The Matrix Resurrections: Meet Jessica Henwick's Bugs

| December one, 2021 |

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Jessica Henwick in The Matrix Resurrections — *Photo: Warner Bros*

If you don't know Jessica Henwick from her turns as Colleen Fly in Iron Fist, Nymeria Sand in Game of Thrones , or Ten-wing airplane pilot Jessika Pava in Star Wars: The Force Awakens , you will know her soon. Adjacent month, she will announced every bit Bugs in The Matrix Resurrections . We talked to the English actress about her role in this iconic franchise.

Do you call back the outset time you watched The Matrix?

I was 12 or 13, and it was probably on VHS. I loved it, only it scared me. I remember I would take nightmares about the pocket-sized machine going into my belly button and my mouth stitching up. The imagery is so iconic and hitting, and it really did stay with me. Even though I probably didn't lookout information technology once more for another five or six years after that, I could take told you lot scene for scene what happened.

What was your first day on set like for The Matrix Resurrections?

My first 24-hour interval on set was in San Francisco, and information technology was almost the entire cast. Priyanka [Chopra] had this 10-page monologue of thick, very technical Matrix dialogue. And bless her, she killed it. Then at the cease of the scene, Keanu [Reeves] had one line. The line was like, "Will it work?" Or something like that. I remember looking around at the entire cast, and everyone's facial muscles started to twitch because nosotros all wanted to pause at the exact moment. Considering we were like, "That's so cool. It'due south Keanu. And he's in his Neo costume, and he's using the voice, and he's just… Oh, nosotros're hither. Nosotros're in information technology."

How was the grapheme of Bugs start presented to you?

All they told me was a very short description of her being a helm, and a leader, and a true believer in the legend of Neo. Yep, that was it. It was pretty minimal.

How did your look for this film come together, and how much, if any input, did you have in it?

In terms of costume, I didn't have much input, though I did ask them. I begged them for sunglasses and leather. I had a bit of a say in which sunglasses we wore, because I must take tried on 30 or 40 sunglasses. And the ones that I got were simply so cool.

In terms of the hair, that was definitely more of a give-and-take. When I auditioned, straightaway Lana said, "Would yous be willing to shave your head entirely bald?" And of class you take to say yes, otherwise you don't go the function. So, I did say yeah, but one time I got the part, I eased off of that idea considering it has symbolism inside the Matrix world. If you have no hair on your caput, you lot probably are recently costless and and then I didn't want there to be any sort of confusion about how long she'd really been awake for. So, that's why we moved in the direction of having the blue pilus and, obviously, Lana has her reasons there.

What was it like to work with Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss?

Information technology was so wonderful to piece of work with them, honestly. I don't have a bad thing to say. Keanu really is everything you've heard. I mean, it's non news for me to say he's the nicest actor in Hollywood. Anybody knows that. Very kind. Very generous. Very, very shy. Very intelligent. There was no small talk with Keanu. It was always only like, "What do you think is at the bottom of the ocean?" We would take these really esoteric discussions between takes. It was a highlight of my day, honestly

Carrie-Anne has kids, and we were going through the process of filming during Covid, and none of us had our support systems there. None of us were able to fly our families out. And so she kind of became a mother, especially to me. I found information technology really difficult at times, filming in Covid. And I recall she would only call me to come circular and she would just be similar, "Okay. Sit downward. I'm making y'all toast."… She'south so wonderful and inspiring and really strong. She was a real rock for me during filming.

What is Lana Wachowski'due south directing style like?

Her directing style is very different. Information technology's intuitive, and fluid, and it's very much how she feels on the twenty-four hours, on fix… She doesn't stand up by the monitor. She'south standing right adjacent to our camera operator, holding the photographic camera, pulling focus. She will, in the middle of a scene, just turn him around. So she'll be filming Keanu, and Keanu volition be talking, and halfway through his line, you'll only feel this camera turn around, and suddenly you're on. And y'all'd better exist on and yous improve know your line because there'south a photographic camera pointing in your confront, and you simply become two shots. She'll just run like that. She doesn't really cutting. Then it's 20 minutes of just pure acting, which I practice really like… Equally an actor, information technology makes you lot feel like you go into it more than. The rhythm is faster. Sometimes on film, especially coming from a theater background and theater training, sometimes film can just experience and so slow. And it's kickoff. Finish. Start. Stop. And y'all never become into it.

Lana'due south process is, I would say, actor-friendly.

Does Bugs have a specific fighting way?

No, it was pretty fluid. What I loved about coming onto this was that I've trained with so many different people at this phase, and in so many different styles. Colleen [Fly on Atomic number 26 Fist] was heavily Aikido. And so in the second season, nosotros moved information technology abroad and nosotros did a little fleck of Taekwondo. In my personal life, I've trained in Hapkido, simply then I've besides, for fun, trained in Wushu. This was a cute fusion of all of them meeting and just going, "Okay. I now know what my body tin can do and what my trunk can't exercise, and what looks good and what doesn't."

What are yous most excited for fans to run into in The Matrix Resurrections?

It'southward the nostalgia and seeing Keanu and Carrie-Anne on screen; it's magical to run into these two absolute Hollywood heavyweights returning to the characters that made them famous. As a fan, I loved it. I would ofttimes go to assail days where I wasn't filming only to watch those two act.

Do y'all know what was supposed to happen with Colleen Wing afterwards the Atomic number 26 Fist flavor two finale? Was a Misty Knight-Colleen spinoff e'er discussed?

Flavour three would've been a split narrative between [Danny and Colleen, with us going] hardcore on the "Daughters of the Dragon" element. But beyond that, I don't know. I don't remember anything was discussed that heavily because we knew that the deals would change.

We knew that Disney+ was happening, and then we knew there was picayune reason for them to keep making a show for an enemy streamer, so we saw information technology coming. And so yes, there were light discussions about it, merely I call back all of us knew information technology would probably close quickly. It is what it is. I feel very lucky and proud of Colleen Wing, and I'm happy with where we left information technology. We left her in a really good identify. She's happy.

What was information technology similar to work with Rian Johnson on Knives Out two?

He'south so lovely. He's very repose. He's very calm. He's very kind. Even though I didn't run across a single storyboard during product, I know that he knew everything he wanted down to a T. I mean, he's a genius. He writes those scripts and so apace, and the quality of dialogue and characterization is astonishing. And really what makes his films and then unique is how wonderful his characterization is. If I didn't know better, I would think that he came from an acting background.

The Matrix Resurrections is in cinemas and on HBO Max on December. 22.