Matrix Revolutions Opens Around the Globe Today

The third part of the Matrix trilogy opens simultaneously in revolutionary manner:

The Matrix Revolutions hit screens at 1400 GMT in London - which equates to 0600 in Los Angeles, 0900 in New York, 1700 in Moscow and 2300 in Tokyo.

It will be shown simultaneously in 65 countries in a campaign never before attempted with the release of a movie.

Distributors Warner Brothers say they want to capitalise on the trilogy's popularity and deter potential pirates.

Phenomenon

Keanu Reeves and Jada Pinkett Smith, who star in the film, will be in Tokyo to mark its unveiling.

At Beijing's Oriental Plaza moviehouse, 600 filmgoers, including 200 journalists, watched the film showing simultaneously in the cinema's six viewing rooms, while scores of others were turned away. [BBC]

Keanu Reeves is liberated from solemnity:

For more than a decade, no matter the far-ranging roles and genres he tried, Reeves was inescapably identified as the most-excellent but nitwitted dude Ted of 1989's "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" and its sequel, "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey."

Now Reeves, 39, faces life after Neo, the most-solemn messiah of "The Matrix" trilogy. What does he do for an encore?

The same thing he's done all along: Mix things up.

"I love doing supporting roles, different genres, different scales of moviemaking," Reeves told The Associated Press during an interview at a soundstage at Warner Bros., the studio behind "The Matrix" franchise. "It's important, it's a wish of mine to be able to do that."

In December, Reeves plays second fiddle to Jack Nicholson in the romantic comedy "Something's Gotta Give," as an emergency-room doctor wooing an older woman (Diane Keaton). Already completed is a role as an orthodontist in the low-budget comedy "Thumbsucker," and Reeves is shooting the occult comic-book adaptation "Constantine."

....In conversation, Reeves is highly articulate, though he peppers his speech with dude-like "yeah, mans" and the occasional "most certainly." His demeanor is a mix of California casual and fidgety furtiveness.

His co-stars say Reeves is gracious and easygoing, but closer in spirit to the guarded Neo than the goofball Ted.

"I would never say he has the carefree Ted in him," said Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Neo's soul mate, Trinity. "I would say he's so funny and has a great sense of humor. He's a very kind person."

....Born in Lebanon, Reeves is the son of an English showgirl and a Chinese-Hawaiian father. After his parents divorced, Reeves moved with his mother and sister to New York City and later Toronto, where he excelled at hockey and took up acting in his teens.

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Article Author: Eric Olsen

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