British actress Jessica Henwick has been sort of a go-to genre actress for ages with roles in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Marvel’s Iron Fist series as Colleen Wing, Rian Johnson’s sequel to Knives Out, and sadly had her scenes deleted in Legendary’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
Henwick’s next big role is playing the new character Bugs in Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections sharing screentime with Keanu Reeves’ Neo and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II’s new incarnation of Morpheus (previously played by Laurence Fishburne).
Speaking with Entertainment Weekly, the actress revealed some tough choices were made during the casting of the fourth Matrix film and had to turn down a huge opportunity, a chance to officially join the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Henwick had her own leap of faith to take. Best known for playing Nymeria Sand on Game of Thrones and Colleen Wing on Iron Fist, she was up for a role in Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings at the same time she was up for the role of Bugs.
She could audition for a potential role in Destin Daniel Cretton’s Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings, but wouldn’t be allowed to pursue both parts with The Matrix sequel winning out.
Both Disney and Warner Bros. knew about the other offer and gave her an ultimatum: She could audition for their movie only if she forfeited the competing project. Neither role was guaranteed. “It was a red-pill/blue-pill moment for me,” she says.
This would mean that Marvel Studios didn’t have plans to resurrect the Iron Fist series or her character if they were looking to give her a new part in the MCU. It’s unclear what role she would have auditioned for in Shang-Chi. Also, continues the stance that the Marvel/Netflix shows are not part of the MCU canon.
The Matrix Resurrections debuts on HBO Max and theaters next month.
Dune is about to release domestically this week, the film is one part of the original Frank Herbert novel with director Denis Villeneuve promising that he’s been developing the second part, Dune: Part Two, for a potential late 2022 shoot.
Well, it sounds like WarnerMedia Studios CEO Ann Sarnoff is all but confirming to Deadline that the second part is all but moving forward.
“Will we have a sequel to Dune? If you watch the movie you see how it ends. I think you pretty much know the answer to that,” Sarnoff told Deadline on the fate of the Dune sequel.
DUNE – A mythic and emotionally charged hero’s journey, Dune tells the story of Paul Atreides, a brilliant and gifted young man born into a great destiny beyond his understanding, who must travel to the most dangerous planet in the universe to ensure the future of his family and his people. As malevolent forces explode into conflict over the planet’s exclusive supply of the most precious resource in existence—a commodity capable of unlocking humanity’s greatest potential—only those who can conquer their fear will survive.
Also, could we get The Matrix 5 from Lana Wachowski? It seems that WarnerMedia is open to that idea too.
“Anytime Lana (Wachowski) wants to make a movie, we’re all in,” Sarnoff said in response of more Matrix films beyond The Matrix Resurrections.
Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections is easily part one of a potential new trilogy, but we’ll have to wait to see how audiences react to the new cyberpunk project. I wouldn’t be shocked if both The Matrix 5 and The Matrix 6 could be on the table, if Wachowski pushes for it and wants to continue on.
The next film releases in theaters and HBO Max on December 22.
THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS – In a world of two realities—everyday life and what lies behind it—Thomas Anderson will have to choose to follow the white rabbit once more. Choice, while an illusion, is still the only way in or out of the Matrix, which is stronger, more secure and more dangerous than ever before.
Keanu Reeves is currently shooting John Wick 4, but is also lining up future projects including a feature film adaptation of his newly released Boom! Studios comic book, BRZRRK, that was picked-up by Netflix.
Here is the official press for the comic book.
BOOM! Studios is proud to announce BRZRKR, a twelve-issue limited series from the iconic Keanu Reeves in his Must Read comic book writing debut alongside New York Times bestselling co-writer Matt Kindt (Folklords, Bang!) and acclaimed artist Ron Garney (Wolverine, Captain America), colorist Bill Crabtree (BRPD), and letterer Clem Robins (Hellboy) in a brutally violent new series about one immortal warrior’s fight through the ages.
The man known only as B. is half-mortal and half-God, cursed and compelled to violence…even at the sacrifice of his sanity. But after wandering the world for centuries, B. may have finally found a refuge – working for the U.S. government to fight the battles too violent and too dangerous for anyone else. In exchange, B. will be granted the one thing he desires – the truth about his endless blood-soaked existence…and how to end it.
Reeves has given Collider a tiny development update on the BRZRKR film, revealing they’ve landed screenwriter Mattson Tomlin to tackle the script for the live-action film. Tomslin previously worked on The Batman with director Matt Reeves, the Netflix film Project Power, a Mega Man movie, and is developing an anime series set within the Terminator universe for the streaming service.
“We’re working on trying to set up a company with the animation and we’ve hired a writer for the film Mattson Tomlin. He’s been cool and just starting to put things together. That’s where we’re at.”
A director has yet to be announced but we’re hopeful that a seasoned filmmaker with action chops lands the gig. Given that they’ve just started developing a script there isn’t likely a production start in mind and unlikely conflicts with plans for John Wick 5 or potential Matrix sequels.
Yesterday, saw the release of the first trailer for Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix Resurrections with Keanu Reeves back as The One, Neo.
Interestingly enough, the film’s official synopsis suggests that the new film is only going by the previous events of The Matrix, not the two sequels. It was previously assumed that Resurrections would be a follow-up to The Matrix Revolutions, making many believe that Warner Bros. might be consider the previous films as taking place outside of canon.
