Sandra Bullock Was Almost Cast As Neo in THE MATRIX Before Keanu Reeves — GeekTyrant

Sandra Bullock Was Almost Cast As Neo in THE MATRIX Before Keanu Reeves

We’ve all heard that before Keanu Reeves was cast in the role of Neo in The Matrix that the producers wanted Will Smith. Smith turned down the role because it was just too weird for him.

Well, Smith isn’t the only person they were looking at casting before Reeves was cast. According to producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura, they also wanted to cast Sandra Bullock in the role! She starred alongside Reeves a few years prior in Speed.

She was one of a few A-list actors that were considered for the role. Some of those other actors included Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. The producer told The Wrap that they would have changed Neo from a male to a female for her if she wanted it:

“We went out to so many people I don’t remember. We were getting desperate. We went to Sandy Bullock and said ‘We’ll change Neo to a girl.’ [Producer] Joel Silver and I worked with Sandy on ‘Demolition Man’ and she was and continues to be a very good friend of mine. It was pretty simple. 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.”

Turns out she wasn’t really interested in it at the time. di Bonaventura added, “It just wasn’t something for her at the time. So really it didn’t go anywhere.”

Bullock was asked about the story and a rep of hers responded, saying that “she didn’t recall the specifics of the pitch for ‘The Matrix,’ but that di Bonaventura was always supportive of her career. She added, however, that ultimately the right person was cast.”

Yep, in the end, Reeves was cast and it was perfect casting. I Can’t imagine anyone else in the role of Neo. Reeves is Neo! When talking about the long casting process of The Matrix, the producer went on to say:

“The first movie star who says yes is Brad Pitt, he’s doing ‘Seven Years in Tibet’ and then he’s coming out of it and he’s like ‘I’m way too exhausted to take this on,’ so he’s gone. Then we go to Leonardo [DiCaprio]. He says yes, we have meetings with him and then he goes, ‘You know, I can’t go do another visual effects movie having just finished ‘Titanic,” and he drops out. Then Will Smith joins it and he drops out.”

He went on to say that for the role of Morpheus they met with Val Kilmer, Arnold Scwarzeneger, and even Michael Douglas!

“Along the way we realized how hard it was what we were doing. Here were these young guys who had done one movie, and they were going to direct this very hard-to-understand script. The good news was, Keanu said yes and he was awesome.”

Keanu saying yes to the role was the best thing that could have happened to the The Matrix, but he was a hard sell to the studio. But it all eventually worked out and the rest is history.

What do you think about Sandra Bullock almost being cast as Neo from The Matrix? Had she said yes, The Matrix would have been a very different kind of film!

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