In an interview withVariety,Rosie Perezrevealed that she auditioned for the role of Trinity for the original movie in the consistently excellentThe Matrixquadrilogy. According to the interview, Perez gave an audition that “was horrible.” Perez said that “as I was walking out, I was like, ‘I know I didn’t get the job.’” Perez continued, “I really sucked… We were all laughing. I just gave the Wachowskis a hug and I said, ‘Well, good luck with this.’”
According to the anecdote told by Perez, the Wachowski sisters – who wrote and directed the first threeMatrixfilms together – were very kind about the audition. In fact, they even insisted that the audition wasn’t bad. However, there was also a casting director present who was somewhat less effective at maintaining a poker face. When Perez insisted that her audition sucked, the casting director snickered. Picking up on this fact, Perez looked the woman in the eye and repeated, “I really sucked,” causing the casting director to burst out in laughter. Shortly thereafter, everyone in the room joined in.
Perez had already appeared in multiple significant roles when she auditioned forThe Matrix, including in 1989’sDo the Right Thing, 1992’sWhite Men Can’t Jump, and even an Academy Award-nominated turn in 1993’s Fearless. In addition to appearing on the big screen, Perez has also earned three Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work onIn Living Color(1990 – 1994) and onThe Flight Attendant(2020 – present). Nevertheless, she says that her audition forThe Matrixwas so bad, she feels the laughter was justified.
Related:Grandma Jokes in Birds of Prey Were Not Okay with Star Rosie Perez
Carrie-Ann Moss Was Ultimately Cast in The Matrix
Ultimately, Carrie-Ann Moss was cast in the role of Trinity instead. She appeared in all four ofThe Matrixmovies, including 2021’sThe Matrix: Resurrections, the excellent most recent sequel. In addition, she played the role of Trinity in several video games, including 2003’sEnter the Matrixand 2021’sThe Matrix Awakens, as well as in multiple animated entries from 2003’sThe Animatrix.
Meanwhile, Perez went on to appear in many projects herself. Perhaps most prominent was her appearance in 2020’sHarley Quinn: Birds of Prey, where she played Renee Montoya. The cynical, alcoholic detective works for the Gotham City Police Department and becomes embroiled in the antics of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) thanks to the fact that they have both run afoul of the villainous Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor).
