Before Speed Racer and The Matrix, there was Bound, the 1996 thriller that launched the careers of directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski. Starring Jennifer Tilly, Gina Gershon, Joe Pantoliano, and Christopher Meloni, the film has become an entrenched LGBTQ+ cult classic in the three decades since its release, so it only made sense that the Tribeca Festival would celebrate Pride Month with a 30th anniversary reunion screening.
After the movie, Lilly Wachowski and her cast appeared for a post-screening conversation that covered a wide range of topics. Here are some highlights from their discussion.
Bound foreshadowed the Wachowskis’ trans identities
The conversation began with moderator Julie Klausner metaphorically interpreting the film as a postcard that Wachowski sent to her pre-transition self, right down to the opening shot of Corky gagged and tied up in the closet. “What do you want to tell your younger self in her old postcards, now that you’re in the future?” Klausner asked.
“Well, start taking that estrogen,” Wachowski replied. “What are you doing? Get out of the f–king closet!”
Tilly also asked her director whether she and her sister, Lana, had written Bound as proof that they could helm The Matrix, but Wachowski explained that it was more about the siblings’ shared love of noir. “We wrote Bound because we were going through some things and had a lot to figure out,” she remembered. “We wanted to make a film with two strong women characters, and the fact that they were queer was a foreshadowing. That Matrix stuff just came along later.”
Gina Gershon’s agents dropped her over Bound
Gershon revealed that she accepted her role in Bound over her agency’s strenuous objections over playing a lesbian character after portraying a bisexual role in Paul Verhoeven’s notorious 1995 flop, Showgirls. “The second I walked in the door [to meet the Wachowskis], and we started talking, I got that weird feeling that I get when I know people are kind of insanely talented,” the actress recalled. “I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is going to be great!'”
But her agents didn’t agree. “They said, ‘We can’t represent you,'” Gershon said. “So I said, ‘OK, bye.’ And I left!”
To portray her butch, James Dean-like alter ego Corky, Gershon hit the gym to learn how to box and bulk up. She was also excited to receive a lesbian makeover. “I remember that I was obsessed with getting tattoos and my hair cut off,” she said. “It was scary, but it looked good!” As bonus research, the film’s technical consultant and resident sex expert, Susie Bright, gave her a list of lesbian bars around San Francisco for her to visit.
According to Tilly, that prep work paid off. “When we were filming, Gina would come in and say to the Wachowskis: ‘You have to change this pickup line because I tried it last night and it didn’t work.’”
Joey Pants took a $25,000 pay cut
Unlike Gershon’s agents, Pantaliano’s got him the Bound gig after another actor dropped out — albeit at a reduced rate. “[The Wachowskis] were desperate,” he remembered. “I said, ‘I’ve never worked with two directors before. What’s it going to be like?’ And Lily said, ‘Listen to me.’ And Lana said, ‘No, listen to me.’ I knew I was in good hands!”
For her part, Gershon recalled suggesting Pantoliano to the Wachowskis after remembering that the agents they once shared had mugs labeled “What have I done for Joey Pants today?” The same pay-it-forward recommendation was extended to Meloni, whom Pantoliano had previously worked with the short-lived NBC sitcom The Fanelli Boys. “We’d worked together before, and that $25,000 was what I made for the film,” Meloni siad.
Bound battled an NC-17 rating
The Bound cast shared their frustration at being threatened with an NC-17 rating for the intimate love scene between Tilly and Gershon. “My favorite story about Dino [De Laurentiis] is that he fought it,” Pantoliano recalls about the famed Italian producer who backed the movie. “Dino said, ‘I don’t understand; it’s OK to cut off the finger, but not OK to f–k with the finger.’”
Tilly recalled that two versions of the scene were filmed — one that was more intimate and the other like a more traditional sex scene. Wachowski explained that both takes of the love scene were motivated by the need to authentically depict the relationship. Meanwhile, Gershon said that she cast her vote for the more intimate version, a preference that stemmed from her commitment to a more positive representation of queer love.
Wachowski also revealed that she would take the reel to the ratings board, but wouldn’t change certain things in the hopes that they would crack. Eventually, though, the directors had to recut the scene for the rating, but there’s an international version that’s closer to what Gershon preferred. “I want to see that one,” the actress said.
