Actors Who Almost Played The Main Characters
A number of high-profile actors turned down the opportunity to star in The Matrix, including Brad Pitt, Will Smith, and Sean Connery.
1999's The Matrix kicked off one of the most iconic franchises of all time, but there were a handful of prominent actors who turned down roles in the first movie. In The Matrix, humans are enslaved in a virtual reality and lead a revolution to free themselves in the real world. At the time, it was a massive project from the Wachowskis, a relatively obscure filmmaking duo who had just made one previous movie – Bound.
A big-budget action flick with intriguing science and deep philosophical principles, it was a major risk for Warner Bros. at the time. It was also a hard film to make, and the studio saw a lot of rejections before they were able to lock down a cast. Eventually, The Matrix cast landed Keanu Reeves as Neo, Laurence Fishburne as Morpheus, Carrie-Anne Moss as Trinity, and Hugo Weaving as the villainous Agent Smith.
After its release, The Matrix would go on to be an astounding success, grossing over $463 million worldwide and spawning two sequels (plus a third to be released in 2021). The original is considered by many to be one of the best sci-fi films of all time. In hindsight, the actors who turned down roles in The Matrix possibly regret doing so. But who exactly could have been part of The Matrix cast had things gone differently? Here's a look at all of the actors who nearly starred in each main role.
Neo
Keanu Reeves took on the starring role as Neo. Born computer programmer Thomas A. Anderson, the Oracle's prophecy says that Neo is the One to free humanity from their enslavement within the Matrix. It's hard to imagine anyone other than Reeves and his understated coolness in this role, but a number of Hollywood megastars almost took it – most notably, Will Smith. In the late '90s, Smith was coming off starring in a number of blockbusters, including Bad Boys, Independence Day and Men In Black.
But when Smith was offered the part of Neo, he turned it down – choosing to make the critical and commercial flop Wild Wild West instead. Smith said that he thought The Matrix was "too ambitious" and he didn't feel confident that the bullet-time special effects would work. In hindsight, he praised Reeves' performance, and said he was "not mature enough as an actor" at the time to successfully play the role. (At least he got a hit song out of Wild Wild West.)
Smith was far from the only star who nearly played Neo. Nicolas Cage was also offered the role, but turned it down due to the fact it was shot in Australia and he didn't want to be away from his family for so long. Brad Pitt turned it down to star in Fight Club, as did Val Kilmer to star in At First Sight. And Johnny Depp was also close to playing the lead role. In fact, Depp was the Wachowski's first choice, and the studio began to consider him after Pitt and Kilmer turned them down. But then Reeves became available, and at the time, he was a much bigger star.
Morpheus
Laurence Fishburne took the role of Morpheus, a human freed from the Matrix that leads the revolution and recruits Neo to be a part of it. At the time, Fishburne didn't understand why others found the script so confusing, but also believed the film was too smart to ever be made. Either way, he was one of many prominent actors who got the offer to play Morpheus. Russell Crowe turned it down, although things worked out fine for him; he went on to star in three-straight Oscar-nominated roles from 1999 to 2001: The Insider, Gladiator, and A Beautiful Mind (winning for Gladiator). Samuel L. Jackson and Gary Oldman were also considered for the part, according to the film's composer, Don Davis.
There is a bit of conflicting information as to whether or not Sean Connery was offered the role of Morpheus. Connery has confirmed that he was offered a part in the Matrix franchise - the role of the architect in the later films, a role he turned down and eventually went to Helmut Bakaitis. However, multiple publications, including Complex and CNN, have written that he was also offered Morpehus. Regardless, he passed on the chance to be in both The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings franchises, which was a big reason why he ended up in The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen.
Trinity
Carrie-Anne Moss played Trinity, a freed member of Morpheus' hovercraft and Neo's love interest. Before landing this role, the Canadian actress was relatively unknown, with most of her previous work being on television (coincidentally, including a short-lived Canadian fantasy adventure series titled Matrix). The Matrix turned her into an international star, but she was not the only actress considered for the role.
The Wachowskis were close to casting pop superstar Janet Jackson as Trinity, but she had too many scheduling conflicts to make it work. Filming took place during the same year as The Velvet Rope Tour, which was turned into an Emmy-winning HBO documentary. At one point, Warner Bros. and the Wachowskis considered casting a female Neo, and the choice would have been Sandra Bullock. Bullock was reportedly considered for Trinity as well, but the part would eventually go to Moss.
Agent Smith
Agent Smith is one of the most iconic bad guys in film history, an agent of the Matrix whose goal is to stop humans from escaping. The villain is played to perfection by Hugo Weaving, who would go on to work with the Wachowskis again in the title role of V For Vendetta. (Unfortunately, Weaving won't return for The Matrix 4.) Weaving was not the first actor offered the role – that was Jean Reno, the veteran French actor who also appeared in Mission: Impossible, Godzilla, and The Da Vinci Code. However, like Nicolas Cage, Reno was not willing to move to Australia for the length of the production.
Seraph
Seraph did not appear in the first Matrix movie, but he became a somewhat integral part of the story in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. Seraph acts as a personification of a login screen that guards the Oracle, and fights users to authenticate their identity. He was a relatively minor character in the franchise, but two high-profile actors turned down the role. First, Michelle Yeoh declined the Matrix role to a scheduling conflict. The offer then went to Jet Li, who was met with some odd requests, as Li relayed to Abacus:
“It was a commercial struggle for me. I realized the Americans wanted me to film for three months but be with the crew for nine. And for six months, they wanted to record and copy all my moves into a digital library. By the end of the recording, the right to these moves would go to them ... I was thinking: I’ve been training my entire life. And we martial artists could only grow older. Yet they could own [my moves] as an intellectual property forever. So I said I couldn’t do that.”
Because Li didn't want to lose ownership of his martial arts moves, he declined to star in The Matrix sequels. The role eventually went to Collin Chou.
