Matrix star Jonathan Groff ‘thought he wet himself’ during intense action scene with Keanu Reeves
Jonathan Groff arrives at the US premiere of “The Matrix Resurrections” at the Castro Theatre on 18 December 2021 in San Francisco, California. (Miikka Skaffari/FilmMagic)
Jonathan Groff opened up about the more unusual parts of becoming an action star in The Matrix Resurrections.
Groff, who takes over the role of the villainous Agent Smith in the new film from Hugo Weaving, opened up about an embarrassing moment that happened on set in an interview for EW’s Around the Table series with his Matrix co-stars.
He recalled filming one of his first action scenes alongside Keanu Reeves when he thought that he might’ve had an accident.
“When it was over, I was like: ‘I think I wet my pants. I think I peed myself,’” Groff said.
Groff described the feeling as that sensation “when you pee yourself you feel that, like, hot urine”. He said the feeling “didn’t go away” so he was determined to find out if he had an on-set mishap or if something else was to blame.
“When you pee yourself, it’s hot for a second and then it gets cold, and so [the sensation] sustained,” Groff explained. “Then I thought one of the shells from the gun had come down my shirt, which they warn you might happen.”
He described how he was reaching down his clothes to look “for this shell”, but “it wasn’t down there”. Groff added he had “this heat emanating from” down there “for like 10 minutes”.
Jonathan Groff plays Agent Smith in The Matrix Resurrections. He takes over the role from Hugo Weaving, who played the villainous character in the original Matrix trilogy. (YouTube/Warner Bros Pictures)
He admitted he was intrigued by co-star Carrie-Anne Moss’ explanation for the situation, which was that “sometimes your body doesn’t know it’s not real”. Moss, who plays Trinity in The Matrix Resurrections, likened Groff’s predicament to her own experiences handling a gun while on a movie set.
“When I shoot a gun, I can look really cool in a scene, but afterward it’s like my body doesn’t know it’s not real, and it’s really intense,” Moss said. “Unless you’re really experienced [and] you’ve gone beyond that point. My body has a physical reaction to it.”
She later clarified that Gross didn’t indeed “pee your pants” while on the Matrix set.
The Matrix Resurrections is out in theatres now.
