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Most scenes were filmed at Fox Studios in Sydney and the city itself, avoiding recognizable landmarks to maintain a generic American city feel.
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Filming began in March 1998 and wrapped in August 1998, taking 118 days for principal photography, with some scenes shot at Culver Studios.
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The subway scene was filmed on a set built around a train storage facility due to the complexity of the fight and wire work.
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The filming helped establish New South Wales as a major film production center.
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The rooftop set used for Trinity's escape from Agent Brown was left over from the production of Dark City.
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Due to Reeves's neck injury, action scenes were rescheduled to start with less physically demanding scenes, such as Thomas Anderson's office and the interrogation room.
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The dojo set was built well before actual filming.
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The helicopter used in the film was a full-scale, lightweight mock-up with a real minigun side-mounted to it, cycling at half its regular firing rate.
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The office building where Smith interrogated Morpheus was a large set, with the outside view created by a three-story high cyclorama.
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Carrie-Anne Moss performed her own wire stunts for the shots featuring Trinity at the beginning of the film.
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The bullet-time fight scene was filmed on the roof of the Symantec Corporation building in Kent Street, opposite Sussex Street.
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Actors sustained bruises due to significant physical contact during action sequences.
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To prepare for the scene where Neo wakes up in a pod, Reeves lost 15 pounds and shaved his whole body to give an emaciated look.
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The scene where Neo fell into the sewer system concluded principal photography.
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During the rehearsal of the lobby scene, Moss injured her leg and was unable to film the shot in one take.
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The Matrix opened in US theaters on March 31, 1999, to widespread acclaim for its visual effects, action sequences, cinematography, and entertainment value.
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Chad Stahelski, Reeves's stunt double, sustained several injuries during the scene when Neo slammed Smith into the ceiling.
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Reeves's injury and insufficient wire training caused frustration and delays in filming the triple kicks scene, which was successfully shot a few days later.
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During the rooftop scene, extra footage was filmed of Neo dodging bullets as a contingency in case the bullet-time process did not work.
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The film grossed over $460 million on a $63 million budget, becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of 1999 and the fourth-highest-grossing film of that year.
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In 2012, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant."
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