Since it was in Page Six and The Smoking Gun, it's not new news that Larry Wachowski, half of the creative team behind The Matrix, has been having marital problems and is in a relationship with a dominatrix. The dominatrix's husband, Jake Miller, bitter over being left, guessed that Wachowski was wearing "bra and panties" under his suit at the premiere. Which then leads to speculation about Wachowski's sexuality/sexual issues.
Jeffrey Wells says he heard a rumor in March about how Wachowski wanted to live the rest of his life as a woman, but dismissed it. Then Wells was taken aback by the various reports:
- Jake Miller (apparently a transsexual);
- Wachowski's divorce papers that allude to his "dishonesty" in the marriage;
- Chicago Sun-Times columnist Bill Zwecker quoting a studio suit "Now I know why Larry paid so much attention during our costuming meetings";
- Time magazine article rolling up the same information but also adding a comment about the hat Wachowski wore to the Cannes premiere;
- And, finally, fellow movie journalist Dave Poland's column about the situation, in which Poland hems and haws about whether or not to write about it, finally writing, "Every indication I have says that Larry Wachowski is now in the process of changing his sex. Dressing in public like a woman, taking female hormones and yes, having a sex change operation."
Wells adds, "I don't think of myself as a bigot or a jerk, but I do feel turned around by the Larry thing. It's a creaky old sentiment, but whatever lights your fire is okay by me. It's just that I've always thought of filmmakers who are into martial-arts sequences and comic-book inspirations and Japanimation as...I don't know, a little bit geeky and dorky in a kind of routinely male, vaguely grungy, non-glammy sort of way. And I don't know where to put the Larry thing. It doesn't seem to fit...
One final thought: in every photo I've ever seen of Larry Wachowski, and in the interview footage he submitted to (along with his brother, Andy) for the MATRIX REVISITED DVD, he's always seemed somber and vaguely pained -- half-frowning in a thoughtful, weight-of-the-world, heavy-cat sort of way. But he appears to be sailing on some kind of euphoric high in that TIME magazine photo. He looks happy. That should count for something."
Wells and Poland are quick to defend Wachowski's decision as well as point out that if this is true, then Wachowski is very vulnerable, undergoing a hugely difficult self-examination. Which means that they (noted admireres of Matrix: Revolutions) are trying to tell their readers not to be judgemental jerks, logically expecting part of their reader audience to be horrified.
Gothamist is intrigued by this information, both as rumor-turned-possible-truth and as an example of something that people don't tend to talk or think about being brought to the fore because a celebrity is involved, but beyond that, and wondering like others what Larry Wachowski might change his name to (Lara? Laraine? Laura? Lori?), the evidence has to do the talking for now. We already noted how the Matrix films could be read with a whole new subtext with the news of the dominatrix in Wachowski's life.
- A 1999 New York Times interview with the Wachowski brothers right after the first Matrix.
- The recent HBO Film Normal about a husband who realizes he'd be happier as a woman.
- Yahoo! Health on Gender Identity Disorder
- The Advocate's review of Christine Jorgensen's memoir
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