Neil Patrick Harris Says Making ‘The Matrix 4’ Felt ‘Intimate’
Not much has been revealed about Lana Wachowski’s highly anticipated The Matrix 4. With filming finally wrapped and post-production underway, the creative team has remained tight-lipped about the movie's contents. Neil Patrick Harris, who has a major role in the sci-fi blockbuster, recently spoke to Variety about his time on set. While he didn’t give any major plot points away, he shared that the shooting process felt “very intimate.”
According to Harris, Wachowski fostered a filming environment that felt decidedly low-key. “It didn’t feel large because it felt like she was in her sweet spot, which was filming on the fly, filming using natural light,” explained Harris. “Sometimes you’d sit around for an hour waiting for the clouds to clear, and then you’d quickly film. You’d film pages at a time in 30 minutes and then be done.”
While the scaled-down set was informed in part by the strict coronavirus filming restrictions in place, Harris insisted that Wachowski was responsible for creating such a close-knit experience. “You would think that a giant movie would be 100 percent storyboarded, animatics, and we’d be checking off shots,” Harris stated. “I think she lived that before three times over, and I would suspect that she wants to do things her own way now. It wasn’t often that you felt that you were doing something gigantic because she made it feel very intimate.”
Harris’ comments reinforce the notion that The Matrix 4 will be unlike any Matrix movie we’ve ever seen. Last September, franchise star Keanu Reeves described the project as a “love story.” While there will undoubtedly be some big action sequences, it looks like the upcoming installment is taking a more sensitive approach to its characters and plot.
The Matrix 4 arrives in theaters and on HBO Max on December 22, 2021.
Gallery — All The Warner Bros. Movies Coming to HBO Max: