original movie, the storyboards included with it put her in mind of seeing a Japanese anime come to life.
The Matrix returns to cinemas this December with its third sequel, The Matrix Resurrections, which sees the return of many of the franchise stars and will deliver us once again into the spectacle that is the world originally brought to life by the Wachowski’s back in 1999. Of course, while it is now impossible to think of anyone other than Keanu Reeves as Neo in the sci-fi series, like many movies there were other actors strongly considered for the role including a certain Will Smith. While the Men in Black star would miss out on the role, the franchise’s future star Pinkett Smith was handed the script for her husband’s consideration and was given her first look at the world of the Matrix, which she saw as “revolutionary.”
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Speaking recently with EW, she said:
The comparison to the much loved Japanese art style is not too far from the truth either, as the Wachowski’s famously took inspiration from Japanese based animations when it came to some of the big action sequences in the original trilogy of movies. Almost as a return to origin, the series even dipped into animation in 2003’s The Animatrix series, comprising of 9 short animated films that gave depth and backstory to the world created in the flagship movie series.
“I remember getting the storyboards when they wanted Will to play Neo. I was going, “Man, this is really revolutionary. This is like Japanese anime [but in] live-action.” It had never been done before. I’m a huge Japanese animation fan, so from then on, they had me. When they called me to play Niobe [for the 2003 sequels The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions], I didn’t have to read anything. I was in.”
Now Jada Pinkett Smith, along with franchise old-timers Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and more, are diving back into the world of The Matrix once more with The Matrix Resurrections, which is directed by Lana Wachowski going solo without Lilly Wachowski on board. Despite that, we can expect more of the same high-octane, time-stopping action sequences that may have been imitated many times over in the last two decades, but were never done better than in the original Matrix movies.
While the first two sequels, which were filmed back to back and released in quick succession in 2003, pulled in huge audiences, the movies themselves left many feeling that the potential of 1999’s original movie was squandered. So the question is, can the time between those sequels and this newest addition to the franchise help to revive the awe and thrill of The Matrix, or will it be a case of a franchise that should have been left in the past? We will find out when The Matrix Resurrections hits cinemas on December 22nd.
