The Wachowskis "The Matrix", a science fiction action film, in 1999. The movie stars Keanu Reeves as Neo, a hacker recruited by a rebellion to aid them in the fight against machines who have taken over the world and placed humanity inside a simulated reality called "the Matrix". Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving and Joe Pantoliano also star. The movie was a critical and commercial hit for Warner Bros. It won four Academy Awards, including for "Best Visual Effects" for popularizing the bullet time visual effect. "The Matrix" came to be a major influence for action movies and has appeared in
The Matrix 600-page, shot-by-shot storyboard for the entire film. The storyboard eventually earned the studio's approval, and it was decided to film in Australia to make the most of the budget. Soon, "The Matrix" became a co-production of Warner Bros. and the Australian company Village Roadshow Pictures. The actors of the film were required to be able to understand and explain "The Matrix". "Simulacra and Simulation" was required reading for most of the principal cast and crew. Reeves stated that the Wachowskis had him read "Simulacra and Simulation", "", and Dylan Evans’s "Introducing Evolutionary Psychology" even before they opened up the script,