The Matrix Government Lobby (1999)

Look at: Chad Stahelski making The Matrix above.

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Twenty years ago, the world was at the dawn of the digital revolution. A new Star Wars was released, giving up hand-made green puppets for CG filming. The Internet was still a sparse highway, stretching between border towns where anonymity reigns and the information gardens. A new millennium is nestled beyond the horizon, but lingering tremors have hinted that something horrific will befall humanity when the earthquake is over. clock would ring on December 31 at midnight: the year 2000. The news cycle announced that connected online systems would fail, bank accounts would collapse, airlines would have to immobilize all planes in the most modern as it was, as we knew it was stopping.

No film has captured this spirit of exaltation and paranoia more than The Matrix which opened its doors in the United States on March 31, 1999. Just as James Cameron, the Wachowski used cutting edge film techniques to pit man against the technological and elegant hell of our own creation. Perhaps we have been slaves to our comfort and our science. And maybe there is a way to escape it. Enter Neo – the derisory hacker interpreted by Keanu Reeves – who discovers the true nature of our world: a common simulation that we treated in our minds as we slumbered in oozing pods, generating energy for the machines sensitive who have turned our breed into cattle. It would take a red pill, kung fu and firearms, a lot of guns to wake up and win this war.

The Matrix combined existentialist philosophy with anime inspiration. visual magic, wrapped in a perfect blend of CG and practical effects, to give this wild world an impression of dust, touch and live. Chad Stahelski was one of the main operators to sell this new reality as a dubbed Reeves, with direct experience of how the Wachowski made this remarkable film. His working relationship with Reeves began here and never ended, the duo confirming The Matrix the legacy of making high-impact films with Stahelski's films John Wick . Stahleski here recalls the illuminating and tedious journey.

(Photo by Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection)

"Damn it, it's something very different."

"I was not hired. initially at the beginning. I arrived just after the beginning of the main photography. At the time, it was a pretty crazy scenario to read, which did not make much sense on paper. He filmed in Sydney, Australia. I arrive there, I get off the plane, I meet Yuen Woo-ping and his fighting team and, about four hours after his arrival, it feels like a very different phrase. "

" The Wachowski, in a certain way, out of pure willpower and creative genius, had these blows. "

" If you had seen the storyboards that we were had given before even filming an image of the film, and seeing how close they were to the final edited product, [you’d see] the genius of the Wachowskis .. Whatever the difficulties encountered The Matrix the Wachowskis succeed despite everything, by the strength of their will and their creative genius.You have exactly what they wanted.They have the setting that they wanted and have fashioned each of us, interpreters and heads of department, to get their vision.This was one of the most precise and difficult things I did in my life [They had] attention to detail, complete nuance of each scene. the fashion chain, they were doing research on movies. martial arts I have never seen two directors with such a complete knowledge of each department and every aspect of the film.

The Wachowskis. (Photo by Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection)

"They actually broke down other kung-fu movies."

"[The Wachowskis would] Take an old movie from Jet Li or Jackie Chan, download it to their computer, then re-edit it just to understand why these changes worked or to understand the movements. broken down from other kung-fu movies.This was not martial arts or stunt, but they went there and learned, by experience and exposure, different martial arts or different styles of kung-fu in order to be able to integrate them. "

In a film that drips freshness like cascading green lines of code, you'd think it would be hard to pull out the moment . little debate that it would not be the lobby scene, where Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss), clad in leather, are organizing a complete badault to rescue the Morpheus resistance leader from his capture. literally in a shower of bullets, filmed by gun and cinematic fight, slo-mo, on a thrilling techno soundtrack. This was in 1999 the peak of style.

"There are about 4,000 squibs in the walls, so when you scream the action, you probably will not be able to see anything."

"We were literally walking in the air, dropping your bags at the hotel, going to the gym, [and then] in the choreographic pieces of the government lobby, the Wachowskis – very calm and very eloquent directors – came and said, "We are going to do it, we want to do it, and there are about 4,000 squibs in the walls, so that when we scream the action, you're probably not to be able to see anything. "Nowadays, we do everything digitally, so the resets are fast, but it was pretty awesome at the time [what].

