Lilly Wachowski, who co-directed The Matrix franchise, is opening up about the struggle to get financing for her new film that features a “wall-to-wall trans cast.”
During a recent interview on KCRW’s The Business podcast, the filmmaker acknowledged that it’s unfortunately “not the greatest time in the industry to be trying to make these kinds of things because all of these opportunities are dwindling for folks with those kinds of stories to tell,” specifically those with “underrepresented voices and marginalized points of view.”
Wachowski used her next project, The Hunted, as an example, saying it’s been a challenge because when she showed the script around Hollywood, nobody wanted to finance the dystopian political thriller that’s budgeted at roughly $10 million.
“People like it, but they really don’t want to make it because it’s [got a] wall-to-wall trans cast,” she said of the film. “I have to get creative and figure out different ways that I can get this in front of people.”
Wachowski added that the script, which she co-wrote with her partner, Mickey Ray Mahoney, “was extremely important for me to write.” She continued, “It was a response to what is happening in the world for trans people, and it gave me a hugely cathartic receptacle to dump all of my anger and rage and frustration into.”
