He is the saddest and at the same time
the kindest actor in Hollywood. He is the inimitable devil's advocate and funny Ted.
He is the relentless John Wick and, of course, The One. The stunning Keanu Reeves is the hero
of today's video on the Biographer channel.
Why did Keanu almost die several times? How
could he survive the hardest tragedies in his life? And what was he sad about
in that very photo? Let's find out right now.
CHILDHOOD
Keanu Charles Reeves was born on September
2, 1964 in the capital of Lebanon, Beirut. His mother, Patricia Bond, was a
showgirl and his father, Samuel Reeves, was a geologist. Keanu owes his spectacular
appearance to Hawaiian and Portuguese roots of his father and English and Irish roots
of his mother. Such an unusual name of the boy came from the Hawaiian language and
translates “cool breeze over the mountains”.
Keanu Reeves' father wasn’t just a simple man.
He didn't even get higher education. Moreover, he received a high school diploma during his
imprisonment in Hawaii on charges of selling heroin at the airport. Over time, he started not
only to sell substances, but also to use them.
Two years after Keanu's birth, a new member
of the family, baby Kim, was born. As soon as Keanu turned 3, Samuel abandoned the family.
After that, he was arrested more than once for possession and sale of drugs. Patricia
could not count on his participation in the children's lives, or even on alimony.
At the age of 13, Reeves met his father on the island of Kauai for the last time. After that, he
stopped communicating with him for many years.
“I didn't have a father. Perhaps I would
like to have him. You feel it especially acutely when you start to grow up and you
need a man's advice. I can't say that I was very worried about the inability to communicate
with Sam, for me it was a complete stranger”
After the breakup, Patricia moved to Sydney in
search of greener pastures, where she got a job as an assistant organizer of performances. She was
paid little, and life in Australia was much more expensive than in Lebanon. The woman changed men
one by one. In the end, Patricia decided to try her luck in New York. The next move was not easy
for the children. The brother and sister were just getting used to Australia, and the next change
of scenery was very stressful for them. But in New York, Keanu was for the first time behind
the scenes of the theater, where Patricia got a job for a while. Little Keanu loved being part
of the magical process of creating the show.
“In fact, children usually want to become
someone whose work they see every day. The theater was home for me, we had been hanging
around behind the scenes since childhood, so I simply did not have a special choice…”
But they didn't stay in New York for long.
Keanu was 6 years old when his mother
married Broadway director Paul Aaron. The family moved to Toronto – from
that time Keanu has always considered hospitable Canada to be his homeland.
Originally being qualified in design, Patricia decided to start a career as a
costume designer, and was very successful in this. She created images for Emmylou
Harris, Dolly Parton and David Bowie.
Keanu's love of cinema appeared in
particular thanks to his stepfather. Paul Aaron took him to rehearsals, thanks
to which the boy got acquainted with real filmmaking. Keanu was even an assistant on one
of the productions that Paul was directing.
“I was bringing soda to Lillian Gish when
Star Wars was coming out. She’s like, ‘Cinema these days…’ … It was a great
honor for me. … I was going to theaters and rehearsals with my stepfather when I was
a kid. So I guess it’s probably my tradition.
Unfortunately, the marriage broke up due
to Paul's infidelity less than two years later. Despite the breakup, the man continued to
communicate with Keanu and Kim, to whom he really attached. In the future, he would still play
a role in the formation of Keanu's career.
A difficult period began in Patricia’s life.
A single mother worked from morning to night, trying to provide her children with everything
they needed. The situation was complicated by the news about Keanu’s and Kim’s dyslexia, which
affected their school performance. Because of the ridicule and biased attitude towards Reeves,
Keanu quickly became withdrawn and insecure, but as he grew up, he was able to cope with
his complexes. Despite dyslexia, Keanu Reeves has been playing chess at a decent level since
childhood. He even challenged adult players, charging the opponent a dollar for each game.