The first time Keanu rushes down the hall and the weapons go off and everyone shoots him – it was a week of preparation for the special effects guys lying in all the hangmen. So every time you take a catch, it's half a day. So you can get started and, if you miss it, everyone goes home and spends another day re-adjusting the new panels to blow it up again. "

(Photo by Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection)

" Keanu nailed the game for the first time. "

" Then Keanu and I had to save our number one and try to do all the choreography and the one-handed wheel and all the filming with the eyes. closed. Because once the firecrackers started to escape, you could not see anything anymore. You had to count your steps and get into the thick of things. And I remember looking at him and saying, "Uh, OK, it could be a bit complicated."

And he said, "Hey, ok." And he succeeded. So it was pretty cool.

The government lobby was a difficult sequence, but it was probably not the hardest thing we did there. I mean, determine the shooting moment. The dojo fight was probably physically the hardest for Keanu. Logistically, the subway probably had a lot more stunt work and wiring than the government lobby. But again, Carrie-Anne was walking on a wall, which was probably her most difficult wire move of the movie. And Keanu makes an aerial wheel on an M16, picks it up and shoots three guys. "

(Photo by Warner Bros./courtesy Everett Collection)

" You can copy it, but it's not the same thing as all these little pieces together. "

" Many guys can try copying The Matrix which means you're doing a low-angle thing here and you're covering that kick in a broad sense. You can copy it, but it's not the same as putting together all those little pieces. What the Wachowskis taught us the most, it is [how] that you build a world. I'm going to connect that to John Wick so maybe that's a little easier to understand. The color, the wardrobe, the suit, the house, the pajama bottoms, the working style of the guns. The emotional hook with the dog and the puppy. All that has just worked with the Wachowskis. Every little thing builds the world. You never blink. You never let the audience think, "Oh, they just make a cool gesture, they just make a cold color." Every small gesture contributes to the construction of the world. Every little aspect, on camera, off camera, how you train the cast, what is the rhythm of the dialogues, know your editing style, really immerse people. "

The Matrix has expanded audiences 'tastes, and what they expected from action movies.This is officially the end of the macho stars of the' 80s, hung in the mid-1980s 90, in smoother fights, elaborate maneuvers and iron wire lighter than air.The name of the fighting choreographer Yuen Woo-ping was literally used in marketing the future films he was working on, the highlight being the film nominated for the best film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon .

The Matrix had a badist obsession with his own action sequences, what you will see later in Wanted Kick-Ass or Zack Snyder's films.In the meantime, the usurpation of identity The Matrix has become his own kind of cultural creed, as we see in the movie s and television shows as Scary Movie Deuce Bigalow: Gigolo Man The Simpsons Spaced Shrek and Kung Pow or the Nintendo 64 Conker's Faux Fur Day, and more.

But for the authors of the film, it is the camaraderie that continues and the gift of knowing that they must participate in one of the most loved and influential films of the last 21 years.

This is by far my favorite movie. "

" We use Laurence Fishburne [intheseries John Wick ] and I came across Carrie-Anne, and I came across Hugo Weaving for the last two years and they still have … Every person , including department heads and actors who have worked on this film, remains proud of his courage when it comes. Everyone is very proud of it. They can actually get out of their own performances and say, "That's great!" For the tradespeople, it's not a normal thing to do. We all consider ourselves incredibly lucky to have worked on it. Keanu and I see each other every day, so we watched [ The Matrix ] again and had a good conversation yesterday. I do not necessarily want to speak on behalf of Keanu, but it's still one of his favorite movies of all time. Working on it, being part of it, is by far my favorite movie. "

Reeves and Stahelski. (Photo by Christopher Jue / Getty Images)

"I am proud and a little ashamed to say it, but without the Wachowski, we could not have done it John Wick ."

"The Wachowskis wanted to immerse us in a world that is both real and extreme, and when you sit down and watch The Matrix you're immersed in this movie, you're encapsulated in the real world part , you are encapsulated in the matrix part.You buy it all .they have thought about a level of molecular detail.I am both proud and a little ashamed to say it, but without them Wachowski, we could not have done it John Wick We learned a lot and we hope we have tried to honor what they taught us by doing what we could be with that. "

" It's really cool to see the Matrix with Keanu Reeves!? "

" Because of my relationship with Keanu, because we are still working together and all that … I mean how cool is it to be able to watch The Matrix with Keanu Reeves? And we laugh again, and we still encourage! And see Keanu Reeves, the real Neo sitting on a chair, where we both look with a scotch The Matrix or just to stage a scene and relive a bygone era, or something like that. to get an idea, and see Keanu Reeves get up and go F – k yeah! "I mean, I'm not going to lie to you, it's pretty cool!"

The Matrix was released on March 31, 1999. Buy or rent it at FandangNOW.