Rosie Perez recently appeared on ‘The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,’ and talked about trying out for a supporting role in ‘The Matrix’ franchise.
Asked if she ever had a bad audition experience, the actress shared, “It was for ‘The Matrix,’ and it was for the supporting lead, and I was so excited, and I went in there, and it was the worst audition of my life. It was so bad that the casting director was laughing during my audition.”
Perez noted that the role she tested for was not Carrie-Anne Moss’ Trinity and continued, “The problem was I didn’t really understand the script. You know, the blue pill, the this pill, I was like, ‘What the hell are they talking about?’ And people hooked up with tubes in their body, and I just didn’t get it.”
“So, I was trying to fake my way through the audition and everything, and it was bad,” she added. “And then they were like, ‘Do you know martial arts?’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know Kung-Fu.’ And I was so nervous that I messed up my whole routine, and they were dying laughing. I go, ‘I’m just gonna leave. I’m just gonna leave.’ And I started walking out the door, and I turned to the casting director, I go, ‘Thank you,’ and she couldn’t stop laughing. She didn’t even say goodbye.”
Perez already had a successful career in those years, having played in Spike Lee’s ‘Do the Right Thing,’ Ron Shelton’s ‘White Men Can’t Jump,’ and the ‘21 Jump Street’ show with Johnny Depp. While she couldn’t get ‘The Matrix’ role, the actress starred in other big projects like ‘Birds of Prey’ in later years.
Meanwhile, the Wachowski sisters’ sci-fi franchise moved forward with Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Hugo Weaving in the cast.
The fourth movie, ‘The Matrix Resurrections,’ came out in late 2021. After that, the Wachowskis stepped down from directing the series, and Warner Bros. brought in Drew Goddard to write and direct an upcoming installment.
