Anna Daniels
Prior to The Matrix, Marcus Chong was on the rise. He had spent most of his life in the entertainment business, appearing in television roles on Roots and Little House on the Prairie. As an adult, he starred as Huey P. Newton in the 1995 movie Panther. It all fell apart, though, after the first Matrix wrapped.
Chong took offense to the rate he was being paid as compared to his fellow actors. Warner Bros. wanted to give him $400K for Matrix: Reloaded, while Chong wanted an even million. In interviews after the fact, and in a 2003 lawsuit, Chong claimed the studio was intentionally strong-arming him into a bad contract.
“They wanted to starve me out, hold all my money, take all my residuals, not give me any pension credit, not give me any health credit, and I was upset because I had worked for Warner Bros. when I was 10 years old in Roots, so they had a long relationship with me,” Chong said in a 2016 interview with IAmSoNotHollywood.
The sequel negotiations deteriorated to the point that Chong was arrested for allegedly threatening the film’s producers, something to which he more or less admitted in the same interview.
“I called [the Wachowskis] on their voicemail and I said, ‘Hey Larry, Andy, if you send anyone to my home to fucking harm me, I will come and kill you and your brother,” he said.
Written by: Looper
