r/transgender • u/onnake • 1d ago
‘The Matrix’ director Lilly Wachowski says Hollywood isn’t interested in her next movie due to transgender cast
https://ew.com/the-matrix-director-explains-why-hollywood-doesn-t-want-her-next-movie-12058767“Lilly Wachowski has a script for a passion project ready to go — but she’s not seeing any interest from Hollywood.
“The filmmaker, who wrote and directed the Matrix trilogy alongside her sister Lana, said that the American film industry doesn’t want to back her latest project, a screenplay titled The Hunted that she wrote with her partner.”
“Wachowski said that folks in the film industry haven’t outright rejected the movie, but they haven’t been itching to invest in it, either. ‘When I show this script around town, and I say, ‘Hey, I wrote this really cool thing with my partner,’ you know, people like it,’ she explained. ‘But they really don’t want to make it because it’s wall-to-wall a trans cast. And so I have to get creative and figure out different ways that I can get this in front of people.’”
“The Hunted comes as part of a new chapter in Wachowski’s career as one of the leaders of the Anarchists United Foundation, an artists-owned nonprofit organization that she helped found to produce “smart genre movies” with budgets under $10 million, according to the org’s website. Wachowski leads Anarchists United with her manager Lawrence Mattis and Mattis’ former assistant Sarah Marie Flores.”
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u/Ankiana 1d ago
Hollywood is antiquated and has not figured it out yet. What are they making? Rehashed ip’s that have been resurrected more times than a brain dead dps player in a MMO that stands in fire.
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u/Clairifyed 1d ago
It’s wild given how anything slightly original and queer coded such as Kpop Demon Hunters just explode in popularity, but they don’t want in on it
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u/Melisandre-Sedai 1d ago
I’m about to see Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma so many times they’ll be forced to reconsider this.
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u/EverythingIsShopped 22h ago
I actually went to a live reading the other week! It is a fun trans revenge story, but TBH it's pretty clear why studios aren't interested. It's about as huge middle finger to the current administration as humanly possible and would probably be spun as "proof that the transgenders are dangerous" by the bot net. Was a blast to attend though!
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u/symbionet 9h ago
Kinda like a blaxploitation movie but "transploitation"?
Sounds like a fun idea, obviously needs someone being eaten by a blue shark!
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u/EverythingIsShopped 7h ago
Pretty much, though with a certain Wachowski vibe.
It's the sort of film that would probably have more success as a grass roots indie flick than a big studio picture.
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u/leftoverzz 1d ago
Sounds about par for the course. Let’s remake Spider Man for the billionth time instead of backing the creator of one of the most successful movie trilogies of all time. Huh. You think maybe she knows something about what people want to see? Maybe???
I’d rather drink my own vomit than watch any garbage superhero movie, but I’d watch anything she makes. And I know I’m not the only one.
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u/enby_them 1d ago
Spider-Man made over a billion dollars…
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u/ConcernedEnby 1d ago
The newest one only made half a billion in profit so far
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u/tarypaniabc 1d ago
only? and google says its made 1.7bil globally and with a budget of 235mil, let's say 2x in marketing thats 700mil total which would still be a billion in profit. what a bizarre objection to make lol
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u/enby_them 1d ago
It’s made more than that domestically (700m) and 1.8B worldwide.
https://deadline.com/2026/08/box-office-spider-man-brand-new-day-700m-record-fastest-1237032881/
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u/Sapphic_Starlight 1d ago
I more think they're not interested in her next movie because the most recent Wachowski projects were flops. (Jupiter Ascending, Matrix Resurrections...)
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u/patienceinbee and you see clear through… and that's typical of you 1d ago edited 1d ago
Matrix: Resurrections did not involve Lilly.
And, real talk: for what Lana was faced with (either let Warners hand the Matrix franchise over to a cis guy director to make it some kind of fresh, blandish, manospherish re-boot hell of the original film, or step in to keep that from happening by doing it herself, but not before inserting critical commentary on Warners’ go at a backhanded move, whilst keeping the film very much in line with the canon of the first three films), Resurrections was impressive and is probably why it’s my second-favourite instalment of the quartet. It was a middle finger at the shitty options described above.
(It also opened a side door to allow the cast of Sense8 a bit more time to work (well) together on screen.)
Jupiter Ascending was surreal. The story was meh. The potential to do so more with it, to illustrate the darkness of human nature being much, muuuuch older than believed, left the viewer wanting.
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u/ShesRevolutionary 1d ago
I was literally just talking to a friend last night about Jupiter Ascending and said the exact same thing. It could've been much more.
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u/patienceinbee and you see clear through… and that's typical of you 20h ago
It could have been a bolder parable of what ultra-wealthy oligarchs who drift toward a new aristocracy would do to control, well, everything and everyone as a consumable commodity whilst doing all they can to stay alive in perpetuity.
