MATRIX: How did you first come to get your part?
CARRIE-ANNE: I auditioned in the regular way, first for the casting
director and then for the Wachowski brothers. After that I did this
most amazing three day process of screen testing for the film. The
first day of which was 3 hours of running, kung fu and taping all these
different fights. A really intense 3 hours of just brutal training
from which I couldn't walk for days.
MATRIX: Have you ever done anything like that before?
CARRIE-ANNE: No, I have only ever done a karate aerobics class. I
think the screen test felt so brutal because I tried so hard, I really
went at it 190% so the screen testers would know that I could do it that
hard, but afterwards I literally couldn't walk. In my training for the
film I tried to take it a little slower. During the government lobby
scene just before I had to do my cartwheel on the wall, I hurt one of my
ankles so badly I felt sure that I had broken it. I kept my boot on,
which I think supported it. The adrenaline of those three days of
fighting kept me going, and when the weekend came by I couldn't walk. I
still can't walk every morning when I first get up, and that was what,
four months ago?
MATRIX: Did the cast sport masseuse, Longie, help you any?
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes. Longie is the absolute king of our movie. He didn't
help my ankle so much because your ankle is a really difficult thing to
heal, you just have to keep off of it, but there were a couple of
mornings when I showed up for work with such severe neck pain that I
couldn't move my neck, and I was in tears thinking, "Oh my god I've got
to find him". He really saved me. He helped me to get grounded at the
beginning of the film as well, I was really nervous and unsure. He said
some great things and helped me a lot, kept my body really open. But it
has been painful work. I'm supposed to be getting a massage tomorrow,
but I'm not going to Longie. I'm going somewhere I can get a really
caressing massage; his are really intense. He really helped Larry and
Keanu as well.
MATRIX: I heard that Larry and Andy really wanted you in this film.
CARRIE-ANNE: It means a lot to me that they did. I was very
overwhelmed with it all at first. I can imagine the extent to which
they must have had to fight to have me in this film. I imagine that the
powers that be in Hollywood would have wanted someone more famous.
Those two guys must have believed in me so much.
MATRIX: Deservedly so,
considering the footage coming in.
CARRIE-ANNE: I feel like I have really accomplished something. I have
a couple of scenes where I think: "I wish, I wish, I wish I could do
that again", but overall I feel really proud.
MATRIX: How do you like Sydney?
CARRIE-ANNE: It's been great, I really enjoyed making the movie. I
don't think it would have mattered where I was. The city has got its
own idiosyncrasies, the language thing, for one.
MATRIX: The part of Trinity was a physically demanding part. How was that to cope with?
CARRIE-ANNE: My first
fight in the movie was unbelievable because I was doing
things I had done well a couple of times, but wasn't terribly
consistent with. Sometimes I would get it and sometimes I wouldn't. It was
like being an athlete and hitting my peak. I hit my peak the days
I shot. It was like this power that was bigger than me took over, and I
felt it in such an amazing way. I had amazing confidence, which was one
of the things that Yuen Ping [the fight choreographer] and his team
really worked on with me, they said it was my biggest thing and I agree
with them. They would say all you need is someone to believe in you, and they're right.
MATRIX: I can't imagine you've ever run up, or done flips,
off of a wall.
CARRIE-ANNE: That cartwheel was one of the hardest things. I learned
that three days before I had to do it, then I had to run up a wall which
made it even harder. The weekend before I had to do it, I was in the
training center in tears saying: "I can't do it, I can't do it!" I am
very emotional. Amongst all these men I am the emotional faucet. If I
don't get something right I get tough and I want to do it again, but I
also cry like a baby. I really didn't think I would be able to do that
one. Then my ankle went bad.
MATRIX: That happened before the cartwheel?
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes an hour before.
MATRIX: How did you manage?
CARRIE-ANNE: I have no idea. The nurse could not believe I could
walk. I told her that she could not tell anybody. Well, everyone knew
because I fell over on it and I was screaming: "Oh no!" But nobody knew
the extent to how bad it was.
MATRIX: So how did you keep on filming?
CARRIE-ANNE: I honestly have no idea, I didn't take anything. I guess
it was just adrenaline, because as soon as the weekend came I couldn't
walk. And then Monday came and I was back on set and did it all over
again. But I am paying for it now.
MATRIX: How about telling me about Larry and Andy.
CARRIE-ANNE: I love them. They are two incredible people, two of the
greatest men I have ever met. As filmmakers they are brilliant.
Just yesterday for instance, we did the last shot of the movie; they told me
to just cross here and do this, and when I looked at the screen I was
amazed because I had no idea of the shot they had created. The
composition, their style, their unbelievable artistic creativity and the
way that they shoot, every single frame is unbelievable.
MATRIX: Everything down to the smallest transition shot.
