From TV Azteca to “Matrix 4 ″: we speak with the Mexican Eréndira Ibarra, one of the figures in the film with Keanu Reeves

Eréndira Ibarra was only 14 years old when she went to see the first “Matrix” movie, back in 1999. “I went to the cinema to see a Sunday movie, ‘palomera’, with a handsome man there, with no idea what I was going to see”, the Mexican actress tells El Comercio. It was pretty much what everyone thought of the film with Keanu Reeves that would mark a milestone in science fiction.

But as he left the room, he realized that his expectations had been exceeded. “I had no idea that it was going to be transcendental or define the history of popular culture,” adds the interpreter. I went in to see her calmly and came out different, moved to the core in every way, and truly inspired to search for the why, the why, and the how of all things. “

22 years have passed since that day and now Ibarra is part of that universe, because is one of the members of “Matrix Resurrections”, the bold and solid ‘reboot’ of the saga released last week worldwide. An achievement for which the Aztec actress has had to work hard and evenly. First, because her acting career began with roles with a discreet profile, in soap operas in her country such as “Desire Prohibido” or “Vida mía”, on TV Azteca, until in 2015 she would be called up to embody Daniela Velázquez in the series “Sense8”, by the Wachowski sisters. And it is from there that Lana Wachowski decided to summon her for her new installment of “The Matrix.”

In “Matrix Resurrections”, Ibarra is Lexy, one of the inhabitants of Sion and part of the group called ‘Mnemosyne’, who idolatran a Neo y a Trinity, whom as heroic and almost divine figures. Was the same thing happening on set when you had to work alongside Keanu Reeves or Carrie-Anne Moss?

“Well yes, it happened to us –Ibarra answers–. Especially with Trinity. Since I saw her in the first movies I said ‘she is the one’. And then I saw his story in ‘Animatrix’ [película animada de la saga] and it nailed me and it nailed me. So the day I walked into the movie’s training space and ran into Carrie-Anne, It was as if Jesus Christ literally stood in front of me, Walking on the water”.

As if that were not enough, what surprised the Mexican the most was Moss’s reaction when they met, as she herself tells it: “He came straight to hug me and I collapsed mentally and emotionally. It was one of the most exciting moments of my life because besides He told me ‘Sense 8 ′ is incredible, I love Daniela [su personaje]’. And I eat?! What are you talking? If Trinity defined me! ‘”

The experience of working in “Matrix Resurrecciones” is inseparable from his complicity with Lana Wachoswki, a director whom Ibarra describes as very demanding, creative and not very traditional. “In this industry we are used to the ‘shot list’, the middle clapperboard, and a whole rhythm and normality that Lana passes through the Arc de Triomphe. She arrives and handles the camera, the ‘steadycam’, gets in between the actors when we are talking, places one knee on you, asks you to repeat a line in the middle of the scene … He has a very exciting and very interactive way of working, for lack of a better word. For me it is almost like being in the theater ”, he says.

A requirement pushed to the limits, but justified in its results. “In other sets you can get distracted, but with Lana there is no way to get distracted, not even during break times. – the actress affirms -. Your break is to be sitting in a chair next to the monitors, next to Lana, waiting with Keanu, with Yahya, with Jess. But there on set. It is a different way of working, but I would do my best for the sets to always be this demanding and sacred. And Lana creates the set as a sacred space”.

• “Matrix Resurrections” is currently on the billboard.
• The film will hit the HBO Max streaming service in 2022.