Editing The Wachowskis (section)

=== Early film projects ===
In the mid-1990s, they went into film writing, including the script for ''[[Assassins (1995 film)|Assassins]]'' in 1994, which was directed by [[Richard Donner]] and released in 1995. [[Warner Bros.]] bought the script and included two more pictures in the contract.<ref name="Godoski" /> Donner had their script "totally rewritten" by [[Brian Helgeland]]<ref name="Asitecalledfred.com" /> and the Wachowskis tried unsuccessfully to remove their names from the film.<ref name= NewYorker /> They say the experience gave them the perspective that they should become directors or "[they will] never survive as writers in this town".<ref name=buzzfeed2>{{cite web |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/the-wachowskis-jupiter-ascending-the-matrix-cloud-atlas |title=The Wachowskis Refuse To Take No for an Answer |date=February 6, 2015 |publisher=buzzfeed.com |access-date=September 13, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160910054233/https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/the-wachowskis-jupiter-ascending-the-matrix-cloud-atlas |archive-date=September 10, 2016 }}</ref>

Their next project was the 1996 [[neo-noir]] thriller ''[[Bound (1996 film)|Bound]]'', for which they wrote the script and made their debut as directors. The film was well received for its style and craft,<ref name="Tomatoes">{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bound/ |title=Bound |access-date=July 8, 2012 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |date=October 4, 1996 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626021243/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/bound/ |archive-date=June 26, 2012 }}</ref> and was noted as one of the first mainstream films to feature a same-sex relationship without it being central to the plot.<ref name="LaSalle">{{cite news |last=LaSalle |first=Mick |author-link=Mick LaSalle |title=Darkly Witty 'Bound' a Taut Noir Caper |newspaper=[[San Francisco Chronicle]] |date=October 4, 1996 |access-date=January 23, 2022|url=https://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Darkly-Witty-Bound-a-Taut-Noir-Caper-2964438.php |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071124012456/http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=%2Fc%2Fa%2F1996%2F10%2F04%2FDD42774.DTL |archive-date=November 24, 2007 }}</ref> Taking advantage of the positive buzz, the Wachowskis asked to direct their next picture, ''[[The Matrix]]''.<ref name= Godoski />