Keanu Reeves Agreed To Return For The Matrix Resurrections Under One Condition
For Keanu Reeves, making another "Matrix" movie wasn't about getting the chance to play Neo again. It was actually much more than that.
"I just think it's a film we could use right about now," the actor explained in a new interview with The Sydney Morning Herald. In fact, Reeves had never even planned or thought about returning to the role of Neo until just recently. "I mean, not really," he told the Herald, laughing.
When the "John Wick" star stepped away from the Neo character following 2003's "The Matrix Revolutions," he firmly believed it would be the third and final chapter for him. According to The Sydney Morning Herald, year after year would pass and Reeves would constantly get offers from "other agents" to make additional installments, but none truly enticed him. Reeves revealed there was one major thing holding him back, and it wasn't until Warner Bros. made it finally happen that he agreed to cast his hesitations aside and resurrect The One.
The Matrix Resurrections had to be a Wachowski project
For Keanu Reeves to ever come back for another "Matrix" film, the script had to not only be right, but also helmed by a Wachowski.
"For me, I had a hesitancy in being involved in something that wasn't signed off by the Wachowskis," he told The Sydney Morning Herald, referencing the famous siblings and directors behind the "Matrix" trilogy. "So I was grateful and thrilled when Lana gave me a call," Reeves remembered. According to him, there weren't even considerations of doing another "Matrix" movie until he sat down and began reading Lana Wachowski's script.
"It was all about the love story," Reeves said. "[Lana's] desire to bring Neo and Trinity [Carrie-Anne Moss] together again, and the feeling that it could be good medicine for her, for the story, and, potentially, for the audience," he added, noting how the death of Lana's parents served as the groundwork for "Resurrections" and its emotional themes. "I think Resurrections is a special film," Reeves concluded. "I think it's funny, I think the ideas are thought-provoking, inspiring, challenging. I think it can make you laugh, it can make you cry, the characters are great, and I think the spectacle of it is amazing."