Month: April 2019

For a movie that still feels intensely futuristic and relevant today, it’s a shock to realize The Matrix is officially 20 years old.  

No, seriously. It premiered in theaters everywhere on March 31, 1999, and went straight into the pop culture history books as an inexhaustible source of one-liners, memes, and stoned conversations in college dorm rooms about the nature of reality.

The cyberpunk epic, written and directed by twins Lilly and Lana Wachowski, could easily have dropped out of sight. The Wachowskis, after all, don’t always nail it (Jupiter Ascending, anyone?). 

But with novel bullet-time camera work that still impresses today and intense—and intensely physical—performances from a diverse crew of actors like Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, and Carrie-Anne Moss, the filmmakers found lightning in a bottle and they ran with it.

Ultimately we got a full trilogy out of the story of Neo (Reeves) discovering his reality was absolutely nothing like what he thought, with The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions. And while the second and third movies were big budget hits and misses for many (Reloaded was pretty good, Revolutions was, uh, not), the original still stands alone as an all-time sci-fi classic. 

With a hat-tip to Mental Floss among many others, let’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of The Matrix with 10 fun and fascinating facts about the movie you might not know.

The movie’s original budget was blown entirely on the iconic first scene

Screenwriting instructors will tell you the opening scene of Trinity (Moss) kicking all kinds of ass is Great Writing 101. It better be, it cost the Wachowskis their original budget of $10 million. It was a calculated risk that paid off. Execs saw the footage and gave the sisters $50 million more.

Will Smith said no to Neo so he could star in ‘Wild Wild West’ 

To his credit, Smith couldn’t wrap his head around the Wachowski’s freaky-sounding story pitch and went with the more concrete-sounding option. If his telling of the story is any indication, he knows he didn’t choose the right pill.

‘The Matrix’ was filmed in Sydney, Australia, but the Wachowskis hearts were in Chicago

Outdoor moments like the street scene above took place in that big city down under. But the Wachowskis were born and raised in the Chicago area and used names familiar to them in their characters’ dialogue, such as referring to a phone at “Wabash and Lake.” 

Fight training lasted 4 whole months

The actors all underwent grueling combat training with Hong Kong martial arts choreographer Yuen Woo-Ping in order to be convincing onscreen. Keanu Reeves alone would train up to 10 hours a day at times. 

‘The Matrix’ is color-coded

There’s one easy way to know if you are in the actual Matrix: Everything is overlaid with green. The filmmakers meant to do that. Green for the unreal world created by the machines and blue tint for the world of Zion. The clip video above was simply designed to illustrate the way the Wachowskis approached color across the entire trilogy. 

Hugo Weaving and Keanu Reeves were both playing hurt

Reeves had surgery on his upper spine prior to his fight training and had to wear a cervical collar the entire time. Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith) suffered a hip injury and needed surgery. Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne were hurt as well. It was pretty damn brutal.

The scene in which Neo wakes in the human battery farm was filmed last

Keanu Reeves had to shave his head and lose at least 15 pounds for the scene in which he comes to in his real body and finds himself in the battery pod—it only made sense to wait until all the other shooting was done.

“Bullet time” was basically created for use in this movie

By rigging up 120 digital still cameras and a pair of film cameras to shoot Bullet Time scenes, the Wachowskis immediately flipped cinematography on its head. They achieved the 360-degree effect by editing all those images together. 

Trinity’s and Neo’s epically violent lobby scene took more than a week to shoot

In just three minutes the pair utterly wreck a well-appointed lobby full of security officers, and they do it with a dancer’s grace. Obviously that kind of action takes planning—that’s why the mayhem took 10 days to put on film.

 Laurence Fishburne was the only actor who immediately understood the script

The man who would be Morpheus was one of the few people who understood the script right away. Even at Warner Brothers it was referred to as a “script that nobody understands.” Fishburne was actually surprised others didn’t get it, because so many actors spend all their time reading arcane philosophy books about the nature of existence when they’re not yo-yo dieting and buying islands and whatnot. 

