The Wachowskis
Lana Wachowski | |
---|---|
Andy (left) and Lana Wachowski in September 2012, at the Fantastic Fest screening of Cloud Atlas. | |
Born |
Laurence Wachowski June 21, 1965 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
Other names | Larry Wachowski (before 2010)[1] |
Occupation | Film and TV director, screenwriter, producer, comic book writer, video game director, video game writer |
Years active | 1994–present |
Spouse(s) |
Thea Bloom (m. 1993; div. 2002)[2] Karin Winslow (m. 2009)[3][4] |
Andy Wachowski | |
---|---|
Born |
Andrew Paul Wachowski December 29, 1967 Chicago, Illinois, United States |
Occupation | Film and TV director, screenwriter, producer, comic book writer, video game director, video game writer |
Years active | 1994–present |
Spouse(s) | Alicia Blasingame (m. 1991) |
Lana Wachowski (formerly Laurence "Larry" Wachowski, born June 21, 1965) and her brother, Andrew Paul "Andy" Wachowski (born December 29, 1967), known together professionally as the Wachowskis and formerly as the Wachowski Brothers, are American film directors, screenwriters and producers.[5]
They made their directing debut in 1996 with Bound, and reached fame with their second film The Matrix (1999), for which they won the Saturn Award for Best Director. They wrote and directed its two sequels: The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions (both in 2003), and were deeply involved in the writing and production of other works in the franchise.
Following the commercial success of The Matrix series, they wrote and produced the 2006 film V for Vendetta (an adaptation of the comic of the same name by Alan Moore), and in 2008 released the film Speed Racer, which was a live action adaptation of the Japanese anime series of the same name. Their next film, Cloud Atlas, based on the novel of the same name by David Mitchell and co-written and co-directed by Tom Tykwer, was released on October 26, 2012. Their most recent film, Jupiter Ascending, debuted in 2015, with their television series, Sense8, following later in the year.
Early life
Lana Wachowski was born in Chicago in 1965. Andy Wachowski was born 2½ years later in 1967. Their mother, Lynne (née Luckinbill), was a nurse and painter whose brother is actor Laurence Luckinbill. Their father Ron Wachowski was a businessman of Polish descent.[6][7] They have two sisters, Julie and Laura.[3][8] Julie was credited as assistant coordinator in the Wachowskis’ film Bound;[9] she is a novelist and screenwriter.[10]
Lana and Andy attended Kellogg Elementary School in Chicago's Beverly area, and graduated from Whitney Young High School, known for its performing arts and science curriculum, in 1983 and 1985, respectively.[11] Former students recall them playing Dungeons & Dragons and working in the school’s theater and TV program.[11] Lana went to Bard College in New York and Andy attended Emerson College in Boston. Both dropped out before graduating and ran a house-painting and construction business in Chicago while writing for Marvel Comics.[11]
The pair has said they have been influenced by the work of directors Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Billy Wilder, Roman Polanski, Francis Ford Coppola, Roger Corman, the Coen brothers, John Woo, Akira Kurosawa, Mamoru Oshii, Ridley Scott, George Lucas, Fritz Lang, and Stanley Kubrick.[3][12][13] Other reported influences have been writers Hermann Hesse, Homer, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky, and philosophers Cornel West and Ken Wilber.[14][15]
Career
Early work
Prior to working in the film industry, the Wachowskis wrote comic books for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint, namely Ectokid (created by horror novelist Clive Barker) in 1993. They also wrote for Epic Comics' Clive Barker's Hellraiser and Clive Barker's Nightbreed comic series.
In the mid-1990s they branched out into film writing, including the script for Assassins in 1994. Warner Brothers bought the script and included two more pictures in the contract.[16] Assassins was "totally rewritten" by Brian Helgeland[17] and the Wachowskis tried unsuccessfully to remove their names from the film.[3]
They moved on to their next project, the neo-noir thriller Bound, in which they made their debut as directors. The film was well received for its style and craft,[18] and was noted as one of the first mainstream films to feature a homosexual relationship without it being central to the plot.[19] Taking advantage of the positive buzz, the Wachowskis asked to direct their next picture, The Matrix.[16]
The Matrix franchise
They completed The Matrix in 1999. After its success, they directed two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, both released in 2003.
