The Wachowskis

The Wachowski Siblings
American filmmakers Larry and Andy Wachowski
Laurence Wachowski born	(1965-06-21) June 21, 1965 Chicago, Illinois, United States
Andrew Wachowski born	(1967-12-29) December 29, 1967 Chicago, Illinois, United States

Laurence "Larry" Wachowski (born June 21, 1965) and Andrew "Andy" Wachowski (born December 29, 1967), collectively known as The Wachowski Brothers, are American motion picture writers, producers, and directors, most famous for creating The Matrix series.

Biography

Andy and Larry Wachowski were born to a Polish-American family in Chicago. The Wachowskis jokingly claim to have begun their collaboration as toddlers. Their mother was a nurse and their father a businessman. They went to Kellogg Elementary School, in Chicago's Beverly area. Both brothers graduated from Whitney Young High School, a public high school known for its performing arts and science curriculum, in 1983 and '85. They weren't seen as stand outs at Whitney Young - students recall them playing Dungeons & Dragons and working in the school's theater and TV program, but they were always behind the scenes. Afterwards, Andy went to Emerson College in Boston. He was a top student in his introductory film class but "botched" a quiz in the class once, according to the professor, Claire Andrade-Watkins. Larry went to Bard College in upstate New York. After dropping out of college, both entered the carpentry business, and began to develop their ideas for the Matrix Trilogy. Before entering show business, they ran a carpentry business in Chicago while creating comic books in their free time.

Style

The brothers admit to a love for telling multipart stories. "Because we grew up on comic books and the Tolkien trilogy, one of the things we're interested in is bringing serial fiction to cinema," Larry explains. "If you could have a film where you don't get to the hour-and-a-half mark and know, 'Okay, here it comes, the big wrap-up,' but instead you have no idea how the movie's going to end, I think that would be very exciting." Andy puts his desire to shake up viewers a bit more bluntly. "We think movies are fairly boring and predictable. We want to screw with audiences' expectations."

Comic books

Prior to working in the film industry, the Wachowski brothers wrote comic books for Marvel Comics' Razorline imprint, namely Ectokid (created by horror novelist Clive Barker) in 1993.

In 2003, they created Burlyman Entertainment and have released comic books based on The Matrix as well two original bi-monthly series:

• Shaolin Cowboy - created, written, and art by Geof Darrow (with the Wachowski Brothers contributing an opening dialogue to each issue)
• Doc Frankenstein - created by Geoff Darrow and Steve Skroce, written by the Wachowski Brothers, with art by Skroce.

During Skroce's run on the Marvel Comics series Gambit, he helped create a pair of bounty hunters, the Mengo Brothers (Stanislaus and Gregori Mengochauschras), as adversaries, who resemble the Wachowskis.

Plagiarism claims

Comic book writer Grant Morrison has claimed that the Wachowskis plagiarized his work, The Invisibles, to create The Matrix.

Sophia Stewart also sued the Wachowski Brothers, amongst others, claiming that The Matrix was stolen from her book "The Third Eye" (not to be confused with The Third Eye by Cyril Hoskin). Her lawsuit was dismissed when she failed to provide evidence in a timely manner.

Lana Wachowski rumor

Shortly after the release of Matrix Reloaded, it was rumored that Larry Wachowski began to make small public appearances dressed as a woman, using the name Lana Wachowski. In his column, published May 30, 2003, David Poland said "Every indication I have says that Larry Wachowski is now in the process of changing his sex. Dressing in public like a woman, taking female hormones and yes, having a sex change operation." This was further supported by a March 2006 San Francisco Chronicle article on transgender people, which reported that Larry Wachowski, "has changed his sex and is now living as Lana Wachowski".

However, in a 2007 interview Joel Silver, the producer of numerous Wachowski films, stated that the rumors concerning Larry's sex change were "all untrue," further explaining, "they just don’t do interviews, so people make things up." Similar statements were made by crew members working on the upcoming Speed Racer film, with one employee pointing out, "on the call sheets, it still says Larry."

Filmography

• Assassins (1995) (story, screenplay credits)
• Bound (1996) (written and directed, executive producers)
• The Matrix (1999) (written and directed, executive producers)
• The Matrix Reloaded (2003) (written and directed, executive producers)
• The Matrix Revolutions (2003) (written and directed, executive producers)
• The Animatrix (2003) (producers, wrote four of the nine animated shorts)
• V for Vendetta (2006) (produced and written, based on the graphic novel by Alan Moore and David Lloyd)
• The Invasion (2007) (rewritten various parts and added a twist ending)
• Speed Racer (May 2008) (written and directed)

Games

• Enter the Matrix (2003) (written and directed)
• The Matrix: Path of Neo (2005) (written and directed)

External links

• Larry Wachowski at IMDb
• Andy Wachowski at IMDb
• Die Wachowski-Geschwister, biography (German).
• In 'Matrix,' the Wachowski Brothers Unleash a Comic Book of Ideas interview by The New York Times.
• Matrix Revelations, Wired Magazine article about the Wachowski brothers.
• The Mystery of Larry Wachowski, Rolling Stone Magazine article about the latest rumours about Larry's gender status, largely dependent on the above Wired Magazine article for background.