After a while, Keanu's mother remarried. Patricia's chosen one was a rock
music promoter Robert Miller. In 1976, a daughter Karina was born in the family.
Keanu didn't really like studying. The future actor changed several schools, including the
prestigious school of performing arts. He was flunking out of the last one for bad behavior and
conflicts with teachers. In acting classes, the teachers were not particularly pleased with him,
because of them Reeves doubted his abilities.
Keanu admitted that he skipped the hated
school for the sake of going to the cinema.
I remember there’s a beautiful, wonderful
cinema in Toronto called the Bloor Street Cinema … And I remember summer nights just like
riding my bike and just going, locking my bike up and going into a movie. I didn’t even know
what it was! But I would just go and they had salty good popcorn and I’d just chill out.”
He got the opportunity to attend an International Film Festival while living in Toronto. Could
he think that after many years he would come there not as a spectator, but as an actor
to present the films in which he starred?
Reeves took part in his first production of
"Damn Yankees", when he was nine years old. Critics gave the musical a negative review. Not
only adult actors who performed the main roles got unflattering reviews, but even little Keanu.
Thereby it greatly undermined his confidence.
Soon the guy got another hobby. It
was hockey. He excelled at the game, and felt confident on the ice. Teammates
even nicknamed him "the wall" for the fact that Keanu was a first-class goalkeeper.
But at the age of 14, he was seriously injured and doctors made a diagnosis,which sounded
like a sentence. They stated that Keanu could no longer play. He was flunking out of another
school and decided not to return there anymore. Keanu never received his certificate of maturity.
Keanu moved out from his parents and started
working part-time in three places at once: sharpening skates on the local hockey
field, cutting bushes in parks and cooking in an Italian restaurant.
And that's when Paul Aaron stepped in. It was he who helped Keanu start his career
in cinema, inviting him to auditions and encouraging his passion for acting.
THE BEGINNING OF AN ACTING CAREER
In 1983, Keanu got the main role in the musical
Wolfboy. It told about two teenage boys who ended up in a psychiatric hospital and fell in love.
Participation in the production gave Keanu the first popularity among the locals. The people on
the streets who recognized him were not always tolerant, so he often heard insults.
After that, he was offered to become a correspondent for the Canadian
youth TV program Going Great.
In 1984, Keanu Reeves first
appeared on television, starring in a Coca-Cola commercial, and also
in an episode of the TV series Hangin' B. Now he is a great actor who is loved by
millions, but the guy was happy with any small role back then. And while young Keanu and I
are waiting for new offers from studios, write in the comments which films with this actor you like
the most. We really want to know your opinion.
With the help of Paul Aaron, Keanu got
the role of Mercutio in the musical "Romeo and Juliet". Critics noted his performance, and that encouraged the guy. He understood
that he was on the right track.
After that, Keanu got small roles in the TV series
“Hangin’ In", "Heat in the night" and "Comedy Factory". Before that, he got another commercial,
that time it was Kellogg's corn flakes. Acting career started to gain momentum.
Soon the aspiring actor managed to get his first role in a feature film. Keanu played a
hockey goalkeeper in Peter Markle's sports drama "Young Blood". And although the main star of the
film was Patrick Swayze, it was a good opportunity for Keanu to prove himself. In addition,
his old sport skills came in handy here.
After that, Reeves decided to leave his
hometown and go towards his dream. With the help of his former stepfather, he received
a green card and moved to Los Angeles.
There, Paul persuaded a familiar agent,
Erwin Stoff, to take Keanu under his wing.
He considered the name of the ward too exotic,
so he tried for a long time to convince Keanu to come up with some kind of nickname. The
actor began to offer various crazy options, for example, Chuck Spadina, and as a
result, the manager abandoned the idea.
The job was found pretty quickly. In 1986,
as many as 8 projects were released with the participation of Keanu. However, we can’t call
all of them successful. Keanu played a young version of the hero in the Disney studio
television movie “Young Again”. According to the plot, a businessman wanted to become
a teenager again, and his wish came true.
