The Matrix Reloaded is part 2 of the Matrix trilogy. It's out on DVD is followed by the Matrix Revolutions, which concludes the trilogy. This information was written before Reloaded came out.
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Returning Cast
The actors who had a role in the first film and have signed for the cast are Keanu Reeves (Neo), Carrie-Ann Moss (Trinity) Laurence Fishburne (Morpheus) and Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith). The big (and well received) surprise is the return of Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith since he was blown to bits by Neo in the first movie. Unfortunately, we won't see the return of Marcus Chong (Tank), he believed he was underpayed and did not sign. Joe Pantoliano (Cypher) is also not coming back, but that's because he was fried by Tank. Joe really wanted to participate in the sequels and asked the Wachowski Brothers if they could rewrite the script a bit so that he could return. Joe comments that he has the negative quality of dying whenever he plays in a succesfull movie.
The Oracle will probably return in the Matrix Reloaded. Although Gloria Foster died in October 2001 at the age of 64 they filmed most of her scenes for the first sequel. They didn't film anything for the Matrix Revolutions but it seems that the Wachowski Brothers have rewritten the script a bit and came up with a creative solution.
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New Cast
There's a lot of new cast, but some of them mentioned here will probably go unnoticed as they have very small roles, or won't play in the sequels after all since a lot of them have not been officially confirmed:
- Jada Pinkett Smith (as Niobe, the ex-girlfriend of Morpheus. She's captain of the 'Logose' (pronounced Low-Ghose))
- Nona Gaye (Zee)
- Harry Lennix (Lock)
- Steve Bastoni (Captain Sorren, a comrade of Morpheus)
- Harold Perrineau (Link)
- Daniel Bernhardt (Agent Johnson)
- Monica Bellucci (Queen of the World)
- Nathaniel Lees (Mifuno, the captain of a ship)
- Roy Jones Jr. (Captain Ballard)
- Matt McColm (Agent Thompson; nothing official)
- Lambert Wilson (Merovingian: King of the World)
- Lachy Hulme (Sparks, who is Niobe's (Jada Pinkett Smith) right hand man. He's the operator of the Logose and was born in Zion)
- Gina Torres (Cass, Dozer's widow, and a resident of Zion)
- Christine Anu (Lazarus)
- Tory Mussett (Code Woman)
- Clayton Watson (The Kid)
- Stuart Wells (unknown)
- Collin Chao (Seraph)
- Chris Kirby (unknown)
- David Roberts (unknown)
- Robert Mammone (unknown)
- Anthony Wong (Ghost)
- Rupert Reid (unknown)
- Neil and Adrian Rayment (The Twins)
- Randall-Duk-Kim (The Key Maker)
- Ledisi Young (unknown)
- Robyn Nevin (unknown)
- Monique Montez (unknown)
- Che Timmins ('Radio Man', the replacer of Dozer)
- Booker T (unknown)
- Abang Othow (unknown)
- Essie Davis (Maggie)
- Josephine Byrnes (unknown)
Before her tragic death Aaliyah had the role of the character called Zee which will now be played by Nona Gaye. It's still unknown how many scenes they filmed before Aaliyah died in the plain crash after shooting the video for her single 'Rock the Boat'.
Jet Li (who starred in Joel Silvers: Romeo Must Die next to Aaliyah) was in talks to join the cast of both sequels. The biggest obstacle to his coming aboard was budget, as they're already challenged to meet salary demands of the returning stars, directors, and other crew... Jet Li asked $13 million dollar to star in both the sequels but the Wachowski Brothers were willing to pay only $3 million. After Jet Li came Michelle Yeoh ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") for the role but she was too busy with her own production company.
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Storyline
That's something you won't find on this site. Go to a theater and watch it for yourself.
The only thing I'll mention is that the storyline of Reloaded kicks in at the end of the events in the Animatrix episode "Final flight of the Osiris", which was released in theaters, accompanying WB's 'Dreamcatcher', and will be available on DVD from June 3. Read more about the Animatrix and download episodes in the <projects> section.
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Filming
Production of the sequels (2 & 3 have been filmed at the same time to both implement a cliffhanger, serialized story, and to keep the combined budget to a minimum) started in Australia in March/April of 2001. The schedule of actual filming for the two movies was 270 days. During the strike of the actors the Wachowski Brothers worked on the special effects, so it didn't affect the production of the sequels.
Both movies were scheduled to be released in 2002, but Joel Silver announced at the MTV Movie Awards 2000 that The Matrix 2 is moved back for six months. bringing the release date to Christmas 2002. In august 2001 Producer Joel Silver told SCI FI Wire that the release of the first sequel, "The Matrix Reloaded," likely won't happen until 2003. "It's going to be summer now, summer 2003," Silver said. This would also mean that "The Matrix 3's" release, which was the summer of 2003, will be pushed back. On that account, Silver added, "You'll see." The Matrix Revolutions is planned to come out in November 2003.
So what are the reasons for the extra time needed to complete the project? "It's just it's an enormous project," Silver said. "It's a staggering project. There's so much dealing with it, it's unbelievable, and they just need time to finish both movies, because we're shooting them as one big movie. It's not back-to-back. It's one movie, so they'll finish shooting it, and then they'll take the time to finish the movies."
The Matrix Reloaded got a worldwide release within three weeks from May 15, 2003.
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Release Dates
The Matrix Reloaded was released worldwide between May 15 and June 7. It was also released in Imax theaters.
Release dates, sorted by country
Argentina: 22 May 2003
Australia: 15 May 2003
Austria: 22 May 2003
Belgium: 15 May 2003
Brazil: 23 May 2003
Canada: 15 May 2003
Czech Republic: 22 May 2003
Denmark: 23 May 2003
Estonia: 23 May 2003
France: 15 May 2003
Germany: 22 May 2003
Iceland: 23 May 2003
Italy: 23 May 2003
Japan: 7 June 2003
Netherlands: 15 May 2003
Norway: 21 May 2003
Russia: 22 May 2003
Spain: 21 May 2003
Sweden: 21 May 2003
Turkey: 23 May 2003
United Kingdom: 23 May 2003
United States: 15 May 2003
Ukraine: 22 May 2003
Uruguay: 23 May 2003
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© Code 808 - 2003