Later work
The Wachowskis' next feature-film project was V for Vendetta, an adaptation of Alan Moore's comic book of the same name. They wrote and produced the film with Matrix producer Joel Silver, who had previously purchased the film rights to the novel. The film was directed by Wachowski collaborator James McTeigue. Moore did not participate in the production, as he was disappointed by previous Hollywood adaptations of his work, and disagreed with differences between the screenplay and his novel. As a result, Moore is not credited. The film's controversial story line and themes have been both criticized and praised by sociopolitical groups. It was released in 2006 and was well received critically; a box office success, it did not rank on the scale of The Matrix films.[20]
In 2006, the Wachowskis and McTeigue were hired to revamp The Invasion for Warner Brothers. The studio was disappointed in the film as produced by director Oliver Hirschbiegel and hired the Wachowskis to rewrite the script and add new scenes, which McTeigue directed. The film, the fourth adaptation of the novel The Body Snatchers, was not a critical or box office success. The Wachowskis and McTeigue are not credited on the film.[21]
The Wachowskis returned to directing with Speed Racer (2008). The film was an adaptation of a 1950s Japanese manga series, which had previously been adapted as a 1960s Japanese anime TV series. The movie was considered a critical and commercial disappointment.[22] While its special effects were noted as outstanding, the storyline is considered lacking.[23] It was nominated in the category of "Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel" for the 29th Golden Raspberry Awards. Its box office gross was $93 million compared to a production budget of $120 million. Since then, critics periodically have put the film on lists of underrated or cult films.[24][25][26][27][28]
Their next directorial outing was Cloud Atlas, adapted from David Mitchell's 2004 novel of the same name; it drew mixed reviews.[29] The Wachowskis subsequently produced and directed Jupiter Ascending, an original science fiction screenplay they wrote. The film was released February 2015.[30] It stars Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, and features the Wachowskis' regular collaborators John Gaeta on visual effects and Kym Barrett on costumes.
On October 2, 2012, Variety reported the Wachowskis had written three hour-long spec scripts for a TV series dubbed Sense8, developed with Ninja Assassin collaborator J. Michael Straczynski. They were trying to interest people in LA in their project, with the help of Straczynski's Studio JMS and Georgeville Television.[31] The Wachowskis' new scripts were said to resemble their unique storytelling style expressed in The Matrix films; they planned to direct at least a few episodes of the potential series. Producer Marc Rosen of Georgeville Television (GTTV), described the project as "an idea so big in size and scale that it doesn't make sense to try it as a pilot. The only way to let the filmmakers realize their vision on something like this is to do multiple episodes."[32] The series eventually aired on Netflix streaming as twelve episodes released on June 5, 2015. The series is described as "a gripping global tale of minds linked and souls hunted" which was conceived by the showrunners "after a late night conversation about the ways technology simultaneously unites and divides us".
Future works
In 2008,[33] the Wachowskis were producing for Madhouse an animated film based on their comic book company's Shaolin Cowboy,[34][35] titled Shaolin Cowboy in The Tomb of Doom.[36] The feature is co-directed by the comic book's creator Geof Darrow and Seiji Mizushima, a Japanese director.[33] When the American financiers backed out, the film was left half-finished and in need of $3 million. Darrow does not believe that the required amount of money to finish it will be found.[37]
Warner Bros. has expressed interest in Hood, a modern adaptation of the Robin Hood legend, which the Wachowskis wrote and plan to direct. They also wrote a conspiracy thriller titled CN-9 (or Cobalt Neural 9), with a setting of a gay romance against the Iraq war; the project failed to find financing.[1] The siblings are still keen to make it, even if in a different form than film.[38]
The Wachowskis wrote the scripts of Carnivore and the Plastic Man, the latter based on the DC Comics superhero of the same name. Neither project has been produced.[39][40][41]
Style
The siblings admit to a love for telling multi-part stories. "Because we grew up on comic books and the Tolkien trilogy, one of the things we're interested in is bringing serial fiction to cinema," Lana has said. Andy says: "We think movies are fairly boring and predictable. We want to screw with audiences' expectations."[42] In terms of themes expressed in their body of work, Lana has cited "the inexplicable nature of the universe [being] in constant dialogue with our own consciousness and our consciousness actually affect[ing] the inexplicable nature of the universe,"[43] "interconnectivity and about truth beneath the surface"[44] and "the paradox of choice and choicelessness".[45] The Wachowskis cited the art of comic book artist Geof Darrow as an influence on the look of The Matrix. Also, they said that Ghost in the Shell, Ninja Scroll, and Akira were anime that inspired them, saying "in anime, one thing that they do that we tried to bring to our film was a juxtaposition of time and space in action beats."
