- Nov '00
- <Fishburne in People Magazine>
- <British band member an Agent?>
- <Cleveland wants the Matrix>
SEQUEL UPDATE!
On The Official Matrix website there's some new info regarding part 2 of The Matrix. Here is a part of it:
"On the film front, the sequels are moving at break-neck speed. We recently had the opportunity to talk to the returning artists, Steve Skroce and Geof Darrow, along with the many new artists. The art department has more than tripled from the first film (in-house comments have already been made that the nearly 500 page book of art for the first film is going to seem small compared to the books for MATRIX II and III). With Larry and Andy Wachowski firmly at the helm, the artists are all hard at work realizing the sequels, which, far from hyperbole, are epic in scope. You'll get this sense when the interviews start rolling out, interviews from inside the pre-production camp. Fully geared, THE MATRIX office is something to see, which, via the official site, you'll get to see for yourself, first hand. The sequels are coming, as is behind-the-scenes access. More as it breaks."
WE WANT TANK!
The casting of Marcus Chong as Tank appears to have hit a snag over salary negotiations. Tank is not going to be in the Sequels at this time.
Claims by marcus Chong that Wachowksi brothers Eon productions and Joel silvers of Warner Bros paid the actor only $28,000 for the first film with an offer of $250,000 for both sequels. (cypher got a reported $1,000,000 for Matrix and he wont be back in the sequels.)
When Marcus or Tank revealed his documentary on the covert exploitation he has undergone some person at Warner insinuated some bodily harm might occur to the actor. Eon set him up then to be arrested. The D.A. dropped the charges but the pacific division of the LAPD did work hand in hand with Warner on the disturbance Marcus reportedly made. Something is fishy here because Tank is never advertised with any photos or mention. Seems they always have to ruin a good thing.
Check out <The We Want Tank Coalition>
Tank fans are currently holding their collective breath waiting for confirmation of this report.
TRINITY TRAINING
Carrie-Anne Moss, who will reprise the role of Trinity in the upcoming The Matrix 2 and 3, told SCI FI Wire that she will join the rest of the cast this week to start training for the sequels to 1999's hit SF movie The Matrix. "I'm training now, and we'll start training with everybody in the middle of [this] week, and we'll train for six months, and then we'll shoot," Moss said in an interview. The months of training will include "kung fu and whatever other action things they need us to learn, and training to get in shape, get some muscles, and get my Trinity body back," she said.
As for the closely guarded story line of the two sequels, Moss said, "I can't tell you anything about them, but I'll tell you they're going to be really special." Asked about rumors that her character will be kidnapped and have to be rescued by Neo (Keanu Reeves), Moss remained coy. "Oh really?" she said. "I don't remember reading that. I'll have to go back and read it again. [It's a] rumor!"
Moss said Matrix 2 will begin shooting in March in Australia and San Francisco. As for the effect of impending writers' and actors' strikes in the spring of 2001, Moss said, "I'm kind of trusting that the production will take care of all of that stuff. Yeah, it's a bit of a worry. It's a worry for everybody. But it's also an important thing that has to be figured out."
FISHBURNE IN PEOPLE MAGAZINE
Two years after training furiously for all those flying-off-walls and martial arts sequences in The Matrix, Lawrence Fishburne is steeling himself for back-to-back sequels to the hit film. "We start training with the wire stuntmen next month," he says. "I call that time the House of Pain. And maybe since we're doing two sequels, I could change it to the Warehouse of Pain."
Fishburne, 39, has good reasons to grin and bear it. The paycheck gives him the freedom to make smaller films like his new drama Once in the Life and his Matrix role gives his kids bragging rights on the playground. "Their friends will say, 'My dad is an accountant,'" he says. "My kids can say, 'Well, my dad is Morpheus.' I'm pretty good at show-and-tell time."
BRITISH BAND MEMBER AN AGENT?
Gossip has surfaced that Matt Goss, ex-member of the British pop group Bros. might be up for the part of an Agent in the second Matrix film. Matt also has a twin brother, Luke, who was also in Bros. Maybe the Wachowskis are playing up the twin angle for the Agents this time around?
SYDNEY CONFIRMED
Matrix 2 set for Sydney: Producer Joel Silver is finally confirming that part of the back-to-back Matrix sequel productions will be shot in Sydney, Australia.
In a recent interview with Empire magazine (via Know the Matrix), Silver revealed, "We talked about possibly shooting in the UK, like we talked about shooting in Germany or Rome. But looking at all the different places, it was strictly a financial decision. It's all based on the economics. As we did the first shoot in Sydney and there were economic benefits to doing such, we decided to shoot the others there, too."
In addition, the production will also shoot on locations in Chicago and San Francisco.
