The Wachowski siblings are a directing team that has proven themselves to be essential to pop culture. Lily Wachowski and Lana Wachowski are two female filmmakers who have honestly transformed film and TV.
Think about where we would all be without The Matrix! Do you even realize how many references are made to The Matrix on a daily basis? It might be one of the most influential films of all time and we have Lily and Lana to thank for that. That is why The Wachowskis are the focus of today's Female Filmmakers.
Lana Wachowski was born first in Chicago, Illinois, and Lilly was born two years later. Their parents were regular working-class folks, but their uncle was an Emmy award-winning actor named Laurence Luckinbill. That always gave them an insight into the film industry. They grew up in Chicago and were actively involved in their high school's theater and TV production programs.
They split up for college - Lana going to Bard College and Lilly going to Emerson College - but both of them dropped out. They returned to Chicago to work in construction and house painting. In the meantime, they each continued their creative pursuits by writing for horror magazines and comic books. In the early 90s, they managed to write issues of Ectokid, Clive Barker's Hellraiser, and Clive Barker's Nightbreed.
These opportunities inspired the young Wachowskis to turn their attention to writing scripts. They wrote and sold the script for Assassins to Warner Brothers. The film was heavily rewritten which horrified the pair so much that they decided they had to direct their own work in order to protect the writing.
The Wachowskis made their feature film debut with the 1996 film Bound when Lana was 31 and Lilly was 29. The film received critical acclaim and buzz for focusing on a lesbian relationship at the core of a mainstream movie. The Wachowskis were further inspired to use this success for their next film which they both knew was going to be very ambitious. Thankfully, studios trusted them to direct it!
If you've never seen Bound, then watch Gina Gershon and Jennifer Tilly become very unbound in their sex scene:
The Matrix was released in 1999 as a sci-fi action flick starring Keanu Reeves as Neo. He leads the human rebellion against machines that have taken over the world and put humans in "The Matrix" which simulated reality.
The film was a massive hit. It won four Oscars and it essentially gave us the "bullet time visual effect". It influenced fight scenes for an entire generation. It gave us words like "red pill" and "blue pill" that are now constantly used on the internet. It is so undeniably influential that it was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress in 2012 due to its cultural impact.
There were several sequels, but they are all lacking in nudity. Carrie-Ann Moss does show her ass in a sex scene that is shot at a distance in The Matrix Reloaded. If only the nude Trinity would show us her unholy three!
A lot of people don't realize that they wrote and produced V for Vendetta which gave us a rare glimpse of Natalie Portman's nips. They had adapted the story from Alan Moore's comics and the film itself was directed by James McTeigue. This is another 2000s film that became wildly influential on popular culture for years to come!
They went on to continue delivering science fiction like Jupiter Ascending which was not well-received. Neither were their other films in this era such as Speed Racer and Cloud Atlas. It felt like the Wachowskis suddenly couldn't catch a break - even if Doona Bae shows her bare breasts.
They got their stride back when they directed Sense8 on Netflix which finally landed critical acclaim back onto the sisters. It may have helped that it was SO hot. The Wachowskis brought back a lot of people they have worked with previously - Doona Bae, Tuppence Middleton - and they introduced us to hotties like Jamie Clayton. What better way to bring all of these actresses together than in an orgy?
Valeria Bilello was my favorite in the series. She does full-frontal nudity like no one else in several sexy scenes!
Lilly Wachowski broke out on her own briefly to co-write and direct episodes of the Chicago-based series Work in Progress created by Abby McEnany. The series followed a middle-aged butch lesbian who is rattled with anxiety. She tries to cope with her fears by branching out into the new, young, queer scene in Chicago. This means she goes to sexy burlesque shows which we got to see!
What are they going to do next? They are currently involved in the WGA strike which I hope gets resolved soon (come on, studios!) so that we can get back to watching The Wachowskis do their thing.
The Wachowskis are an inspiring duo. They struck out on their own, they bravely transitioned, they made massive hits and massive failures and they have always persevered. In 2016, they joined The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