The Wachowskis cited Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey as a major influence for Cloud Atlas.[46] They first saw the film when they were ten and seven, respectively.[3]
Lana has most been influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, Ma vie en rose, and My Neighbor Totoro.[47] Both Wachowskis are fans of the Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Wicked City, Ninja Scroll and Fist of the North Star anime films.[48]
None of the home video releases of their films feature any deleted scenes. Lana says that despite often having to cut scenes from their movies, they do not want to include deleted scenes in such releases, as this would suggest that their films suffer from incompleteness. They love their finished products and believe them complete.[49][50] For the same reason, they have not released their films for home video with director's or extended cut. They also avoid recording audio commentary tracks, having participated only on the track recorded for the LaserDisc of Bound. The siblings say they learned that offering an interpretation of their movies means that viewers will be less likely to express their own interpretation.[51][52] They are not interested in the typical commentaries featuring cast and crew, wanting the films to stand on their own.
Frequent collaborators
The Wachowskis have been noted for hiring the same basic film crew to make their movies. Lana admits they do it in part to ensure a positive environment. "It's like family. Everyone is very respectful of each other," says Lana.[53] They used the same practice while selecting the television crew for their Netflix show, Sense8.
Some of their most notable frequent collaborators include:
Crew member | Bound | The Matrix | The Matrix Reloaded | The Matrix Revolutions | Speed Racer | Cloud Atlas | Jupiter Ascending | Sense8 | Roles | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Kym Barrett | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Costume designer | Also credited in Enter the Matrix. | ||
Hugh Bateup | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Production designer, (supervising) art director | ||
Alexander Berner | Yes | Yes | Film editor | |||||||
Geof Darrow | Yes | Yes | Yes | Uncredited | Uncredited | Uncredited | Conceptual designer, conceptual artist | Also worked on Speed Racer, Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending.[54][55] Founded Burlyman Entertainment along with the Wachowskis and Steve Skroce and worked on Shaolin Cowboy, Doc Frankenstein and The Matrix Comics. | ||
Dane Davis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Sound designer, supervising sound editor | Also credited in The Animatrix, Ninja Assassin and Enter the Matrix. | |
Don Davis | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Composer | Also credited in The Animatrix, Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Online. | ||||
John Gaeta | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Visual effects supervisor, visual effects designer | Also credited in Ninja Assassin, Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Comics. | |||
Dan Glass | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Visual effects supervisor, TV episode director | Directed an episode of Sense8. Also credited in V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin and Enter the Matrix. | ||
Michael Giacchino | Yes | Yes | Composer | |||||||
Grant Hill | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Producer, executive producer, unit production manager | Also credited in V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin and Enter the Matrix. | ||
James McTeigue | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | First assistant director, second unit director, TV episode director | Also worked on The Invasion and Enter the Matrix.[56] Also director of the Wachowski-produced V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin. | |||
Owen Paterson | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Production designer | Also credited in V for Vendetta and Enter the Matrix. | ||||