CLEVELAND WANTS THE MATRIX
With a little bit of luck, second-unit production work on two sequels to "The Matrix" could be filmed in Cleveland. The city is competing with Oakland/San Francisco, Calif., Chicago and Toronto for a film project potentially worth $8 million to $17 million to the local economy, said Chris Carmody, president of the Greater Cleveland Media Development Corp.
The corporation, which is Cleveland’s film commission, promotes increased production of film and other media in Northeast Ohio. The science-fiction films, which are being shot simultaneously, would be the biggest movie shoot ever to take place here, Carmody said.
Peter Novak, location manager for Warner Bros., was here three weeks ago to scout locations in Cleveland and Akron for second-unit work. Novak is looking for a miles-long stretch of freeway that can be blocked off for car chases. "I think he likes the look [here]," Carmody said. Carmody flies to Los Angeles soon to meet with Warner Bros. officials to try to persuade them to give Cleveland the nod. Cleveland offers lower costs and a hard-working and skilled filmmaking workforce, Carmody said. A Warner Bros. spokesman refused comment, saying it was premature to talk about location cities.
"Matrix" stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss, along with writer-directors Andy and Larry Wachowski, are back for the next two movies. The sequels, with a combined budget of $350 million, will be filmed primarily in Australia, Carmody said. "The Matrix 2" is due in theaters in late 2002, while the third film is expected in 2003. The original movie, about a computer hacker who discovers the true nature of reality from shadowy rebels, was a surprise blockbuster hit in 1999.
According to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks ticket sales, "The Matrix" has pulled in a box-office gross of $171 million in the United States and $285 million elsewhere. The film commission should know by December whether "Matrix" is coming here. Shooting could begin in March and last two or three months and probably won’t include any of the stars.
So what are the chances Cleveland will stand in for a futuristic world? "I think they’re decent. We have a 30 percent to 50 percent chance, which is not bad in the scheme of things," Carmody said. If Cleveland bags the "Matrix" movies, it would help the film commission meet its 2001 goal of bringing in $9 million in production expenditures, or double this year’s mark. The film commission helped to bring in more than $4.5 million in film and media projects over the past year, Carmody announced at the commission’s annual meeting Sept. 26 at Key Tower. The commission’s "Shoot North Coast Campaign," which encourages Fortune 500 companies based in Cleveland to shoot commercials here, was launched Sept. 1. Progressive Corp. and KeyCorp have already shot national commercials here.
Hollywood filmmakers can learn more about Cleveland through the commission’s new Web site, which features a library of location images and a scrapbook of images from "Proximity," the HBO movie filmed here earlier this summer. The address is: <www.clevelandfilm.com>
NIOBE: GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Remember the scoop that originally appeared on AICN about the new character of "Niobe" slated to debut in Matrix 2? We all know now that the Wachowskis carefully selected the character names from the first Matrix so they could have hidden meanings (Morpheus being the god of sleep from Greek legends, Neo meaning "new" as well as a anagram of "one").
One matrix fan put two and two together and researched what the name Niobe meant in literature...and their effort might have uncovered this new character's background. How much of the original Niobe might wind up in the sequel?
"I was brushing up on some Greek mythology when, lo and behold, the name 'Niobe' turned up. Here's a condensed version of her tale: Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo, commands the women of Thebes to make sacrifices and honor her. This doesn't go over too well with Niobe, because she thinks she's better than than the goddess. She comes along, decked out in rich, fancy clothes and the like, and tells everyone she's better than Leto due to her lineage and 14 children. The townfolks forget Leto and sacrifice to Niobe. That makes for a pissed off goddess. So she sends Apollo to kill Niobe's kids. Apollo wins, 14-0. Suddenly Niobe goes from something to nothing, and turns to stone, literally, from her grief. She stands high on a mountaintop, forever weeping as a statue of marble...
Just thought that might help with how the character ends up. Maybe she upset the Matrix/Zion, and they end up killing her kids?"
BIGGER FIGHT SCENES
The fight scenes in the next two Matrix movies are set to be more explosive and breathtaking than the sequences featured in the first. Directors Larry and Andy Wachowski have called on the stunt team to choreograph even more high kicking action, which proved a highlight in the flick with Keanu Reeves.
Fight co-ordinator Wu Ping is already at the drawing board stage for the fight scenes, even though he's filming another movie in Hong Kong - Black Mask 2. And Ping is already auditioning potential fight doubles and actors for the martial art scenes. British martial art stunt agent Anthony Jones, of Zeon Management, says, "Wu Ping is looking for a really crack team of fighters. He's out to make the most compulsive fight scenes at the movies - and that's before the special effects. He said he's looking for people, as he's not found the right faces yet... I suppose it's not easy finding 100 kilogram, martial arts trained actors. Black Mask 2 will be a rehearsal place for the scenes." [Reported by IMDB]
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