Independent Perspective News

(...)

AgentMartin says: Why didn't you both do the commentary on the DVD, time restraints?

WachowskiBros: That's a two-part answer. Part one is that we believe that film is a collaborative media, that's why we never take a film credit. We think the other artists who help create a film are important and interesting, and for people who want to understand the process of filmmaking. And the second part is, that we were too tired.

Hiryu says: Which Anime inspired you the most and why?

WachowskiBros: We liked Ghost in the Shell and the Ninja Scroll and Akira in anime. One thing that they do that we tried to bring to our film was a juxtaposition of time and space in action beats.

AgentMartin says: Is there anything in The Matrix which you weren't too happy with; wished you could have done differently?

WachowskiBros: That would require the rest of the chat to answer! But, we'll answer that in general we're fairly happy with the way it turned out.

blindrocket says: Would you consider yourselves computer nerds?

WachowskiBros: You got the second part right, just nerds! LOL

(...)

Enigma says: What is the role or faith in the movie? Faith in oneself first and foremost - or in something else?

WachowskiBros: Hmmmm...that is a tough question! Faith in one's self, how's that for an answer?

(...)

hokeyboy says: Were the filmmakers influenced by Alex Proyas's similarly-themed "Dark City"?

WachowskiBros: No, but we thought it was very strange that Australia came to have three films associated with it that were all about the nature of reality -- Dark City, The Truman Show and The Matrix.

Enjoythesilence says: How would you say Bound and the Matrix are similar?

WachowskiBros: Both films examine the idea of an individual searching for their true self while attempting to escape the box that we often make of our lives.

calla says: What do the time 9:18 and the date 9/18 signify? Is this a personal reference?

WachowskiBros: That's my wife's birthday (said Andy).

(...)

Inge says: Which scene are you guys most happy with? Favorite? For me it was when NEO was on his way to Morpheus the first time.

WachowskiBros: If you're talking about the pill scene, that's our favorite too.

(...)

calla says: There are quite a few hidden messages in the movie that I notice the more I watch it. Can you tell me about how many there are?

WachowskiBros: There are more than you'll ever know.

(...)

ThedrickFel says: What exactly was the mirror made of? Was it the same stuff they injected into Morpheus? Why silver?

WachowskiBros: The mirror is actually a mirror. When Neo sees it it's a hallucination, but it's the direct result of the pill Morpheus had given Neo. Reflections in general are a significant theme in the film. The ideas of worlds within worlds. The idea of the reflection, the two Neo's in Morpheus glasses represents the two lives that Neo is leading. In the left lens, we see the blue pill and Thomas Anderson, and in the right lens, we see the red pill and Neo.

(...)

unholyTrinity says: When did you think about making this movie for the very first time? Was there a kind of special inspiration given by any event, occasion or something like that?

WachowskiBros: It all happened very rapidly. We were working on another comic book, and a friend asked us if we had any ideas for a new series. And we said no, and then we just started talking about a couple of ideas that we had been working on in connection to cyberpunk fiction. And, a whole idea sort of exploded, over a period of about three days.

(...)

Doc says: So, WAS the Japanese animation Megazone 23 an inspiration for the Matrix? The stories seem very similar.

WachowskiBros: I've never seen it. But send us a copy, it sounds good.

(...)

Starr22 says: Are all the religious symbolism and doctrine throughout this movie intentional, or not?

WachowskiBros: Most of it is intentional. One of the things we tried to do with the Neb for when we were shooting "in the real world" was use long lenses to separate the humans from the backgrounds, as opposed to when we shot the Matrix we used short lenses to place the humans in specific deep spaces. We also tinted all of the lights blue in the "real world" and green in the Matrix.

(...)

WachowskiBros: There have been many questions about the history that Morpheus suggests in this scene, and we have written the history in a fair amount of detail, and we often have hoped that if we did an anime series, we would tell the story of this history and the story of the first One. Somebody asked us about the liquification of humans. That's what they feed the people in the pods, the dead people are liquefied and fed to the living people in the pods. Always recycle! It's a statement on recycling.

(...)

DrBasher says: How long did it take to come up with the script, because it's great?

WachowskiBros: We wrote the script before we had even directed Bound. And had been working on it up until the time of production.

(...)

garrett says: Isn't it rather ironic that Morpheus and his crew are completely dependent upon technology and computers, the very evils against which they are fighting?

WachowskiBros: Yes!

(...)

On the scene of the training where woman in red dress appears:

WachowskiBros: People don't realize how important this scene is. Because we are all staring at the woman in the red dress! There's actually twins and triplets that we hired in that scene. And all of the clothes are based on black and white costumes, like nuns, chefs, brides, sailors. We had the idea that Mouse just doubled people instead of making originals. But we couldn't afford to do it digitally, so we ended up hiring as many doubles, or as many twins, as we could find in Sydney. It was kind of like a bad dream on the set.

