| From: | Manx timburke@*******.com.au |
|---|---|
| Subject: | The matrix (movie) SPOILERS |
| Date: | Sat, 10 Apr 1999 02:40:17 +1000 |
>
>:Anybody notice how a lot of the "post apocalyptic" movies are located in
>:Austrailia? Road Warrior series comes directly to mind. Just curious.
>
>
> I was wondering about that- the street names they kept giving were all
>Chicago street names, but I didn't recognize a damn thing, despite the fact
>that I work in the neighborhood where every street mentioned is located.
> I'd assumed most of it was filmed on a soundstage- I'm sure the fight
>scenes were. The subway trains did look (and sound) like real Chicago
>subway trains, which are distinctively crappy.
> So does Sydney have the same street names as Chicago, or did the script
>use our street names and (basic) layout, then shooting was done in
>Australia?
>
>Mongoose
Matrix was filmed entirely on location in Sydney, Australia.
All of the outdoor scenes were real Sydney streets with
fictious street names, obviously then from Chicago which
I didn't know until now. Most of the filming of street scenes
were done at really early hours of Sunday mornings and
vast amounts of the downtown core were off limits to the
general public. This was necessary as when you are
driving down the wrong side of the road in a left hand drive
car, if you don't close the streets down then head on collisions
tend to occur. We drive right hand drive cars on the left hand
side of the road.
Funnily enough most of the signs on buildings in the backgrounds
were real business signs. Usually signs will be taken down or
changed to show what the production wants. The rooftop
scenes show the corporate headquarters of some of
Australia's biggest companies.
Interestingly enough also two thirds of the special effects
were done here by Australian companies as well. I was
pleased to hear this as it finally shows the world that
we can make a movie that doesn't involve the f#&king
outback.
As for the big debate on the martial arts there is probably
a damn good reason why the fight scenes were not
as good as Jet Li. All the actors did their own fights.
There were NO stunt double martial arts experts doing
the fights. The cast trained exclusively for 5 months
with 11 different martial arts grand masters from Hong
Kong so that they could do these scenes. There was
a doco on TV yesterday (SBS The Movie Show) that
showed this training. Lawrence Fishburn broke
two ribs and shooting had to be suspended for him.
Sure the scenes were heavily choreographed and
most footage was sped up but the actors actually
earned their money on this one. They were on a special
diet for the whole five months and Carrie Ann Moss
(Trinity) later said at the end of the first week of Boot Camp
she was ready to quit and go home as it was so tough.
Personally I was pretty stoked that she toughed it
out as she got a hard bod for her efforts. Pretty funny
to think that she used to be the flaky psycho model
from Models Inc. (uurrrggghhhhhh).
Anyway enough from me. I enjoyed the film as
entertainment. I don't need to have everything
justified and scientifically accurate. It's just a
movie.
One thing is for sure though. It's now alot easier
for me to visualize a sculpted system and the matrix
in general.
Manx
timburke@*******.com.au
#950 of 1000
__________________________________
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- William Shakespeare
- Much Ado About Nothing a3.s1.l71
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