“I’m super happy that the Wachowskis are not just doing a ‘Matrix,’ but they’re expanding what we all loved,” “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” director Chad Stahelski told U.K. press last week when asked about the state of any potential “Matrix” movies, given that he was one of the action stunt coordinators on the film. “And if it’s anywhere near the level of what they’ve already done, it wouldn’t take more than a call to go, ‘Hey, we want you to be a stunt guy’ and I would probably go and get hit by a car.”
READ MORE: The Wachowskis Are Back For A Fourth ‘Matrix’ Film According To ‘John Wick 3’ Director
Great, that sounds pretty unambiguous, but shortly after the news was met with great enthusiasm and started to spread like wildfire, representatives for Stahelski reached out to /Film, said, the initial report was inaccurate and explained that the filmmaker’s comments were in response to a hypothetical scenario were the Wachowskis would be involved.
READ MORE: Warner Bros. Really Wants New ‘Mad Max’ & ‘The Matrix’ Sequels
Was something lost in translation? We tried to get some answers out of Stahelski this week. Playlist contributor Griffin Schiller spoke to the filmmaker this week about “John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” (interview posting soon) and during the interview at the end, Griffin tried to figure out what exactly went down in that conversation and why it was misinterpreted.
The short version, Stahelski is definitely not confirming a “Matrix 4” movie directed by the Wachowskis at this time.
READ MORE: ‘The Matrix’: Sandra Bullock Was One Of Several Major Names To Turn Down The Role Of Neo
“All I was trying to say is—I was asked a lot about my experience with them and, you know, there’s been rumors floating around for a while about whether there is another [‘Matrix’ film] and what their involvement is,” Stahelski explained. “My simple point was, look: it was such a great experience working with them and it was such a career-defining experience working with them, both for me, my partner David Leitch, for Keanu [Reeves], Laurence [Fishburne], all the people we still currently keep in contact with, that if—they were such a big influence and they were such fantastic mentors to all of us—if they were to be involved… I would retire back to action director just to be part of it and help them out, or lend myself to that project just for the experience of working with them again. That’s something.”
So while it’s clear, he’s heard about the rumors and the legitimate news that Warner Bros. would love to continue the “Matrix” series (and had hired writers to do so), he’s still talking in hypotheticals right now.
“So if [the Wachoswkis] were [going to make another ‘Matrix’] and that project does come to fruition with them helming it in some kind of capacity, I would feel like I would owe them and I would like my own career to be involved with it somehow. I would do craft services on that movie just to see it done.”
Well, that clarifies that from the horse’s mouth: no Wachowski siblings are directing any “Matrix” movies of this time. Though all the carefully worded ifs Stahelski drops, on top of his original comments and how specific they were about “expanding” the world, definitely make one wonder whether he has some inside information about the filmmakers at least considering the idea if a script comes together that they like.
“John Wick: Chapter 3 — Parabellum” is in theaters tomorrow. More from this interview very soon. – Reporting by Griffin Schiller