Why Carrie-Anne Moss returned to the ass-kicking Matrix role that changed her life forever

Carrie-Anne Moss has made an unexpected admission as she returns to the ass-kicking Matrix role that made her a star.

Carrie-Anne Moss never thought she’d return to the Matrix and the role that changed her life. The Canadian actor had appeared in TV shows including Models Inc, Baywatch and F/X: the Series through the ’90s, but it was playing stern-faced, ass-kicking freedom warrior Trinity in the 1999, Sydney-shot, sci-fi action thriller that propelled her to global stardom.

The image of her clad head-to-toe in black PVC, hanging in mid-air, before exploding into a furious flurry of gravity-defying martial arts moves in the opening scenes of the first film introduced audiences to a world and a style of action (known as “bullet time”) they had never seen before, as the avatars of humans plugged into a virtual world fought to conquer the machines that had enslaved them.

Moss returned to the role in two back-to-back sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (released six months apart in 2003) but once the story of the last vestiges of humanity finally triumphing over artificial intelligence overlords was completed, she figured she was done.

Plus, there was the inconvenient fact that Trinity had been rather nastily, and seemingly terminally, impaled as she and Keanu Reeves’ messiah figure Neo travelled to the Machine City for a final showdown.

Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves in a scene from The Matrix Resurrections.

But death is rarely a barrier in sci-fi, and when she finally got a text message from director Lana Wachowski that a long-rumoured fourth film – appropriately called The Matrix Resurrections – was finally going ahead, she was all in right away.

“I had no hesitancy whatsoever,” she says.

“I was completely surprised and thrilled at the idea. I definitely didn’t foresee having this experience again but it’s been fun.”

Moss has very fond memories of shooting the Matrix trilogy in Sydney.

Not only does she miss her beachside base in Coogee and her flat whites (“who knew that Aussies were so good at making coffee?”) but she also thrived on the extreme action sequences and the new challenges thrown at her every day on set.

“It definitely stretched me and made me grow as a person physically, spiritually, emotionally – every way,” she says.

“Obviously, the highlights of my life are giving birth to my children.

“And then the Matrix, with my career and my life, that’s a huge highlight for sure.”

Moss pauses for a moment to deal with something happening off the Zoom screen in the Connecticut home she shares with her husband and their three children.

“If you’re hearing something in the background, my middle son is watching the second Matrix right now,” she says with a laugh.

“He’s never seen it and he is home from school watching the second Matrix, which is so funny.”

Carrie-Anne Moss defying gravity in “bullet time” in the original Matrix movie.

Given it’s been 17 years since the most recent film was released, Moss says she’d forgotten a lot, but it had been a joy rediscovering the world through the eyes of her children.

In addition, signing up for the new movie – this time shot in San Francisco, Chicago and Germany – was a big commitment and knowing that the whole family were on board as fans as well was a huge comfort and support.

“He’s very excited to see the fourth,” she says.

“It’s wonderful to have my children be older and get to be a part of this incredible thing for me.

“When I found out about the fourth Matrix I knew that it was going to demand a lot of me with the training and just the vigour, and my family all rallied around and supported Mum to go out and do this, and they were definitely part of it.

“So, it’s going to be very special for all of us to watch it as a family.”

Details of Resurrections have been under lock and key since it was announced in 2019.

Moss and Reeves were the first actors confirmed to be back – but not Lawrence Fishburne as Morpheus (Yahya Abdul Mateen II will play an alternative version of the character) or Aussie Hugo Weaving, whose villainous Agent Smith stole the show as the main antagonist in the first three films.

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss speak onscreen during The Game Awards 2021 in Los Angeles. Picture: Getty Images

Moss is tight-lipped about the return of Trinity and her relationship to great love Neo, but suffice to say she’s very much alive and the action is as insane as ever, with the humans and the machines once again duelling it out in the Matrix.

“This time around, Lana asked for massive challenges physically within the stunt action sequences and I wouldn’t expect anything less of her,” Moss says.

“I will always be grateful — she has challenged me through all the films in that capacity.”

Aged 54, Moss says she found the training more difficult in terms of getting into shape and building up her strength, but she wasn’t going to let that hold her back.

“I haven’t really thought much about being 54 and being in this action film,” she says.

“I try not to limit myself in my own thinking. I feel very young, I feel very healthy. I feel very vibrant and I feel like I could do anything.”

Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss in Sydney for The Matrix in 1999. Picture: Bob Barker

She says her obstacles are as much mental as physical and credits Wachowski for creating an environment in which she could overcome them.

Trinity’s preferred method of transport in the Matrix world is a motorcycle – and Moss had to overcome her fear of them before she was able to shoot the complex chases. She still marvels that she was able to do it.

“I had to work really hard, not only physically learning how to ride the bike, but on the day of doing all of that it was mostly up here,” she says, pointing to her head.

“Because I’m on a bike, no helmet, going about 40 or 50 miles an hour with an actor on the back who has no helmet and I’m responsible for his life. And there’s absolutely zero room for any kind of error.”

Many of the big questions raised in The Matrix more than 20 years ago – such as humanity’s reliance on technology and the rise of virtual worlds and AI – have become even more pressing in recent years, but Moss says she’s never dwelled on the possibilities of the world she helped create on screen.

“I’m not very tech savvy,” she admits.

“Not super interested in technology. I don’t know how to do any of it – I almost have an aversion to it, personally.

“Of course, I appreciate the convenience of my iPhone and the ability to check in with my loved ones. But in general, I really like a natural lifestyle.”

The Matrix Resurrections opens in cinemas on Boxing Day

Originally published as Why Carrie-Anne Moss returned to the ass-kicking Matrix role that changed her life forever