- 01
Most scenes were filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney and the city itself, avoiding recognizable landmarks to maintain a generic American city feel.
- 02
Filming began in March 1998 and wrapped in August 1998, taking 118 days for principal photography, with some scenes shot at Culver Studios.
-
- 03
The subway scene was filmed on a set built around a train storage facility due to the complexity of the fight and wire work.
- 04
- 05
The filming helped establish New South Wales as a major film production center.
- 06
The rooftop set used for Trinity's escape from Agent Brown was left over from the production of Dark City.
- 07
Due to Reeves's neck injury, action scenes were rescheduled to start with less physically demanding scenes, such as Thomas Anderson's office and the interrogation room.
- 08
The dojo set was built well before actual filming.
- 09
The helicopter used in the film was a full-scale, lightweight mock-up with a real minigun side-mounted to it, cycling at half its regular firing rate.
- 10
- 11
The office building where Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, with the outside view created by a three-story high cyclorama.
- 12
- 13
- 14
- 15
- 16
Carrie-Anne Moss performed her own wire stunts for the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film.
- 17
The bullet-time fight scene was filmed on the roof of the Symantec Corporation building in Kent Street, opposite Sussex Street.
- 18
- 19
- 20
Actors sustained bruises due to significant physical contact during action sequences.
- 21
- 22
To prepare for the scene where Neo wakes up in a pod, Reeves lost 15 pounds and shaved his whole body to give an emaciated look.
- 23
- 24
- 25
The scene where Neo fell into the sewer system concluded principal photography.
- 26
- 27
During the rehearsal of the lobby scene, Moss injured her leg and was unable to film the shot in one take.
- 28
The Matrix opened in US theaters on March 31, 1999, to widespread acclaim for its visual effects, action sequences, cinematography, and entertainment value.
- 29
- 30
Chad Stahelski, Reeves's stunt double, sustained several injuries during the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling.
- 31
Reeves's injury and insufficient wire training caused frustration and delays in filming the triple kicks scene, which was successfully shot a few days later.
- 32
- 33
During the rooftop scene, extra footage was filmed of Neo dodging bullets as a contingency in case the bullet-time process did not work.
- 34
The film grossed over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year.
- 35
- 36
- 37
In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."
