Featuring a well-known Chinese restaurant that bears our city’s name, a first trailer for the upcoming blockbuster for year end has been released. Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss are back as Neo and Trinity, for Matrix Resurrections.
In the first Matrix movie, back in 1999, Reeves character, Neo, speaks of some “really good noodles”. Seems he’s never been able to get them out of his mind, as one of the first places we see him in the movie’s inaugural trailer is the restaurant, “House of Nanking”.
The trailer was released last Thursday, 9 September and in the 4 days since has racked up almost 27 million views.
Located in San Francisco where much of the movie was shot, the restaurant appears only briefly in the trailer, as Neo enters. Quite how much more we get to see of House of Nanjing and whether Neo finally gets his noodles will need to wait for another day.
But there is certainly more to come. A day after shooting, Eater San Francisco revealed NBC Bay Area as reporting that Reeves, “came out of the House of Nanking a few times” during the shoot, and, at one point, “was standing right there eating at the Nanking and also having some coffee and of course smoking a cigarette”.
The restaurant scenes were filmed on 5 February last year, when the production crew, including Reeves, Moss and director, Lana Wachowski, took over the corner of the city’s Kearny and Jackson streets. Shortly after, COVID put a big dent in the production schedule, delaying the movie by 6 months.
Also taking a cameo role in the film is San Francisco mayor, London N. Breed, who plays herself.
House of Nanking opened in 1988 and has become a Chinatown favourite in San Francisco. Well known for its eye-catching signage, distinctive decor and a much-craved, queue-forming peanut sauce, House of Nanking also, however, has a reputation for customer service described as “hot and cold”. Would a better option not be “sweet and sour”?
Catch the trailer for Matrix Resurrections on YouTube or wait to see more of House of Nanking when the movie hits theatres on 22 December.
