The Matrix (1999 film)
The 1999 film that introduced Neo, the red pill and bullet time.
The Matrix is the 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis, the first in the series. Keanu Reeves stars as the hacker Neo, recruited by Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) into the rebellion against the machines that keep humanity trapped in a simulated reality, with Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano.
Quick Facts
- Director
- The Wachowskis
- Producer
- Joel Silver
- Starring
- Keanu Reeves
- Laurence Fishburne
- Carrie-Anne Moss
- Hugo Weaving
- Joe Pantoliano
- Music
- Don Davis
- Cinematography
- Bill Pope
- Editing
- Zach Staenberg
- Studio
- Village Roadshow Pictures
- Groucho II Film Partnership
- Silver Pictures
- Distributor
- Warner Bros. (worldwide); Roadshow Entertainment (Australia)
Facts from the source article.
Making
Warner Bros. greenlit it after the Wachowskis' 1996 film Bound. Its action draws on anime and on the wire-fu fight choreography of Hong Kong cinema, and its ideas on Plato's cave, 1990s hacker culture and William Gibson's Neuromancer. It popularised the "red pill" and the bullet-time effect, where the action slows while the camera seems to move through the scene at normal speed.
Release and success
It opened in the US on March 31, 1999 to wide acclaim, made over $460 million on a $63 million budget and was Warner Bros.' highest-grossing film of the year. It won four Academy Awards, for Visual Effects, Film Editing, Sound and Sound Effects Editing, and two BAFTAs.
Elsewhere in The Matrix
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