The short film "One Step Away” could
not be called successful. However, it gave the actor the opportunity to
play the main role for the first time.
In the same year, Reeves was offered to play
Private Chris in Oliver Stone's film about the Vietnam War "Platoon". However, Keanu, being a
devoted pacifist, refused the role. As a result, Charlie Sheen got the main role, and the
film won an Oscar in several nominations. Did Keanu regret the refusal? Who knows.
He continued to actively star in television films such as "Act of Vengeance" and "The
Brotherhood of Justice" as well as in the low-budget romantic drama "Flying".
Let's be fair: critics were not always delighted with the game of a novice actor.
But Reeves was not discouraged and continued to move towards the dream.
Together with Drew Barrymore, he played in the musical "Babes in Toyland”
Reeves got good reviews when he appeared in the teen drama "River's Edge." The guy played a
schoolboy Matt, who had a dilemma: to tell the authorities about the murder of his classmate by
his friend, or to keep the crime a secret in the name of friendship. The film “Under the Influence"
also received quite positive reviews.
After getting a couple of cameo roles in
the TV series “The Tracey Ullman Show” and “Trying Times”, Reeves appeared in the film
“Dangerous Liaisons". It was a chance for Keanu to show a new side of himself.
The cast of the film was very good. John Malkovich, Michelle Pfeiffer and the novice
Uma Thurman took part in this project. But everyone thought that director Stephen Frears
was taking a big risk by inviting to a serious role an actor who mostly played teenagers.
The film "Dangerous Liaisons" won three Oscars in 1989, but Keanu, unfortunately,
received a lot of criticism.
Nevertheless, hard work bore fruit and the actor
began to earn more. Now he could afford more expensive housing, but instead of spending
money on amenities, he bought a motorcycle. Riding in the California hills became his
passion. Keanu loved night trips when there were almost no cars on the highway and it was
possible to accelerate to breakneck speed. Such adventures did not always end well. One day he
miraculously managed not to fall off a cliff.
The actor spent a week in the hospital with broken
ribs and a ruptured spleen. After the accident, Keanu needed to recover. That's why he lost
several contracts. His sister Kim helped him get back in shape. She came to Los Angeles
specifically to take care of her brother. As for the bike, despite the fact that due to his love
of extreme sports, Keanu lost serious projects for almost a year, he returned to the hobby as soon
as his wounds healed. And in future, he would risk his life more than once for the sake of thrills
After returning to work, Keanu continued to play in teen films. In 1988, the comedies with
his participation "The Night Before" and "The Prince Of Pennsylvania" were released.
The drama "Permanent Record" that followed them was criticized, but at the same
time many praised Keanu's acting.
From time to time, Keanu played a teenager
on the screen. The actor even began to worry that he would never get out of that role. Reeves
was actively looking for a film that would help him change the direction of development.
Still, the audience, who loved Keanu for his teenage roles, had another chance to see the actor
in this role. In 1989, the cult film “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure" was released.
The story was made up by Ed Solomon and Chris Matheson back in 1983 in a student
improvisation class. Based on the staging, they wrote the script in just four
days, meeting in local coffee shops.
It's hard to imagine anyone other than Keanu
Reeves and Alex Winter starring as Bill and Ted, but initially each actor auditioned
for the opposite role. However, after seeing the audition recordings, Solomon
and Matheson decided to swap the actors.
Initially, Bill and Ted's time machine
was supposed to be a Chevy van. But the producers were afraid of the similarity
with DeLorean from "Back to the Future" and replaced the machine with a phone booth. It's
strange that those guys didn't remember about another time traveler with a phone booth.
(FOR THE VOICE ACTOR: to say ironically)
"Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" became a cult.
The film performed decently at the box office, received animation, game and comic book versions, and also a sequel - unfortunately, not as
successful as we would like it to be.
