DRE: This may be old news but was the controversy over The Matrix films being like The Invisibles blown out of proportion?
GM: It's really simple. The truth of that one is that design staff on The Matrix were given Invisibles collections and told to make the movie look like my books. This is a reported fact. The Wachowskis are comic book creators and fans and were fans of my work, so it's hardly surprising. I was even contacted before the first Matrix movie was released and asked if I would contribute a story to the website.
It's not some baffling 'coincidence' that so much of The Matrix is plot by plot, detail by detail, image by image, lifted from Invisibles so there shouldn't be much controversy. The Wachowskis nicked The Invisibles and everyone in the know is well aware of this fact but of course they're unlikely to come out and say it.
It was just too bad they deviated so far from the Invisibles philosophical template in the second and third movies because they blundered helplessly into boring Catholic theology, proving that they hadn't HAD the 'contact' experience that drove The Invisibles, and they wrecked both
'Reloaded' and 'Revolutions' on the rocks of absolute incomprehension. They should have kept on stealing from me and maybe they would have wound up with something to really be proud of - a movie that could change minds and hearts and worlds.
I love the first Matrix movie which I think is a real work of cinematic genius and very timely but I've now heard from several people who worked on The Matrix and they've all confirmed that they were given Invisibles books as reference. That's how it is. I'm not angry about it anymore, although at one time I was because they made millions from what was basically a Xerox of my work and to be honest, I would be happy with just one million so I didn't have to work thirteen hours of every ****ing day, including weekends.
In the end, I was glad they got the ideas out but very disappointed that they blew it so badly and distorted all the Gnostic transcendental aspects that made the first film so strong and potent. If they had any sense, they would have befriended me instead of pissing me off. They seem like nice boys.
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Humans are afraid of the dark.
And yet… At the same time, we’re fascinated and bewitched by it.
Maybe that’s why humans drink the darkness that is coffee.
i dont belive that they say they copied everything to make the matrix like there was a book and now a comic book what next its done with get over it they are moving on to V for Vendetta
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In the eighties V was relevant especially if you lived in Britain under Thatcher, The movie plot deviates almost totally from the idea of home grown fascism and I reread it recently and decided the original has dated badly. I hope the film is not to horriblly bad .
The Matrix did rip off the invisibles as well as ghost in the shell and miracleman to name but two others.
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The Matrix is a ripoff of a lot of stuff, but nobody in The Invisibles was walking around in long black coats... they were all much more fashionable than that. =p
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Jan 23rd, 2006 10:13 AM
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