(...)

Freethinker says: Just out of curiosity, do you guys hold to any religious beliefs?

WachowskiBros: Non-denominational.

(...)

wrygrass says: Did ideas from Buddhism influence you in making the film?

WachowskiBros: Yes. There's something uniquely interesting about Buddhism and mathematics, particularly about quantum physics, and where they meet. That has fascinated us for a long time.

(...)

letmein says: The phrase "paying taxes" comes up a few times. Why?

WachowskiBros: Because we usually couldn't afford to pay ours. It is an examination of what is and is not certain.

(...)

Wesbran says: Is the title "The Matrix" related to the mitochondrial matrix located in cells; the site of cell respiration, the creation of energy in humans?

WachowskiBros: Like the movie itself, there is a lot of word play, a lot of hidden other meanings, a lot of multiple meanings. Besides that, we also like the definition, the mathematical definition of the use of matrix, or the use of it in terms of a woman's womb.

(...)

virtualMatrix says: What is the significance of Neo eating the Oracle's cookie?

WachowskiBros: There was a piece cut out of the movie that explained the significance more. It's hard to explain.

agunn3 says: Have you ever been told that the Matrix has Gnostic overtones?

WachowskiBros: Do you consider that to be a good thing?

(...)

AgentMarr says: What was the thinking behind the use of numbers that can be read both ways like 303 on the hotel door where Neo meets his destiny?

WachowskiBros: Like the wordplay, there's a lot of numbers play in the movie as well.

(...)

DVDReporter383 says: Do you surf the net? If so, where do you go?

WachowskiBros: We're everywhere.

(...)

linusa says: Do you believe that our world is in some way similar to "The Matrix," that there is a larger world outside of this existence?

WachowskiBros: That is a larger question than you actually might think. We think the most important sort of fiction attempts to answer some of the big questions. One of the things that we had talked about when we first had the idea of The Matrix was an idea that I believe philosophy and religion and mathematics all try to answer. Which is, a reconciling between a natural world and another world that is perceived by our intellect.

godbox says: Confronted with Neo's choice, which would you chose?

WachowskiBros: Blue pill.

(...)

Revenge says: What is the symbolism of all the analog rotary phones?

WachowskiBros: There's a couple of meanings. We liked the analog nature of older technology. We liked the suggestion of old original phone hackers. It sort of suggested the big Rube Goldberg device that's in the mirror scene.

(...)

Stone says: Was the Alice in Wonderland theme just a whim, or do you guys have a big love of it?

WachowskiBros: Big fan! It is a brilliant book. Many of the themes we tried to echo in The Matrix.

(...)

XM-whatismyname says: What's your favorite music?

WachowskiBros: We love all music.

(...)

ZEUS says: How did you finally chose the names of the characters?

WachowskiBros: They were all chosen carefully, and all of them have multiple meanings.

(...)

Mahy says: Do all of the things that happen in the Matrix have some computer-based analogy...or did you just do some of it because it was cool?

WachowskiBros: Yes. We like to try and pack as much stuff as we can in when we do a movie. So some of the stuff we do relates to the narrative, and some of the stuff we do because we like.

(...)

Enigma says: The character Neo...Is Neo his real self and Thomas Anderson who he is "required" to be?

WachowskiBros: Neo is Thomas Anderson's potential self.

Job says: Do you realize that your new ideas have changed the way people will see movies in the future?

WachowskiBros: Really?

(...)

Revenge says: Any influence from Blade Runner?

WachowskiBros: Blade Runner was a benchmark science fiction film, a masterpiece. Of course there's influence. But we were like the only guys who liked that movie when we saw it, everyone else hated it.

(...)

AgentMartin says: Do you appreciate people dissecting your movie? Do you find it a bit of an honor or does it annoy you a little, especially when the person may have it all wrong?

WachowskiBros: There's not necessarily ever an "all wrong." Because it's about what a person gets out of the movie, what an individual gets out of the movie.

(...)

virtualMatrix says: Do you believe one day, intelligent machines with AI will actually rule the world?

WachowskiBros: Yes. If they don't already!

(...)

AgentMartin says: Many take the Make of the Neb, "Mark 3, V.11" and quote it from the Bible "Mark 3:11". Was this intended or is it just the make and model of the Neb and nothing more subliminal than that?

WachowskiBros: The Nebuchadnezzar is indeed a Biblical reference, from the book of Daniel.

(...)

Ronin says: Your movie has many and varied connections to myths and philosophies, Judeo-Christian, Egyptian, Arthurian, and Platonic, just to name those I've noticed. How much of that was intentional?

WachowskiBros: All of it.