Actor Carrie-Anne Moss had her first action role in the 1999 Matrix movie. But she took a lot of inspiration from original action star Clint Eastwood to play Trinity.
How Carrie-Anne Moss took inspiration from Clint Eastwood for Trinity
Clint Eastwood has a variety of films under his belt both as an actor and a director. But he was originally known as an action star. Eastwood played the action hero Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide. From there, he moved on to characters who were more morally complex by starring in features like Fistful of Dollars. This was a conscious decision on Eastwood’s part, who didn’t want to play just a pure hero anymore.
“In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero,” Eastwood once said according to Emanuel Levy.
Eastwood’s antihero roles in films like Dirty Harry would influence many actors and characters for years to come. One of those actors was Carrie-Anne Moss, who drew direct inspiration from Eastwood for her role as Trinity in The Matrix.
“I’ve never been interested in action movies,” Moss once told Esquire. “Definitely not interested in sci-fi. So when we were on location, I decided to watch Clint Eastwood. I hadn’t seen his movies since I was a kid and went with my dad and my brother.”
Moss took specific traits she noticed about Eastwood’s performances and combined it with her own.
“But I remembered how still he was. Still but full of strength. I knew I needed to tap into that because I’m not a very still person. And I knew the brothers really wanted that quiet intensity for Trinity. It’s about her eyes, her voice, the way she moves. Or doesn’t move. And I watched Clint and thought, Okay, Trinity can be still and still very powerful,” she said.
Carrie-Anne Moss avoided becoming an action star because of her ‘Matrix’ role
The Matrix established Moss as a potential and capable action hero. But because of her striking scenes in the film, Moss was offered parts in movies that were perhaps too similar to Trinity. They were the kinds of roles the star actively tried to avoid out of respect for Trinity.
“I didn’t ever want to have anyone else sort of use that. That was a hard line for me. If something smelled, or felt, or had that [Trinity] energy… it was just like, no. It would have felt like an act of betrayal,” Moss said in an interview with GQ.
After The Matrix, audiences saw Moss take on more diverse work. She starred in films like The Crew and Memento in addition to reprising her role as Trinity in The Matrix sequels. But although she remained an onscreen presence, filmmaking started becoming less of a priority for her. Moss revealed this was because she was in the midst of raising a family.
“I had kids, and I wanted to be with them,” she said.
Carrie-Anne Moss cried through her first viewing of ‘The Matrix’ because she couldn’t stand looking at herself
Moss didn’t have the easiest time watching herself in the action film for the first time. This was mostly because the Jessica Jones star couldn’t stand the way she looked while doing the movie. It was definitely something she had to get used to overtime.
“It was not a fun experience,” she said. “It was so unnatural looking. I’m a very simple person. I don’t use computers, and all those special effects go against my natural instincts. It was just shocking to see myself so…out there.”
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