Neo, the iconic character played by Keanu Reeves in Matrix (1999) and its aftermath, faced a momentous decision at the beginning of the saga. Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) gave him a choice between the blue pill (“If you take the blue pill, end of story: you’ll wake up in your bed and believe what you want to believe”) and the red pill (“If you take the red pill, you’ll you’ll stay in wonderland and I’ll show you how far the rabbit hole goes »).
That choice was the trigger for the plot of Matrix, which would later be followed Matrix Reloaded Y Matrix Revolutions, both from 2003, and now Matrix Resurrections, which has just been released. However, there was a decision prior to the one Neo had to make in Matrix that would have changed the saga completely: the one mistakenly taken by the famous actor whom the then Wachowski brothers – now sisters – offered the role of Neo before Keanu Reeves.
That actor was Will Smith. “When they proposed the role of Neo in the Matrix to me they said to me: ‘Man, we were thinking that you imagine that you are in a fight and that, by jumping, you could stop the jump in the middle while people can see you at 360 degrees as if the jump would have stopped, “acknowledged Will Smith in a video posted by the actor on his YouTube channel.
If Will Smith had accepted the role of Neo, the character of Morpheus that Laurence Fishburne eventually played would have been for Val Kilmer, as Will Smith himself explains in that video. The truth is that this would not have been the only change in the distribution of Matrix and its sequels if Will Smith had said yes to the Wachowski brothers.
The actresses who could be Trinity
The character of Trinity embodied by Carrie Ann-Moss could have interpreted it Sandra Bullock, who turned down the role because he thought Will Smith was going to be Neo. Sandra Bullock has also regretted making that decision that, in addition, would have allowed her to work with Keanu Reeves again after the success of Speed (1994). What’s more, the Wachowski brothers also thought of Sandra Bullock as Neo, but the actress didn’t see herself in that role either.
The list of actresses who sounded like candidates to give life to Trinity in Matrix it included other well-known names. Among them, those of Angelina Jolie, Marisa Tomei, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Lopez, Salma Hayek, Elizabeth Hurley, Uma Thurman, Drew Barrymore, Kate Hudson, Ashley Judd and Lucy Liu.
