Motorcycle Monday: Matrix Reloaded Ducati 996

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The bike stunts in this iconic chase scene were pretty crazy…

Whatever you think of The Matrix Reloaded as a film, there’s no denying the Ducatti 996 Trinity rides in that explosive highway chase scene would be a lot of fun. It looks even more capable thanks to a fair bit of Hollywood magic, although there were more practical effects used in the action sequence than you might think.

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That big freeway chase scene was far more complex to shoot than you probably even suspect. No city would be able to spare a stretch of highly-traveled roadway like that for weeks on end, so producers did the only reasonable thing: the built one. Using the decommissioned Naval Air Station Alameda’s runway, they built a replica stretch of a Los Angeles freeway that was configured in a loop and was 2 miles long. It cost $2.5 million to make, complete with a 19-foot sound wall on each side, although that was made of plywood and concrete to keep costs down.

When Trinity jumps the Ducatti off the carrier truck, that was done in a studio using wires, so it wasn’t CGI but it also of course wasn’t real. However, a lot of the shots where she’s weaving through traffic, in both directions, was mostly done using CGI. The production crew didn’t even want to risk having stunt doubles try something like that because the risk of serious injury or death was sky high.

Speaking of that, there was actually a serious injury involving the stunt double filling in for Trinity in the chase scene. One of the people in the cars during the wrong-way part of the chase didn’t make a lane change when they were supposed to, so the stunt double struck the car head-on while riding the Ducati 996.