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Filmed as THE l3TH FLOOR and released in l999, produced by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin. Directed by Josef Rusnak with Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D'Onfrio, Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol and Bob Glendenin. Originally produced in Germany as an episodic, extended television series, THE l3TH FLOOR compresses sprawling events into two hour running time. Here, the narrative takes place almost wholly in the constructed, historic New Orleans and Hall (Vincent D'Onfrio) is faced by a deadline and a situation of increasing, desperate urgency in the "real" world. In retrospect, THE l3TH FLOOR is seen as an early draft for the more successful l998 film, THE MATRIX. The themes of virtual reality and an imagined, consensual reality are similar as is the quest for a killer. SIMULACRON -3 thus anticipated, might have even been a source for THE MATRIX 34 years earlier.