It’s been a pretty surreal, vaguely dystopian scene in downtown San Francisco over the past couple of weeks as filming continues on the set of Matrix 4, with area residents routinely greeted to terrifying sights that have by now become commonplace. Things like low-flying helicopters, simulated gunfire, heart-pounding explosions, movie stars visible amid the rubble, and so much more.
As filming winds down in San Francisco before the crews and actors prepare to move on to new locations in the coming days, some of the most dramatic set footage yet has emerged from fans and area residents pretty gobsmacked by what they’re seeing. Indeed, recent days have included the sight of ominous-looking helicopters hovering low to the ground, explosions that have flipped and wrecked cars, and even heat from those explosions that have melted nearby street lamps. “We just saw the plastic that was all melted, so we didn’t know what was going on,” Encar Orozco of JCDecaux street furniture told one local news outlet. “We called our manager and we found out that it was some explosion for the movie.”
During the filming for one particularly dramatic scene, a nearby office worker told a reporter she got a little worried as the action got a little too close to her building for comfort. “When I looked out the window and realized the helicopter was that close, I thought, ‘Oh, I hope we don’t have a Die Hard situation here where it hits the building,” Carol Dickerson said. “But, no, they were really safe.”
Meanwhile, in the footage below posted to Twitter by someone who identifies herself as a LinkedIn events and program manager, she says she was so close to the action she could feel the heat from the explosion. And towards the end of this clip, after the explosion, you can hear someone off-camera yell out: “Whoaaaaa! DAMN, that was cool!”
Sneak peak of the action — the choppers flew right above our heads and we could feel the heat from the explosion. 5/21/21 needs to come sooner! 🚁💥 #matrix4 #matrix #thematrix #projecticecream #neo #keanureeves #keanu #film #filming #movie #production #sanfrancisco #sf pic.twitter.com/SAaynlG7R9
— Christine Chou (@ch0ubella) February 25, 2020
Along those same lines, another series of images posted to social media reveals the aftermath of some recent Matrix 4 shooting and shows just how close to the explosions and special effects some area residents have found themselves in recent days.
A tweeter who identifies himself as a senior social media analyst at Twitch posted a few dramatic sets of images on Monday, including these which you can see below that show heat damage from the set explosions having melted nearby lights. Damaged cars that still smelled burned out were also arranged nearby.
Found the carnage with the other prop cars at the old transbay terminal. Cars smelled freshly burnt. RIP Gen 3 Camaros. pic.twitter.com/xJ9dt4O2Zh
— Bobby Miller (@UPSLynx) February 25, 2020
As a reminder, this latest installment in the Matrix franchise is set to hit theaters on May 21, 2021. The cast includes Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss, returning to play Neo and Trinity, respectively, as well as actors Neil Patrick Harris, Jessica Henwick, and Jonathan Groff, among others. Lana Wachowski is back to direct the movie in addition to producing it with Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions executive producer Grant Hill.