Bill Pope | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Director of photography | Also credited in Enter the Matrix. Pope says he hasn't been asked to work again with them since a fall out they had during The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.[57] | ||||
Joel Silver | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Producer | Also producer of Assassins, The Animatrix (executive producer), V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin, Enter the Matrix and The Matrix Online. | ||||
Steve Skroce | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Uncredited | Uncredited | Uncredited | Storyboard artist | Also worked on Cloud Atlas, Jupiter Ascending and Sense8.[58][59] Also credited in V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin. Founded Burlyman Entertainment along with the Wachowskis and Geof Darrow and worked on Doc Frankenstein and The Matrix Comics. | |
Zach Staenberg | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Film editor | Also credited in Enter the Matrix, The Matrix: Path of Neo. | |||
Ethan Stoller | Yes | Yes | Yes | Music consultant, music editor, composer | Also provided music for the extras in the home video releases of Speed Racer and was credited in V for Vendetta, Ninja Assassin and Google Me Love. He has known the Wachowskis since high school.[60] | |||||
John Toll | Yes | Yes | Yes | Director of photography | ||||||
Tom Tykwer | Yes | Yes | Yes | Composer, co-writer, co-director, TV episode director | ||||||
Jeremy Woodhead | Yes | Yes | Yes | Makeup, hair and prosthetics designer | Also credited in V for Vendetta and Ninja Assassin. |
Cast member | Bound | The Matrix trilogy | Speed Racer | Cloud Atlas | Jupiter Ascending | Sense8 | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
James D'Arcy | Yes | Yes | |||||
Bae Doona | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||||
Kick Gurry | Yes | Yes | |||||
Tuppence Middleton | Yes | Yes | |||||
Christian Oliver | Yes | Yes | |||||
Joe Pantoliano | Yes | Yes (Part 1 only) | Yes | ||||
Susan Sarandon | Yes | Yes | |||||
Hugo Weaving | Yes | Yes | Also starred in V for Vendetta, made an appearance in Enter the Matrix and was credited in The Matrix: Path of Neo for the use of clips from The Matrix films that were featuring him. |
As film producers and comic book publishers
During The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, The Animatrix and Enter the Matrix production, the Wachowskis created EON Entertainment (not to be confused with Eon Productions), their production company to coordinate and direct all involved partners.[61] It is also where the films were edited together, after the various FX vendors sent their finished work.[62] EON's internal VFX team, ESC, did a number of visual effect shots for the two Matrix sequels and coordinated the other vendors.[63] ESC was shut down in summer 2004.[64] Anarchos Productions (credited in Cloud Atlas as Anarchos Pictures)[65] is their production company that has been billed for all their films starting with V for Vendetta.[66]
Kinowerks is their pre- and post-production and effects studio, based in Ravenswood, Chicago.[67] It has been acclaimed for its green-friendly design.[68] Roger Ebert was invited to watch a restored print of The Godfather in the Kinowerks facilities and met the Wachowskis,[69] but he was oblivious to the fact the studio belonged to them. The Chicago Tribune's Christopher Pirelli has interviewed the Wachowskis in the facility but was instructed to keep its exact location a secret, as the filmmakers want to avoid having fans showing up at the front door.[70]
Prior to working in the film industry, the Wachowskis wrote comic books for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint, namely Ectokid (created by horror novelist Clive Barker) in 1993 as well as writing for Epic Comics' Clive Barker's Hellraiser and Clive Barker's Nightbreed comic series.
In 2003, they created Burlyman Entertainment and have released comic books based on The Matrix as well as two original bi-monthly series:
- Shaolin Cowboy – created, written, and art by Geof Darrow (the Wachowskis contributed the opening dialogue to each issue)
- Doc Frankenstein – created by Geof Darrow and Steve Skroce, written by the Wachowskis, with art by Skroce.
