The Wachowskis (Lilly and Lana), the brains behind "The Matrix" trilogy, "Bound," "V for Vendetta" "Speed Racer," and "Cloud Atlas," hit rock bottom after their Netflix series "sense8" was canceled despite having ended with a cliffhanger in expectation of a third season, then under negotiation. Netflix did eventually produce a two-and-a-half-hour series finale, released on June 8, 2018.
Regardless, it seems as though the losses with 2015’s "Jupiter Ascending" was the main reason why their creative offices had to close last year, and, their words, a “silent retirement” was in the works for them. I had heard that they'd been struggling to get funding for their projects until Netflix picked up “sense8.”
It does look as though only one Wachowski is involved with 2021’s upcoming “The Matrix 4.” The sister tandem hasn’t worked together since season one of Sense8. I’ve been hearing that Lilly, in general, has slowed down her presence in the film industry, even her Twitter bio now says she is an "ex(ish)-ex-film maker.” Whatever that means.
Lilly has yet to give a comment about her actually involvement in the movie, but at the Television Critics Association summer tour last year, the Wachowski sister explained why she just doesn’t really care as much about creating science fiction. “I sort of feel like I’ve got one foot out the door. I’ve got the exit, and I’m like, ‘Am I in or out? I’m not sure,'” Wachowski explained during a panel for Showtime’s upcoming Work in Progress. The director serves as an executive producer for Abby McEnany’s dramedy about a depressed lesbian woman trying to find a reason not to kill herself.
She added, “my agent kept sending me stuff, and a lot of science fiction. Great. It’s good stuff, science fiction. You get to talk a lot about a lot of subjects. There’s always fabulous subtext in science fiction,” Wachowski explained. “Since my transition, I’m not really interested in subtext at this time.”
However, some much-needed help seems to be coming Lana’s way.
Before moving to directing, filmmakers Chad Stahelski (“John Wick” franchise) and David Leitch (“Deadpool 2”) started off as part of The Wachowski’s stunt team for the ‘Matrix’ trilogy and it appears as though both men are returning to help Lana Wachowski on “The Matrix 4.” [via Collider]
Stahelski does mention that their involvement is more “conceptual” due to Lana Wachowski’s insistence that she direct all the fight work herself.
“It’s more about the creative concept of some of the choreography and backing them up with stuff,” Stahelski explained. “What makes [Lana] so great is she directs her own action. We’ve had second unit directors on some of the ‘Matrixes’ just because of the logistics involved. But of late, and especially on ‘Matrix 4,’ she’s directing her own action. The second units for them are mostly establishing shots, the B-sides of some of the compositions for some locations. But Lana, she does her own action. She weaves it into the main unit stuff, which is why their stuff looks so good.”
The Wachowskis had a limited budget with "The Matrix" but made their best film, by far. Once they hit pay dirt with "The Matrix" the duo went out of control and had the creative freedom to do whatever the hell they wanted to shoot. Bad idea. It got out of hand. Despite the ambitions of "Cloud Atlas," "Jupiter Ascending" and Sense 8," there was a maudlin-kind of ineptitude to these films, a pseudo-scientific preachiness that felt inauthentic. I did hope that maybe they could go back to making smaller-scaled stuff like with their debut "Bound," which was an indie gem, alas, it looks as though that will likely not be happening anytime soon.
Shooting form “The Matrix 4” is currently on hold, due to the pandemic, but a May 21, 2021 release has been set for this highly anticipated movie.