Why Stanley Kubrick Is To Blame For The Matrix Sequels

The crazed antics of the legendary Kubrick made those Matrix follow-ups a nightmare experience.

by Andrew Pollard
Stanley Kubrick
AP

The legendary Stanley Kubrick? Responsible for the oft-lambasted Matrix sequels? Seemingly so.

Cinematographer Bill Pope has revealed that the making of The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions was a painful experience. As Pope explained to the Team Deakins podcast, those shot back-to-back sequels were a nightmare due to the Wachowskis opting to take an extremely testing Kubrick-esque approach to proceedings.

“Everything that was good about the first experience was not good about the last two,” Pope said, “We weren’t free anymore. People were looking at you. There was a lot of pressure.”

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Elaborating on the fist-biting pains of making those two movies, Pope added, “In my heart, I didn’t like them. I felt like we should be going in another direction. There was a lot of friction and a lot of personal problems, and it showed up on-screen. It was not my most elevated moment, nor was it anyone else’s. The Wachowskis had read this damn book by Stanley Kubrick that said, ‘Actors don’t do natural performances until you wear them out.’ So let’s go take 90! I want to dig Stanley Kubrick up and kill him.”

Despite his undoubted brilliance, Kubrick was famed for how insanely hard he pushed his cast and crew – with Shelley Duvall’s emotional breakdown on The Shining just one famous example of Kubrick’s methods.

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As for Bill Pope, it’s no surprise that he won’t be returning for Lana Wachowski’s The Matrix 4 – which is currently booked in for April 1, 2022.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.