Keanu Reeves is Hollywood’s premier introvert: a talented actor who has yet to win an Oscar, but whose name in movie credits usually guarantees success at the box office. Reeves is able to magically embody characters of all kinds, from a fragile boy in a teen comedy to the lead in an action movie, a romantic melodrama, a thriller mysterious or a science fiction saga.
O incredible.club decided to find out what life was like for the protagonist of The Matrix before he became famous.
Keanu’s childhood was not easy: his parents divorced and his mother’s job (costume designer) meant frequent moving to countries. In just 7 years the family had to live in Australia, USA and finally Canada. Her father was arrested in 1994 for transporting a large amount of drugs, a crime for which he was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
“My story with my father is very difficult, it’s full of pain, sadness, loss and all that meaningless stuff.”
The boy changed schools 4 times, so he did not receive a graduation certificate. The academic world represented a great difficulty for him due to his dyslexia. His acting talent led him to enter a prestigious performing arts school, from which he was also expelled.
At age 17, he received temporary residency and headed to Los Angeles. According to Reeves, her mother left home when she was 14 or 15. The actor believes that he inherited his independent character from her.
The actor’s mother, Patricia Taylor, and his sister, Karina.
As a child, Reeves dreamed of playing on the Canadian hockey team at the Winter Olympics. He was an excellent goalkeeper, for which he received the nickname “Wall”. If he hadn’t been injured, we might have known Keanu as a famous athlete and not the great actor he is.
Reeves traveled the 8-hour drive to New York to attend acting classes at the famous HB Studio, where stars like Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Matthew Broderick were cast. After Bill & Ted — Two Madmen in Time, people began to pay attention to Reeves, who had played an innocent boy in the film. Escaping an image provoked by a teen movie wasn’t easy, but he did it.
The actor prepared very carefully for all the characters. Director Gus Van Sant (Program Boys, 1991) recalls that he gave the main actors as homework to read The Cities of Night🇧🇷 River Phoenix studied a few pages and put the book down. Keanu instead read the entire book and other texts by the author that he found. Reeves has always been very demanding of himself. After his success in matrix, said in an interview: “I am a fool, people can be smart and stupid, I look like a fool”. However, Keanu read literature on string theory, the origin of the Universe, was interested in the biography of Alexander the Great, and listened to Stravinsky’s compositions.
Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix worked together in 2 movies and were good friends. Phoenix died in 1993 at the age of 23.
The recordings of The Little Buddha took place in Bhutan and in the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu. According to the actor, the principles of Buddhism (perseverance and the ability to be in the present) were a revelation for him.
For many years, the actor slept in hotels and in a trailer, perhaps because his childhood was in constant motion. Reeves bought his first home in 2003 after the success of matrix🇧🇷
“There’s something gypsy about me, and living that way seems to make sense, I couldn’t settle down, then I turned 40 and bought my first house. I wanted a home.”
On film recordings Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1992), director Francis Ford Coppola had a real Roman priest participate. According to the words of Winona Ryder, she and the actor could get married in real life because of this. Despite women’s growing interest in him, Keanu was never officially married.
“It is always wonderful to meet women, with their mystery, joy and depth. Men don’t have that, they just have underwear that smells bad, or so I thought. If you can make a woman laugh, you’re probably looking at the most beautiful thing on earth.”
The pivotal moment in Keanu’s career was his participation in the action movie Maximum speed (1994). The film became a success, earned 350 million dollars for its creators (the production had a budget of 30 million dollars), two Oscar awards and flattering reviews from critics. Despite the success of the first part, Reeves refused to participate in Max Speed 2 (1997), not to miss out on the opportunity to play Hamlet in a Canadian play for a pay of less than $2,000 a week. Participation in the film would earn him 12 million dollars.
The actor’s next notable work was Devil’s Advocate (1997). In order for the team to convince Al Pacino to play the role of John Milton and satisfy his salary request, Keanu Reeves agreed to cut his salary by a few million dollars.
Keanu is said to have given a portion of his matrix (75 million dollars, precisely) to those he considered the true heroes of this film: the special effects team. According to his own words, money is the last thing on his mind, given that he has earned enough for a few centuries.
“When you start doing something for free, you get wings.”
the trilogy matrix gave Keanu Reeves one of the biggest payouts in movie history: around $250 million. The actor received a fixed share and a percentage of box office earnings. Robert Downey Jr. ranks second in terms of total amount: he earned about 200 million dollars by participating in the films of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Before the recordings of matrix, the actors had to spend 4 months preparing: the tricks in the film required special dexterity. This was all very complicated for Keanu as he was recovering from a neck operation. The actor had two damaged disks: one completely destroyed and the other broken into a small part. Also, he had limited flexibility. Reeves once said that, thanks to this, he looks very dynamic, which is why he can have many roles in martial arts movies.
“My intervertebral disc started to hurt in the spinal cord, I fell in the bathroom because I lost my sense of balance”.
while working on matrix, the actor’s life was shattered by a tragedy: together with Jennifer Syme he was expecting a daughter, who did not survive. The couple divorced. After half a year, in April 2001, Jennifer died in a car accident.
“I miss being a part of their lives and having them be a part of mine. I miss all the great things that will never be, all you can do is hope that the pain is transformed and instead of suffering and confusion, in your memory there is comfort and happiness.”
After 5 years of the tragedy, the actor said in an interview: “I am trying not to be alone, and you know, this is a struggle, I want to get married, I want to have children, all this is at the top of the mountain, but first I have to climb it. And I will. I just need a little time.”
In an interview with Esquire in 2017, Keanu gave a completely different answer to the question about when he planned to start a family: “It’s too late, it’s all over, I’m 52 and I won’t have kids.” The journalist responded that it was a fairly normal age for fatherhood: Mick Jagger became a father when he was much older. So it wasn’t too late for Reeves. However, the actor responded, “I know, I know.”
Bonus: Stories about Keanu’s actions
A friend of the family works on movie sets. He worked on the set of matrix, and when Keanu learned of his family problems, he gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus. He was also one of the few who was interested in learning the names of the people working behind the scenes, including saying “hello” and talking to them as their peers rather than someone superior. © kahi / reddit “My first job was as an assistant designer on the film sets Chain reaction🇧🇷 Every day for a few weeks, Keanu took the workers, including me, to breakfast and free food. Since then, I’ve been in over 30 movies and I’ve never met an actor as friendly as he is.” © bo2dd2 / reddit “Some of my friends worked on the special effects in matrix🇧🇷 He bought each of them a Harley-Davidson motorcycle as a Christmas present.” © / reddit
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