MATRIX:
How did you first come to get your part?
CARRIE-ANNE: I auditioned in the regular way, first for
the casting director and then for the Wachowski brothers. After
that I did this most amazing three day process of screen testing
for the film. The first day of which was 3 hours of running, kung
fu and taping all these different fights. A really intense 3
hours of just brutal training from which I couldn't walk for
days.
MATRIX: Have you ever done anything like that before?
CARRIE-ANNE: No, I have only ever done a karate aerobics
class. I think the screen test felt so brutal because I tried so
hard, I really went at it 190% so the screen testers would know
that I could do it that hard, but afterwards I literally couldn't
walk. In my training for the film I tried to take it a little
slower. During the government lobby scene just before I had to do
my cartwheel on the wall, I hurt one of my ankles so badly I felt
sure that I had broken it. I kept my boot on, which I think
supported it. The adrenaline of those three days of fighting kept
me going, and when the weekend came by I couldn't walk. I still
can't walk every morning when I first get up, and that was what,
four months ago?
MATRIX: Did the cast sport masseuse, Longie, help you any?
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes. Longie is the absolute king of our
movie. He didn't help my ankle so much because your ankle is a
really difficult thing to heal, you just have to keep off of it,
but there were a couple of mornings when I showed up for work
with such severe neck pain that I couldn't move my neck, and I
was in tears thinking, "Oh my god I've got to find
him". He really saved me. He helped me to get grounded at
the beginning of the film as well, I was really nervous and
unsure. He said some great things and helped me a lot, kept my
body really open. But it has been painful work. I'm supposed to
be getting a massage tomorrow, but I'm not going to Longie. I'm
going somewhere I can get a really caressing massage; his are
really intense. He really helped Larry and Keanu as well.
MATRIX: I understand that Larry and Andy (Wachowski: the
directors) really wanted you in this film.
CARRIE-ANNE: It means a lot to me that they did. I was
very overwhelmed with it all at first. I can imagine the extent
to which they must have had to fight to have me in this film. I
imagine that the powers that be in Hollywood would have wanted
someone more famous. Those two guys must have believed in me so
much.
MATRIX: Deservedly so, considering the footage coming in.
CARRIE-ANNE: I feel like I have really accomplished
something. I have a couple of scenes where I think: "I wish,
I wish, I wish I could do that again", but overall I feel
really proud.
MATRIX: The part of Trinity was a physically demanding
part. How was that to cope with?
CARRIE-ANNE: My first fight in the movie was unbelievable
because I was doing things I had done well a couple of times, but
wasn't terribly consistent with. Sometimes I would get it and
sometimes I wouldn't. It was like being an athlete and hitting my
peak. I hit my peak the days I shot. It was like this power that
was bigger than me took over, and I felt it in such an amazing
way. I had amazing confidence, which was one of the things that
Yuen Ping [the fight choreographer] and his team really worked on
with me, they said it was my biggest thing and I agree with them.
They would say all you need is someone to believe in you, and
they're right.
MATRIX: I can't imagine you've ever run up, or done flips,
off of a wall.
CARRIE-ANNE: That cartwheel was one of the hardest things.
I learned that three days before I had to do it, then I had to
run up a wall which made it even harder. The weekend before I had
to do it, I was in the training center in tears saying: "I
can't do it, I can't do it!" I am very emotional. Amongst
all these men I am the emotional faucet. If I don't get something
right I get tough and I want to do it again, but I also cry like
a baby. I really didn't think I would be able to do that one.
Then my ankle went bad.
MATRIX: That happened before the cartwheel?
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes an hour before.
MATRIX: How did you manage?
CARRIE-ANNE: I have no idea. The nurse could not believe I
could walk. I told her that she could not tell anybody. Well,
everyone knew because I fell over on it and I was screaming:
"Oh no!" But nobody knew the extent to how bad it was.
MATRIX: So how did you keep on filming?
CARRIE-ANNE: I honestly have no idea, I didn't take
anything. I guess it was just adrenaline, because as soon as the
weekend came I couldn't walk. And then Monday came and I was back
on set and did it all over again. But I am paying for it now.
MATRIX: How about telling me about Larry and Andy.
CARRIE-ANNE: I love them. They are two incredible people,
two of the greatest men I have ever met. As filmmakers they are
brilliant. Just yesterday for instance, we did the last shot of
the movie; they told me to just cross here and do this, and when
I looked at the screen I was amazed because I had no idea of the
shot they had created. The composition, their style, their
unbelievable artistic creativity and the way that they shoot,
every single frame is unbelievable.
MATRIX: Everything down to the smallest transition shot.
CARRIE-ANNE: Yes. And they are cool, they speak in a
language that I understand, which is really unusual. Every once
in a while I meet a director that I can get. I would be really
happy to work the rest of my life with them, with Keanu and
Laurence and Hugo. I would be so happy to never work with anyone
ever again but I would be out of a job. I feel so completely
spoiled. I have been a huge fan of theirs since I saw 'Bound'.
MATRIX: Was it a long shoot?
CARRIE-ANNE: It was 9 months for me. It has been the best
time of my life.
MATRIX: What's next?
CARRIE-ANNE: Rest. I have no idea. It is going to be hard
to get another job. I have been spoiled with my first big movie.
I couldn't have been more lucky.
MATRIX: It's been great seeing some of your scenes. That
Government lobby sequence is amazing.
CARRIE-ANNE: Can you imagine it on the big screen! It's
going to be awesome. This was all so long ago that I am going to
be blown away when I see it all again. We have been acting for
the last month with no action, so it will be really fascinating.
MATRIX: What does 'The Matrix' mean to you?
CARRIE-ANNE: When I first met the guys [Larry and Andy] I
had not read the script, but had got the vibe of it from a couple
of scenes that I had auditioned for. I got the script right after
that and when I read it, it reminded me of one time at school
when a teacher proposed this question to the class: 'What if,
right now, our sitting in this classroom is just a dream? What if
our lives are just dreams?' And in that moment, even though we
didn't have big discussions about it, a seed was planted in my
mind: it was the first time I thought that maybe life is not the
way I was told and taught, maybe things are different. You grow
up believing in evolution or religion or that the world is flat,
and whatever you've been told is what you believe. I thought that
day it could be something different, something I'm not aware of.
Sometimes I'll be walking through life and I'll go, "Am I
dreaming? How do I know this isn't a dream?" That's kind of
the Matrix.
MATRIX: Thanks Carrie-Anne.
Interview by Spencer Lamm
Preuzeto sa http://www.whatisthematrix.com
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