Keymaker Actor Unlocks Wonders Of 'Matrix Reloaded'

To say that "The Matrix Reloaded" is opening huge doors into the film world for veteran stage actor Randall Duk Kim is an understatement. After all, he plays the pivotal role of "The Keymaker" in the film -- the man who is charged with the daunting responsibility of helping Neo (Keanu Reeves) get to the source of the Matrix.

"I'm so happy to be part of such a wonderful tale as this," Kim told me in a recent @ The Movies interview promoting the film's DVD release (Warner Home Video). "I was a fan before I even got the audition call for 'Reloaded.'"

Kim is not a complete stranger to feature films, having appeared opposite Chow Yun Fat in both "Anna and the King" and "The Replacement Killers."

His heart, however, remains in theater, whether he's on the Broadway stage (he most recently starred in "The Flower Drum Song"), in regional theater (places from Minneapolis to Honolulu) or at the company he co-founded more than 20 years ago -- the American Players Theater in Spring Green, Wis.

Kim said he's generally resisted the temptation to do films over the last 20 years, mainly out of his loyalty to his theater company in Wisconsin. But when "Matrix" writer-director brothers Andy and Larry Wachowski came calling, Kim couldn't refuse.

"When I got the part, you could hardly keep me from flying off the ground," Kim gleefully recalled.

With the medium of film came a whole new world of discipline for Kim. Imagination on the stage was replaced by wires and blue screens, and given the elaborate special effects of "The Matrix" films, many hours were required of him to make it real.

But despite the elaborate set-up and tireless hours, Kim said he couldn't get enough of the "Matrix" experience.

"On every single day of that shoot I felt like a little kid on big adventure," Kim enthused. "And working for the brothers, they're childlike in their creativity -- it's just contagious."

For anyone who has seen the film, you well know that Kim's role as The Keymaker is more than about opening locks and starting machinery. In fact, he's involved in the film's spectacular 14-minute freeway chase scene, where he rides with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) as she speeds into oncoming traffic on a Ducati motorcycle. And, Kim said, if you thought the chase scene was more than just computer-generated images, you're right.

"All of those cars flying up in the air and flipping over are real," Kim said. "Those stunt drivers were some of the most amazing people I've ever met. That was real. I would say Carrie and I did about three-quarters of what's seen up there. Our stunt doubles then did the really, really dangerous stuff."

And if Kim thought he was flying when he heard he got the role in "The Matrix Reloaded," the real "flying" was yet to come -- during the hyper-kinetic chase scene where Morpheus (Lawrence Fishburne) and The Keymaker face peril while riding on top of an 18-wheel semitrailer.

"What I love is when the trucks collide and Lawrence and I go flying across the top of the truck," Kim said. "They had us on wires. I felt like Peter Pan."

As much as Kim enjoyed taking part in the special effects wonders of "The Matrix Reloaded," he was, more than anything, jazzed about having the opportunity to work within the confines of such of an interesting script with endless possibilities.

"It's a great piece of storytelling -- the brothers had come up with an idea and a vision that is, in many ways, astonishing and singular in history of moviemaking," Kim observed. "For them to develop this trilogy and all the offshoots of it -- computer games (Kim is also in "Enter the Matrix") and the 'Animatrix' shorts -- it's just out of this world."

And, Kim says, working on "The Matrix Reloaded" has, best of all, provided him with an education. He's not only seen firsthand the world of cutting-edge filmmaking, but also the world we live in and its greatest mysteries.

"The Wachowskis have lifted movie technology and taken it another step. The martial arts fights in it are just astonishing to watch. I know how much hard work went into those," Kim said. "I look at 'The Matrix' as philosophy 101, it's a story that kind of gets you to ask questions that have been asked for hundreds if not thousands of years -- and we're still wrestling with it."