Trivia

•  Eva Mendes, Samantha Mumba, Brandy Norwood and Tatyana Ali were all rumored to be possible replacements for the character of Zee, after the initial choice Aaliyah died in a plane crash on 25th August 2001. 'Nona M. Gaye' (daughter of late Motown legend Marvin Gaye) was eventually cast in the role.
• Gloria Foster died before she could complete any scenes for the third film as well as _Enter The Matrix (2003) (VG)_ . Mary Alice took the role of the Oracle for both the third movie and the game. In "Revolutions," the initial conversation when Morpheus and Trinity meet the "new" Oracle was adapted to reference her changed appearance. The alternative was to have Morpheus and Trinity pretend not to notice, which perhaps would have been even more awkward.
• The first film to premiere in the brand new Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles.
• In an unprecedented simultaneous global release, this film opened at exactly the same moment in every major city in the world on November 5: 6am in Los Angeles, 9am in New York, 2pm in London, 5pm in Moscow, 11pm in Tokyo, 1am in Sydney and at corresponding times in over 50 additional countries worldwide.
• The special effects crew spent two months designing the apparatus to make the perfect rain drop.
• The final showdown, between Smith and Neo is based on the final fight from the Korean film Injeong sajeong bol geot eobtda (1999).
• The street corner where Neo and Smith fight in the crater is the same corner from which Neo made his phone call at the end of The Matrix (1999) - the corner of Pitt, Hunter and O'Connell Streets in Sydney, Australia. You can see the phone booth to the right when they hit the ground.
• In the scene where Morpheus, Trinity, and Seraph are chasing the Trainman, an advertisement for Tastee Wheat can be seen. Tastee Wheat was mentioned in The Matrix (1999) when Mouse was trying to describe the food in the real world.
• When Neo goes to see The Oracle in her apartment, the jazz standard "I'm Beginning to See the Light" is playing in the background; a different version of the same song also plays in the corresponding scene in The Matrix (1999).
• The ship referred to as the Hammer was actually named the Mjolnir, after Thor's hammer. The hammer in the Norse legends always returned to its master, sparking lightning and thunder along the way. Like the hammer, the ship returned to its master (Zion), with its own lightning and thunder.
• Cameo: [John Gaeta] An APU operator.
• The brand of cigarettes the Oracle smokes is "Double Destiny".
• While Trinity is chasing the Trainman in the subway, an advertisement for Powerade can be seen. When The Matrix Reloaded (2003) was released in theatres, Matrix-based commercials for Powerade aired on US television.
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003), Enter the Matrix (2003) (VG), and this film were shot back-to-back.
• The black cat at the end of the film is the same one in the "déjà-vu" scene from The Matrix (1999). It even meows in the same way.
• During the final fight sequence between Neo and Agent Smith and also during the credits, the following Sanskrit sloka is recited in a westernised style: "Asatoma Sat Gamaya, Tamasoma Jyotir Gamaya, Mrityorma Anritam Gamaya", which means "Lead me from the unreal to the Real, Lead me from the darkness to the Light, Lead me from the temporary to the Eternal".
• Sati is the ancient Hindu practice of a widow immolating herself on her husband's funeral pyre. This practice is now banned and illegal in India.
• Composer Don Davis thought it would be wasteful for the choir to be singing simple "ooohs" and "aaahs" during the climactic battle cue, "Neodämmerung". He asked that the Wachowski Brothers (Andy Wachowski and Larry Wachowski) bring him some sort of text appropriate to the movie, which the choir would sing. They returned with extracts from the Upanisads which reflect the themes of the trilogy. The full lyrics of Neodämmerung are available on Davis's website.
• Ian Bliss was cast as Bane in part because of his dead-on impression of Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith), and for his partial resemblance to Weaving.
• The face of the "Deus ex Machina" was modeled after photographs of Andy Wachowski's infant nephew.
• There are 804 special effects shots, almost all of them containing some kind of a live-action element.
• A machine called "The Tuning Fork" (rotatable at 360 degrees) was specially constructed for the effect of Neo and Smith fighting in the air, heading upwards into the sky
• The name of the station between the Machine World and The Matrix is called Mobil Ave. Mobil is an anagram of Limbo, the traditional station between Heaven and Earth.
• The key of the beginning theme you hear at the beginning of every Matrix movie (rousing strings and horn blasts) ascends by one semitone with each movie. The Matrix starts in the key of E, Matrix Reloaded in F and Matrix Revolutions in the key of F-sharp.
• Only one full-size APU was ever built. It was completely rendered in Auto-CAD and parts were made detachable so that for scenes involving different pilots/APUs, the detail work could be altered. The full model weighted around 2 tons.
• Many of the "raindrops" in the final fight between Neo and Smith are actually single lines of Matrix code, similar to those on displays seen in the "real world" throughout the trilogy. This subtle effect was added to imply the Matrix was beginning to destabilize. This visual trick was easily seen on IMAX and larger movie theaters, but can be seen on smaller televisions as banded rain that seems to "jump" like static during close ups of the fight scenes.
• In the score for the first film, some cues were given names which were anagrams of "The Matrix" or "Wachowski Brothers". Here, the cue backing Neo and Trinity's approach the machine city is named "Saw Bitch Workhorse".
• The last scene of the movie set in the park is the only time in all three movies that greenery and a blue sky are seen inside the Matrix.
• Seraph is the singular of Seraphim, a Hebrew word that means: "the six-winged angels in the presence of God".
• Merovingian refers to the first Frankish dynasty reigning from about A.D. 500 to 751.
• Zion, from Old English, refers to the citadel in Palestine which was the nucleus of Jerusalem, or the Jewish homeland that is symbolic of Judaism or of Jewish national aspiration.
• The twin handguns Seraph uses in the coat check shootout are Browning BDM pistols.