The Matrix saga, which recently launched its fourth part on HBO Max—starring Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss—, is one of the most famous worldwide. With the revelation that its first part generated in 1999, Warner Bros wanted to have the martial artist Jet Li, for the sequels Reloaded and Revolutions. However, the Chinese actor turned down the invitation from the studio and the Wachowski sisters for a singular reason that he revealed in a recent interview.
While speaking on the Chinese edition of a show, Jet Li revealed that Warner offered him to play the character of Seraph in what was to become one of the biggest franchises at the time.
YOU CAN SEE: The ice age and how he lost Scrat: the Disney legal dispute that lasted 20 years
Originally, the role had been written for Michelle Yeoh to bring to life as a woman. However, the unavailability of the actress led Warner to reconfigure the role.
In this way, when Li received the offer with the corresponding contractual conditions stipulated by Warner Bros, the actor noticed a great detail that led him not to accept.
YOU CAN SEE: We are dead: Lee Yoo Mi, loved in Squid game, but hated in Zombie series
“I realized that the Americans wanted me to shoot for three months, but to be with the team for nine. And for six months they wanted to record and copy all my movements in a digital bookstore,” he explained.
The martial artist believes that it was a “commercial conflict”, because, according to what he said, “Once the recording was finished, the rights to those movements would have been his (Warner’s)”.
YOU CAN SEE: We’re dead, ending explained: who survived the bloody zombie attack?
This caused Jet Li to come into conflict, as it was the work of his entire career.
“I thought: ‘I’ve been training all my life. We martial artists can only grow old and, even so, they would have owned (my movements) as an intellectual property forever, “he detailed.
YOU CAN SEE: Keanu Reeves rules out sequel to Matrix Resurrections and reveals plans for the saga
Ultimately, Li turned down the role and it was Taiwanese Collin Chou who took on the role of Seraph for The Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions.