Keanu Reeves Almost Wasn't Neo: The Real Story Behind The Matrix's Casting

Credit: Daniel Benavides (DannyB Photos). Licensed under CC BY 2.0.

Picture Neo, and the name that immediately comes to mind is Keanu Reeves. But it wasn’t always this way—long before his iconic black coat, at least eight actors had the opportunity to take on the role and turned it down.

Will Smith Passed on the Role

In the mid-’90s, the Wachowskis had only one film under their belt—the thriller Bound, starring Jennifer Tilly, which drew comparisons to the work of the Coen brothers and helped convince Warner Bros. to sign the siblings for a much more ambitious project.

Still, it took the producers some time to convince Will Smith, who starred in the Men in Black franchise, to take on the role of a computer programmer who realizes that his reality is a simulation.

While Smith listened carefully to the pitch, the concept was too abstract for him, and he declined the offer, claiming it sounded like something he would try to pitch with a slow-motion, 360-degree effect—which was, indeed, the visual hallmark of The Matrix.

Smith would later admit that going into the meeting, he assumed the Wachowskis had the vision wrong, but they turned out to be right—and he ended up making Wild Wild West, a project that struggled heavily at the box office.

Looking back on the decision years later, Smith remarked: “So I made Wild Wild West. I’m not proud of it.” The Matrix, which eventually grossed over $460 million, became a defining role for Keanu Reeves in the years to come.

Nicolas Cage Prioritized His Family

The role of Neo was next offered to Nicolas Cage, whose schedule was equally busy—he was also considering a major fantasy franchise role at the same time. Both projects would have required months of work far from home, but Cage opted out, saying he preferred to spend more time with his family: “I had family commitments, so I’m glad I did.”

With both Smith and Cage out of the picture, the search for Neo began anew. It proved to be an especially difficult task for Warner Bros.—in the meantime, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, the Warner Bros. executive who championed the project, revealed that they were even open to casting a woman in the lead role.

According to di Bonaventura’s interview with The Wrap, they tried to convince Sandra Bullock, who had starred in Demolition and had been Keanu Reeves’s co-star in Speed, of the appeal of the role. “We went to Sandy Bullock and said we’ll change Neo to a girl,” he said, adding that the actress passed and went on to make Forces of Nature. Neo, meanwhile, stayed male.

Two other A-listers also briefly considered the role. Brad Pitt was shooting Seven Years in Tibet and revealed years later that he turned the offer down: “I took the red pill. That’s the only one I’m naming.”

Leonardo DiCaprio agreed to meet the Wachowskis but changed his mind when he learned he would need to commit to another visual-effects-driven movie shortly after wrapping up Titanic.

Competition for Supporting Roles

The role of Morpheus was first offered to Gary Oldman, then Samuel L. Jackson, Val Kilmer, and Russell Crowe before it eventually went to Laurence Fishburne.

Jean Reno, the French star, was also offered the role of Agent Smith but declined the part, claiming he would have to move to Australia for the duration of the shoot. Similarly, singer Janet Jackson was offered the role of Trinity but turned it down due to scheduling conflicts, and the part eventually went to Carrie-Anne Moss.

Other Casting Rumors and Possibilities

Johnny Depp was seriously considered for the role of Neo because of his experience in the sci-fi genre, but he seemed to be a polarizing figure among the studio’s executives.

As one article from InStyle puts it, “While Depp’s fans may have loved the idea of him as the One, the Wachowskis knew their leading man had to be someone with mainstream appeal.”

David Duchovny made a similar remark about the role: he would have taken it, but he had already committed to The X-Files: Fight the Future and wanted to focus on that project instead.

Kevin Costner, Tom Cruise, and the late Brandon Lee were also allegedly considered for the lead while the search continued—but, as with many of the actors mentioned above, it is unclear if any of them were formally approached for the role.

Keanu Reeves Enters Hollywood History

When the Wachowskis finally met Keanu Reeves, they knew they had found their man. Reeves had proven himself to be a bankable leading actor with Point Break, and his participation in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure had given him significant credibility with moviegoers.

He later described the meeting with the Wachowskis as surprisingly laid-back: he and the directors chatted outside the office before agreeing to Reeves taking on the role. They even persuaded him to spend four months preparing for the part before filming began.

“I was very lucky,” Reeves says about getting the role. The long preparation helped ready him for the movie—during those four months, he trained extensively with Hong Kong choreography legend Yuen Woo-ping and studied a number of books, including Jean Baudrillard’s Simulacra and Simulation, which informed his understanding of the story’s philosophy.

The film’s budget of $63 million paid off in March 1999 when The Matrix hit the screens—it turned out to be a massive hit at the box office, eventually grossing over $460 million and becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of that year.

It won all four Academy Awards it was nominated for: Best Film Editing, Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects. It also became the first DVD release to sell a million copies.

Reeves later reprised his role as Neo in two sequels that came out in 2003, as well as a fourth film in 2021. The role has since become firmly associated with him—and it is hard to imagine anyone else pulling it off as successfully as he did.

Given that many actors passed on the role, and those who considered it had to step down for various reasons, it is no wonder that Reeves’ involvement in the project is still celebrated decades later.