The Matrix Resurrections is a continuation of the story established in the first MATRIX film. It reunites Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss as cinematic icons Neo & Trinity in an expansion of their story that ventures back into the Matrix and even deeper down the rabbit hole. A mind-bending new adventure with action and epic scale, it’s set in a familiar yet even more provocative world where reality is more subjective than ever and all that’s required to see the truth is to free your mind.
20 years after the first film, the franchise that helped define pop culture at the turn of the century is back for a continuation and extension of the original movie. The Matrix remains in the zeitgeist as a film that has changed the way we look at cinema and reality itself. With its game changing action and visual effects, The Matrix helped pave the way for films to follow.
Very interesting they’re not talking about the trilogy, only the original movie.
If true, this could mean that there were alternative events that took place between The Matrix and The Matrix Resurrections that are different from what happened in the previous two films. While this could be simple phrasing from the studio to potentially skirt the use of the films to promote the new one, since Reloaded and Revolutions aren’t as highly regarded as the original.
Clearly, certain things from the other films will carry over as seen in the trailer.
There is also the possibility that moving the story forward potentially needed to ignore the events of those films as well.
Another interesting thing is that actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II captioned on Instagram his image from the new trailer with “Morpheus,” suggesting that he is indeed playing a young version of the character in the film.
From visionary filmmaker Lana Wachowski comes “The Matrix Resurrections,” the long-awaited fourth film in the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre. The new film reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the iconic roles they made famous, Neo and Trinity.
The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the “Aquaman” franchise) Jessica Henwick (TV’s “Iron Fist,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” TV’s “Mindhunter”), Neil Patrick Harris (“Gone Girl”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s “Quantico,”), Christina Ricci (TV’s “Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”), Telma Hopkins (TV’s “Dead to Me,”), Eréndira Ibarra (series “Sense8,” “Ingobernable”), Toby Onwumere (TV’s “Empire”), Max Riemelt (series “Sense8”), Brian J. Smith (series “Sense8,” “Treadstone”), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Angel Has Fallen,” TV’s “Gotham”).
Lana Wachowski directed from a screenplay by Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis. The film was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski. The executive producers were Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman. Wachowski’s creative team behind the scenes included “Sense8” collaborators: directors of photography Daniele Massaccesi and John Toll, production designers Hugh Bateup and Peter Walpole, editor Joseph Jett Sally, costume designer Lindsay Pugh, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, and composers Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, In Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, In Association with Venus Castina Productions, “The Matrix Resurrections.” The film will be distributed by worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will be in theaters nationwide and on HBO Max via the Ad-Free plan on December 22, 2021; it will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.
Lana Wachowski is back to bring us a fourth Matrix film with The Matrix Resurrections and we’ll see the return of Keanu Reeves’ Neo alongside some other familiar faces and new ones as well.
Warner Bros. has dropped the first trailer for the new film after giving us some teases of footage on the film’s website, which is a neat marketing tool that really hasn’t been used with a mainstream movie in a very long time. I can’t really remember the last time people were actually drawn to a film’s website for marketing purposes outside of things like The Dark Knight.
There is a strong indication this is the first installment of a new Matrix trilogy.
From visionary filmmaker Lana Wachowski comes “The Matrix Resurrections,” the long-awaited fourth film in the groundbreaking franchise that redefined a genre. The new film reunites original stars Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in the iconic roles they made famous, Neo and Trinity.
The film also stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (the “Aquaman” franchise) Jessica Henwick (TV’s “Iron Fist,” “Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens”), Jonathan Groff (“Hamilton,” TV’s “Mindhunter”), Neil Patrick Harris (“Gone Girl”), Priyanka Chopra Jonas (TV’s “Quantico,”), Christina Ricci (TV’s “Escaping the Madhouse: The Nellie Bly Story,” “The Lizzie Borden Chronicles”), Telma Hopkins (TV’s “Dead to Me,”), Eréndira Ibarra (series “Sense8,” “Ingobernable”), Toby Onwumere (TV’s “Empire”), Max Riemelt (series “Sense8”), Brian J. Smith (series “Sense8,” “Treadstone”), and Jada Pinkett Smith (“Angel Has Fallen,” TV’s “Gotham”).
Lana Wachowski directed from a screenplay by Wachowski & David Mitchell & Aleksander Hemon, based on characters created by The Wachowskis. The film was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue and Lana Wachowski. The executive producers were Garrett Grant, Terry Needham, Michael Salven, Jesse Ehrman and Bruce Berman. Wachowski’s creative team behind the scenes included “Sense8” collaborators: directors of photography Daniele Massaccesi and John Toll, production designers Hugh Bateup and Peter Walpole, editor Joseph Jett Sally, costume designer Lindsay Pugh, visual effects supervisor Dan Glass, and composers Johnny Klimek and Tom Tykwer.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents, In Association with Village Roadshow Pictures, In Association with Venus Castina Productions, “The Matrix Resurrections.” The film will be distributed by worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It will be in theaters nationwide and on HBO Max via the Ad-Free plan on December 22, 2021; it will be available on HBO Max for 31 days from theatrical release.
THE RONIN 