Filmmakers Chad Stahelski and David Leitch are fairly household names nowadays, thanks to the “John Wick” franchise, as well as Leitch’s work on ‘Hobbs & Shaw’ and “Deadpool 2.” But before that, the duo really made waves as members of The Wachowski’s crew for the ‘Matrix’ trilogy. And even though they have moved on to directing careers of their own, it appears that both men are returning to help director Lana Wachowski work on “The Matrix 4.”
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Speaking to Collider, the men talked about what fans can expect with the new ‘Matrix’ sequel and what their roles in the production amount to. Long story short, “The Matrix 4” doesn’t have as much Stahleski and Leitch but that doesn’t mean the film is going to suffer.
“It’s definitely, from what I know of it, it’s incredibly fun,” Stahelski said. “I think if you’re a fan of the original trilogy you’re gonna love this. Coming back with a vengeance.”
Instead of a more hands-on approach to the film, as the duo had in previous ‘Matrix’ films, Stahelski said that their involvement is more “conceptual.” Why just “conceptual?” Well, because apparently Lana Wachowski is interested in directing all the fight work herself, an increasingly rare thing for filmmakers in the modern era.
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“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.”
He added, “I’m helping out a little bit for a sequence, I think Dave’s helping out for a sequence…We just finished doing a sequence in San Francisco before the pandemic started.”
Obviously, the pandemic has put the production of “The Matrix 4” on hold, with no clear restart date in mind. So, unfortunately for fans of the film series, it’s going to take a little longer for Stahelski and Leitch’s ‘Matrix’ sequences to hit the big screen. As of now, the film still holds onto its May 21, 2021 release. We’ll see if that sticks or if the film, like so many others, will be delayed due to the stoppage.