The Matrix Resurrections in Cinemas 22nd December 2021

London: For a big night time chase sequence through the streets of downtown San Francisco in “The Matrix Resurrections,” the production had to secure 12 square city blocks for filming.

“The Matrix Resurrections” production relied upon the Red Ranger cameras for filming, as well as the new Red model, the Komodo. While filming one stunt, a Komodo camera was brought too near a burning car and the camera melted—however, the camera card was retrievable and production got the footage.

During one day of “The Matrix Resurrections” location filming on San Francisco’s Montgomery Street, as Keanu Reeves exited the set, he looked up to see an office building across the street with an upper office’s windows covered with post-it notes that spelled out “WE HEART KEANU.”

The practical set of the coffee shop Simulatte—where Thomas Anderson and his colleagues can often be found in “The Matrix Resurrections”—was housed in a re-dressed Joe and the Juice shop. The Simulatte logo was designed by Lana Wachowski herself.

“The Matrix Resurrections” is peopled with Easter egg appearances (some just faces in a crowd), which include: “The Matrix” Oscar-winning visual effects pioneer, John Gaeta, and Oscar-nominated “Reloaded” and “Revolutions” VFX artist, Kim Libreri; San Francisco Mayor London Breed; and actor Tom Hardy.

In “The Matrix Resurrections,” the building off of which we see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss leaping is a 43-story, 565-feet-tall building on Montgomery Street in downtown San Francisco. Lana Wachowski chose the structure based on how it looked lit by the sun at dawn, and also the roof’s vantage point in relation to the view of the water, Golden Gate Bridge and city skyline.

To rig the big stunt in “The Matrix Resurrections,” cables had to be strung from the jump site to the roof of the building across the street—this was done via drones, working between 5:00 and 6:00am. Four winches were employed to “puppet” the actors through the scene.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss began prepping for a major “The Matrix Resurrections” stunt by working on the exact rig constructed at the training space in Alameda, California. About a month prior to shooting the sequence, the rig was placed nine-feet off the ground, while the actors began familiarizing themselves with the movement. The rig was then raised to 30 feet, and later, 50 feet. The next time, the rig would be found atop the high-rise building.

“The Matrix Resurrections’” stunt coordinator Scott Rogers displayed an absolutely foolproof way of demonstrating his confidence in the stunt—the female stunt performer who executed the practice jumps was Rogers’ own daughter, Ella Ann Rogers. Per Rogers, “Ella wanted to do it. She did all of the tests and wanted to do the real thing. And she is the exact size of Carrie-Anne. It was an opportunity for me to tell everyone that I had 100 percent confidence.”

The fight scenes in “The Matrix Resurrections” lean heavily into kung fu, with stunt choreographer Jonathan Eusebio taking a more Chinese approach to martial arts, incorporating a style that features more fluid moves (wushu) and works well within the larger spaces of filmmaker Lana Wachowski’s expansive vision. When the big fight scenes narrow down into a two-person match-up, the fighting becomes less stylized and grittier, going from fast kung fu moves to an all out two-man brawl.

For “The Matrix Resurrections” cast member Jessica Henwick, who plays Bugs, physical training for her role began nearly a year before filming, with fight choreography added in three months into her regime.

Yahya Mateen-Abdul II, who plays Morpheus in “The Matrix Resurrections,” concentrated on cardio and flexibility in his already rigorous workouts prior to filming, to ready himself for the martial arts combat scenes in the script.

Studio Babelsberg—where “The Matrix Resurrections” shot in Berlin—named their largest soundstage “The Rainbow Stage,” to honour Lana and Lilly Wachowski.

During the Berlin portion of production on “The Matrix Resurrections,” Reeves’ new film, “Bill & Ted Face the Music,” was released and the actor booked a theatre and hosted a screening for the full cast and crew.

“The Matrix Resurrections’” director/co-writer/producer, Lana Wachowski, gathered many previous collaborators from her and Lilly Wachowski’s series “Sense8” around her for the film, including: actors Eréndira Ibarra, Toby Onwumere, Max Riemelt and Brian Smith; along with such crew as producer Grant Hill, writer David Mitchell, writer Aleksandar Hemon, director of photography John Toll, editor Joseph Jett Sally, production designer Hugh Bateup, production designer Peter Walpole, composer Johnny Klimek, composer Tom Tykwer, costume designer Lindsay Pugh and visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, among others.