Sandra Bullock has done a couple of action films in the past, though none of them were her favorites. In fact, the actress liked the one which she rejected when it was first offered to her. It was instant regret on her part, though she thinks it was the right decision.
Bullock still spoke highly of the franchise and the role she never got to play in her entire career. Well, that’s life in the entertainment business, and sometimes it ends up being a hard lesson for celebrities.
Sandra Bullock Is A Huge Fan Of Keanu Reeves’ The Matrix
During her appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, actress Sandra Bullock was asked about her all-time favorite action movie. She immediately responded with:
“You know, I’m a huge fan – and I don’t know if this falls in the action movie – the first Matrix, huge fan. Amazing.”
Starring Keanu Reeves, The Matrix was a pop culture phenomenon that changed the world of cinema. Released in 1999, the film is still celebrated as one of the best science fiction movies of this generation. Interestingly, Bullock was offered to star in the project for the role of Neo. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura explained via TheWrap:
“We went out to so many people I don’t remember. We were getting desperate. We went to Sandy Bullock and said, ‘We’ll change Neo to a girl.’ [Producer] Joel Silver and I worked with Sandy on ‘Demolition Man’ and she was and continues to be a very good friend of mine. It was pretty simple. We sent her the script to see if she was interested in it. And if she was interested in it, we would try to make the change.”
Unfortunately, the actress turned it down. The producer said it “wasn’t something for her at the time.” Had she not landed the role of Neo, Bullock could have starred as Trinity, a role that eventually went to Carrie-Anne Moss.
Casting For The Matrix Was A Lot Of Pressure
It was instant regret for Sandra Bullock when The Matrix was released and she was not part of it. Still, the actress expressed delight at how amazing the film was. Her representatives revealed that she did not remember the details of Lorenzo di Bonaventura’s pitch for The Matrix, though he had always been very supportive of Bullock.
Even though there’s a pang of regret, Bullock felt that the roles went to the right people, both the parts of Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss. The Matrix ended up becoming an international blockbuster, which is worth all the hardships the team faced while looking for actors to fill in the roles.
The producer revealed that the casting for Neo was so tricky because actors kept slipping away from his fingers. He would secure names of A-list celebrities, such as Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, and even Will Smith but would leave at the last minute because of certain reasons. Everything changed when they finally locked in Keanu Reeves.
It would be cool, though, to watch Bullock play the role of Neo to see what differences it would make if the lead character was a girl.
