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Whats your first memory of watchingThe Matrix?I remember it vividly.
It really imprinted itself on my mind.
Id never before contemplated the idea of reality and the idea of what we see being a construct.
So much of the movie is a series of deja vus and callbacks to the previous movies.
I cant imagine how it was for him.
He was like, I mean, it must have been when it came out.
So he was just staring, and I was looking at young Keanu and thought,Holy shit.
That must have been so disorienting.
What directions did Lana give during those kinds of scenes?
We either caught up too much or we fell behind.
Ive never worked with a director like Lana.
Shes very intuitive, very fluid.
She kind of just goes with however she feels on the day.
Her attention to detail is laser-focused.
Next to Neo, she probably has the most action scenes.
What was the physical training like for this film?It was long.
And it was sweaty.
It was a long time doing stunts and I dont think my body was ready for it.
But the most interesting thing was learning how to work with guns.
Id never really worked with them before.
I was kind of afraid of them.
Its really hard when you shoot and you get the kickback and everythings going off and its loud.
Its really hard not to blink.
And I wanted it to feel like Bugs could do this behind her back.
He maintained a playfulness that you dont always expect from someone whos been working as long as he has.
He comes every day to set fresh, ready to work and full of ideas.
Sometimes you work with actors who have that much experience and they just wanna do it their way.
And Keanus not like that.
He comes in and he goes, Well, how about this?
It feels very fresh.
Hes like a puppy dog.
So I actually tried to sort of fuse them together a bit.
It is much more somber and heavy in the real world than it is in the Matrix world.
Her look in the Matrix is how she wants to be seen.
So for me, that was kind of interesting to psychologically pick at.
Who is someone who wants to be seen like this?
Why does she want to be seen like this?
Why is this a choice?
I dont think that movement wouldve happened withoutThe Matrix.
It had such mainstream success.
I think a lot of those superhero films have a big debt toThe Matrix.
Bugs and this version of Morpheus are the new blood in the franchise.
They share a kind of brother-sister relationship as they track down Neo.
How was filming with Yahya?Filming with Yahya was great.
We did a chemistry read together and we have a mutual friend that he worked with inThe Get Down.
So I felt comfortable going into the film knowing I already had a bit of a connection with him.
And hes just chill.
He gets to set and he has his headphones in.
Hes in his own space and really comfortable in his own skin.
I was so nervous about that scene.
It was my audition scene.
But we didnt actually shoot that scene until one of my last days.
So it was 11 months of waiting to do that audition scene again.
The anticipation was through the roof.
I almost dont like waiting that long because then you start to overthink a scene.
For some people that works, but for me it doesnt.
But [in this case] there was no way for that to happen.
It has more to do with fate.
Do you believe in choice or fate?Oh, I think its a choice.
Its always a choice.
I mean, Im Asian.
So I was raised with some level of superstition and that kind of ties in with fatalism.
But I think that we are the masters of our own universe.
