P.art first. We are in connection with Carrie-Anne Moss Milan-Los Angeles on Zoom, we see each other clearly, but… the audio does not cooperate. Every attempt fails, we greet each other with the hand. Jokes of the case: we should talk about the futuristic world and the parallel realities of Matrix Resurrections and we are unable to make contact even in this one-dimensional present …
Part two (a few days later, on the phone). “So it works great! Eh, the technology … How many complications. I constantly ask myself: how can I manage everything in a simpler way? Whether it’s the daily chores, preparing a meal. When I feel that something is “too much”, I try to lower the pressure level ” Carrie-Anne Moss begins, very talkative. Immediately proving to be a sui generis star: not at all bothered by the setback, she even tends to draw an existential lesson from it.
True to a mantra
True to the mantra “What must be, will be”, which guided her from her native Canada to the United States, from the TV series to the “life-changing” role: the Trinity of the trilogy of Matrix, a saga that has entered the history of cinema.
What a surprise! In the third episode she was dead.
Right! (laughs heartily) I didn’t know Trinity would be back either. When Lana (director Lana Wachowski, ed) called me, I puzzled, imagined at least three different ways he could “resurrect” her, and none were the right one. She is such an amazing and amazing storyteller, there are multiple levels of reading in her scripts.
So, how does it “resurrect”?
Try to guess it, like me! I limit myself to anticipating that the film (in our cinemas from January 1st, ed) represents a completely new chapter, reflects the growth that each of us has had in the last twenty years. But with the old privilege of working with Keanu (Keanu Reeves, the legendary Neo, ed): we are friends, we take care of each other.
Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves in “Matrix Resurrections” (photo Murray Close)
How would you sum up “the last twenty years” in your life? Don’t answer me: I went to bed early in the evening, as in Once upon a time in America…
It was a great time! I have an 18-year-old, a 16-year-old and a 12-year-old son (Owen, Kaden and Frances Beatrice, with colleague Steven Roy, ed), I raised a family, but once the kids got older – I worked too. I was blessed, I feel infinite gratitude for those commitments that have kept me grounded. By dint of preparing breakfasts, lunches and dinners, I even learned to cook!
Carrie-Anne Moss (photo Brian Bowen Smith)
The Ego cares
And he created annapurnaliving.com, a platform that offers tools for female empowerment, starting with yoga and meditation. With such a spiritual approach, weren’t you afraid that this blockbuster would upset your balance?
Oh no! I was thrilled. I have heard nothing but positive and extraordinary things about making it.
But now there will be another global popularity bath. How does he keep his ego at bay?
I’m certainly not perfect, anyone who has an ego exists for a reason. But it’s not my engine! The important thing for me was not to try to replicate that someone I was at 30. The Ego Worry: How Do I Look? What will they think of me? The questions I ask myself, however, are: how can I be authentic? True to myself? For this reason I feel only curiosity towards aging.
Is age discrimination still a reality in Hollywood?
I don’t know, to be honest: I’m not in the meetings where the producers decide who will play what. At 54, I’m busy: I’m on the set of the Norwegian series Wisting. And I just finished an indie film, which I really enjoyed, Chocolate Lizard. Of course, one wonders if my friend Justine Bateman has even dedicated a book to the topic of aging. Which in my opinion – I would not generalize too much – European women cope better: American culture does not have the same depth, it is obsessed with appearance when instead we have to develop flexibility, accept being in constant change.
What are the keywords for personal growth?
Number 1: Know who you are, connect with yourself, and don’t empower others. A slow but essential path. Many do not even know what their “inner voice” sounds like: they have so much noise in their heads due to cultural and social conditioning!
Carrie-Anne Moss and Keanu Reeves in “Matrix Resurrections” (Photo Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)
“Dance in the kitchen”
What prompted you to commit to the female cause?
To tell the truth, I would define it as the “human cause”. I am a little in love with the heroism of those who face the challenges of everyday life and overcome obstacles. We all do it every day, yet most of us don’t appreciate it, don’t notice it because our minds are hyperactive, bombarded with stimuli. Since I was a mother I have started to find beauty in the simplest things. I have experienced true joy in my home, with the people I love, never at a gala or a premiere.
What’s your typical day if you’re not working?
I get up early enough, meditate briefly (intensity, sincerity, not duration counts) or read something stimulating – maybe just a couple of lines – that I will think about during the day; then I take my daughter to school, which is quite far. In this period I practice pilates more than yoga: I listen to my body, and I try to understand what it needs. Sometimes he asks me, trivially, to put on a song and dance in the kitchen while I prepare dinner, or to walk in nature.
He won’t get away with so little for the stunts of Matrix Resurrections: In one scene he jumps off a 43-story building at Reeves’ hand.
Oh no, that jump took a (complicated) month of preparation! However, from a physical point of view, I only added cardio, aerobic, training to my routine. I shy away from what generates stress: my favorite ritual is a bath in the tub with all kinds of sea salt and a pinch of baking soda. It’s like medicine to me, it feels like a vacation. I am constantly looking for what can recharge me on a daily basis.
Carrie-Anne Moss (photo Brian Bowen Smith)
“Fierce Grace”
On your site … By the way, why is it called “Annapurna”?
Annapurna, in Hinduism, is the goddess of nourishment.
… There is a course called Fierce Grace, Fierce Grace. It seems an oxymoron.
Every time I looked at the seminars offered online, they proposed empowering either the “warrior woman” or the “nurse woman”. Not so, we need to be able to integrate aspects! Inter alia, Fierce Grace is the title of a wonderful documentary about Ram Dass (American psychologist and spiritual teacher, ed) and how he coped with aging and physical difficulties after the stroke – I’ve seen it 30 times! The “fierce grace” for me is when we are able to hold our power and nourish ourselves at the same time, holding onto both the masculine energy – which is not about being a man or a woman, we all have it – and the feminine one, the creative force.
There is a moment-Matrix in his days?
Oh, probably with the smartphone, which drags me into another reality. I am with my parents without being really present: I have a smile on my face because I text my friends. Even my daughter noticed it when she was a child: Put the phone down! Be where you are! (laughs)
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