Issue Date: November 2, 2003
Trinity's end game
As the final "Matrix" flick debuts, Carrie-Anne Moss is determined not to be pegged as a cult-movie heroine.
By Frappa Stout
Just after filming her final turn as leather-clad Trinity, Moss discovered she was pregnant.
Her baby's sex remains a secret to the public.
|
It's true Carrie-Anne Moss may be better known as her physically perfect alter ego, Trinity, in the blockbuster "Matrix" films than for her body of work. "The Matrix Revolutions", the much-awaited third and final installment of the techno-thriller trilogy, hits theaters Wednesday. In it, Moss returns as Trinity, the kick-butt heroine in black leather who's become a pop-culture icon, a sort of alabaster-skinned Foxy Brown for a new millennium.
Transforming into the cyber-buff character for the second and third movies, which were filmed back to back, took more than a year of hard training. Still, Moss has taken pains not to let it be her defining role.
Not that it's been easy. The media frenzy that has surrounded the hit franchise has made it difficult for the notoriously press-shy Moss, 36, to maintain her privacy, let alone keep Trinity from eclipsing her future. Since 1999's "The Matrix" raised her Hollywood currency a million-fold, roles in the comedy "Chocolat", the suspense drama "Memento" and the sci-fi flick "Red Planet" have allowed her to play a wider range of characters, from a petulant daughter to a scheming ally.
She's relishing her latest role -- motherhood -- with the same level of intensity she's brought to her film work. And it comes as no surprise that when she and actor hubby Steve Roy welcomed the baby this summer, Mama Moss remained mum on the details, down to refusing to reveal the baby's sex. At press time, it was still a mystery.
Training for the trilogy's second and third films left her so sore, "walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night was hard."
|
But part of the Los Angeles-based actress' reticence, it seems, comes from her desire not to become a poster child for motherhood or a cult-movie heroine -- or anything else, for that matter.
Filming the final two episodes in the trilogy was the most demanding 17 months of her life. Four- to six-hour training days left her consistently sore, "to the point where walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night was hard," she says. Some days, she needed a phone call from co-star Keanu Reeves just to get out of bed. Six months into training, which began in March 2001, Moss broke her left leg during a high-wire routine and needed six weeks on crutches to heal.
When it all ended, Moss looked forward to a lull -- only to find she was pregnant a few months later. "I was in great shape after the movies, but being pregnant definitely changed my feelings about my body," she says. For one thing, she gained "a lot of weight," an issue not many in size-2-minded Hollywood would even discuss. For Moss, it was "a big sigh of relief... I'm creating another human being, so it's OK."
That kind of honesty doesn't surprise old friends like ex-"Ally McBeal" star Gil Bellows, who's known Moss since the 10th grade, when both attended a privileged high school in Vancouver, British Columbia. Moss and her older brother lived with their single mom, who worked hard to provide a good life for her family. "We were unspoiled kids in a spoiled school," Bellows recalls. "She never seemed intimidated and just did her own thing," such as sneaking cigarettes between classes and dressing like her idol, Madonna. Moss still follows her instincts, which means not worrying about a few extra pounds or lying about her age or wondering how long she can hold on to celebrity.
And, happily, not dressing like Trinity.
"It was a tough outfit to get into every day," she says. "I really had enough."
Go to top
Weekend with ... Carrie-Anne Moss
This is when Moss loves to slip back into the black -- not of the shiny vinyl variety (although the "Matrix" directors, the Wachowski brothers, did give her Trinity's jacket, gloves and sunglasses, behind glass, to keep). "It's all about my black sweatpants; they help me lose some baby weight," Moss says. "A tank top makes it a little more feminine." Then, ideally, she curls up with hubby, baby and TiVo for a few doses of "Everybody Loves Raymond" ("I love Robert; he's so tragic") and "The Jamie Kennedy Experiment".
|
