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Had things gone another way, it could have been Rosie Perez instead of Carrie-Anne Moss who fought their AI overlords alongside Keanu Reeves in “The Matrix”.
In a new interview with Variety, the “Your Honor” star reveals she auditioned for the role of Trinity — but has no doubt in her mind that the role went to the right actress.
“I was horrible,” she admitted.
“As I was walking out, I was like, ‘I know I didn’t get the job. I really sucked,’ and the Wachowskis were like, ‘No,’ and the casting director was trying not to laugh,” she added.
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“And then finally I looked at her and I go, ‘I really sucked,’ and she just burst out laughing,” she recalled. “We all were laughing. I just gave the Wachowskis a hug and I said, ‘Well, good luck with this.’”
Meanwhile, Perez also revealed she nearly lost out on her breakout role in “Do the Right Thing” — because she had no idea who Spike Lee was at the time.
“I didn’t understand who he was. And I didn’t care. I threw the card away,” Perez recalled. “My girlfriend Marian went back and got it. She always joked, ‘You owe your entire career to me.’ You know, I did audition for ‘Do the Right Thing’. People think that Spike just discovered me and gave me the role. No, he made me work for it.”
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In the interview, Perez also revealed that Johnny Depp was an early supporter when she was cast as a guest star on his Fox cop show “21 Jump Street”.
“My first scene, Johnny Depp whispered in my ear, ‘Oh, darling, you’re too good for this s**t,’” she said. “Then he invited me to his trailer, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, my God, Johnny Depp’s invited me to his trailer.’ He’s on the phone, and he goes, ‘Yeah, yeah, she’s amazing. Her name is Rosie Perez. Hang on. Hey, Rosie — over here. Say hello to my girlfriend, Winona Ryder.’ And I fell over laughing. After, we talked seriously, and he said, ‘I’m gonna tell people about you. You know, you’re right for the good stuff.’”
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While she has no idea whether Depp actually did spread the word about her, his pep talk gave her the confidence to push back at some of her agent’s insulting suggestions.
“I don’t want her to be canceled,” Perez says of the unnamed agent, “but she told me that if I dyed my hair blond and got a nose job, ‘I can get you more jobs. Because you’re not Black.’ I couldn’t believe it. I was like, ‘Oh, my goodness. Like, thank you, fired,’”
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Perez also looked back at how her “bittersweet adolescence” led her to performing when she was attending Catholic school.
“I always wanted to dance, and I always loved movies and wanted to act. It was the nuns in the convent who put me onstage. They taught me tap — and how to play baseball — in between confessions,” she shared.
“When people say, ‘Yes, but it made you who you are, and you’re stronger for it,’ they’re validating the abuse, giving credence, right? Imagine what I would have done without getting smacked, getting beaten, getting mentally abused. So it’s bullshit. And I think that people say that to make themselves feel better because it’s hard to hear,” Perez added.
