7/5/2008 4:57 PM
posted awhile ago
Re:Take the red pill: Recast THE MATRIX (1999)
First, let me say that what I am about to do should be illegal. This whole idea is completely blasphemous and it totally sickens me. But alas, I like swag, and so I will give it a shot.
I present you all with a history of the celebrated remake of The Matrix.
In 1999 The Matrix was released by Warner Bros. to great success and acclaim. It later spawned two sequels, which while financially successful, have been much maligned as a supreme waste of time. To shed the stink of the sequels Warner Bros., in 2010, released a remake of The Matrix, cleverly titled, Matrix Rebooted, a coy play on the similar styled title, Batman Begins. And in a further attempt to relate the new film to the successful reinvisioning of the Batman franchise Warner Bros. hired director Christopher Nolan.
Originally set only as the producer of Matrix Rebooted, Nolan quickly hired screenwriter John August to pen the screenplay and possibly direct as well. Having seen August's 2007 film, The Nines, Nolan felt that John August was the best person to create a film that would completely redefine the world of The Matrix. August's screenplay was celebrated upon its completion. It was able to blend the sci-fi action with a level of dark comedy that lent the picture a more realistic and relatable quality.
But Nolan was not 100% satisfied. He did a number of rewrites on the script himself. One of the alterations was the removal of most of the scenes that did not take place in the virtual world. He replaced most of these scenes with new ones that took place in a new intermediary world parallel to the Matrix. Called the Grid, this new virtual world was created by the humans living exile in order to experience a life as fruitful as that in the Matrix. This new element added new philosophical questions about the nature of freedom and self-imprisonment.
Nolan, however, still wanted August to direct the film, but August had to refuse due to a previous contract to write Tim Burton's The Fall of the House of Usher, also released in 2010. Nolan had to act fast in order to meet deadlines. He hired Alfonso Cauron to direct the picture. He also convinced Warner, based on the success of The Dark Knight's IMAX theatrical run, to allow the film to be shot entirely with IMAX format cameras.
Cauron's first order of business was to hire the actors.
The first rumblings about casting appeared in a Variety article where it was confirmed by the studio those actors who would be playing the members of the Nebudchadnezzer crew.
Apoc, Mouse, and Switch would be played by Nora Zehetner, Gael Garcia Bernal, and Piper Perabo respectively. The roles of Tank and Dozer had been altered drastically in order to add a subplot in which Dozer, now Tank's sister instead of brother, was lured by Cypher into a trap. The role of Tank went to Hugh Jackman, while Dozer was now played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.
A month later, at Comic-Con San Diego, the actors playing Cypher, The Oracle, Trinity, Morpheus, and the minor roles of Agents Brown and Jones were revealed to a cheering crowd. Taking on the role of Cypher would be Children of Men star Clive Owen. The Oracle would be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor. 300 star Lena Heady got the role of Trinity and Morpheus would be played by veteran British actor Michael Caine. In a surprise for Comic-Con is was announced that playing both Agent Brown and Agent Jones would be Batman Begins star Christian Bale.
The identities of the actors playing Neo and Agent Smith were successfully kept a secret until the very first teaser trailer. The teaser introduced the world to Guy Pierce as Neo and Gary Oldman as Smith.
The film opened in May 2010 to thunderous praise. Rather than use the slow-motion and bullet time effects from the original film, Matrix Rebooted went for a more realistic style of fighting and camerawork that looked practically as though there weren't even any special effects at all. Critics lauded the new, gritty style and made special mention of the new film's dark sense of humour and solid social satire.
Audiences seemed to love the film even more. In its theatrical run it went on to surpass Titanic in every area. Taking in 1.4 billion dollars domestically, and over double that in overseas ticket sales, Matrix Rebooted quickly became known as an American classic. Nobody thought The Matrix could ever be remade, but under the leadership of Chris Nolan and the direction of Alfonso Cauron Matrix Rebooted proved all the naysayers wrong.
Matrix Rebooted
An Alfonso Cauron Film
Written by John August and Christopher Nolan
Starring:
Neo - Guy Pierce
Agent Smith - Gary Oldman
Morpheus - Michael Caine
Trinity - Lena Heady
Cypher - Clive Owen
Tank - Hugh Jackman
Dozer - Maggie Gyllenhaal
Mouse - Gael Garcia Bernal
Apoc - Nora Zehetner
Switch - Piper Perabo
With:
Chiwetel Ejiofor as The Oracle
And
Chritian Bale as Agents Brown and Jones
RESTARTING IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
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