In a new episode of Red Table Talk, host Jada Pinkett Smith reunited with her 1999 Matrix co-stars – Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss – to discuss the legendary film franchise and answer some questions from fans ahead of the upcoming Matrix: Resolutions reboot.
During the episode – after one fan asked Reeves what his favourite Halloween costume is – the actor revealed that he once dressed up as Dolly Parton’s iconic 1978 Playboy cover as a teen.
“My mother was a costume designer and she made some costumes for Dolly Parton and she once did the cover of Playboy,” he said, referring to her work on Dolly’s black and pink sequinned ensemble – originally designed by Zelda Wynn Valdes, the first Black designer to open a shop on New York’s Broadway Street.
“Somehow I guess (Dolly) didn’t take that home, so we had it, and it was Halloween,” he continued. “So I put on the ears, then the bustier, I wore sneakers with fishnet stockings and a bowtie. I had some pretty long hair… I was Dolly Parton as the Playboy bunny.”
Elsewhere, one fan asked the actor to address the internet’s decades-long Keanu obsession. “Keanu, everyone says you’re Hollywood’s nicest guy, and you’re such a giving person,” the fan said. “What do you do to give to yourself?”
At first, the actor doubled over, shaking his head and smiling in embarrassment. Later, he noted: “Let’s go for a motorcycle ride, let’s read. I love going to the movies. For me, my work is that as well. I often sometimes get asked, ‘You know, you’ve been at this for a while’, and they’re like, ‘Do you still love it?’ And I’m like, ‘Yeah, I love it even more’. For me, work is life.”
Later in the interview, the co-stars debated whether they would take the red pill or the blue pill (AKA discovering the truth of the Matrix or remaining blissfully ignorant). While the three actors agreed on red, Reeves suggested that a “blue pill vacation” could be necessary sometimes.
The Matrix: Resolutions – the fourth film in the franchise – will see Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss reprise their roles as Neo and Trinity, 20 years after starring in the first film. Featuring clips from the first three Matrix films, the new trailer darts between the simulation world of the Matrix and the real world as the two characters attempt to reunite.
The film is set to be released in cinemas on December 22 – we’ll be dusting off our tiny specs and leather trench coats while we wait.
Watch the full Red Table Talk episode below.