Chapter 189: The Girls Have Arrived

The entire month of July passed by, and the fight scenes for The Matrix were finally wrapped up. The crew returned to Warner Bros.'s soundstages, ready to begin filming the dialogue and green-screen scenes.

The Hong Kong action coordination team had finished their work and left the set.

The Wachowski brothers now had full control over the shoot.

Their aesthetic for the camera was top-tier, and they had plenty of ideas when it came to special effects.

By the end of July, Charlie's Angels had completed its filming.

On this particular day, four women arrived on the set of The Matrix for a visit.

"Wow, what kind of shot are they filming?" Drew Barrymore marveled, looking at the set surrounded by green screens, with circles of cameras arranged around it.

"I know, I know!" Lindsay raised her hand excitedly. "This is the bullet-time scene, Martin mentioned it to me."

"Smart, you got it right!" Martin's voice came from behind.

"Martin!" The four girls exclaimed in unison, clearly excited.

Drew, flustered, tossed her head back, annoyed at how eagerly she had reacted, as though it were only a one-night thing between them. But she quickly said, "Martin, ever since that visit, you haven't come to see us."

The "us" was said with an emphasis, implying that she meant, since he spent that night with her, he hadn't made the effort to visit her.

Martin chuckled. "It's not that I didn't want to, just didn't have the time. The Matrix has been keeping me busy."

Drew wasn't in the mood for reason.

Truth be told, she couldn't stop thinking about him since that night. Whenever Lindsay suggested coming to see him, she didn't hesitate to agree. And the moment she saw him, a rush of joy hit her...

Trying to hide her feelings, Drew put on a teasing smile, speaking to the other girls, "See? This is what men are like. They butter you up to get you to bed, but once they've had you, you're not that important anymore."

"Please, making love is just a way to express intimacy, a means of communication. It proves that the woman is important to me," Martin responded, laughing.

"Hmph, I don't believe that," Drew scoffed, but inwardly, she felt pleased.

At this point, Lindsay, practically hopping with excitement, ran over to Martin and whispered in his ear, "Martin, you're not being fair. Why did you do that with Drew, but not with us?"

"Uh, you're still too young! Wait a bit longer!" Martin scratched his nose, casting a glance at Drew, thinking it best to distance Lindsay from such a mischievous influence.

Jessica and Scarlett, on the other hand, were intrigued by the "bullet-time" shoot. They circled the camera array, asking Martin, "Martin, how's this shot done?"

"You'll see in a minute," he smiled mysteriously. "I'm going to change now."

Moments later, Martin walked out dressed in a black trench coat and sunglasses, looking incredibly cool. All four girls' eyes lit up.

"Wow, Martin's outfit is too cool!" Jessica exclaimed, eyes sparkling.

Scarlett clasped her hands to her chest and blushed, saying, "Uh, I need to go to the restroom again!"

"Lindsay, you really are useless!" Jessica joked, and they both burst into giggles.

"I just drank too much water," Scarlett defensively muttered.

"We drank water earlier?" Jessica feigned confusion, sharing another round of laughter with Lindsay.

Drew didn't speak, but she was mentally strategizing, figuring out how to get Martin to wear that outfit again tonight when they met.

"Action!"

With the younger Wachowski brother's shout, filming began.

With the help of a wire rig, Martin's body bent backward to a ninety-degree angle.

Around him, 120 cameras began snapping photos at intervals of 1/120 second, arranged in a circle, surrounding him completely. As they formed the circle, the camera heights gradually dropped.

Martin's motion, the iconic dodge of the bullet, was timed perfectly to be captured from high to low, allowing each camera to follow the action from beginning to end.

Then, each frame from those cameras was scanned into a computer.

The visual effects team used special software to add frames, slowing the motion further and enhancing its fluidity.

"That's it?" Jessica looked disappointed. The motion didn't seem that impressive.

Martin stepped out of the shot and laughed, "You think so? This shot relies on post-production to make it perfect. You won't see the effect until later."

"Martin, tonight—" Drew flashed him a mischievous smile, catlike in nature.

"No, I've already made plans with them!" Scarlett chimed in, sneaking a pinch to Martin's side.

Although Drew had earned the "romantic interest" label, for some reason, whenever she was near Martin, Scarlett and Jessica couldn't help but feel a competitive edge.

"Oh, right, I've already made plans with them," Martin said with a shrug.

"Okay, okay, next time then!"

Drew looked mildly disappointed but also a little relieved.

She had to admit to herself that despite thinking she'd given up on men, there was something about Martin that stirred up confusing emotions.

The shoot continued.

Drew left, still with complex feelings.

The girls waited on set for Martin to finish filming.

Lawrence Fishburne, dressed in a black suit and sunglasses, walked over, his usual stoic expression in place. He sat down next to Martin, who was clearly puzzled by the change in his character's appearance.

"The outfit's changed, and the arm connectors are gone," Fishburne said, raising an eyebrow.

Martin—Neo—looked at himself, then sat on the sofa. Fishburne continued his line about the difference between virtual and real.

"Is this real?"

"Neo" reached for the couch, a look of doubt on his face.

Martin's acting far surpassed Keanu Reeves's in this scene. His performance didn't feel forced at all.

"What's real?" Fishburne asked coolly, pointing at Martin. "How do you define real?"

"If what you mean by real is what you can feel, taste, smell—then it's just your brain responding to electrical signals. We're here, not because we're free..." Martin, as Neo, responded, putting into words the philosophy of the film.

Fishburne picked up the TV remote, and they both sat on the sofa, watching the screen.

"The world you know is this... It's the world of the late 20th century..."

"Cut! Perfect! Let's move to the next shot!"

In this scene, the two actors nailed the conversation about the truth of the world in almost one take.

By five in the evening, the shooting wrapped up.

Martin walked over to the girls.

"Alright, tell me where we're headed tonight?" Martin said with a teasing grin.

[•———•——•———•]

𝙥𝗮𝙩𝙧𝙚𝙤𝙣(.)𝙘𝙤𝙢/𝙂𝙤𝙙𝙊𝙛𝙍𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙚𝙧