Random Movie Trivia - The Matrix

Here is the next edition in our weekly Random Movie Trivia post.  Enjoy:

The Matrix

• Nicolas Cage turned down the role of Neo because of family commitments.  Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio were also considered for the part and Will Smith turned it down to star in Wild Wild West.  Think about that a moment.  It is hilarious.  Oddly enough, Keanu Reeves was amazing in this movie and probably the best choice of any of those actors.  That will never be said again.
• The directors' first choice to play Neo was Johnny Depp, but he declined.  The studio wanted either Brad Pitt or Val Kilmer and both of them said no.  In the end it came down to Depp and Reeves and Keanu nailed his audition and they went with him.
• Carrie-Anne Moss (Trinity) twisted her ankle during shooting but didn't tell anyone because she was afraid the part would be re-cast.
• Gary Oldman and Samuel L. Jackson were considered for the role of Morpheus.
• The glyphs on the computer screen representing The Matrix consisted of reversed numbers, letters, and Japanese katakana characters.
• Jean Reno (The Professional) was approached to play Agent Smith, but turned it down for a part in Godzilla.  That makes two actors who turned down a part in this movie to be in another terrible terrible movie.
• The filming of the helicopter scene nearly caused production to be shut down because they flew the chopper through restricted Sydney airspace.  They actually had to get the law changed in order to continue filming.
• Gillian Anderson (aka Agent Scully from the X-Files) turned down the part of Trinity.
• Neo is often referred to as the "One" which is an anagram of Neo.
• By 2002, three years after the movie came out, 20 movies had already spoofed the slow motion bullet scene.
• The Wachowski brothers (the directors) approached Warner Brothers with this movie who balked at their budget request of $80 million.  Instead, they gave the Wachowskis $10 million who blew all of that on the opening scene with Trinity fleeing from some agents.  They took that back to Warner Brothers who loved it and gave them the rest of the money they needed to finish the movie.
• According to an inscription on the Nebuchadnezzar's core, the ship was "Made in the USA" in the year 2069.
• Neo/Thomas Anderson's character wakes up 7 times over the course of the film.
• On the first day of filming, Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) suffered an injury that required he get a polyp removed from his leg.  In order for his part not to be re-cast, they delayed all of his fight scenes to be shot towards the end of filming so that he could be in the movie.

"I still don't know how the people in this movie said they could look at this and see what was happening.  It's just random characters moving really really fast on a screen."