And, of course, Bill and Ted
gave us an iconic meme:
But, more importantly, the film launched the
career of Keanu Reeves, who even seriously was afraid that he would be remembered only
for the role of Ted. That character really strongly influenced his image in the press
and the reaction to his game at first.
NO LONGER A SCHOOLBOY
In 1989, the tragicomedy “Parenthood" was released. The actor played
together with Dianne Wiest and Steve Martin.
The film received rave reviews and several
Oscar and Golden Globe nominations. Thanks to working with director Ron Howard, other
filmmakers began to pay attention to Keanu
“Life Under Water", released in the same year,
could not show the same success. However, as well as the next project, the black
comedy "I Love You To Death" did.
However, participation in the second
film gave Keanu the opportunity to try himself in a non-standard role for him as
a guy with not very high moral principles and a craving for drugs. In addition,
thanks to the film, he met River Phoenix, who became his close friend. They bonded over
a shared dream of a bright acting future and a difficult childhood. River's parents were hippies
and lived very poorly. The two guys spent a lot of time together and influenced each other in many
ways. River became interested in motorcycles, and Keanu caught up with light drugs, which at
that time were a common thing for Los Angeles.
After a short break, Keanu Reeves got a role in
the comedy “Tune in Tomorrow”, where he was on the same set with the famous Columbo - Peter Falk.
Although the film was not particularly successful, Keanu, in any case, gradually was getting
out of character as a schoolboy.
In 1991, the Gus Van Sant's independent film
"My Own Private Idaho" was released, where Keanu played the role of the rebel Scott, who
engaged in street prostitution as a protest.
Gus Van Sant was inspired to create the film by
Shakespeare's plays "Henry IV" and "Henry V", as well as John Rechy's novel "The City of Night".
The director had problems with financing due to the controversial and unusual theme of the
film. He dreamed that Reeves and River Phoenix would play the main roles. But he hardly
believed that the actors' agents would be interested in a project that did not promise
them high fees. And if Reeves got the script, then River's agent didn't even tell him about
the offer. Keanu agreed, unexpectedly for Van Sant. He was impressed by the story and believed
that Phoenix simply had to agree to star with him. At that moment, River was spending time with
his family in Florida. Without even thinking, Reeves, who was in Toronto at the time,
hopped on a bike and drove thousands of miles to deliver a script to a friend.
River liked the script, and he agreed.
Some actors and crew members settled in Van
Sant's house, during the preparation for the film. They were all young, cheerful, open
and creative people. Therefore, very soon that place turned into an almost continuous house
party with jam sessions every night. The music, of course, was accompanied by alcohol, as well
as something heavier and more dangerous. The director did not prevent that at first. The
team was shooting an independent movie, and such an atmosphere probably was getting everyone
in the right mood. But at some point everything got out of control and Van Sant had to move out
of his own house for a while to get some sleep at least and edit the script. When the director
returned, everything was ready for filming.
The original script had only 70 pages,
which corresponded to about a 70-minute film. Van Sant wanted the actors to
complement the story with improvisation and give them full creative freedom.
The director gave copies of John Rechy's novel "City of Night" to River
Phoenix and Keanu Reeves to help them get into the thinking of street dealers.
Being a bookworm, Reeves read not only that novel, but also 5 other Rechy's books. As for
Phoenix, he stopped reading after the first paragraph. They were different, but
that was the strength of their duet
The actors really got into this project. River
Phoenix even wrote his own version of the famous campfire scene and the director agreed to shoot
it. The key words that expressed the idea of the difference between love and sex, uttered
in this scene, were invented by River.
“My Own Private Idaho" received critical acclaim
and was nominated for several prestigious film awards. Keanu was recognized in the world of big
cinema, acting in that film, although he continued to be associated more with Ted than with Scott.
ACTION
The next film introduced Keanu to the world of
stunts, fights and weapons. It was an action crime film "Point Break”, where Reeves was back in the
company of Patrick Swayze. The actor played a FBI agent who infiltrates a gang of surf robbers.
