"I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes," says Whiteley, a production designer from England who's now based at the Animal Logic animation and visual-effects studio in Sydney. "Without that code, there is no Matrix." The Wachowskis, who directed the movie, have opened every subsequent film within the Matrix franchise with this sequence. That's precision. "Simon is an incredibly detail-orientated production designer," says Ingrid Johnston, Animal Logic's head of production. Plus, there's this:In spite of the fact that Whiteley was the architect of one of the film's most indelible sequences, he was uncredited in the film.
– If you're the type who would take the blue pill and would prefer to "just wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe," stop reading. If you want to discover the truth about a mystery of The Matrix, pop the hypothetical red pill and read on, but with the warning that a bubble might be burst. Munchies spotted a CNET report on the origins of the green code that waterfalls down the screen as the movie—and its successors—opens by way of Simon Whiteley. He's the production designer who created the code, and he says credit goes to his Japanese wife and her cookbooks, which he scanned. "I like to tell everybody that The Matrix's code is made out of Japanese sushi recipes," he notes. "Without that code, there is no Matrix." Munchies offers this further bit of Matrix trivia: Whiteley's name doesn't appear in the film's credits. (See what makes Barack Obama's list of the best sci-fi movies and TV shows.)