One Scene In The Matrix That Keanu Reeves Fought To Keep Was Based On A Lie That Fooled Everyone

25 years ago, The Wachowskis challenged everything we knew for certain about reality with The Matrix. The directing siblings channeled that perversely irresistible part of the human brain that whispers a seemingly unified conspiracy theory that everything is a projection intended to trick us. They did so by presenting simple, unchallengable truths in a completely new way.

One of those truths has grown in importance since The Matrix's message of cognitive oppression has become a buzzword for people preaching personal freedom. Among the incredible action scenes and the Messiah promise of The Matrix's ending, something far more subtle captures the yearning for the Age of Innocence that drives the movie's conflict. The scene in question sees Joe Pantoliano's Cypher betray Morpheus (and Keanu Reeves' Neo) and explain that he simply wants to live in ignorant peace. And Pantolinao has only recently revealed something game-changing about it.

Why Cypher's Steak Scene In The Matrix Is So Important

Reality Is Based On Perception In The Wachowskis' Iconic Sci-Fi

For anyone who reads The Matrix as a manifesto for activism, Cypher is a sheep. In fact, he's the worst kind of sheep: one who is "red-pilled" but wishes to be resubmerged in the lie of the Matrix because it's easier. He's a villain in The Matrix because of his betrayal of his fellow rebels, but he's also one on a more fundamental level because of his betrayal of the philosophy so many people have grasped onto. And everything you need to know about him is delivered in one line from The Matrix's steak scene.

Selling his soul to the agents in exchange for a return to the Matrix, while eating a frankly delicious-looking steak, Joe Pantoliano's Cypher explains exactly why he wants to be un-red-pilled:

“You know, I know this steak doesn’t exist. I know that when I put it in my mouth, the Matrix is telling my brain that it is juicy and delicious. After nine years, you know what I realize? Ignorance is bliss.”

Cypher is essentially the anti-Neo. Faced with the difficult reality of knowledge and the struggle of rebellion and reality, he chooses the easy life and the simple, mindless reward of pleasure. He is the stand-in for those who choose to be blinkered for an easier life, in stark contrast to Neo, who opts in to falling down the rabbit hole. Even more importantly, Cypher's choice is designed to hang over the movie as a reminder that through all of his hardships, Neo could give up and be returned to the machine. That he doesn't is the mark of a true Chosen One.

As an interesting side-note, Pantoliano told Inverse that he had a different read on the scene, which he insisted has another hidden meaning:

“I’ve always had a sneaking suspicion that the Wachwoskis were talking about me. I was blissfully ignorant in those days. And also the idea that Cypher would cut a deal where he said ‘I want to be somebody important like an actor.’ I always found that to be funny.”

Joe Pantoliano Has Revealed A Huge Lie About The Matrix

Question Everything You See In The Matrix, Seriously

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Since its release, The Matrix has been lauded for its profound predictions about the real world, at least in philosophical terms. The sci-fi classic plays with the idea of reality in a truly gripping way, and stands as a defiant call-to-arms for those who feel out of control. Neo takes back his own agency, despite very real threats to his life: of course, that would become fetishized - it's remarkably compelling.

But the most pleasing thing about The Matrix - and the key steak scene in particular - is that the movie is a con. The film has a complex surface, but a very simple message about realizing human potential, and the value of endurance. And just as Neo is invited to question everything he sees, the audience has to do the same thing, and a delightful factoid about the steak scene proves that perfectly.

Because, in the October 2024 issue of Empire magazine, Pantoliano revealed the steak scene was based on a major lie:

"We shot the steak scene at night at a restaurant down by the docks in Sydney, Australia. A lot of actors came to watch the sequence - Keanu [Reeves], Carrie-Anne [Moss] and Laurence [Fishburne]. It was a wonderful experience, and everybody had a feeling that we were making something unusually interesting. I never liked beef, so they rigged shiitake mushrooms because they look like steak. When we broke for lunch, a lot of people were eating those leftover steaks. They must have had a hundred of them!"

How can you not find that incredibly funny? The whole movie's message depends on the idea that what is real can be manipulated, and not to trust what you see, and the scene that distills part of that philosophy was itself based on a cute deception.

Keanu Reeves Fought To Keep The Steak Scene In The Matrix

The Chosen One Fought For The Right Thing

Pantoliano also revealed in conversation with Inverse that he didn't really understand the scene, and also, incredibly, that it almost never made it into the final cut:

“So with the steak scene, I never understood the allure of it. Keanu loved that scene. At one point the Wachowskis mentioned that the studio wanted to eliminate the scene. They didn’t think they needed it, and everybody fought for it, but especially Keanu.”

Years ago, Pantoliano spoke about the studio's threat to remove the steak scene, relating a funny anecdote that does rather fit with the theory that the Wachowskis wrote the scene for him, and drew on his real life character. He said the directors “might have had a twinkle in their eye to give me this job, because they saw me as blissfully ignorant” and revealed that when he was told that Warner Bros wanted to cut the steak scene, and that Reeves was fighting it, he took it entirely the wrong way:

“They said: ‘Keanu’s really upset, and he’s telling them they can’t cut it. I said: ‘Well, tell him to get the f*** over it. He’s in 99 per cent of the movie.’ They just started laughing because they realised I hadn’t read it.”

He then doubled down, still without reading the script:

“We’re all just bulls***ting around, I’m trying to be interesting. So I say to Keanu: ‘Hey, I’m glad they kept the steak scene! We’re gonna have some fun with that!’ It goes so quiet you could hear a pin drop, except for the Wachowskis who are on the floor laughing with tears coming out of their eyes. Finally they’re able to catch their breath enough for Lana [Wachowski] to say: ‘He didn’t read the f***ing script!’”

Again, it's a pleasant case of art imitating life, as Pantoliano wrestled with reality in a far more tangible way. Thank goodness for Keanu Reeves' insistence to keep the scene in, not just because it's so important to The Matrix, but also because it gave us the set-up for Pantoliano's charming mistake.