''Computer Boy'' is a 2000

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

by Australian director

Abe Forsythe Abraham Forsythe (born 26 July 1981) is an Australian film and television actor, director, writer and producer. He is the son of actor and comedian Drew Forsythe. Career He first appeared on the TV series ''The Miraculous Mellops (TV series), Th ...

. It is a

parody A parody, also known as a spoof, a satire, a send-up, a take-off, a lampoon, a play on (something), or a caricature, is a creative work designed to imitate, comment on, and/or mock its subject by means of satiric or ironic imitation. Often its subj ...

of ''

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in ''The Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantolia ...

''. It gained a cult following after being released over the internet, receiving over 350,000 views on Ifilm. It was filmed in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia and uses many of the same locations as ''The Matrix''. It was never fully released, the film had an injunction put against it, forcing them to never really release it fully. The total production cost was rumoured to only have cost $2500. This is the transcript direct from one of the hosts: Metro has often been appalled by the bloated budgets of Hollywood blockbusters. Now an 18-year-old film-maker from Newtown has laid bare Tinsel Town's shameless profligacy by making his own version of ''The Matrix'' - which was rumoured to have cost more than $100 million - for $2,500(AUS)! Forsythe, who has seen ''The Matrix'' three times, was inspired by spoofs of ''

The Blair Witch Project ''The Blair Witch Project'' is a 1999 American supernatural horror film written, directed and edited by Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sánchez (director), Eduardo Sánchez. It is a fictional story of three student filmmakers—Heather Donahue, Mic ...

'' and his own irritation at ''Matrix'' audiences who ooh-ed and aah-ed when they recognised chunks of their own city on the silver screen. He admits he had to cut a few corners to bring ''Computer Boy'' in under budget. Besides writing and directing, he took on the role of

Agent Smith Agent Smith (later simply Smith) is a fictional Character (arts), character and the main antagonist of The Matrix (franchise), ''The Matrix'' franchise. He was primarily portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the first trilogy of films and voiced by Christ ...

, the character played by

Hugo Weaving Hugo Wallace Weaving (born 4 April 1960) is an English actor. Born in Colonial Nigeria to English parents, he has resided in Australia for the entirety of his career. He is the recipient of six AACTA Awards, Australian Academy of Cinema and Tel ...

in the original. "I played him as a mixture of

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as both a charming, and vulnerable romantic lead and has since transitioned into a dramatic character actor. Among his numerous a ...

Dr. Evil Douglas Powers, commonly known as Dr. Evil, is a fictional character portrayed by Mike Myers in the ''Austin Powers'' film series. He is the main antagonist and Austin Powers' nemesis (and secret twin brother). He is a parody of James Bond vill ...

and

Sean Connery Sir Sean Connery (born Thomas Connery; 25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020) was a Scottish actor. He was the first actor to portray fictional British secret agent James Bond on film, starring in seven Bond films between 1962 and 1983. Origina ...

," says Forsythe. Morpheus, the mysterious cyber-guerilla played by

Laurence Fishburne Laurence John Fishburne III (born July 30, 1961) is an American actor. He is a three time Emmy Award and Tony Award winning actor known for his roles on stage and screen. He has been hailed for his forceful, militant, and authoritative charact ...

, is portrayed by Marcus Pointon. The role of "Neo", played by Michael Falzon in a manner reminiscent of

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

's character "Ted" from ''

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure Bill(s) may refer to: Common meanings * Banknote, paper cash (especially in the United States) * Bill (law), a proposed law put before a legislature * Invoice, commercial document issued by a seller to a buyer * Bill, a bird or animal's beak Plac ...

'' earned a Best Actor Award at the

Melbourne Underground Film Festival The Melbourne Underground Film Festival (MUFF) is an Austalian independent film festival featuring mostly genre, controversial, transgressive and avant garde material. History The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreeme ...

Not content with paying homage to ''The Matrix'', Forsythe aimed to enhance the original plot as well.

Cast

* Michael Falzon as Neo * Marcus Pointon as Morpheus * Simone Chapman as Trinity * Abe Forsythe as Agent Smith * Marc Turner as Agent Kowalski * Brett Garten as Agent Jones * Daniel Peters as Cypher * Daniel Tobar as Tank * Andrew Brittain as Hobo * Alexander Hazelbrook as Spoon Boy * Justin Hazelbrook as Colour Book Boy * Sharyn Winney as Sheet Girl *

Charles Falzon Charles John Falzon (born August 1957) is a Canadian entertainment executive, educator and university administrator, currently serving as Dean of The Creative School at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has produced ne ...

as Chuck * Ryan Tan as Asian * Miguel Sanchez as Bob/Oracle/Hobo/Juggler/Koala

Music

''New Moon'' contains an

ID3 ID3 is a metadata container most often used in conjunction with the MP3 audio file format. It allows information such as the title, artist, album, track number, and other information about the file to be stored in the file itself. There are two ...

artist tag of ''Sinister Sam''. Lenehan'
downloadable version
contains several incorrect

tags, claiming the title is ''Computer Suite from Little Boy - Flight And Countdown (1968)'', an unrelated song

Jean-Claude Risset Jean-Claude Raoul Olivier Risset (; 13 March 1938 – 21 November 2016) was a French composer, best known for his pioneering contributions to computer music. He was a former student of André Jolivet and former co-worker of Max Mathews at Bell L ...

; the ID3v1 comment field contains ''Copyright (c) Lance Lenehan''. It's speculated that these tags were incorrectly generated by some sort of automatic song detection or ID3-labelling software as a result of detecting the phrase "computer boy". The official movie home page at the time contained references to Lenehan's old MP3 repository at mp3.com.
post from April 27th, 2000
on

Usenet Usenet () is a worldwide distributed discussion system available on computers. It was developed from the general-purpose Unix-to-Unix Copy (UUCP) dial-up network architecture. Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979, and it was ...

newsgroup '' ews:aus.films aus.films' states that the film contains "...new music by Lance Lenehan as well as tracks by up and coming bands Sinister Sam and The Stud & Track House Band."

References

External links

*
Watch ''Computer Boy'' at iFilm.comWatch ''Computer Boy'' at Spike.comDownload ''Computer Boy'' via AusGamersDownload ''New Moon'' MP3 file
*{{webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20031009011807/http://www.geocities.com/cobweb_films/computerboy.html , date=9 October 2003 , title=Original promotional site for Computer Boy 2000 films 2000 short films Australian comedy short films 2000s parody films Films shot in Sydney 2000 comedy films