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Laurence Fishburne: 'The Matrix' Training Left Cast 'In Pain All the Time'

His remarks spotlight the punishing Hong Kong-style regimen behind the film’s enduring influence.

Overview

  • Speaking at the Marrakech Film Festival, Fishburne said Yuen Woo-ping trained the cast like professional athletes, leaving them in constant pain during preparation for the 1999 film.
  • He noted the payoff of the regimen, saying the choreography remains in his body as lasting muscle memory more than 25 years later.
  • Fishburne described his acting approach as aiming to surprise audiences, citing transformative turns such as Jimmy Jump in King of New York and Furious Styles in Boyz N the Hood.
  • During technical glitches at the festival talk, he kept the room calm with a measured, fatherly demeanor.
  • At a recent Matrix reunion event, he said he reached out to Lana Wachowski about Resurrections without success and added he would only consider returning as Morpheus if a new film is truly great; he also argued the original reshaped modern sci‑fi filmmaking.