It was originally planned that Patrick Swayze would play the role of Johnny
Utah, but after reading the script, Patrick convinced the producers his character
was Bodhi and the role went to Keanu.
Neither Patrick Swayze, nor Keanu Reeves, nor Lori
Petty had ever surfed before filming. Moreover, Laurie Petty had never even seen the ocean. Two
months before the start of work on the film, all three went to Hawaii, where
they took a course in surfing. Reeves liked this kind of outdoor activity
so much that it later became his hobby.
In addition, to prepare for the role Keanu Reeves
watched the work of real FBI agents in Los Angeles and trained with a real football team.
Interestingly, the "MythBusters" later checked the authenticity of some of the events of the
film. They expressed doubts about the realism of the scenes with the character of Keanu jumping
without a parachute and catching Swayze. It turned out that it was possible from a physics aspect,
but in that case, the guys would have been in the air for no more than 90 seconds. In the movie,
they still had time to talk and even argue.
"Point Break" was criticized immediately after
its release, but had a good box office. The film really became popular a little later, and
the role of Johnny Utah made Keanu a real young star. In 1992, he was recognized as the
most attractive man by the MTV Movie Award.
At some point, Keanu became interested
in playing the bass guitar. The actor acquired his first musical instrument
at the age of 23 and had one single music lesson. Further learning to
play the guitar was individually, by daily fingering of the strings.
In 1991, he met Robert Mailhouse and together they created a rock band "dogstar".
Rumor has it they met at a grocery store. Their similar hobbies led to friendship,
and soon to joint creativity.
Night after night they experimented with music -
Keanu played bass guitar, and Rob was on keyboards and drums. In 1994, vocalist and guitarist Bret
Domrose joined them and just a couple of months later they already went on tour in America.
The band has existed for almost 10 years and has released 3 albums.
But back to Keanu's acting career. Thanks to the popularity that came to him after the release of
"Point Break", he got the opportunity to work with one of the greatest directors of all time.
NEW HEIGHTS
The idea to make another adaptation of "Dracula"
came to the mind of actress Winona Ryder, who proposed this project to Francis Ford Coppola.
She thought that the director would refuse due to employment, but when he heard
the word “Dracula”, his eyes lit up. It was one of his favorite stories.
It was Winona's wishes that had a great influence on the choice of the cast of the
film. Keanu Reeves was also on the list of candidates she approved. The actor at that
time starred in several films in a row and was physically exhausted. He would even turn down
the role, but he couldn't miss the opportunity to work with a great director. Unfortunately,
Coppola did not have mutual feelings for him.
At the casting, nothing foretold troubles. Keanu
showed himself well, and Winona continued to insist on his candidacy. The director agreed,
but later he regretted it more than once. Coppola gathered all the actors to prepare for the
film and made them read out the original novel by Bram Stoker, instead of the usual script. It took
2 days, during which Keanu was unsure of himself, was confused and read expressionless.
Probably, fatigue affected the quality of Keanu's work, since many who worked with him remembered
him as detached and emotionless. Later, Coppola said that he had incorrectly selected an actor for
the role of Harker. He wanted the girls to fall in love with the character for his appearance, so
he was looking for a young blockbuster hero.
However, as a person, Coppola
had no complaints about Keanu.
…of all the young people I’ve met in the
film industry he’s so endearing and sincere, and a good person, and a generous person, and I’m
glad I came to know that. He’s the nicest person you’ll ever want to meet. - Francis Ford Coppola
The director carefully made sure that the film looked as authentic as possible. For the
wedding scene of the Reeves and Ryder heroes, Coppola invited a real Romanian priest.
For many years there were talks about whether the actors were really married.
Ryder regularly mentions this funny fact, jokingly saying that the couple has been married
for almost 30 years. According to Reeves, he regularly receives messages from
Ryder with the text "hello, husband."
