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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Wednesday, May 14, 2003

Stars dissect their parts in 'Matrix Reloaded'

By Bill Muller
The Arizona Republic

Meet the actors who play the key characters in "The Matrix Reloaded," the second film in the trilogy about a dystopian world in which people live in a perpetual dream state, while supplying power to the machines that run the planet.

Keanu Reeves is Neo, the gifted man fated to be "the one" to save the human race in a world ruled by computers, in "The Matrix Reloaded," opening tomorrow. The actor has blood ties to Hawai'i's sprawling Reeves 'ohana; his father was born here.

Warner Bros. via Gannett News Service

Neo

Principal hero of "The Matrix" followed Morpheus down the rabbit hole in the first film and discovered he was the would-be savior for the enslaved human race. Killed, but came back to life as a superman, powers he uses to great effect in "The Matrix Reloaded."

Keanu Reeves, on playing Neo:

"I think that Neo, in the beginning of 'Reloaded,' is full of a lot of fear about what he has to do and about the responsibilities. I don't think the character is such a reluctant hero this time. I think he's accepted it, but I don't think he's accepted it without question. Neo is trying to find out, 'What is my life?' And he's not just 'Oh, OK, so I'm going to have to make this choice.' He says, 'What if I fail?"'

Reeves says he likes the powerful love story between Neo and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss): "I get to love someone and I get to be loved by someone, and share that. I think the relationship between Neo and Trinity were some of my favorite days, to work with Carrie-Anne."

On "The Matrix Reloaded" as a whole: "It's not a film that answers the questions. It's a film generally that's asking questions. It doesn't give you the answer. I think it's more of a provocateur in the modern synthesis, in that American kind of (combining) different things, but it doesn't want to explain anything."

Morpheus

Teacher and captain of the hovercraft Nebuchadnezzar who has completed his lifelong mission of locating The One, in this case Neo. Now, he's charged with helping Neo defend the human stronghold of Zion against thousands of burrowing machines.

Laurence Fishburne, on playing Morpheus:

"Once Neo takes on the mantle of being The One, the way that Morpheus has functioned for most of his life, all those things cease to really work for him. So he has to make a huge adjustment in how he moves through the world. Here's what it is. In the third movie, he becomes more of a follower than a leader. He has to follow, and sometimes that's hard for a leader to do."

As an actor, in the second film, "I had to reveal more, so that was a bit scary. He's not just the guy with the glasses, scary and cool."

The Wachowski brothers, who wrote and directed the films, fought the studio to cast him in the original film. "I read the script and I knew I was playing Morpheus. I had that happen one other time (with) 'King of New York.' And 'King of New York' was written for a guy named James Russo and I read the part and I knew I was playing it."

'The Matrix Reloaded'

• Opens tonight at Dole Cannery 18 Theatres, Ward Stadium 16-Plex, Kahala 8-Plex, Koko Marina 8-Plex, Pearl Highlands 12, Pearlridge West 16-Plex, Kapolei 16-Plex, Mililani 14-Plex, Ko'olau 10-Plex, Keolu Center Cinemas, Windward Stadium 10, Maunaloa Town Cinemas (Moloka'i), Prince Kuhio Stadium Cinemas (Big Island), Makalapua Cinemas (Big Island), Keauhou 7-Plex (Big Island), Kaahumanu 6-Plex (Maui), Kukui Mall 4-Plex (Maui), Lahaina Cinemas (Maui), Coconut Marketplace Cinemas (Kaua'i).

• (R)

Trinity

Formidable and acrobatic "Matrix" heroine who finds herself drawn to Neo in the first film. Their relationship blossoms in "Reloaded," though Neo is haunted by a nightmare of Trinity being killed, an event he fears will come to pass.

Carrie-Anne Moss, on playing Trinity:

"I think that Trinity's just the greatest character that I could ever play. I don't expect to ever play another woman that wonderful. I have a lot of Trinity in me, for sure. What I like about the sequels is you get to see more of her, not just the warrior side of her. You get to see the woman, and I like that so much. Because it's much more interesting to play someone that's got many levels and layers to them."

Moss said she "loved every minute" of making the three films, though she broke her leg while training for the sequels.

"I hadn't even read the scripts when I signed on to do Two and Three — no one had read them — but if you knew (the Wachowskis) you would say yes. They're so incredible that you just want to be part of it, and also the first experience of making 'The Matrix' was so fantastic for me."

Persephone

Named for the mythological daughter of Zeus, who was abducted by Hades and causes Spring to bloom when she returns from the underworld each year. In the film, she is the beautiful but treacherous wife of Merovingian (Lambert Wilson), a bellicose, self-indulgent Matrix villain who's surrounded by a bevy of powerful bodyguards.

Monica Bellucci, on playing Persephone:

"My character is someone I wanted to play because there is something tragic about her. She's between two worlds. She's just an old program from an old Matrix. So she's not human, but she wants to feel human emotions, so she's like a vampire of emotions. She doesn't feel anything, almost. She can feel things just through the others. So there is something really sad and really tragic about her. It's not like sensuality. It's true she's mysterious, she's sensual, she's dangerous, but she's also desperate. Because she doesn't have feelings and she knows what it used to be like to have feelings. Like Persephone in the Greek mythology, she lives in the underworld but she wants to come back into the living world."

Niobe

Important figure in the resistance and captain of the hovercraft Logos, she is also a major figure in the video game, "Enter the Matrix." She once had a relationship with Morpheus, but has since moved on to Zion military commander Lock.

Jada Pinkett Smith, on playing Niobe:

"What I love about Niobe is that she was created for me. I met the Wachowskis for the first 'Matrix.' So I really didn't need to read anything, and I was told 'we created this character for you.' I was like, 'Really? Any nudity? No? All right then.' I did this movie because I love the Wachowski brothers. I did it because I love the project. I really didn't think about the notoriety. At the end of the day, it really was for the love of it. And to do a movie like this, it has to be.

"Niobe was written as a hard chick. She's struggling with her faith and what she believes and what's important to her. Her choices. This movie's about choices. Niobe, she's a warrior in the sense of that anything she feels strongly about, she's going to do it."