Backstory and role
The Keymaker is an "Exile", a program whose usefulness has come to an end and that has chosen to hide in the Matrix rather than be deleted. The Oracle tells Neo that he will need the Keymaker's help in order to reach the Source, the machine mainframe; however, he is being held captive by a dangerous Exile known as the Merovingian. Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity are rebuffed when they demand that the Merovingian release the Keymaker, but his wife Persephone betrays him and takes them to where the Keymaker is being held: a small room in which he toils over a key-cutting machine. Thousands of previously made keys hang in bunches on the walls.
Morpheus and Trinity, separated from Neo, flee with the Keymaker as the Merovingian's Twins, the police, and three Agents (sent to terminate the Keymaker as he is an Exile) pursue them onto the city freeways. The Keymaker assists in the escape by quickly providing Trinity with the ignition key needed to start a motorcycle, saving her the time of waiting for hot-wiring instructions to be uploaded into her mind.
Following the escape, the Keymaker meets with three crews of Zion rebels to describe the security measures in place around the building which houses the door that leads to the Source. Two electric power stations must both be shut down in order to disable the alarm system, after which Neo will have only a short time to reach the Source before the building is destroyed by explosives; in addition, if the door is opened while the alarm is still active or if anyone other than Neo tries to open it, the explosives will detonate. As the other two crews attack the power stations, the Keymaker leads Neo and Morpheus to a hall within the building, filled with doors that represent backdoor access to other parts of the Matrix.
They are interrupted by the arrival of Agent Smith and dozens of copies he has made of himself. The Keymaker hurriedly opens a door, allowing Neo and Morpheus to take cover inside a room as the Smiths open fire, but sustains multiple gunshot wounds to the chest. Before dying, he gives Neo a single key on a chain around his neck—the one needed to reach the Source—and points Morpheus toward a door that will allow him to re-enter the Matrix proper.
Role experience
Casting director Mali Finn succeeded in bringing Kim to the attention of the Wachowskis, the creators of the Matrix series. "Randall Duk Kim was cast for his talent, his presence and his voice," said Finn. [1] After meeting the Wachowskis, Kim said he agreed to the Keymaker role "without a single bit of hesitation." [1] Kim described the Keymaker as a character that belongs in The Wind in the Willows but then somehow ended up in Alice in Wonderland and then got lost in the Matrix. [2] The Wachowskis' thoughts on Keymaker were coming on the spot as various takes were done. [2] He is a creation of collaboration; [3] for example, Lana Wachowski suggested that Kim cut his stride in half, so that the Keymaker's movements appeared as more of a scurry, than a normal gait. [2]
In an interview with Tim Lammers to promote the DVD release of The Matrix Reloaded, Kim said, "I'm so happy to be part of such a wonderful tale as this. I was a fan before I even got the audition call for Reloaded". [4] "When I got the part, you could hardly keep me from flying off the ground," Kim gleefully recalled. [4] Despite the elaborate set-up and tireless hours, Kim said he could not get enough of the Matrix experience. "On every single day of that shoot I felt like a little kid on big adventure," Kim enthused. [4] "And working for [the Wachowskkis], they're childlike in their creativity—it's just contagious". [4] Kim said further that the stunt drivers in the freeway motorcycle chase scene were some of the most amazing people he had ever met. [4] "That was real. I would say Carrie and I did about three-quarters of what's seen up there," he revealed. [4] Kim was backed by professional motorcross racer David Barrett in a jump that was a double on the Ducati motorcycle used in the freeway chase. In a June 2001 interview, stunt player Debbie Evans said it was "pretty ambitious, because those bikes aren't made to do that sort of thing, but we pulled it off". [5]
The Keymaker also appears in the short lampoon MTV Movie Awards Reloaded, produced for the 2003 MTV Movie Awards.
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano, and depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside the Matrix, a simulated reality that intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias "Neo", uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
Lana Wachowski and Lilly Wachowski are American film and television directors, writers and producers. The sisters are both trans women.
The Matrix Reloaded is a 2003 American science-fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the sequel to The Matrix (1999) and the second installment in the Matrix film series. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Gloria Foster who reprise their roles from the previous film, with Jada Pinkett Smith joining the cast.
The Matrix Revolutions is a 2003 American science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the third installment in The Matrix film series, released six months following The Matrix Reloaded. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, Jada Pinkett Smith, Monica Bellucci, Lambert Wilson, and Mary Alice who replaced Gloria Foster as the Oracle following Foster's death in 2001.
Neo is a fictional character and the protagonist of The Matrix franchise, created by the Wachowskis. He was portrayed as a cybercriminal and computer programmer by Keanu Reeves in the films, as well as having a cameo in The Animatrix short film Kid's Story. Andrew Bowen provided Neo's voice in The Matrix: Path of Neo. In 2021, Reeves reprised his role in The Matrix Resurrections with what Vulture calls "his signature John Wick look".