Personal life
Andy has been married to Alisa Blasingame since 1991.[71] Lana married Thea Bloom in 1993; they divorced in 2002. She subsequently began dating Karin Winslow; they married in 2009.[3][4] Winslow is a board member of the Chicago House and Social Service Agency.[72][73]
Raised by a "hardcore atheist" father and an "ex-Catholic turned Shamanist" mother,[43] the duo once described their religious beliefs as non-denominational.[49] Lana is a vegetarian.[74]
Lana's gender transition
Rumors that Lana Wachowski was transitioning spread in the early 2000s, though neither sibling spoke directly on the subject at the time.[75] In 2003 Gothamist.com reported the possible gender reassignment.[76] The Wachowskis remained silent, and sources close to them denied the rumors. In a 2007 interview Joel Silver, the producer of numerous Wachowski films, said that the rumors concerning the gender reassignment surgery were "all untrue", saying that "they just don't do interviews, so people make things up." Similar statements were made to Fox News by crew members working on the Speed Racer film.[77]
Rovi reported that Lana completed the transition after Speed Racer's release in 2008.[78] The Hollywood Reporter and the New York Times have referred to the Wachowskis as "Andy and Lana (formerly Larry) Wachowski",[1][79] and Deadline.com has referred to the duo as "Andy and Lana Wachowski."[80] On some documents her name is shown as Laurenca Wachowski.[11][75][81] In July 2012, Lana made her first public appearance after transitioning, in a video discussing the creative process behind Cloud Atlas.[82] Lana is the first major Hollywood director to come out as transgender.[83]
In October 2012 Lana Wachowski received the Human Rights Campaign's Visibility Award.[84] In her acceptance speech, she revealed that once during her youth, she had considered committing suicide because of her feelings of confusion about identity. Her acceptance speech was one of the longest public appearances by either of the notoriously reclusive siblings. Lana said that, although she and her brother had not publicly commented on her transitioning during the previous decade, it was not because she was ashamed of it, nor had she kept it a secret from her family and friends. Rather, she and her brother are both generally shy about the news media and prefer to maintain their privacy. Comparing media exposure to losing one's virginity as an irreversible event that only happens once, the Wachowskis had tried to stay out of the public eye. They feared losing their personal privacy and the ability to go to public places without being noticed and harassed as celebrities.
Explaining her decision to appear at the HRC event, Lana said, "there are some things we do for ourselves, but there are some things we do for others. I am here because when I was young, I wanted very badly to be a writer, I wanted to be a filmmaker, but I couldn't find anyone like me in the world and it felt like my dreams were foreclosed simply because my gender was less typical than others. If I can be that person for someone else, then the sacrifice of my private civic life may have value."[85] In February 2014, Lana received the Freedom Award from Equality Illinois at their annual gala in Chicago.[86][87][88]
Gaming
Lana and Andy are self-proclaimed gamers. As teens they spent their weekends in the attic playing Dungeons & Dragons.[3] They liken the process of the playing parties that imagined the same virtual space to the process of filmmaking. Along with some of their friends, they wrote a 350-page role-playing game of their own, called High Adventure. The rights to it are available for publishing.[89]
On the video game front, they had been exchanging letters with Hideo Kojima and met him during a Famitsu interview in late 1999.[90] Metal Gear Solid was the first video game they played after finishing work on The Matrix. Candidates for an adaptation of the first Matrix movie to video game form included Kojima, Bungie and Shiny Entertainment, whose Messiah PC game impressed them.[91][92] Shiny's David Perry, who ultimately had his company develop and collaborate with them on the Enter the Matrix and The Matrix: Path of Neo video games, was impressed with their familiarity with the medium; this was a big plus during development.[93] The Wachowskis owned both a PlayStation 2 and Xbox video game console and played several games such as Splinter Cell and Halo 2.[94] Reportedly during a Halo deathmatch, they destroyed their Xbox.[91] Actor Collin Chou recounts an instance of visiting their office and finding them playing video games on the floor.[95] Andy is a fan of the Death Jr. PlayStation Portable game.[96]
Asked about their feelings about turning the tightly controlled Matrix saga to the unpredictable form of an MMORPG with The Matrix Online, the duo appeared enthusiastic about the nature and possibilities of video games:
The "vagaries of an MMO where unpredictable player behavior is the rule," is the reason for doing it. Our films were never intended for a passive audience. There are enough of those kinds of films being made. We wanted our audience to have to work, to have to think, to have to actually participate in order to enjoy them. This may be because while we enjoy movies, we also spend a lot of time (as in crack-den amounts of time) gaming.
Gaming engages your mind actively whereas most genre films (the films we tend to watch) are designed to provoke as little thinking as possible. Consider why the films in which everyone knows exactly what is going to happen are the films that make the most money.
Yet the fact that The Matrix films are three of the most successful adult films in history (despite of what much of the media would have us believe), suggests that there are other people like us. Those are the people, the people who thought about it, who worked at it, who we ultimately made the trilogy for and it now makes perfect sense to us that they should inherit the storyline. For us, the idea of watching our baby evolve inside the virtual bubble-world of this new radically developing medium, which has in our opinion the potential of combining the best attributes of films and games, of synthesizing reality TV with soap opera, RPGs and Mortal Combat [sic], is fantastically exciting.
