Alright…another alternative movie casting. I find these astonishing as casting is what makes or breaks a movie. The better a script is written; the better you should (in theory) be able to cast. So over lunch I was reading about the Matrix…it’s currently on Netflix.

Keanu was not initially considered (in the late 90s he gave us Feeling Minnesota, A Walk in the Clouds and Chain Reaction…yeah thanks but no thanks!).

So Matrix was offered to:

Will Smith (who passed to make Wild Wild West…Smith would be decent I guess…)

Brad Pitt (no! And anyways that year Pitt wisely made the other system is not real movie: Fight Club.)

Leo (hell no! He said no as he didn’t want to do another special effects heavy movie. Whew.)

The producers got so desperate they offered it to Sandra Bullock saying they’d make Neo a girl. Can you imagine Bullock saying “Woah I know kung-fu?” Get outta here. Ridiculous.

Morpheus gets interesting…they initially asked Val Kilmer. Oh! That so works. Fishburne of course killed it in that role but Kilmer is a solid choice. I’d see that.

And if you’re keeping score at home this is how 1999 unfolded:
The Matrix March 31, 1999

Columbine High School massacre April 20, 1999
Napster June 1, 1999
That’s 3 major lifestyle altering hugely historical events. That’s it.

Join me next time as we discuss Johnny Depp being offered the Office Space next door neighbour whose life goal is to do “two chicks at the same time.”

-28-

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