Lana Wachowski has helmed one of the most popular movie franchises of the past 20 years, making her among the foremost trans directors working in Hollywood — and this December, Warner Bros. has announced they will release The Matrix 4, a long-awaited followup to the beloved Matrix trilogy (and the first new installment since Lilly Wachowski, who co-directed the Matrix trilogy alongside her sister, confirmed that the original films were always meant to be a trans allegory). Amid anticipation for the latest sequel comes word from behind the scenes that Lana Wachowski is continuing “to do things her own way.”
Neil Patrick Harris, a new addition to the cast, recently opened up about his experience filming the upcoming sci-fi flick on location in Berlin. During an interview for Variety’s Just For Variety podcast, Harris expressed his surprise at how intimate the set felt for a multimillion dollar production — a quality he attributed to Wachowski’s unique directing style. “You would think that a giant movie would be 100% storyboarded, animatics, and we’d be checking off shots,” the How I Met Your Mother actor said. “I think [Lana] lived that before three times over, and I would suspect that she wants to do things her own way now. It wasn’t often that you felt that you were doing something gigantic, because she made it feel very intimate.”
Creative freedom on such a grand scale is a rare feat for trans directors, who in large part haven’t had the opportunity to helm blockbusters at all. That Lana — who is directing The Matrix 4 on her own — continues to lead film productions of this magnitude is a testament to her status as an industry trailblazer. Her power to run a set in her own way with minimal interference is a promising sign of progress.
“[The production] didn’t feel large because it felt like [Lana] was in her sweet spot, which was filming on the fly, filming using natural light,” Harris told Variety. “Sometimes you’d sit around for an hour waiting for the clouds to clear, and then you’d quickly film. You’d film pages at a time in 30 minutes and then be done.”
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Hopefully Wachowski’s continued success is setting a precedent for the future of Hollywood. Judging from The Academy’s recent decision to exclude Sam Feder’s phenomenal documentary Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screen from the 2021 Oscars shortlist, it’s clear the industry still has a long way to go toward recognizing and embracing trans artists.
While plot details for The Matrix 4 remain scarce, we do know that Wachowski has reassembled much of the original cast (Keanu Reeves as Neo, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, and Jada Pinkett Smith as Niobe) while adding several new exciting names, including Watchmen’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Quantico’s Priyanka Chopra, and Game of Thrones’ Jessica Henwick. In addition to Harris, we can also look forward to appearances from other talented queer performers like Looking’s Jonathan Groff and Sense8’s Brian J. Smith.
The Matrix 4 will premiere in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22.
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