The Matrix vs. eXistenZ: how did they influence each other?

It cannot have happenend by sheer coincidence that in the first quarter of 1999 two tightly related movie pictures were released - the Wachowski brother's The Matrix and David Cronenberg's eXistenZ - which had (among others) two aspects in common:

Both dealt in the essentially same manner with "real" vs. "virtual" reality and thus visualized an important philosophical problem.
Both featured the essentially same kind of mechanical plugin to get from the "real" to the "virtual" world and back. In eXistenZ this plugin was called "bioport", in The Matrix there was no name given to it, but it was highly visible.

So there must have been some connections in the genesis of these two movie pictures:

Has there been "something in the air" in the late 90s which accidentally influenced both of them?
Did they accidentally have the same specific (literary, philosophical, or scientific) model?
Or has there eventually been a case of (film) industrial espionage resp. artistical espionage?
Or maybe an agreement among artists? ("You strengthen this aspect, I sthrengthen that aspect")
Is there no other way conceivable than a bioport to get from the real to the virtual world and back?

Considering that both movie pictures were really big successes – The Matrix more commercially, eXistenZ more cinematically – these questions do deserve an answer.

Has anyone already tried to answer these questions investigatively (not only speculatively)?

As a side question: Which serious comparisons of these to films would you recommend?

I found this a good one: 'eXistenZ' (1999): A Review

Best Answer

Interestingly enough, both films were written by their directors. As for eXistenZ, according to Wikipedia:

The film's plot came about after Cronenberg conducted an interview with Salman Rushdie for Shift magazine in 1995. At the time, Rushdie was in hiding due to a Fatwah being put on his life by Muslim extremists due to his controversial book The Satanic Verses. Rushdie's dilemma gave Cronenberg an idea of "a Fatwah against a virtual-reality game designer".

And as for The Matrix, that was probably also being written in 1995 as there is a known 1996 draft of the script.

The fact that both films began years earlier and (since David Cronenberg is Canadian) in different countries, there is little reason to suspect any espionage or even cross-pollination. And while little was said about eXistenZ being derivative in the press, The Matrix has many obvious influences, including some that many people believe to be outright theft. Per Wikipedia:

Reviewers have commented on similarities between The Matrix and other late-1990s films such as Strange Days, Dark City, and The Truman Show. Comparisons have also been made to Grant Morrison's comic series The Invisibles; Morrison believes that the Wachowskis essentially plagiarized his work to create the film. Comparisons have also been made between The Matrix and the books of Carlos Castaneda. The similarity of the film's central concept to a device in the long-running series Doctor Who has also been noted. As in the film, the Matrix of that series (introduced in the 1976 serial The Deadly Assassin) is a massive computer system which one enters using a device connecting to the head, allowing users to see representations of the real world and change its laws of physics; but if killed there, they will die in reality.

So it looks like The Matrix is a hodge-podge of ideas and influences, while eXistenz is more an allegory based on an idea of fearing for your life due to the zealous nature of believers. Both are based on creators as Gods or icons. Neo = The One, prophesied to free mankind, while "the demoness" Allegra Gellar (creator of the game eXistenZ) made something too real, too confusing, and thus invoked the wrath of anti-game zealots. And, according to the Wikipedia article, even the movie's title holds a clue:

András Hámori and Robert Lantos, the two producers of the film (who are both of Hungarian origin) said in an interview that they intentionally hid a pun in the title: "isten" is the word for "God" in Hungarian.

It looks to me like neither movie influenced the other. Granted, The Matrix seems to be influenced by other things, but the central ideas are common enough tropes: Virtual Reality, Searching for freedom, Creators as Gods, etc. There may well have just been "something in the air." Same as when two volcano movies come out the same year. Or the case of Deep Impact and Armageddon coming out within months of each other. Sometimes these things just happen.

As Charles Fort told the world, it steam engines when it's steam engine time. In 1999, it looks like it was bioport time.