The film was released exactly on the
95th anniversary of the original book about Dracula. It became a box office hit,
and was repeatedly nominated for an Oscar, but received mixed reviews from critics. Keanu got
the worst of it. Critics and viewers didn’t like the actor's performance, and Reeves' attempt to
do a London accent was called "the worst accent in cinema". One particularly scathing review
stated that Reeves had to "visibly restrain himself from ending every sentence with the
word "dude." Keanu said that the main reason for the failure was physical exhaustion.
Filming completely sucked the energy out of the actor, so he took a short vacation, part of
which he spent with his friend River Phoenix.
In 1993, Keanu starred as Prince Siddhartha
in Bernardo Bertolucci's film "Little Buddha". Reeves got the role due to his exotic appearance
and the success of his previous projects.
Bernardo had seen My Own Private Idaho and he saw
me. I didn't know anything about Buddhism. When I was a kid, my mother had Chinese artifacts, so
to me Buddha was this big fat smiling guy.
Part of the filming took place in
Kathmandu and Bhutan. Working on the film was a real extreme adventure for Keanu.
The process of shooting a film about spiritual search was not as pleasant as Keanu thought.
The entire film crew suffered from constant poisoning and, as a result, diarrhea. However,
everything has its advantages. Keanu needed to lose a lot of weight for one of the scenes, so
poisoning and an orange diet helped him in this.
The film was quite good, although
it did not receive any major awards. Cinematography only was noted.
But Keanu was hardly worried about critics at that time. On October 31, 1993, River
Phoenix died of a drug overdose. Keanu Reeves was grieving the death of a friend. It was always
difficult for him to get along with people, and River was a family and support for
him. He felt lonely and crushed.
All I can say is that I have never felt a thing
like that before in my life...I was very sad, and something beyond sad. I don't know
what it is, just that you sob for hours.
Meanwhile, Kenneth Branagh's film "Much Ado About
Nothing" was released. Reeves became part of an excellent cast, including Emma Thompson, Denzel
Washington, Kate Beckinsale, and many others.
It’s interesting that the filming
of that film was before the filming of "Little Buddha”, and actor Brian
Blessed taught Keanu basic meditation. That helped him prepare for the role of Buddha.
The film was warmly received by critics and ranked 11th in the list of the greatest Shakespearean
films on Rotten Tomatoes. In turn, Keanu added the film to the collection of his acting
failures. His performance did not impress critics, and he was nominated for the Golden Raspberry
Award as the worst supporting actor.
But this did not affect the number of offers of
new roles at all. Soon Gus Van Sant invited the actor to star in his new film ”Even Cowgirls
Get the Blues." Keanu didn't fully understand the concept, but agreed - probably in order to
reminisce about the filming with River Phoenix.
The film dedicated to the deceased actor,
unfortunately, did not repeat the success of “My Own Private Idaho”. The movie failed at the box
office and was negatively received by critics.
A series of failures changed to great success.
In 1994, a movie thanks to which Keanu got to an unprecedented level, was released.
A-list
At first, Keanu refused to act in the
film ”Speed". In his opinion, the script was too similar to the movie "Die Hard".
However, the studio hired Joss Whedon for the final version of the script. He totally
changed the original concept of the main character. Now Jack was not a desperate
rebel, but a courteous, kind-hearted policeman, striving to help people.
In the end, Keanu agreed. Keanu immediately found a common language with a colleague in
the film, Sandra Bullock. Now they looked perfect at the trial readings.
At that time Bullock was a newcomer and Keanu felt some responsibility for his
colleague. He supported her in everything, helped work on the role.
Moreover, relatively recently in an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Sandra
admitted that she was in love with Keanu.
After a while, Ellen showed that video to
Keanu and he said that he liked Sandra too. Who knows if he said it to be polite, or it
really was, but in any case, it's impossible to deny their chemistry on the screen.
Another reason why Keanu Reeves still agreed to the role was that Jan de Bont offered him
to perform some tricks on his own in the film. A fan of extreme sports, Reeves could not
refuse such an opportunity. As a result, Keanu got so excited that he performed 90% of
the stunts without the help of stuntmen.
