An interesting game movie fans like to play is to identify actors who passed on roles that would ultimately become iconic. One of the more famous examples is Al Pacino turning down the role of Han Solo in “Star Wars” because he simply didn’t understand the script. There are dozens of similar examples, and every year more of these stories come to light as actors and moviemakers make the rounds on the interview and podcast circuit.
For movie buffs, this is hardly a surprise. Typically, directors audition several actors for lead roles. When a director finds a favorite and makes an offer, sometimes the actor turns it down due to scheduling conflicts or — as was the case with Pacino — because the role doesn’t click with them.
One of the lesser-known examples of “what might have been” movie trivia is that Sandra Bullock could have starred in “The Matrix” films – not (initially at least) as Trinity, but as Neo. In other words, the role that Keanu Reeves made iconic almost went to Bullock.
During an interview with The Wrap a few years ago, veteran film producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura said that “The Matrix” team were having an incredibly hard time finding the right actor to play Neo. Of course, this was before producers honed in on Reeves. As a result, the team briefly considered changing the character to a woman.
“We went out to so many people I don’t remember,” di Bonaventura said. “We were getting desperate. We went to Sandy Bullock and said ‘We’ll change Neo to a girl.'”
“The Matrix” producers ultimately sent Bullock the script, but nothing ever came of it. What’s more, and as a testament to how popular Bullock was at the time, Bullock also turned down the role of Trinity in “The Matrix” films.
Bullock regrets not accepting the Trinity role
Bullock has never publicly explained why she declined the role of Neo. One theory is that Bullock, at the time, was one of the top female actors in Hollywood, and was presumably being pitched a seemingly endless number of scripts. It’s plausible that the script simply didn’t resonate with her, as compared to others she was looking at. At the same time, there’s no way Bullock could have known that “The Matrix” would quickly evolve into one of the more beloved movie franchises in history.
At the end of the day, Bullock’s decision to decline starring in “The Matrix” franchise didn’t have much of an impact on her career. Indeed, during the same timeframe when “The Matrix” movies were being filmed, Bullock starred in several big projects, including “Forces of Nature,” “28 Days,” and “Miss Congeniality.”
Bullock hasn’t expressed regret for not taking on the role of Neo. Turning down the role of Trinity, however, is a different story.
During an interview with Today a few years ago, Bullock said: “There haven’t been any roles that I wanted that I didn’t get, but there was a movie I wish I had done: ‘The Matrix.’ At the time, it wasn’t cast with Keanu, and I didn’t see myself with the person they wanted. Later, I saw the movie and loved it.”
It’s wild to think that if “The Matrix” producers settled on Keanu Reeves before reaching out to Bullock, one of the most iconic sci-fi films from the ’90s would have looked completely different.
