What Went Right: The Matrix
By Shalimar Sahota
January 26, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Something intrigued me when I first read a synopsis about it back in January 1999. In a world run by artificial intelligence, humans are used as a source of energy to keep the machines going. A small group led by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) recruit computer hacker Thomas "Neo" Anderson (Keanu Reeves) in their fight to free humankind. It sounded strangely ambitious and cool. Even the title sounded cool.
It was later on March 20th that I first viewed that 60-second teaser trailer. Mysterious and wordless; it meshed together a lot of strange yet intriguing images, most of them involving guns, and telling us, “In 1999 The Matrix Has You.” I was sold as soon as I saw a character run along a wall (oddly, something I’d always wanted to see in an action film). It ended with a website address – www.whatisthematrix.com. Now, by this time, trailers were already in the habit of including website addresses, often slotted at the bottom at the end. This teaser (and the equally brilliant theatrical trailer) placed it right in the middle of the screen and highlighted each word to make sure audiences didn’t miss it. It was cleverly suggesting that if you go there, you might find the answer.
After viewing the teaser, I tried to explain to fellow students at my school that there was a film coming out called The Matrix, and that it looked like it could be the best film of the summer. I was dismissed pretty quickly. It was considered somewhat sacrilegious even bringing up the possibility that there could be a film on the horizon that was going to better than Star Wars: The Phantom Menace.
After a 16-year wait after the end of the Star Wars trilogy, The Phantom Menace was hyped up to be the must see film of 1999. Every other film was overshadowed by George Lucas’ beard, lightsabers, and a line of people that had not heard of advance booking.
Being such a unique proposition, how The Matrix came about was a little unconventional. Written and directed by The Wachowskis, The Matrix was originally conceived as a comic book story. They submitted their script to producer Joel Silver, who set the film up at Warner Bros. back in 1994. According to The Wachowskis, during their first story meeting with Warner, the studio’s response to the script was, “We know we’ve bought something cool. We don’t know what it is. Can you take us through it?” So they brought in comic book artists Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow to help storyboard the film. Also, after having been burnt on their script for Assassins, (they tried to get their names removed from the film after it was rewritten), The Wachowskis explained that they also wanted to direct.
Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the head of Warner Bros. at the time, responded to their request by saying, “I’m going to have a hard enough time explaining to people what it is we’re trying to make here.” He couldn’t justify giving two first time directors a multi-million dollar budget for something that some Warner execs were still struggling to understand. So The Wachowskis went off to write and direct Bound with Dino De Laurentiis, almost as a test to show that they knew where to point a camera. The film came in at a cost of a little under $5 million. A limited release in the US had it earn $3.8 million, with an additional $2.4 million overseas. It proved to be a critical hit and also convinced Warner that The Wachowskis could direct.
The point at which Warner finally gave the film the greenlight was when The Wachowski’s handed in what was in essence a 400-page comic book. With Skroce and Darrow having storyboarded detailed sequences, it showcased the style that The Wachowski’s were aiming for, be it a dramatic jump from a building or a multitude of bullet casings falling in slow motion.
The technology had to be created in order to achieve the effects that The Wachowskis wanted. Supervised by John Gaeta, three visual effects companies were involved, Manex, Animal Logic and Dfilm. One of the most memorable things about the film was bullet-time photography. Many may recall the Khakis Swing GAP adverts before the release of the film, where the camera moved around a frozen frame of action. The main difference with The Matrix was that this time the camera was rotating a full 360 degrees and the action was moving. Groundbreaking for its time, other films followed with their own variations in trying to replicate the same effect. Some worked (Swordfish), some failed (Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle), and some were just plain weird (Shaolin Soccer). Where The Matrix set a trend, the imitators and (in my opinion) the film’s own sequels failed to deliver the same kind of thrill; the feeling that we were seeing something new for the first time.
With some of the most insane action sequences ever conceived, when it came to the fights The Wachowskis fought for realism. Being fans of Fist of Legend (which the film pays homage to), they turned to Hong Kong fight choreographer Yuen Wo Ping to train the actors. Such was the commitment from the actors that they trained with Wo Ping for around four months. They could have gone and shot another film in that time if they wanted to. Though The Wachowskis were persuaded to use doubles, having the actual actors performing martial arts not only benefits the story, it’s also far more captivating for the audience knowing that it’s really them and that the camera hasn’t cut away to a stunt double. So in "most" cases the actors are doing the fighting. Since The Matrix, other action films such as Charlie’s Angels, Daredevil, Bulletproof Monk and Kill Bill followed through by having their actors, not necessarily known for martial arts, put through similar training.
With the film in post-production, there came the task of trying to sell it to the masses. The marketing for the film was incredible. Whoever was in charge here clearly "got it" and knew exactly what to do. “Unfortunately no can be told what the matrix is,” Morpheus tells Neo. “You have to see it for yourself.” That this line was incorporated in the trailer, and even some of the TV spots, was absolute genius. In helping to build up the mystery that surrounded the film, anyone hearing that was certainly curious. The tagline, “Believe the unbelievable,” was also a winner, prompting the thought, “What could be so unbelievable?” It all contributed to the feeling that audiences were letting themselves in for a different kind of movie, the likes of which they had never experienced before.
Of course there was the official website, with the URL itself playing on the cryptic nature of the film by being a question. The site had multiple screens set up, made to look like the inside of Morpheus’s ship, the Nebuchadnezzar. Unlike many official movie websites, it had its own message board where people could come together and talk about the film. One section on the site allowed users to enter secret codes to gain access to a hidden section offering extra goodies, be it artwork or videos. The official site is unfortunately no longer running.
The soundtrack included Rage Against the Machine, Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson, and The Prodigy. Unlike some films that just throw some songs in because they sound cool, here were some tracks that actually felt relevant to the story. There were other tie-ins, as during the film’s release everyone wanted that Nokia mobile phone and a pair of official Blinde sunglasses.
It’s one thing trying to get people to see your film in the first place, but it’s another to have them see it again… and again. As well as the mythology and philosophy, there are hidden references, such as door numbers, number plates and Mark III, No. 11. “All the names were chosen very deliberately,” said Larry Wachowski. “We wanted to put as many things...hidden in the movie, as many literary allusions. That makes it rich, more dense - more stuff to think about and talk about.” The film prompted repeat viewings, with some fans boasting about having viewed the film on the big screen twice. Then there are those who took the film to heart, claiming that they went back more than ten times and that it changed their lives. There were even instances where churches would have sermons about the film!
The finished product may look like it had cost somewhere in the region of $100 million, but it actually had a moderate production budget of $63 million. To help cut costs it was filmed in Sydney, Australia. Warner Bros. estimated that had it been shot in the US it would have cost $95 million. The Matrix opened on Wednesday, March 31, 1999. I don’t think it was coincidental that it was released during the Easter weekend. The film reached #1 with an opening weekend take of $27.7 million. Add in the Wednesday and Thursday numbers and it had a strong five-day gross of $37.7 million. It spent 13 weeks in the US top ten and finished with a domestic gross of $171 million. The overseas gross was $292 million. With a worldwide total of $463 million, at the time The Matrix was one of the highest grossing movies Warner Bros. had ever released before that boy wizard came along.
If there’s one defining factor behind the success of The Matrix, it is the story. It incorporated a lot of what The Wachowskis liked - anime, John Woo movies, Alice in Wonderland, kung-fu and Phillip K. Dick, along with a lot of philosophical elements, touching on the likes of Baudrillard, Nietzsche, Hume and Schopenhauer. Anyone who was even remotely interested in one of those areas was obviously going to be drawn to The Matrix. It also proved to be more thought-provoking than anyone would have expected from a mainstream studio blockbuster.
The Wachowskis had hardwired their way into the zeitgeist of the late 1990s. However, the zinger came when the film answered the question, “What is the matrix?” The reveal comes 40 minutes into the film… and it’s a monumentally jaw-dropping one. While I’m still fond of the sequels, what the first film had was a strong story enhanced by that mega reveal. There was unfortunately no way any sequel could ever top that moment… unless they had Neo wake up at the end saying, “Woah, Bill, I just had this bodacious dream!”
It became the must have DVD for a new generation and its influence can still be found in films, video games, TV shows, music videos and even commercials. I viewed The Matrix on June 12, 1999, during its opening weekend when it was released in the UK. I recall overhearing a woman talking to her partner when leaving the auditorium, saying, “I think that’s the best film I’ve ever seen.” If a film is capable of inspiring you, moving you; visually, spiritually, or emotionally… or maybe even all three, then what else can I call it but a masterpiece.