Works
Films
Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Directors | Screenwriters | Producers | Executive producers | |||
1995 | Assassins | Yes | Their script was "totally rewritten"[17] by screenwriter Brian Helgeland. They felt the rewrite removed "all the subtext, the visual metaphors... the idea that within our world there are moral pocket universes that operate differently"[3] to the point they chose to call it their "abortion".[12] They tried to remove their names from the film but failed. | |||
1996 | Bound | Yes | Yes | |||
1999 | The Matrix | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2001 | The Matrix Revisited | Yes | Documentary | |||
2003 | The Animatrix | Yes | Yes | Direct-to-video Writing credits for "Final Flight of the Osiris"; story credits for "The Second Renaissance Part I", "The Second Renaissance Part II" and "Kid's Story". | ||
The Matrix Reloaded | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
The Matrix Revolutions | Yes | Yes | Yes | |||
2006 | V for Vendetta | Second unit (uncredited) | Yes | Yes | Along with writing and producing the film, they also did uncredited second unit directing work[3][97][98] which includes the design and direction of V's climactic fight against Creedy's men.[99] | |
2007 | The Invasion | Rewrites (uncredited) | Reportedly the studio brought them in to rewrite 30% of the film[100] (with Collider reporting over 66%)[101] to include action scenes and a new ending. They asked to remain uncredited. | |||
2008 | Speed Racer | Yes | Yes | Yes | ||
2009 | Ninja Assassin | Yes | ||||
2012 | Cloud Atlas | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-directed with Tom Tykwer | |
2014 | Google Me Love (short) | Yes | Written and directed by their nephew Ryan Eakins. The short was created at Lana and Andy's request and they also picked the subject matter of love.[102] | |||
2015 | Jupiter Ascending | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Television
Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Showrunners | Screenwriters | Directors | |||
2015–present | Sense8 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Co-created with J. Michael Straczynski for Netflix. |
Music videos
Year | Title | Artist | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
2009 | Epilepsy Is Dancing | Antony and the Johnsons | The music video was choreographed by Sean Dorsey and was censored in North America.[103] The production team behind the video collectively call themselves AFAS.[104] |
Additionally classifying themselves as "lifelong rabid Bulls fans" they created a revamped introductory animation for Chicago Bulls to open the 2006–2007 regular season.[105]
Video games
Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Directors | Screenwriters | |||
2003 | Enter the Matrix | Yes | Yes | Based on a 244-page script by the Wachowskis, the game features close to one hour of live action sequences directed by them, and their collaboration with the game's staff for the creation of another hour of in-engine cinematics and more.[106][107] Also directed the game's trailer.[108][109] |
2005 | The Matrix Online | Yes | The Wachowskis picked Paul Chadwick as the game's writer and directed him with the first year's theme: "Peace and the ways people wreck it" and a starting point: "the death of Morpheus and the hunt for his killer".[110][111] Furthermore they reviewed and dictated changes to Chadwick's early drafts, such as prohibiting the death of one character.[112] Overall they weren't directly involved with the creation of the game, in comparison to their other two efforts, instead opting to act as consultants of Chadwick. | |
The Matrix: Path of Neo | Yes | Yes | In collaboration with Zach Staenberg,[113] the Wachowskis edited footage from the previously released films, anime and game to retell the story from the point of view of Neo.[94] Additionally they scripted new locations and encounters, some of them being scrapped content from the films,[114] along with their appearance to the player to humorously explain the reasons behind the creation of a new ending for this adaptation of The Matrix trilogy. |
Comic books
Year | Title | Functioned as | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Writers | Publishers | |||
1989–1994 | Clive Barker's Hellraiser | Yes | Larry Wachowski is credited as a writer on stories included in issues 8, 9, 12, 13 and the Hellraiser: Spring Slaughter – Razing Hell special. | |
1992 | Clive Barker's Nightbreed | Yes | Larry Wachowski is credited as a writer on issue 17. | |
1993 | Clive Barker's Book of the Damned | Yes | Larry Wachowski is credited as a writer on volumes 1, 2 and 4. | |
1993–1994 | Ectokid | Yes | Larry Wachowski is credited as a writer on issues 3–9. Andy Wachowski reportedly worked on it as well. | |
1999–2004 | The Matrix Comics | Yes | Yes | Written "Bits and Pieces of Information", the first part of a conceived four part story. Parts of it were later incorporated in "The Second Renaissance" short in The Animatrix.
