Before they blew the world’s mind with The Matrix, Lana and Lilly Wachowski delivered a jolt of pure pulp pleasure with their hyperstylish debut, which puts a deliciously sapphic spin on a crackerjack caper premise. When butch plumber Corky (Gina Gershon) catches the eye of alluring femme fatale Violet (Jennifer Tilly), little does she know she’s about to be drawn into both a torrid affair and a high-stakes heist that will pit the pair against the mob.
Featuring crackling dialogue, luscious neonoir cinematography, and live-wire performances by Gershon, Tilly, and Joe Pantoliano, Bound is a genre-reimagining joyride that keeps both the tension and the erotic heat rising through each crazily careening twist.
A Missed Connection
You can add Gina Gershon and The Matrix to your list of cinema’s all-time worst missed connections. During a recent interview for the Criterion Collection’s DVD re-release of Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s debut feature Bound, Gershon told IndieWire that she was still bothered by the fact that she was not asked by her former directors to star opposite Keanu Reeves in their sci-fi masterpiece about a robot apocalypse from 1999.
It’s hard, because I really wanted to play that part, and I thought I was going to, and then they ended up casting Carrie-Anne [Moss]. So I don’t think I could be completely objective. I still see myself in that part. Listen, she did a wonderful job, and I think I understand why they cast her, but I always thought I was going to play Trinity.
The Matrix Resurrections Homage
The topic came up in a roundabout way when the actress was asked if she had seen Moss make her triumphant return to the rebooted Matrix Resurrections in 2021. That’s a female-forward pseudo-sequel that champions many of the same themes as Bound and even includes an Easter egg paying homage to Gershon’s character Corky and her legendary labrys tattoo. (In this version of the Matrix Resurrections trailer, you can spot the massage parlor named after film’s favorite lesbian plumber in the right-side background at the 47-second mark.)
A Matter of Timing and Tone
Whether Gershon was ever seriously considered for a part in The Matrix isn’t clear, but the casting certainly makes sense as a matter of timing and tone. Bound arrived in theaters just a few years before The Matrix, and although the girl-on-girl crime thriller was a flop at the box office, it was forged with the same visceral love of action and noir that catapulted the story of Neo to instant franchised success.
A Tale of Two Films
Both movies became hits in the end, but Gershon wasn’t sure if she’d seen Resurrections or not, explaining,There’s periods of time where I just blank out, I don’t see anything. I will re-see it again because I don’t remember that.
Cinematic Mastery
As for Bound, that’s one Gershon can’t ever turn off.Every time I watch the movie, I really forget that I’m in it. It’s just technically so beautifully made. They’re incredible directors, which I always knew from the first moment I met them. I got that tingly feeling in my stomach going, ‘Oh my God, these are really great directors.’
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