Reloaded: The Matrix authorship myth continues

“You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes.”

A recent post appearing in the Celebrity and News section of Lipstick Alley rekindled a debate over the true origins of the Matrix trilogy. In 1999 an author named Sophia Stewart filed suit in Federal Court claiming that the Matrix and Terminator film franchises infringed upon her 1983 sci-fi novel, The Third Eye.

Fast forward to November 2009. Titled Black Author wins The Matrix Copyright Infringement Case, the post quotes at length from ‘Mother of the Matrix’ Victorious which appeared in the Salt Lake Community College’s Globe in October…2004. The Globe article was replete with inaccuracies, claiming among other things, “She [Stewart] will soon receive one of the biggest payoffs in the history of Hollywood, as the gross receipts of both films and their sequels total over 2.5 billion dollars.”

In fact, the original copyright claim was dismissed for failure to present evidence of substantial similarity. See Stewart v. Wachowski, 574 F.Supp.2d 1074, 1103 (C. D. Cali. 2004). On July 31, 2005 the Los Angeles Times ran a story debunking the whole tale titled The Billion-Dollar Myth. According to the LA Times,

In 1986, she says, she saw an advertisement posted in a national magazine by the Wachowski brothers soliciting science fiction manuscripts to make into comic books and she sent them all of her materials for “The Third Eye,” including a copy of her original manuscript…Stewart says she never heard from the Wachowskis, and never had her materials returned. Morrow’s ruling notes, however, that Stewart did not produce the ad as evidence. In denying that they ever placed such an ad, the Wachowskis said that, in 1986, Andy was just 18 and brother Larry was a 21-year-old college student.

Below is an extended interview with Sophia Stewart as heard on RealBlackTalk.com. Hear Stewart describe in her own words: the case, her frustrations with Hollywood and on-going legal battle with her own attorneys.

Part 1:

Pars 2-5 after the jump.

Part 2:

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

The Third Eye on Amazon.