Latest news with #TheMatrix
New Straits Times
a day ago
- Entertainment
- New Straits Times
#SHOWBIZ: 'The Matrix is everywhere': cinema bets on immersion
IN a Los Angeles theatre, a trench coat-wearing Neo bends backwards to dodge bullets that spiral over the viewer's head, as the sound of gunfire erupts from everywhere. This new immersive experience is designed to be a red pill moment that will get film fans off their couches at a time when the movie industry is desperate to bring back audiences. Cosm, which has venues in Los Angeles and Dallas, is launching its dome-style screen and 3D sets in June with a "shared reality" version of 'The Matrix', the cult 1999 film starring Keanu Reeves as a man who suddenly learns his world is a fiction. "We believe the future will be more immersive and more experiential," said Cosm president Jeb Terry at a recent preview screening. "It's trying to create an additive, a new experience, ideally non-cannibalistic, so that the industry can continue to thrive across all formats." Cinema audiences were already dwindling when the Covid-19 pandemic broke out, shuttering theatres at a time when streaming was exploding. With ever bigger and better TVs available for the home, the challenge for theater owners is to offer something that movie buffs cannot get in their living room. Prestige projects like Tom Cruise's 'Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning' or Christopher Nolan's Oscar-winning 'Oppenheimer' increasingly opt for the huge screens and superior film quality of IMAX. But Cosm and other projects like it want to go one step further, collaborating with designers who have worked with Cirque du Soleil to create an environment in which the viewer feels like they are inside the film. For filmmakers, it's all about how you place the cameras and where you capture the sound, said Jay Rinsky, founder of Little Cinema, a creative studio specializing in immersive experiences. "We create sets like the Parisian opera, let the movie be the singer, follow the tone, highlight the emotions... through light, through production design, through 3D environments," he said. The approach, he said, felt particularly well suited to 'The Matrix', which he called "a masterpiece of cinema, but done as a rectangle". For the uninitiated: Reeves' Neo is a computer hacker who starts poking around in a life that doesn't quite seem to fit. A mysterious Laurence Fishburne offers him a blue pill that will leave him where he is, or a red pill that will show him he is a slave whose body is being farmed by AI machines while his conscious lives in a computer simulation. There follows much gunfire, lots of martial arts and some mysticism, along with a romance between Neo and Trinity, played by the leather-clad Carrie-Anne Moss. 'The Matrix' in shared reality kicks off with a choice of cocktails — blue or red, of course — which are consumed as the audience sits surrounded by high-definition screens. Shifting perspectives place the viewer inside Neo's office cubicle, or seemingly in peril. "They're sometimes inside the character's head," said Rinsky. "The world changes as you look up and down for trucks coming at you." The result impressed those who were at the preview screening.
Geek Tyrant
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Drew Goddard's THE MATRIX Movie Rumored to Bring Back Keanu Reeves as Neo — GeekTyrant
A new Matrix film is being developed, and Drew Goddard, best known for The Cabin in the Woods and Bad Times at the El Royale, is directing. Since the announcement, fans have been speculating whether this project is a reboot, a continuation, or something entirely different. Now, a new rumor hints that a very familiar face may be returning to the digital frontier. According to scooper Daniel Richtman: 'The idea is to have Keanu Reeves back for the next Matrix movie.' No other details were offered, but this simple claim is enough to spark some excitement. If true, Goddard's movie may not be a fresh start after all, but a continuation of Neo's story. For longtime fans, this is a potentially big development. While there had once been chatter about a full-on reboot starring Michael B. Jordan, the idea of picking up with Reeves' Neo instead feels more in line with what audiences might actually want. The Matrix franchise is so deeply tied to its original cast and philosophical lore, this movie might benefit more from evolution than reinvention. When we last saw Neo in The Matrix Resurrections , he and Trinity had regained control of the simulation and were shaping it together. If Goddard's film picks up from there, Neo could now exist as something closer to a god within the system, something new for the character and the mythology. Goddard has made it clear that he's not taking this opportunity lightly.. He said: 'It is not hyperbole to say The Matrix films changed both cinema and my life. Lana and Lilly's exquisite artistry inspires me on a daily basis, and I am beyond grateful for the chance to tell stories in their world.' Jesse Ehrman, Warner Bros. Motion Pictures President of Production, added: 'Drew came to Warner Bros. with a new idea that we all believe would be an incredible way to continue the Matrix world, by both honoring what Lana and Lilly began over 25 years ago and offering a unique perspective based on his own love of the series and characters.' Ehrman also made clear the studio's support: 'The entire team at Warner Bros. Discovery is thrilled for Drew to be making this new Matrix film, adding his vision to the cinematic canon the Wachowskis' spent a quarter of a century building here at the studio.' Whether this is a soft reboot, a sequel, or something that defies categorization altogether, it's clear that Goddard wants to build on the legacy rather than overwrite it, and if Reeves is truly coming back, then we're not done with Neo just yet.
Daily Mail
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Former child star Matt Doran teases Home and Away return after surprise Star Wars fan revival
He's best known to Aussie soap fans as Damian Roberts from Home and Away. But Matt Doran has spent years quietly building a cult following thanks to his roles in two of the biggest film franchises on the planet: Star Wars and The Matrix. Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the actor and father-of-two has opened about life after fame, the double life of being a dad and a sci-fi icon, and why he's never ruled out a return to Summer Bay. Speaking ahead of a fan convention appearance, Doran, 48, admitted he once felt 'strange' attending sci-fi expos like Supanova – until he realised just how much love fans had for his characters. 'Whoever comes up to have a chat, they obviously know my work. It's such a great reminder of how lucky I've been to be part of these iconic films,' he said. Doran – who played Mouse in The Matrix and the infamous 'death sticks' dealer Elan Sleazebaggano in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones – said his brief scene in George Lucas' space opera left a huge impression on fans. 'Little did I know such a small role would be so well received,' he laughed. 'They love it. Everyone comes up and asks, 'Are you the death sticks guy?' The role, just three lines opposite Ewan McGregor's Obi-Wan Kenobi, was written by Lucas himself after initially asking Doran to audition for a CGI character. 'I thought, it's Star Wars, of course I'm going to jump at the chance. But the fact that it became so iconic… I still get people asking me to sign cigarette packets because of the death sticks line!' Despite the blink-and-you'll-miss-it role, Doran has his own Star Wars figurine – and proudly revealed his daughters and mum still have them in their boxes. 'I found a few in a London toy shop and brought them back. My nephews broke theirs straight away, of course,' he laughed. 'But I've kept a couple – they're pretty special.' When asked if he'd return to the Star Wars universe, Doran didn't hesitate. 'I've seen fan theories on YouTube that explore what happened to Elan after Obi-Wan told him to 'go home and rethink his life'. I like to believe he didn't. He's probably still pushing death sticks somewhere in the galaxy!' The Aussie actor is also a favourite among The Matrix fans – with his explosive death scene as Mouse still a major talking point. 'I call it my Tony Montana moment,' he joked. 'Me with two massive machine guns going out in a blaze of glory. It's actually the photo I sign the most at Supanova.' Doran says the difference between Star Wars and The Matrix was stark. 'My Star Wars role was shot in a day – it took longer to get through security than film it. The Matrix was about nine weeks of shooting over nine months. You had time to bond with the cast and crew.' He added that reading the Matrix script was a rare moment where 'you just knew' the film would be a hit. 'They actually brought that script to life exactly how I read it. Usually when I watch something I've done, the magic's gone. But The Matrix still pulls me in – I forget I'm even in it.' And what about a Matrix reboot? 'I always joke that I don't care about the sequels because I died in the first one,' he said. 'But honestly, nothing beats the original.' Doran, who now lives in Sydney with his young children, said acting is still his passion – even if family life takes priority. 'I've been acting since I was 12. I still audition and take roles when I can. It's part of me – always has been.' He recently starred in a psychological thriller Intersection, now streaming on YouTube. The one-man film, shot just before the pandemic, features Doran in nearly every scene. 'It's just me in a car, talking on the phone, trying to get my son back. It's low-budget, but from an acting perspective, it was a great challenge.' Despite often being confused with other high-profile Aussie names - including former Sunrise presenter Matt Doran – the actor said he's 'the OG.' 'There are three of us – the Sunrise Matt, the ABC journalist, and me. I'm the original Matt Doran,' he laughed. And for Home and Away fans wondering what became of Damian Roberts? 'He flunked uni, became a photographer, then joined the priesthood – didn't see that one coming!' he said. While Doran is unsure if a return to Home and Away is on the cards, he admitted he wouldn't say no. 