Actor Keanu Reeves revealed he was unaware of the trans narrative in the hit film trilogy The Matrix during an interview with Yahoo.
While speaking about his upcoming sci-fi/comedy movie Bill & Ted Face the Music, Reeves shared his reaction to learning The Matrix series was about the trans experience. He said, “I never spoke to Lilly about that, she never conveyed that to me.”
Reeves further expressed, “I think The Matrix films are profound, and I think that allegorically, a lot of people in different versions of the film can speak to that. And for Lilly to come out and share that with us, I think is cool.”
Directors Lilly and Lana Wachowski recently confirmed a fan theory that The Matrix was about the trans experience in a Netflix Film Club video. They also detailed how the corporate world was not ready for this story at the time.
After 20 years since its release, Lilly expressed, “I’m glad that it’s gotten out that [the transgender allegory] was the original intention.”
“We were always living in a world of imagination. That’s why I gravitated toward sci-fi and fantasy and played Dungeons and Dragons. It was all about creating worlds. It freed us up as filmmakers because we were able to imagine stuff at that time that you didn’t necessarily see onscreen,” Lily continued.
Over the years, fans of the trilogy have noticed the similarities between the world of The Matrix and being trans in a cis world. Speaking about her inspiration behind the movie, Lily said, “I don’t know how present my transness was in the background of my brain as we were writing it. It all came from the same sort of fire that I’m talking about. Especially for me and Lana, we were existing in this space where the words didn’t exist, so we were always living in a world of imagination.”
Keanu Reeves has been confirmed to reprise his roles in The Matrix 4, which is currently being directed by Lana Wachowski. He will be joined alongside Carrie-Anne Moss, Neil Patrick Harris and Jonathon Groff.
The Matrix 4 has been delayed until April 1, 2022.
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