For filming, Jan de Bont made Keanu get a
short haircut. When the 20th Century Fox film company knew about it, the production of
the movie was almost postponed. The producers were simply terrified, fearing that the
audience would not recognize Reeves.
Unfortunately, the filming period of “Speed” was
overshadowed for Keanu by grief for River Phoenix. It was then that the actor knew about the tragedy.
To make filming easier for Reeves, De Bont changed the shooting schedule so that the actor could work
on lighter scenes. Reeves was extremely quiet and spent all his free time alone in his trailer.
The film became a real box office hit, and Keanu received a fee of $ 1.2 million for his work. The
action movie was included in the list of the 100 most spectacular films of the XX century.
Keanu finally got on the "A-list" - a list of actors with the highest fees.
After the success of "Speed", Fox studio wanted to shoot a sequel — but Reeves flatly refused to
participate in it. This act seemed to be utter madness.However, later Reeves' decision turned
out to be correct. The sequel of 1997 failed miserably at the box office, besides receiving
the "Golden Raspberry" for the worst sequel.
Meanwhile, Reeves starred in the
cyberpunk movie Johnny Mnemonic.
Keanu was a fan of William Gibson - the author
of the story of the same name. The scropf of this film was written on the basis of this story, so
the actor gladly agreed to play the main role.
The director of the project, Robert Longo, was
actually a famous artist. Before the Mnemonic, he shot only a couple of clips as a hobby. But
one day he had Gibson's story, and the artist suggested the author make a film based on his
work. Gibson agreed, and even volunteered to write a script for a future movie on his own.
Initially, the film was conceived as a psychological drama, for which the authors could
not find funding for a long time. In the end, they were able to negotiate with Sony Pictures,
but soon regretted it. The film was in development for a long time, during that time Keanu
Reeves was able to become a Hollywood star. Sony Pictures decided to turn a cozy art-house
black-and-white film into a summer blockbuster, seeing the success of “Speed”.
Later Robert Longo admitted that the final version turned out to be
only 65% of what he wanted to do.
Over the years, "Johnny Mnemonic"
gained the status of a cult work. But when the film was released, it could
not even recoup the production costs.
In addition, Reeves' acting work wasn't
appreciated by everyone : in 1996, he was even nominated for the Golden Raspberry for that
role. But neither that nor the box office failure of the film had any effect on the actor's career.
Keanu 's next work was a Melodrama “A Walk in the Clouds". Now it is loved by many viewers.
Paradoxically, Reeves received another nomination for the Golden Raspberry anti-award in the
category "Worst Actor" for his role in that film. At the same time, he was nominated for the
“Most Desirable Man” at the MTV channel awards.
Critics were not thrilled with the “Chain
Reaction”, released a year later. The film earned only 10 million more than was spent on its
production. It was a very disappointing result, given the conditions in which the film had
to be shot. The actors and crew had a tough time due to the record cold winter on the
Great Lakes and filming in bad weather.
And guess what anti-award Keanu was
nominated for such suffering again?
In the same year, the crime comedy
"Feeling Minnesota" was released. The newcomer Cameron Diaz was Reeves' partner.
According to Keanu, he smoked so often on the set of the film that he eventually became
addicted to cigarettes in real life.
The film, like its predecessors,
was not successful.
Keanu was much more lucky on the
theater stage during that period. In 1995, he played Prince Hamlet at the
Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg.
The reviews for his act were
excellent. According to critics, Reeves was able to make the image of the
prince fresh, lively and even spontaneous.
Nevertheless, it began to seem that Keanu
Reeves did everything out of himself in the field of cinema, and it was not worth
expecting new successful films from him. However, they hurriedly wrote him off.
Working on the next project was not easy for Keanu, but the role he performed is considered
one of the best in his career. Of course, we are talking about Kevin Lomax in
the cult "The Devil's Advocate”