'I still have the classic dream where I'm back on the Home and Away set but can't remember any of my lines. Maybe that's the universe telling me something.' He remains in touch with co-star Tina Thomsen, who played his sister Finlay, and says a reunion special – like Neighbours pulled off for its finale – would be a treat for fans. 'I think people would love it. I'd be happy to come back. Bring Damian out of the priesthood and back to Summer Bay!' And when he's not acting or signing figurines, Doran is focused on being a hands-on dad.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Will Smith Rejected Nolan's ‘Inception' Because He Didn't Get the Plot
The next time Will Smith gets offered an alternate reality sci-fi thriller, he should seriously consider just saying, 'Yes!' First, the actor admitted he turned down The Matrix, which cast Keanu Reeves instead. More from The Hollywood Reporter Box Office: John Wick Spinoff 'Ballerina' Opens to Sluggish $25 Million, 'Lilo & Stitch' Rules With $32.5 Million 'Ballerina' Director Len Wiseman Talks Scrapped 'John Wick 3' Connections and the Truth About Additional Photography 'John Wick' Boss Chad Stahelski Gets Candid About Franchise: "My Process Is F***ed" Now Smith confirms he also turned down the lead role Christopher Nolan's Inception, which starred Leonardo DiCaprio. 'I don't think I've ever said it publicly before, but I am going to say it now because we are opening up to one another,' Smith told the radio station KISS XTRA, with a fair amount of good humor. 'Chris Nolan brought me Inception first and I didn't get it. I've never said that out loud. Now that I think about it, it's those movies that go into those alternate realities they don't pitch well. But I am hurt by those, too … It hurts too bad to talk about.' The Independence Day star turning down 1999's The Matrix is actually pretty understandable, as writers-directors The Wachowskis were still an unknown quantity at the time. Rejecting 2010's Inception when Nolan was coming off his blockbuster masterpiece The Dark Knight, however, seems like a more baffling move. Yet he wasn't the only A-list actor to pass on the role — likely due to Nolan's high-pressure casting strategy. In Inception, the lead character plants ideas in people's dreams as a novel form of corporate espionage. As The Hollywood Reporter revealed at the time, Nolan first offered the twisty script to Brad Pitt but demanded the actor accept within 48 hours. When Pitt didn't commit, Nolan went to Smith. When Smith didn't accept, Nolan sent it to DiCaprio, who took it. 'It's never couched as, 'Hey, I'm more important than you, therefore just say yes,'' said an executive, noting big stars 'are used to having people wait a year or more' before they commit and 'usually don't have to board a moving train.' Inception went on to gross more than $800 million at the global box office. Needless to say, nowadays the Oscar-winning director can probably get top actors to sign onto a project even without showing them a script. As for The Matrix, Smith has candidly detailed the pitch meeting for that project and recently did a music video for 'Beautiful Scars' where Smith played a parody version of Neo. 'I'm not proud of it, but it's the truth, all right, I did turn down Neo in The Matrix,' Smith said in a YouTube video posted five years ago. 'After we made Men in Black, the Wachowskis came in and they'd only done one movie. They did a movie called Bound. And then they made a pitch for The Matrix. And as it turns out, they're geniuses, but there's a fine line in a pitch meeting between genius and what I experienced in the meeting. So this is the actual pitch that they made for The Matrix …' At this point in the video, Smith humorously enacted a meeting where the Wachowskis enthuse confusingly about various wild action moves the character would be doing, but didn't discuss the film's plot or character ('And then we'll put in 50 cameras, and you'll see the whole jump while you stop in the middle of the jump …'). 'So I made Wild Wild West [instead],' Smith admitted, referring to his notorious 1999 sci-fi flop. Having said that, Smith added, 'Keanu was perfect. Laurence Fishburne was perfect. If I had done it, because I'm Black, [Fishburne's character] Morpheus wouldn't have been Black because they were looking at Val Kilmer [for] Morpheus. So I probably would have messed The Matrix up. I would have ruined it. I did y'all a favor.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Chicago Tribune