Most of the comics originally published on whatisthematrix.warnerbros.com along with a few new ones were collected on two printed volumes, published by the Wachowskis' comic book company, Burlyman Entertainment. |
2004–[54][115] | Doc Frankenstein | Yes | Yes | Based on an original idea of Geof Darrow, later reworked by Steve Skroce, the duo ended up writing it.[116] |
2004–2007 | Shaolin Cowboy | Recap only | Yes | Issues 2–7 begin with a humorous recap of the story written by the Wachowskis, and narrated by a talking mule named Lord Evelyn Dunkirk Winniferd Esq. the Third.[117] |
The Art of the Matrix book credits them for including their screenplay and additional art. The Wachowskis also wrote an introduction to the 2005 published Vol. 2: Tag[118] trade paperback of Ex Machina comic book, being big fans of it.[119] Additionally Lana Wachowski wrote the introduction to the 2012 published No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics collection of LGBTQ comic book stories.[120]
Awards and nominations
Year | Award | Category | Title | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
2000 | Amanda Awards | Best Foreign Feature Film | The Matrix | Nominated |
1997 | Deauville American Film Festival | Grand Special Prize | Bound | Nominated |
Fantasporto | Best Film | Won | ||
2013 | German Film Awards[121][122] | Outstanding Feature Film (shared with Grant Hill, Stefan Arndt and Tom Tykwer) | Cloud Atlas | Nominated |
Best Direction (shared with Tom Tykwer) | Nominated | |||
2004 | Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Director | Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions | Nominated |
2016 | Jupiter Ascending | Pending | ||
Worst Screenplay | Pending | |||
2000 | Hugo Awards | Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form | The Matrix | Nominated |
2007 | V for Vendetta | Nominated | ||
2000 | Las Vegas Film Critics Society Awards | Best Screenplay | The Matrix | Nominated |
Mainichi Film Concours | Readers' Choice Award for Best Foreign Language Film | Won | ||
Nebula Awards | Best Script | Nominated | ||
2007 | V for Vendetta | Nominated | ||
2012 | Online Film Critics Society Awards | Best Adapted Screenplay (shared with Tom Tykwer) | Cloud Atlas | Nominated |
1997 | Outfest | Grand Jury Award – Honorable Mention: Outstanding American Narrative Feature |
Bound | Won |
1997 | Saturn Awards | Best Writing | Bound | Nominated |
2000 | Best Director | The Matrix | Won | |
Best Writing | Nominated | |||
2007 | V for Vendetta | Nominated | ||
1997 | Stockholm Film Festival | Honorable Mention | Bound | Won |
References
- 1 2 3 Kit, Borys (July 12, 2010). "EXCLUSIVE: Wachowskis, Warner Bros. Take Aim With 'Hood'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
- ↑ Silverman, Stephen M. (May 19, 2004). "Matrix Maker's Divorce Gets Even Messier". People. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hemon, Aleksandar (September 10, 2012). "Beyond The Matrix". The New Yorker. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- 1 2 Mary, Schmich (March 2, 2014). "A safe place for transgenders". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
- ↑ "21 Transgender People Who Influenced American Culture". Time Magazine.
- ↑ "Andy Wachowski Biography (1967–)". Filmreference.com. Retrieved July 19, 2012.
- ↑ "Wachowski Brothers Reload". The World of English. via web.archive.org
- ↑ WINM :: Keanu Reeves Articles & Interviews Archive :: Wacky Wachowskis. Whoaisnotme.net (May 21, 2003).
- ↑ Bound – Cast, Crew, Director and Awards. The New York Times. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
- ↑ J. Wachowski Is Speaker At Chattanooga Writers Guild Meeting On May 14 – 05/02/2013. Chattanoogan.com (May 2, 2013).
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