Will Smith was approached to play Neo, but turned down the offer in order to star in Wild Wild West. He later admitted that, at the time he was "not mature enough as an actor", and after he saw the film felt that "Keanu was brilliant as Neo."
Legendary Hong Kong stunt coordinator Woo-Ping Yuen insisted that the cast train long hours to learn kung fu and wire work. Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving all trained for four months before filming began.
The studio insisted on a great deal of explanatory dialogue, as they described the screenplay as "the script that nobody understands."
Both Lana and Lilly are trans women. Lana was born Laurence Wachowski in 1965 and transitioned in 2008 and Lilly was born Andrew Paul Wachowski in 1967 and transitioned in 2016. They now write together as "The Wachowskis".
The Wachowskis harbored their vision for five and a half years, working through fourteen drafts of the screenplay.
The actors were required to be able to understand and explain The Matrix. Simulacra and Simulation by sociologist Jean Baudrillard was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew.
Switch was originally planned to be played by two actors--a male actor in the real world and a female in the Matrix, hence the name "Switch".
Neo works for Metacortex. Meta meaning "beyond" and cortex referring to the outer layer of an organ, in this case the brain. Metacortex could imply the idea of a higher intelligence, such as that of the machines, or a higher consciousness, such as Neo achieves when he realizes the true nature of the Matrix.
SHARE THIS PAGE!