‘The Matrix Resurrections’: Keanu Reeves ‘Was Blown Away’ by the Film and Had an ‘Incredibly Insightful’ Reaction, Director Said

The Matrix Resurrections has received Keanu Reeves’ seal of approval. Director and co-writer Lana Wachowski shared the actor’s reaction to watching the film, sharing how he was “blown away” by it.

Keanu Reeves was ‘blown away’ by ‘The Matrix Resurrections’

Wachowski shared Reeves’ reaction after watching The Matrix Resurrections, explaining how the actor said something so “insightful” about the film. While speaking on a panel at the Berlin International Literature Festival in September, Wachowski said Reeves was so floored by the movie, he asked, “How did you do that?”

“We showed the film to Keanu and he really was blown away by it,” Wachowski said. “And he said something that was typically Keanu, where it’s incredibly insightful. And he’s just sort of sitting there and you don’t expect some incredible revelation to come out of him in that moment, but like, casual brilliance just sort of rolls off of Keanu.”

She continued, “And he was just sitting there, and he goes, ’20 years ago, you told a story in which you described the coming 20 years and the problems of the nature of digital, virtual life and how it was going to impact us and how we could think about it … and gave us a frame to be able to think about it and talk about it. And you took the same character and the same stories and the same stuff, and somehow you made it about the next 20 years.'”

Wachowski added, “And he was like, ‘How did you do that?’”

Wachowski shed some light on why she resurrected Neo and Trinity

Wachowski also discussed the personal motivation for resurrecting Neo (Reeves) and Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss).

“My dad died, then this friend died, then my mom died. I didn’t really know how to process that kind of grief. I hadn’t experienced it really that close … You know their lives are going to end and yet it was still really hard,” Wachowski explained. “My brain has always reached into my imagination and one night, I was crying and I couldn’t sleep and suddenly my brain just exploded this whole story.”

She continued, “And I couldn’t have my mom and dad, yet suddenly I had Neo and Trinity, arguably maybe the two most important characters in my life. It was immediately comforting to have these two characters alive again and it’s super simple.”

“You can look at it and say: ‘OK, these two people die and OK, bring these two people back to life and oh, doesn’t that feel good.’ Yeah, it did!,” she added. “And it’s simple, and this is what art does and that’s what stories do — they comfort us.”

Keanu Reeves explained why he returned to the movie franchise

In a 2020 interview with Empire, Reeves shared why he was returning for another installment of The Matrix series, explaining how the story “resonated” with him. “Lana Wachowski wrote a beautiful script and a wonderful story that resonated with me,” he explained. “That’s the only reason to do it.”

“To work with her again is just amazing. It’s been really special, and the story has, I think, some meaningful things to say, and that we can take some nourishment from,” Reeves added.