Film productions came to a halt following the global pandemic but recently some films in some places have been able to get back to work, and that includes the production of the fourth Matrix movie, which was in the process of moving its production from San Francisco to Germany when everything shut down. Filming in Berlin has now begun, though with a variety of new safety procedures in place.
Keanu Reeves doesn't go into detail regarding how production has changed compared to how things might have been handled previously, but he does tell AP that the changes aren't having a noticeable impact on the production in any way. It sounds like things are going about as smoothly as they would if there were no new protocols at all, but that seems to be because there's been real thought put into how safety is being handled. According to Reeves...
There’s really thoughtful, effective protocols in place, and the rhythm of filmmaking has been not really impacted or interrupted. I think everyone loves the project. If you’re ever going to get into any kind of situation that needs to be figured out or, ‘How do we do this,’ show business people are the best. We’re scrappy, we know how to get stuff done, we’re inventive, think on our feet… It goes back to like, ‘Let’s put on a show’… And that spirit is definitely alive and well in The Matrix.
Keanu Reeves says that show business people are versatile and used to having to come up with solutions to problems, and that is an incredibly valuable skill right now. Coming up with new safety protocols so that all the people on the film set are as safe as possible is one thing, but considering how variable work can be from day to day on a film set, especially for a movie like The Matrix, which we can expect will be giving us some pretty visually intense action, those safety protocols are likely being put through their paces. How to keep everybody safe in a simple dialogue scene isn't going to be the same for a motorcycle stunt or something that has Keanu Reeves hanging from wires.
However, while safety might sometimes be more complicated on the set, Keanu Reeves says that it's all being handled well and the creative problem solving that might be necessary on a production with no money is being used just as well to figure out how to get the necessary work done, but in a way that doesn't put people unnecessarily at risk.
Originally set to release in May of 2021, The Matrix 4, which one assumes will get a subtitle at some point, is now set to release in April of 2022 due to the production delay as well as the need to shuffle other movies around. Godzilla Vs. Kong will now open on the film's previous May date.
