The first article is a big one, from Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph. Accompanying it were 3 “exclusive” photographs of Keanu Reeves and Hugo Weaving that I couldn’t grab because my scanner doesn’t like me right now. If any Sydney readers could scan them in and submit them to the gallery, that would be great.
:Sunday 9th of September:
KEANU’S FIGHT CLUB
By PHILLIP KOCH
It’s a punishing regime, with no favours given or recieved. Up early, arrive on the lot at 7:30am and train for up to 10 hours.
Action man Keanu Reeves and his co-stars Laurence Fishburne, Hugo Weaving and Carrie-Ann Moss are in training at Sydney’s Fox Studios to reprise their roles in the sequels to The Matrix.
“All the actors have been undergoing intensive training,” confirmed an insider on the set of The Matrix Reloaded.
“There is a small army of martial arts trainers out at Fox Studios. Keanu, Carrie, Hugo and Laurence were on set every day last week.
“They emerge only for a lunch break and they’re usually in training gear. The caterer has also prepared high-protein diets for them.”
Forget Hollywood glamour. After tough workouts at the purpose-built gym to get in shape for the demanding fight sequences, even Reeves was hardly recognisable in a tracksuit, beanie and boots.
Reeves said his role in The Matrix 2 and 3 would be far more physically challenging than the original blockbuster.
“It’s fantastic,” the actor told US reporters.
“It has even more ambitions than the first one. My character is more developed.
“There are a lot of physically demands in it. It’s a lot more sophisticated in the action sequences and fight sequences.”
The star of Speed and Point Break has kept a low profile since his arrival last week, spending most of his downtime in his suite at The Rocks’ Quay Grand Hotel.
Matrix insiders say he is still suffering from depression after the stillbirth of his daughter last year and death of girlfriend Jennifer Syme in a car crash in April.
Moss was spotted picking up her husband, Steven Roy, at Sydney Airport last weekend and the couple have since spent much time on set together.
Fishburne, 40, who set up home in Bondi, has spent a lot of time on set and in the beach suburb with fiancee Gina Torres.
Local star Hugo Weaving obviously took his new excercise regime seriously and cycled to Fox Studios every day last week.
Moss and Fishburne both joined former US president Bill Clinton at a Sydney Children’s Hospital fundraiser at Randwick last night.
The $200 million Matrix sequels will be filmed back to back at Fox Studios over the next four months, and will feature up to 40 Sydney locations. Although the sets are still under constructon, filming is scheduled to start on September 24, with hundreds of wannabe actors needed to play extras.
“We need hundreds of local men,” confirmed Matrix publicist Fiona Searson.
“But they need to stand between 183cm and 188cm to be considered for a role.”
I think we can safely say the the following paragraph is NOT TRUE:
The men will play Keanu look-alikes for a cloning sequence laden with special effects which is integral to both films.
A Sydney City Council spokesman said that while no official application had been recieved, Matrix Reloaded was expected to be less disruptive than the original.
“We believe the main unit will be shooting for two weeks only in Sydney,” he said.
Brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski will direct the sequels, in which Will Smith’s wife, Jada Pinkett-Smith, will also star.
Meanwhile, thousands of Keanu Reeves look-alikes queued for their chance at fame at Newtown Theatre yesterday.
The mass of hopefuls, all wearing dark glasses and a dark suit jacket, stretched down several block of King St from 9am.
Hundreds who turned up at 11am looked despondently at the queue and headed back home.
Once inside the doors of the theatre, those auditioning were told to stand in front of a silhouette.
Those who matched the figeure were then teamed with another candidate and photographed standing beside a Hugo Weaving cut-out.
In fine Hollywood tradition, those who reached the photograph-and-form stage were told: “We’ll call you.”
Also of note is the fact that Keanu Reeves did an interview on Triple M radio’s Deadset Legends show during the casting call, so I missed it due to standing in line.
The above article was syndicated to a few other newspapers, in a shorter form. This is from The Sunday Mail (either South Australian, or Queenslander, I don’t know which one).
:Sunday, 9th September:
HOW KEANU GETS HIS KICKS
By PHILLIP KOCH
HOLLYWOOD actor Keanu Reeves is hoping to kick-start his career with The Matrix sequels.
Reeves, stung by a string of box office flops and personal tragedy, arrived in Sydney last week to start work on two follow-ups to the 1999 Oscar-winning movie and immediately got stuck into a punishing training regime.
Along with co-stars Carrie-Ann Moss, Laurence Fishburne and Australian Hugo Weaving, Reeves arrives on the Fox Studios lot at 7.30am and trains for up to 10 hours.
“All the actors have been undergoing intensive martial arts training,” one insider on the set of Matrix Unloaded said. “They emerge only for a lunch break and they’re usually in training gear. The caterer has also prepared high protein diets for them.”
After workouts at the purpose-built gym to get in shape for the demanding fight sequences, even Reeves is hardly recognisable in sweatpants, beanie and boots.
Despite Reeves’ enthusiasm for the sequels, The
Matrix insiders say he still has depression following the stillbirth of his daughter last year and death of his girlfriend, Jennifer Syme, in a car crash in April.
Yes, it seriously DOES say “The Matrix Unloaded”. You can find a scanned version of this article here.
Also in Sydney papers, there were a few articles about Bill Clinton’s fundraising dinner. They simply mentioned that Carrie-Ann and Laurence turned up. And it also mentions that Laurence was the first of many to leave the building for a cigarette. There were photos of the guests, Matrix stars included, however like I previously mentioned my scanner is mean and doesn’t work.
Anyway, they’re the articles from the weekend’s news