The Wachowskis

Beginning in 1993, they wrote several issues of Ectokid for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint (created by horror novelist Clive Barker), which were credited to Lana.

The movie stars Keanu Reeves as Neo, a hacker recruited by a rebellion to aid them in the fight against machines who have taken over the world and placed humanity inside a simulated reality called "the Matrix".

Other writers and artists that contributed to the series include Neil Gaiman, Dave Gibbons, Paul Chadwick, Ted McKeever, Poppy Z. Brite, and Steve Skroce.

After Lilly Wachowski came out as transgender, she encouraged looking back on her and Lana's works "through the lens of our transness", saying that the themes of identity, self-image and transformation are apparent in The Matrix.

[31] The Wachowskis' next feature film was V for Vendetta, an adaptation of Alan Moore and David Lloyd's graphic novel of the same name, starring Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaving.

[33] The film popularized the image of the Guy Fawkes mask, as the version designed by David Lloyd for the graphic novel and used in the movie was adopted as a symbol by the online hacktivist group Anonymous two years later.

The studio was disappointed in the original cut of the film by director Oliver Hirschbiegel and hired the Wachowskis to rewrite a portion of the script and add new action scenes, which McTeigue directed.

[47][48][49][50] Their next directorial outing was Cloud Atlas, which was adapted from David Mitchell's 2004 novel of the same name and starred an ensemble cast which included Tom Hanks and Halle Berry.

[62] It stars Channing Tatum and Mila Kunis, and features the Wachowskis' regular collaborators John Gaeta on visual effects and Kym Barrett on costumes.

According to Deadline, the financial and critical failure of Jupiter Ascending caused their business relationship with Warner Bros, that began with The Matrix franchise, to be terminated.

The Wachowskis directed most of the episodes of the first season, with the rest being handled by McTeigue, Tykwer, and their go-to visual effects supervisor on their movies, Dan Glass, in his directorial debut.

[64] The first season premiered in 2015 to generally positive reviews, particularly for the scale of the production and the presentation of diverse and LGBT characters and themes, winning the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Drama Series.

[69] In May 2019, it was reported that Lilly would co-write, and co-showrun the eight-episode first season of the drama-comedy series Work in Progress, created by Abby McEnany and Tim Mason for Showtime.

[74] In February 2024, Lilly was announced by Collider to direct Trash Mountain, a film about a young gay man from Chicago returning to his rural Missouri to deal with his father's hoarder state after the latter's death.

[75] In April 2024, it was announced that Warner Bros. was developing a new Matrix installment with Drew Goddard attached to write and direct, for which Lana will serve as an executive producer.

[76] J. Michael Straczynski, who has worked with the Wachowskis on Ninja Assassin and Sense8, has said that the sisters told him they were reading his column on scriptwriting for the Writer's Digest magazine, for inspiration and pointers.

[79] Speaking to Bernard Weintraub of The New York Times in April 1999, the Wachowskis mentioned explicitly that they prepared for their first Matrix production by studying the works of John Woo "and other Hong Kong filmmakers", as well as reading and rereading Homer's Odyssey, and studying the works of John Huston, Stanley Kubrick, Fritz Lang, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, and Billy Wilder.

[16] In an interview with Gadfly in 1998 (after their first movie), the Wachowskis reiterated their influence by or enjoyment of Huston (e.g. Treasure of the Sierra Madre) and Wilder (e.g., Sunset Boulevard and Lost Weekend), and added to these the impacts of Alfred Hitchcock (e.g.

"[82] In terms of themes expressed in their body of work, Lana has cited "the inexplicable nature of the universe [being] in constant dialogue with our own consciousness and our consciousness actually affect[ing] the inexplicable nature of the universe",[83] "interconnectivity and about truth beneath the surface",[84] "the paradox of choice and choicelessness",[85] "transcendence ... transcending archetypal boxes, stereotypes", "race ... an important component" and "gender ... it's one of our most significant cultural subjects".

[153] It has been acclaimed for its green-friendly design, including solar panels, a planted roof, countertops and floors made of recycled materials, plug-in car stations, a water reuse and filtration system, skylights, and a pneumatic elevator.

[154][155] Roger Ebert was invited to watch a restored print of The Godfather in the Kinowerks facilities and met the Wachowskis,[156] but he was oblivious to the fact the studio belonged to them.

According to the Chicago Tribune's Christopher Pirelli, the facility is very low-key: "an industrial building that appears neither old nor especially new" and "It could be an upscale dentist's office" while the "inside is rather unexpected" and has numerous mementos of past film projects.

[155] In 2003, they created Burlyman Entertainment and released comic books based on The Matrix[158][159] as well as two original bi-monthly series: The Wachowskis' first script was a thriller called Carnivore.

"[80] Years later, on April 6, 1999, a week after The Matrix opened in American theaters, Variety reported Trimark was looking to buy the script and were in talks with George A. Romero to direct it with production scheduled to begin in August.

[162] In April 2001, news of the Wachowskis producing it for Lionsgate and looking for a director surfaced again,[163] and in August 2003 a second time, with their go-to cinematographer Bill Pope rumored to be making his directorial debut with it.

[177] In May 2010, Deadline reported the movie was going to be a hard-R story that would begin in the future but move back to the then-current war in Iraq and center on the homosexual relationship between an American soldier and an Iraqi.

[180] In September 2010, Vulture posted additional details about the script and revealed the movie would be told in found footage-style from the perspective of digital archaeologists from the future.

[182] In September 2012, Aleksandar Hemon wrote about the making of Cloud Atlas and recalled he too was one of the people the Wachowskis had invited to interview in December 2009, to help inspire the script of Cobalt Neural 9.

Following the release of The Matrix, Lana began attending the Los Angeles BDSM club The Dungeon, where she met Karin Winslow, who worked there as a dominatrix under the name Ilsa Strix.

[205][206][207] In March 2016, Lilly Wachowski also came out as a transgender woman, issuing a statement to the Windy City Times after a visit from a reporter from the Daily Mail newspaper who had attempted to get an interview with her about it.