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Chicago Tribune
Detective from Naperville competes on new Fox reality TV show: ‘It was wild'
Derek North has long harbored unfinished business on the television screen. Now, he's seeing those aspirations through — one nationally aired episode at a time. North, a Naperville resident and detective with the Downers Grove Police Department, is a contestant on 'The Snake,' a new FOX-TV reality competition show. Hosted by comedian Jim Jefferies, the series is a test of social survival, the network says. 'Man, it was wild,' North said in an interview. 'It was wild.' The cornerstone of the series is that instead of eliminating contestants like your typical competition show, who stays and who goes is determined through something called a 'saving ceremony,' where contestants save one another until one person is left unpicked and goes home. The idea is contestants need to work to win each other's favor to stay in the game. The catch? The cast is composed of contestants who work in various persuasive professions. Contestants include an ex-con, a pastor, a lawyer, a poker player and Naperville's own, North. 'The Snake' premiered last week with 15 contestants. North successfully made it through the first saving ceremony and was poised to return screens this week. New episodes air at 8 p.m. Tuesdays and are available to stream on Hulu. North, who spoke last week while sitting down for coffee in downtown Naperville, couldn't say how he fared in the competition overall but called the experience 'incredible.' It's also been a long time coming, he said. North, 39, grew up about 45 minutes south of Naperville in Manhattan. He went to high school in New Lenox and college in Indiana, where he majored in media arts production and minored in theater. After graduating, he moved home before setting out to California to shoot a movie called '1313: Giant Killer Bees!' From there, he stuck around the Golden State to pursue acting, he said. While he auditioned for different roles, North landed a job at Sunset Tower Hotel in West Hollywood. He'd meet celebrities there, he said. His most memorable interaction was with Keanu Reeves, of 'The Matrix' and 'John Wick,' he said. But then his father suffered a spinal stroke, North said. Needing a gig to help support his family back home, he turned to reality TV. The pursuit, however, was a difficult one. He'd audition and have projects 'almost take off' but not quite go all the way, he said. Eventually, he moved back to Illinois to be closer to family. When he did, he left the reality TV world behind, he said. He changed careers, trained to become a police officer, married and started a family. 'I found the love of my life, I found my wife,' North said. They have a 1-year-old daughter. Then, out of nowhere, North was contacted by a producer from one of the reality shows he previously auditioned for that hadn't moved forward, he said. 'They were like, 'Hey, we're making this new show. We're wondering if you'd be interested in trying out for it,'' North said. 'I asked them to send me the details because I'm having a great life here (in Naperville).' When he looked at what the show was about, North knew the opportunity was the one he had been waiting for. He recalled thinking to himself, 'I can win that.' '(Reality TV) was totally off my radar,' he said. 'I left that, you know? But I'm competitive. And I had unfinished business. I always had that in me.' North went through more than a dozen auditions and interviews before getting cast on 'The Snake,' he said. Once he knew he'd be a contestant, North said he prepared by watching episodes of reality shows that he thought 'The Snake' might be similar to, including 'Survivor,' 'The Traitors' and 'Fear Factor.' Since the show premiered on June 10, 'it's been really cool,' North said. Looking ahead, he teased that the rest of the season is 'going to be a lot of fun,' he said. Apart from official results, North said competing on 'The Snake' showed him that 'if things don't work at one point in your life, that's not the end of it.' 'For this to come so much later in my life after I was working so hard for so long, sometimes you just got to trust the ride,' he said. 'That's just life.'