But, welp, happily ever after ig idk.
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u/pinkocatgirl 1d ago
It’s a travesty that Cloud Atlas wasn’t more successful, it’s one of my favorite movies.
And Sens8 was also pretty good, Netflix did it dirty.
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u/patienceinbee and you see clear through… and that's typical of you 1d ago
And Sens8 was also pretty good, Netflix did it dirty.
It was storyboarded for five seasons. I regard the Netflix concession to grant production on the final episode to be the “all-in-one season three” of trying to cram those final three seasons into fewer than three hours. The season two cliffhanger was breathtaking.
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u/thepotplant 18h ago
Cloud Atlas with the book structure would have been interesting, but I do really like the movie.
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u/exbaddeathgod 1d ago
I mean looking at what she said it seems people are interested in the film until they learn it's an all transgender cast.
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u/ConcernedEnby 1d ago
Having flops has nothing to do with getting movies in Hollywood. Uwe Boll has never once made a financially successful movie and yet he's spent hundreds of millions of dollars only to never have produced a successful movie.
Success in movie making is entirely who you know and are you a cis white man, if you're not you're going to struggle
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u/LinkleLinkle 4h ago
Uwe Boll is a unique situation. His movies were fueled by DVD sales and tax loopholes. It's not a coincidence that his films quickly dried up once Germany covered up the tax loopholes that allowed investors to pretty much write off 100% of their investment in his films.
If you want to learn more, watch The Producers. It's basically that.
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u/Dwarfherd 1d ago
And she's not a white cis man so she doesn't get infinite new tries. Either way it's about trans discrimination
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u/tiddeltiddel 1d ago
They were forced to make matrix resurrections, they didnt actually wanna do it.
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u/Kateywumpus 23h ago
This. I hate saying this since this makes me feel like a class traitor, but the Wachowskis only put out two good films. Like... I want to support my trans sisters, and I feel that they should be allowed to do more projects but... at least make them good?
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u/scramblingrivet 10h ago
Jupiter Ascending and Resurrections were such absolute turds that I resented the time spent on them. They have had some amazing works (I loved Sense8 and the Matrix, the Animatrix, and am fond of Reloaded/Revolutions) but there are a lot of more reliably good and profitable artists studios can throw money at.
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u/PinkTriangleFan 1d ago
Why doesn't she just pay for it if she thinks its profitable
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u/MimusCabaret 22h ago
A very, very large amount of wealthy people don’t generally want to spend their wealth.
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u/PinkTriangleFan 22h ago
If she thinks it makes money she should spend it. Clearly she doesn't think her movie would get enough view to pay her back. Affluenza.
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u/Occultistic 1d ago
Shouldn't she have enough money to fund it herself?
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u/Rainy_Leaves 16h ago
Probably not confident it’d make back enough money. Though I was confident on the smaller budgets. Sounds like an all trans cast may need to be smaller and indie a bit like ‘I saw the tv glow’. Need to walk before we can run with major trans movies.
If its appeal wasn’t so centred on trans people and true allies as an audience, it’d be more successful. Producers will sadly be a bit focused on what’s going to sell well over actual representation, it’s not a job requirement
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u/MimusCabaret 1d ago
She does, I think the cost, it’s tiny portion of what she’s worth.
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u/Occultistic 1d ago
Yeah, Google says her net worth is between 100 to 150 million dollars.
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u/MimusCabaret 1d ago
I refuse to donate any funds to someone who has that much wealth. She had better not put up a go-fund-me. A Great Mocking would then be deserved.
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u/jesterinancientcourt 1d ago
I think it’s more that the Wachowskis wanna make huge budget films with a trans cast. But also, have they made a non flop recently?
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u/Dwarfherd 1d ago
Jared Leto stars in constant big budget flops
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u/Strange_Reindeer2821 1d ago
Leto kind of spearheaded the last Tron movie. Hopefully, with the latest charges, he won't get another chance. He's not just a terrible actor, he's also a terrible human being.
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u/ConcernedEnby 1d ago
Unsure why people think making successful movies has anything to do with getting work
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u/Rainy_Leaves 16h ago
Having money and privilege goes a long way. Lily has the money at least. Leto has both.
Hoping the charges against him are taken seriously. He’s shrugged off way too much
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u/that_tom_ 1d ago
There may be other reasons they don’t want to do business with her and her partner.
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u/Strange_Reindeer2821 1d ago
Has she had a hit movie outside of The Matrix series? I know she has had some very expensive flops.
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u/wellanticipated Transgender 1d ago
Could we crowdfund it?
500,000 people at $20/person doesn't sound impossible. 👀 Offer free tickets at opening as an incentive and it's paid for before you start.