If the presence of a new actor for Morpheus, in Matrix Resurrections, had been planned from the start, that of a new interpreter for Agent Smith, originally played by Hugo Weaving, it was not.
As we know, the part was played by Jonathan Groff, which they say is fantastic in the film (we will only find out starting tomorrow, when Matrix Resurrections arrives in Italy), but the original plan was to bring Weaving back into the franchise.
Hugo Weaving was supposed to be in Matrix Resurrections
The revelation was made in a recent interview by the film’s co-writer, Aleksandar Hemon:
“A new Morpheus was there from the start. During my short career in film, I learned that making films is a world of contingency. And so people may or may not, you know, sign, and if they sign, some things may change. So we wrote some roles, I’m not going to reveal which ones, but we wrote a character for someone we thought could play it and then it wasn’t possible. (…) It didn’t change anything radically, we were just imagining this actor in that role. And then it turned out that it wasn’t possible, but we didn’t change anything. “
Herrin then went on to reveal that Hugo Weaving was the person they thought would play Agent Smith:
“There have been preliminary talks (with Weaving) but we have not been involved in these and it has not been fully resolved. Since the premise of The Matrix and the movies is somewhat different, Agent Smith would have been different in some ways, no matter who played him. And Jonathan Groff is fantastic in that role. It added a dimension that I couldn’t foresee as we were writing. But there is a greater emotional charge in the film and therefore it fits perfectly into that model. “
Weaving himself explained the evolution of the affair during an interview with Coming Soon, saying that he initially said yes to the role but that director Lana Wachowski eventually abandoned the idea:
“Lana Wachowski phoned me early last year. We worked together five times, the Wachowskis and I, on three Matrix films, V for Vendetta and Cloud Atlas. I have been dating them all over the world for many, many years. So, yes, Lana really wanted me to be involved in the Matrix. “
“In the end, we talked about it and when the offer came from Warner, I said yes the next day and spoke to Lana. I thought we could shoot my scenes in May, June and July (2020); and we talked about money and we talked about … they were negotiating. And we were all pretty clear and agreed on the dates and it worked out fine, but then Lana decided she didn’t think it was going to work. So, he pulled the plug on the negotiations… that was his decision. So, it was really… but, yeah, it would have been nice to be over there with all of them. I am very fond of Keanu and Carrie. Haven’t seen them in a while. But I’m looking forward to seeing the film. “
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