Certain fashion items hold strong cultural value because they are instantly connected to a famous wearer. I can’t even look at a basket bag without thinking of Jane Birkin. Some of these items—like Paris Hilton’s Juicy Couture tracksuits—were left behind in the time when they reached their peak. Others manage to transcend decades and maintain a timeless quality because they work outside of the trend cycle. These classic items are subtly refined, and the wearers that made them famous did so in an understated yet powerful way. This form of elegance makes these pieces iconic in the truest sense of the word, and we still see their legacy continue today.

It’s been 62 years since Audrey Hepburn danced across our screens in Funny Face wearing a pair of cropped black trousers, and yet her outfit is still something you’ll likely see someone wearing on your commute to work.

No matter the season, trend or year, like many classic items, these lovely, reliable pieces will remain in your wardrobe forever. Each time you put them on, you will imbue your look with something tangibly classy. It’s like a direct boost of confidence from the women who made them legendary.

From the pieces themselves to the fabulous women who made them famous, keep scrolling to see and shop the most iconic, elegant clothing and accessories that will simply never go out of style.

Joanna Vargas, celebrity facialist and founder of Joanna Vargas salons and skincare collection, thinks skincare doesn’t have to be super expensive. “There are good products for any budget,” she says. This quote comes from a woman who works with some of the fanciest clients with some of the most enviable complexions in Hollywood (think Mandy Moore, Debra Messing, Elisabeth Moss. Maggie Gyllenhaal Constance Wu, and Julianne Moore), so you know it must be true.

As it turns out, Vargas is not the only facialist to the stars who agrees that you can get effective skincare products with high-quality ingredients on a budget—you just have to know who to look for. So we asked some of our favorite celebrity estheticians in the business, like Renée Rouleau (Demi Lovato, Lili Reinhart) and Biba de Sousa (Emily Blunt, Miley Cyrus), to name their holy-grail skincare buys under $20. Keep scrolling to discover the affordable cleansers, lip balms, facial tools, and moisturizers (and more) they love.

The most powerful production model in the Rolls-Royce lineup is the Wraith touring coupe, but its output won’t hold a candle to a custom Rolls-Royce that’s being built by—you guessed it—Hennessey Performance. 

The same Texas tuning house that put the Cadillac CTS-V, Jeep Trackhawk and McLaren 600LT in the 1,000-hp club has confirmed that a Rolls-Royce Cullinan with nearly 300 extra horses is in the pipeline. 

“We’ve got a client with a Cullinan who wants to speed it up, so we’re going to take that to the 850-horsepower range,” Hennessey told Robb Report.  

The ultra luxury ute’s stock engine is a twin-turbocharged, 6.7-liter V12 that pumps out an already-impressive 565 hp. Because of the turbos, the Hennessey team is confident in their ability to take the Cullinan into Super-SUV territory. 

“Anything that’s naturally aspirated, it’s so much harder to get the additional power that it’s not worth your cost or time,” he said, “But we feel confident about the Cullinan. It’ll be a future package we offer.” 

The client is an apparently very successful potato farmer from Wisconsin who’s also the proud owner of Hennessey’s Goliath 6×6 pickup truck, a triple-axle, 700-hp beast that’s based on the Chevrolet Silverado Trail Boss.  

“He loved it and got one of those,” Hennessey said. “And when he got his Cullinan, he flew down to see us, on his private jet, and proposed we work on the Cullinan. We say no to lots of things, but that’s one we said yes to.” 

Clearly, this potato farmer has a taste for ridiculously awesome rides. 

We get very excited for the start of a new season and all of the new outfits that come with it, and it appears that Gigi Hadid does too. While out and about in New York over the weekend, Hadid wore five major spring trends in one outfit, and it worked. We’ve been talking about spring trends for literally months here at Who What Wear, but we haven’t actually been able to wear many of them yet. As Hadid just displayed, that’s all changing now that April has arrived.

Hadid stepped out in a casual-cool outfit consisting of tie-dye (multiple tie-dye pieces, that is), beige cargo pants (that’s two trends in one), cool pearls (in the form of a necklace), and classic sneakers. What made this mix of trends work is that she combined both neutral and statement-making trends, which is a great guideline to follow IRL. So whether you’re looking for outfit ideas or just some new spring trends to stock up on, keep reading to see Hadid’s look and shop all the major trends she wore at once.

Next up, shop the perfect $49 heels Gigi Hadid is wearing with jeans.