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes. And they are cool, they speak in a language that I
understand, which is really unusual. Every once in a while I meet a
director that I can get. I would be really happy to work the rest of my
life with them, with Keanu and Laurence and Hugo. I would be so happy
to never work with anyone ever again but I would be out of a job. I
feel so completely spoiled. I have been a huge fan of theirs since I saw
Bound'.
MATRIX: Was it a long shoot?
CARRIE-ANNE: It was 9 months for me. It has been the best time of my
life.
MATRIX: What's next?
CARRIE-ANNE: Rest. I have no idea. It is going to be hard to get
another job. I have been spoiled with my first big movie. I couldn't
have been more lucky.
MATRIX: It's been great seeing some of your scenes.
That Government lobby sequence is amazing.
CARRIE-ANNE: Can you imagine it on the big screen! It's going to be
awesome. This was all so long ago that I am going to be blown away when
I see it all again. We have been acting for the last month with no
action, so it will be really fascinating.
MATRIX: What does 'The Matrix' mean to you?
CARRIE-ANNE: When I first met the guys [Larry and Andy Wachowski] I had not read the script, but
had got the vibe of it from a couple of scenes that I had auditioned
for. I got the script right after that and when I read it, it reminded
me of one time at school when a teacher proposed this question to the
class: 'What if, right now, our sitting in this classroom is just a
dream? What if our lives are just dreams?' And in that moment, even
though we didn't have big discussions about it, a seed was planted in my
mind: it was the first time I thought that maybe life is not the
way I was told and taught, maybe things
are different. You grow up believing in evolution or religion or that
the world is flat, and whatever you've been told is what you
believe. I thought that day it could be something different, something
I'm not aware of. Sometimes I'll be walking through life and I'll
go, "Am I dreaming? How do I know this isn't a dream?" That's kind of the Matrix.
MATRIX: Thanks Carrie-Anne.
NEO STAND-IN |
MATRIX: How did you get involved in 'The Matrix'?
THOMAS: I was very fortunate in that I had my photograph with Liz Mullinar's casting and Tim Littleton, who was doing the casting, found my photograph and gave me a call. So I went in for the casting, he liked me, took some photographs, he looked at some other people, and fortunately for me, he decided to go with me.
MATRIX: So you have been on set since the beginning?
THOMAS: In mid March (1998) we started filming, so from then.
MATRIX: What has been your general impression of cast and crew now that it is almost over?
THOMAS: It has been fun. I personally enjoyed it. From what I gather it has been a long shoot compared to other films. It has been a very good crew and a very good cast, everybody got along well as far as I could see.
MATRIX: You have worked as a stand in for the last couple of months... what exactly does a stand in do?
THOMAS: Basically he stands in for the actor while they are setting up the scene, setting up the cameras, setting up the lights, focusing the cameras; just setting out how the set looks with the lights and the cameras. When it is all done, they kick you out and bring the real guys in to do it. It can get a bit frustrating when you are doing a complicated scene and you are doing certain moves from one particular side of the room to another, and you get really tight and think: I'm ready now for my take... and then they kick you out.
MATRIX: Have you worked with the insert units at all?
THOMAS: I have worked with second unit, you get a better chance of getting on camera with them.
MATRIX: What kind of scenes have you done with them?
THOMAS: In Neo's apartment when he wakes up in front of the computer and he starts typing on it, I am the double for his fingers. In the elevator shaft, as they climb up through the elevator to the top part of it and hook some clamps onto wires to explode the elevator, those are my hands. And I believe my arm and back will be in the infirmary scene, just after they have dished Neo out of the sewers and are putting him back together again.
MATRIX: So you are covered in needles?
THOMAS: Yes, covered with prosthetics and stuck with pins and needles. They are actually acupuncture needles.
MATRIX: How were your dealings with the principal actors?
THOMAS: The actors have been really good. Keanu has been very quiet.
MATRIX: You have been Keanu's stand in, but your contact has been minimal?
THOMAS: Pretty minimal. He keeps to himself, he doesn't talk much. I personally don't talk to him before he goes on. There are different things for different actors, some actors don't want to talk because they are in their character, they want to get into their role and if you talk to them you disturb their train of thought. It depends on the actor, and he seems to be a really intense sort of person. And when he is finished he is either off sitting with the other actors, or in his trailer. The other actors are more accessible in that they come around and say hello, they joke with you and talk to you, so you feel comfortable with them because you get to talk to them and to know them better. Hugo Weaving is really nice, he comes over and sits and talks to you, basically most of the other actors are like that.
MATRIX: What do you think of the story?
THOMAS: It's an adventure film really, a science fiction action film. It looks very similar to everyday life which we can relate to, but you go a bit beyond that and it is a totally different concept altogether, which is a bit hard to grasp. I think it will be a bit hard to grasp when you actually see the film because everything isn't real, it is all in the mind, all in the computer which no one knows about. Once you get to understand that, you get to understand what they are trying to do, in the sense that they want to free everyone so they realize what is actually happening. Try to recreate the life that was, instead of what is.
MATRIX: Thanks Thomas.
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