In 1999, the film was released, which was destined to become a cult phenomenon in culture and cinema. Producer Joel Silver and the Wachowski brothers created an unprecedented picture, which subsequently continued and became a trilogy that conquered the world. It's about the movie "The Matrix." The main character in the movie The Matrix is Neo. In this article, you can find out more information about the character, as well as about the actor-performer.
Selection of an actor for the role of the character Neo
It took about five years to prepare the script for the film, and soon work began on the fantastic dystopia The Matrix. The main role of the character Neo in the movie was approved by the popular Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves. Before starting filming, the actor went to special training to fight kung fu. It was an unusual experience for Keanu, but he recalls that the work inspired him, and the goal was to achieve the supernatural. Training lasted more than four months, six to seven hours a day. The same work had to be done in preparation for the next two parts of the trilogy. These exercises were needed for the actor to perform such tricks as dodging bullets. In The Matrix, Neo is the main character - he is the chosen one, who must save all of humanity. Keanu Reeves did an excellent job and gained immense popularity.
Character story
At the very beginning of the film “The Matrix”, Neo is an ordinary person who, like many others, is connected to the Matrix and lives in a fake world. Here Neo is a simple programmer, Thomas Anderson, leading an unremarkable life. However, everything changes at night, and Thomas transforms into a hacker. After the strange message that the hero receives, he tries to find out what the Matrix is. Unknown orders Neo to “follow the white rabbit,” and he meets Trinity, a hacker girl with a rabbit tattoo on it. Trinity promises to tell him everything about the Matrix and explains that for this you need to meet with the mysterious Morpheus. Neo knows that Morpheus is considered a terrorist, but this does not stop him. And then the Matrix finds it herself. Photo by Neo from The Matrix can be seen in this article.
Exit Matrix
Matrix agents grab Thomas and interrogate, trying to find out information about Morpheus, and then offer to work for them. Thomas does not give in, and then the agents of the Matrix install a bug on it and release it. Waking up after a phone call, Thomas considers everything that happened to be a dream. But it soon becomes clear that this is not a dream at all, because Morpheus called and made an appointment with Neo. After Trinity retrieved the “bug” of the Matrix’s agents, Neo meets with Morpheus and he offers to make a choice. Having eaten a blue pill, Neo wakes up in his apartment and will be sure that he dreamed of all these events. Choosing a red pill, he realizes the essence of the Matrix and can get out of it. Here, the authors again make a reference to "Alice in Wonderland", and Morpheus invites Neo to find out "how deep the rabbit hole". Neo picks a red pill and sees that the real world is a gloomy place where people are dominated by machines powered by human energy. What everyone is accustomed to considering reality, in fact, turns out to be an illusion created with the help of computer programs.
Destination Neo
Neo enters the Nebuchadnezzar, the ship of Morpheus, and finds out that he is the chosen one, the only one who can change the illusory reality and the one who is called to save the world from the Matrix. Neo's path is not easy, but he cannot just refuse and doom all mankind to death. Morpheus loads into the brain of Neo the skill of various martial arts so that he can resist the militant agents. After this, Neo meets with Pythia - the soothsayer. She warns the hero that soon he will have a difficult choice - to save himself or Morpheus. The prediction soon comes true - on the ship was a traitor, Cypher. The entire team, except Trinity and Neo, died, and the agents of the Matrix were captured by Morpheus. Neo recalls the prophecy and, together with Trinity, heroically saves Morpheus.
Neo's death and rebirth
After an epic battle with Agent Smith, Neo tries to escape, but dies at the hands of Smith. However, Pythia once predicted to Trinity that she would meet the chosen one and love him. Trinity recalls this and provokes a software error, after which Neo comes to life, possessing more advanced skills. For example, he expertly dodges bullets and stops them, and also sees the source code of the Matrix. This allows him to destroy Agent Smith. At the end of the film “Matrixes”, Neo leaves a message for cars and effectively rises into the sky.
Choosing an actor for the role of Neo
The role of Neo could get Tom Cruise or Brad Pitt, but both were denied, and Leonardo DiCaprio refused to work himself, not being a fan of special effects. The next contender for the role of the character of The Matrix, Neo, was Nicolas Cage, but he was not ready to leave America at the time of filming. As a result, directors and producers chose from two candidates - Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves. The producers won, and Reeves was approved for the role.
The actor who played the role of Neo
This picture was the 43rd in the filmography of Keanu Reeves and the most successful of the entire arsenal of film works. The success of The Matrix could not be surpassed by such hits as Devil's Advocate, released in 1997, Konstantin: Lord of Darkness in 2005 and Lake House, shot a year later. The second part of the fantastic franchise - “The Matrix: Reboot” - was created in 2003 and could not repeat the success of the first film. The third film - “The Matrix: Revolution” - was enthusiastically received by fans of the franchise, but received not the highest ratings from film critics. In 2000, Keanu Reeves received MTV channel awards for Best Actor and Best Fight for his work in The Matrix. In 2004, the actor was nominated for the same award in the nominations "Best Kiss" and "Best Fight" for participating in the film "The Matrix: Reloaded", but did not become a winner. However, the actor can be proud of this role, because according to Empire magazine, Neo was included in the list of the hundred best movie characters and is in it on the 68th line.