(Fun fact: The Matrix almost got Farscape canceled in season one because of sound stage issues and there are Matrix/Farscape connections – and maybe Dark City, it was Australia in the late 90s, and a lot of Australian actors were on Farscape).
1998’s Dark City by Alex Proyas, a neo-noir sci-fi thriller about a man with amnesia who wakes up in a city constantly in darkness where shadowy alien beings control the lives of unknowing humans in an ever-changing city, was pretty much a box office dud that went on to have a cult following. 1999’s The Matrix by the Wachowskis is one of the most well-recognized sci-fi action movies of all time. So why does the director of Dark City believe the Wachowskis heavily borrowed themes, plot points, shots, and character arcs from his movie that came out one year earlier? Let’s start with an introduction to Dark City (which is on Tubi for those of you in the US, but whatever you do, watch the director’s cut – the theatrical cut is terrible because of studio meddling to dumb it down).
In 2023, director Alex Proyas (mostly well known for having directed the original The Crow) spoke with podcast Indie Film Hustle about the connections between Dark City and The Matrix, and how unbeknownst to Proyas, the Wachowskis and others associated with The Matrix got a sneak peek of Dark City while the Matrix was in pre-production in 1998.
So how exactly do people think The Matrix copied Dark City besides the very obvious re-use of Dark City’s sets for some of The Matrix’s most iconic scenes? Youtuber John Warhol put together a scene-by-scene comparison that is spoilery for both movies (and The Matrix Revolutions). Be the judge of what you see.
Slash Film in 2022 did a deep dive into the connections between The Matrix and Dark City beyond the plot details, adding in some connections with a third (also great) movie, eXistenZ by David Cronenberg (I disagree bringing eXistenZ into this conversation, it’s its own thing). Inverse in 2023 also had an article about the connections between the movie but also about how each one sits in its own niche – neo-noir versus action.
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I obviously love both Dark City and The Matrix, but ONTD, what do you think about the similarities between these two? Also, if you haven’t seen Dark City, make sure you check it out!
