Ode to Trinity: how an unknown actress turned the character that no one wanted to play into an icon
Forrest Gump took on the face of Tom Hanks only after John Travolta rejected him, Matthew McConaughey—and not DiCaprio—was the favorite to yell "I'm king of the world!" in Titanic and Sarah Jessica Parker's iconic Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City is the result of the failure of another actress, Dana Delany, who, if she had had a better eye, might today be the one who graces the covers. The history of iconic characters who were played by actors who were not even in the minds of those responsible for the works is as numerous and prolific as Hollywood itself. But few selection processes have been more crowded and talked about in recent times than that of Trinity, the Matrix hacker who, encased in black leather, shocked a generation of viewers while handing out kicks suspended in the air.
Although Carrie-Anne Moss ended up making the character a cultural icon, referenced in all kinds of movies, series and even on the catwalk, the then unknown actress was chosen as the last option after the refusal of several stars who did not know how to see the potential of the dystopia directed by the sisters Lilly and Lana Wachowski. A saga that returns almost two decades later to theaters this December 22 with Matrix Resurrections, delving into the wound of all those famous people who did not know how to see in Trinity a defining role of the new Hollywood.
Trinity's action scenes revolutionized the genre. Photo: Warner Bros.
"He wanted to kill me." That's how upset Madonna was last October on the couch of The Tonight Show when she revealed her grief for refusing to play Trinity in the first installment of The Matrix. The queen of pop revealed to Jimmy Fallon that she has never forgiven herself for declining the Wachowskis' offer and she declared herself a fan of the franchise. “It's one of the best movies ever made. Part of me regrets that time in my life." But she is not the only resident of the Los Angeles hills to think so.
Another of the great recent stars of the movie mecca, Sandra Bullock, also publicly confessed her bitterness for having buried the script for this incunabulum of science fiction in a drawer. “I would have loved to shoot The Matrix. When they offered it to me they still hadn't chosen Keanu and I didn't see myself with the person they wanted. Then I saw the movie and I loved it. It was sexy and cool because of Carrie-Anne and Keanu,” she said on the Today show. Such was the desire of the producers to have Bullock, in full swing in the mid-nineties thanks to Speed, that they even offered to change the sex of the main character so that she would play Neo. The Oscar winner was not convinced by that offer either and she rejected the possibility of starring in a film that grossed more than 450 million euros worldwide.
Although after linking the successes of Matrix, Memento or Chocolat, the Canadian made a meteoric niche in the industry, betting on the anonymous Carrie-Anne Moss was a very risky option for a project with a big budget and blockbuster ambitions. But, as the Wachowskis confessed in Kim Taylor-Foster's book Why We Love The Matrix, theirs was love at first sight. “As soon as we saw her at the audition we knew we had found our Trinity. Carrie-Anne had tremendous intensity and presence. Although she had no training as a fighter, she did seem like someone ready to throw a punch.” That the physical display shown by the actress ended up being the key that decided her signing is a statement reiterated by Moss herself, that she gave her all in each of the tests. “The camera tests were brutal. I made them at 190% capacity so they could see how tough I could get. Of course, afterwards he was not even able to walk.
Moss did a lot of the dangerous sequences in the saga, like this motorcycle chase. Photo: Warner Bros.
It was precisely the requirement of having to give life to a credible figure of action cinema that ended up separating another star from the project. Salma Hayek, who had just entered Hollywood through the big door with Dusk Till Dawn, did come to the audition and even ended up being one of the four finalists to win the role. However, her physical demands ended up being the sentence of the Mexican. “We had overcome many obstacles, camera tests and castings, and even brought in some stunt coordinators from Asia. I am flexible and agile, but I am also lazy. I never got to go to the gym. They told me, 'You have to run!', and I answered: 'Where to?' I couldn't even go around the room completely, ”she confessed during a chat with another of the many candidates to put on the legendary black leather suit, Jada Pinkett-Smith.
The actress and wife of Will Smith (first candidate to play Neo) liked the directors so much during the selection that they even wrote a character —Niobe— specially designed for her to play in the Matrix sequels. Even Hayek was impressed by the effort put in by her rival at the time: “My God, Jada was so good! She was so fit, so focused, so disciplined. She was very capable and kind, so I kept looking at that woman and thinking, 'When I grow up I want to be like her.' Why didn't she end up leading the cast then? Well, because of a reciprocal "lack of chemistry" with Keanu Reeves, recognized by the actress herself. Despite the praise received, Pinkett-Smith admits that the part ended up being the best of the audition. “I think Carrie-Anne was the perfect Trinity, and there's no way I could have done it like her. And this is the only time in my career that I've ever said something like that when I've lost a character," she added on EW. The interpreter will also get back into Niobe's skin for the imminent return of the franchise in Matrix Resurrections.
Neo and Trinity return to the digital world in the new installment of the franchise. Photo: Warner Bros.
Although the list of options that were considered for the role includes illustrious names such as Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie or Uma Thurman, at least two other stars who voluntarily rejected the position are known reliably: Gillian Anderson, at that time immersed in paranormal cases like Agent Scully in The X Files; and Janet Jackson. The singer ended up getting off the science-fiction ship due to a conflict of dates between the filming days and her international tour, thus fleeing from the best possible opportunity to embark on a film career that never materialized.
Moss's loyalty to the character was such that, despite having been able to follow the path of other contemporary action heroines such as Milla Jovovich or Kate Beckinsale and ensure a stable career in Hollywood by pigeonholing herself in the genre, she decided not to play any other. action character in the two decades that followed. “I do it out of respect for her and her film. It would make no sense to me, it would be like cheating on Trinity,” she said. The price to pay has been expensive: Moss never again had the opportunity to lead a movie with box office options and even experienced the rigors of macho ageism in Hollywood. “The day after I turned 40, they offered me a role as a grandmother (…) It is not easy to be in this business, there is a lot of external pressure,” she said. Few opportunities better than the premiere of The Matrix Resurrections to redeem yourself.
Up to twenty actresses were valued for this role. Photo: Warner Bros.
Tags: Actresses|Cinema|Matrix