Enter the Matrix is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed by Shiny Entertainment and published by Infogrames under the Atari brand name. The first game based on The Matrix film series, its story is concurrent with that of the film The Matrix Reloaded and features over an hour of original footage, written and directed by the Wachowskis and starring the cast of the films, produced for the game.
Agent Smith is a fictional character and the main antagonist of The Matrix franchise. The character was primarily portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the first trilogy of films and voiced by Christopher Corey Smith in The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005), with Ian Bliss and Gideon Emery playing his human form, Bane, in the films and Path of Neo respectively. He also makes a cameo in the anime film The Animatrix (2003), voiced by Matt McKenzie. Jonathan Groff and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II portray Smith in The Matrix Resurrections (2021), the latter playing Morpheus in a dual role.
Morpheus is a fictional character in The Matrix franchise. He is portrayed by Laurence Fishburne in the first three films, and in the video game The Matrix: Path of Neo, where he was the only original actor to reprise his character's voice. In The Matrix Resurrections, an AI program based on him is portrayed by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II.
The Matrix is an American cyberpunk media franchise consisting of four feature films, beginning with The Matrix (1999) and continuing with three sequels, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, and The Matrix Resurrections (2021). The first three films were written and directed by the Wachowskis and produced by Joel Silver. The screenplay for the fourth film was written by Lana Wachowski, David Mitchell and Aleksandar Hemon, was directed by Lana Wachowski, and was produced by Grant Hill, James McTeigue, and Lana Wachowski. The franchise is owned by Warner Bros., which distributed the films along with Village Roadshow Pictures. The latter, along with Silver Pictures, are the two production companies that worked on the first three films.
The Oracle is a fictional character in The Matrix franchise. She was created by The Wachowskis, and portrayed by Gloria Foster in the first and second film and Mary Alice in the third film. The character also appears in the video game Enter the Matrix and the massively multiplayer online role-playing game The Matrix Online.
Trinity is a fictional character in the Matrix franchise. She is portrayed by Carrie-Anne Moss in the films. In the gameplay segments of Path of Neo, she is voiced by Jennifer Hale. Trinity first appears in the 1999 film The Matrix.
Niobe is a fictional character in The Matrix franchise. She is portrayed by Jada Pinkett Smith. She serves as a supporting character in the three sequels of the original film, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections, and one of the protagonists of the video game Enter the Matrix. Niobe also appears in the MMORPG The Matrix Online. In the game, however, Niobe's character voicing is portrayed by Gina Torres, who portrayed the minor Zion character Cas in The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Persephone is a fictional character in The Matrix franchise. She is portrayed by Monica Bellucci. In the films The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, Persephone is married to the Merovingian. She seems bored with her existence in the Matrix, and is dissatisfied with her husband.
Agents are a group of characters in the fictional universe of The Matrix franchise. They are guardians within the computer-generated world of the Matrix, protecting it from anyone or anything that could reveal it as a false reality or threaten it in any other way. Agents also hunt down and terminate any rogue programs, such as The Keymaker, which no longer serve a purpose to the overall Machine objective. They are sentient computer programs disguised as human government agents, physically appearing as human but with a tendency to speak and act in highly precise and mechanical ways.
The Twins are fictional characters in the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. Henchmen of the Merovingian, they are "Exiles", or rogue programs that have chosen to hide in the Matrix rather than face deletion.
The red pill and blue pill are metaphorical terms representing a choice between learning an unsettling or life-changing truth by taking the "red pill" or remaining in the contented experience of ordinary reality with the "blue pill". In Freudian psychology, the corresponding principles are the reality principle and the pleasure principle. The pills were used as props in the 1999 film The Matrix.
Randall Duk Kim is an American actor. On stage, he is known both for his extensive classical repertoire and as an interpreter of the works of playwright Frank Chin. He is the co-founder of the American Players Theatre. To film audiences, he is best known for his portrayal of the Keymaker in The Matrix franchise, and as the voice of Master Oogway in the Kung Fu Panda franchise. He is an Obie Award winner and an Outer Critics Circle Award nominee.
The Matrix Reloaded: The Album is a 2003 soundtrack album from the 2003 film The Matrix Reloaded. The two-disc album is unusual among soundtrack releases in that it includes separate discs for the film's songs and the score, whereas most films release the songs and the score as separate single-disc albums.
The Matrix Resurrections is a 2021 American science fiction action film produced, co-written, and directed by Lana Wachowski, and the first in the Matrix franchise to be directed solely by Lana. It is the sequel to The Matrix Revolutions (2003) and the fourth installment in The Matrix film franchise. The film stars Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Jessica Henwick, Jonathan Groff, Neil Patrick Harris, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Jada Pinkett Smith. The film is set sixty years after Revolutions and follows Neo, who lives a seemingly ordinary life as a video game developer having trouble with distinguishing fantasy from reality. A group of rebels, with the help of a programmed version of Morpheus, free Neo from a new version of the Matrix and fight a new enemy that holds Trinity captive.
