BURBANK, Calif. — It didn't take any persuasion for Keanu Reeves to return as Neo in "The Matrix Reloaded."

"We all came to the project, first of all, loving the first one, loving the experience of making the first one," Reeves told reporters. "So we were all excited about performing and creating these characters and making these films. And being together again and hopefully people will enjoy them as much as we do."

If pre-film hype is any indicator, the sequel will do quite well at the box office. Time magazine devoted a recent cover story to the highly anticipated sci-fi thriller.

Reeves was happy to do the sequel, even though it meant months of training to do aerial fight scenes.

"He's a fun guy to play," Reeves said of his Neo character. "In the fake fights, in the kung fu stuff. I got to do some cool things."

The fight scenes in "Reloaded" are just as surreal as the ones in the original, Reeves said, adding that he wanted them to look elegant and effortless.

"I wanted to have it feel physical and visceral," he explained. "But at the same time, because it really is something that's not physically happening, I wanted to have an otherness feeling to it, but that it still felt physical. But then I also wanted it to have a certain elegance to it. So that there was sometimes effort but there's also the aspect of effortlessness to it."

Reeves said it wasn't hard filming "The Matrix Reloaded" and the follow up to "Reloaded," "The Matrix Revolutions," which will be out Nov. 5.

"The films take place over a short amount of time and so it really felt like one film," Reeves said. "There really wasn't any distinction, per say, between the two. It wasn't like doing a Chekhov play. 'Four years later, and now it's winter.' The timeline of the piece is very short. I believe it takes place over 72 hours, both films."

"The Matrix Reloaded" opens on Thursday.