Hollywood star Brad Pitt has joined the stars who turned down actor Keanu Reeves' role in The Matrix. Pitt reflected on the parts he passed over while accepting the Maltin Modern Master Award at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in California on January 22, 2020, and said he was up for the character of Neo in the 1999 blockbuster, reports aceshowbiz.com.
Pitt said: "I really believe it (part) was never mine. It's someone else's and they go and make it. I really do believe in that... but I did pass on 'The Matrix'." 'But I did pass on the Matrix. I took the red pill,' he said. The joke refers to the tablet in the movie that allows Neo to leave the sanitized Matrix and face the real world.
The Matrix was filmed from March to August 1998, so there may have been overlap with Brad's movie Fight Club, which had a lengthy shoot late that year. Fight Club was released in 1999 to a divided critical response and disastrous box office results, but has since become a cult classic.
Meanwhile, The Matrix bowed the same year and became an international phenomenon with two sequels, catapulting Keanu to new heights of stardom. Will Smith, Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, Leonardo DiCaprio and Johnny Depp were also in talks to star in the film, which spawned two sequels and last year 2019, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura told a portal The Wrap that even Sandra Bullock was approached to front the film.
"We went out to so many people... We were getting desperate. We went to Sandy Bullock and said 'We'll change Neo to a girl.' We sent her the script to see if she was interested in it. And if she was interested in it we would try to make the change," Bonaventura told the website. He added: "It just wasn't something for her at the time. So really it didn't go anywhere."
Reeves and his old "The Matrix" castmates, Carrie-Anne Moss and Jada Pinkett Smith are currently circling the start date for a third sequel.