The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis that stars Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano. It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, created by thought-capable machines to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source. When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias "Neo", uncovers this truth, he "is drawn into a rebellion against the machines" along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.