Why we all love Keanu Reeves so much

It's hard to find an actor who gets more talked about than Keanu Reeves. He is praised for his roles in cool action films, for voice acting for cartoons and for his work with motion capture in games. They also remember humble behavior, full dedication when working on roles and charity. In 2019, there was even a Make Keanu Reeves 2019 Times Person of the Year petition, in which fans asked Time magazine to choose Reeves as Person of the Year. And more than 170 thousand people have subscribed to it.

The life hacker understands why the audience fell in love with this actor so much. First of all, of course, for vivid roles. But not only.

For teen films - serious and not so

Now this is remembered less and less, but the young Keanu Reeves became famous for his roles in films for young people. And even then he showed completely versatile talents.

His first work was the painting "On the River Bank" (1986). This is the story of several high school friends who find out that their friend killed a girl. Keanu played an informal leader who decided to support his comrade and help cover up the crime. At the same time, the rest of the members of the company believe that they must act according to the law and extradite the young man to the authorities.

This film was followed by a series of works about school and teenagers: "Last Night", "Eternal Song" and other less visible films. A couple of years later, Reeves appeared in the comedy Bill & Ted's The Incredible Adventures of two ridiculous friends who travel back in time to write a history report. It's funny that Keanu originally auditioned for the role of Bill and ended up playing Ted.

And one more film about young people, which is impossible not to mention - "My Own Idaho State". He talks about two call boys from Portland going in search of the mother of one of them. For a long time, Reeves doubted whether he would be able to play such a deep and serious role. But still he agreed, and it was this picture that allowed him to say goodbye to his youthful works.

Even then, he began to fully immerse himself in the upcoming roles. Reeves and his partner River Phoenix tried to learn as much as possible about the lifestyle of their on-screen characters. As a result, both began to take drugs. Keanu later had to be treated for addiction, and Phoenix died of an overdose two years after the film was released.

For drama and romance

Back in the days of youth films, Keanu Reeves began to be noticed by authors of melodramas. In the late eighties, he even played a small role in the film adaptation of Choderlos de Laclos' novel Dangerous Liaisons. In the nineties, the actor appeared in Francis Ford Coppola's Dracula, where he got the role of Jonathan Harker's hero-lover. And then the drama "Walk in the Clouds" was released about a former military man who met a lonely pregnant girl, decided to impersonate her husband and stayed with her.

Despite the fact that, in parallel, Keanu Reeves was already gaining popularity as a cool action hero, he continued to act in dramas and melodramas. And his heroes-lovers look no worse than the guys with big guns.

Many critics consider such films with Reeves unsuccessful. For example, Feeling Minnesota (1996), Sweet November (2001) and Lake House (2006) did not receive the highest ratings. But the audience still loves them for their simple stories and great acting.

Moreover, the actor is not afraid to act in romantic films or melodramas to this day. In 2018, he and Winona Ryder starred in How to Marry a Bachelor, a conversational drama about the meeting of two cynics who come to a friend's wedding. And in May 2019, the romantic comedy You Are My Doubt appeared on Netflix. True, there Keanu has only a secondary role.

For the fact that he knows how to portray a cynic

"How to Marry a Bachelor" is far from the only film where Reeves got the image of a low-emotional cynic. Being a rather gentle and very positive person in life, he perfectly knows how to portray a detached rude on the screen.

One of these roles once even brought the actor to a new level of popularity. Speech, of course, about "The Devil's Advocate", where the hero of Reeves undertakes to protect any villain, if only to achieve success and fame. As a result, he, as the name implies, works for Satan himself.

And no less the audience fell in love with his image in the film "Constantine: Lord of Darkness". There, Reeves plays a cynic tired of life, able to see angels and demons. The hero has to defend the earth, maintaining a balance of good and evil, although he himself is not very happy about this occupation.

Reeves was not at all like John Constantine from the original comics - a witty blond Englishman in an invariable beige cloak. But after the release of the film, many can not imagine in this role anyone except Keanu - his version turned out to be too bright.

For being Neo and John Wick

If we talk about the coolest action heroes of the early 21st century, then Keanu Reeves is definitely indispensable. It all started back in the nineties with the painting "On the Crest of a Wave". But the real action fans appreciated the actor for the first time in "Speed", where he played a security officer rescuing bus passengers from an explosion. In the story, the bomb is activated if the vehicle speed drops below 50 miles per hour, so Reeves' character has to jump inside right on the go.

And then the Wachowskis invited him to play the lead role in the experimental film "The Matrix". Reeves, like the entire cast, studied martial arts for about six months and even got a dislocation of the cervical vertebrae during training. But the image of the "chosen one" Neo came up perfectly: he combined philosophical conversations, and many fights, and even a love line.

Strictly speaking, Reeves was far from the first candidate for this role. At first, the script was offered to Will Smith, Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio and even Nicolas Cage. But it was Keanu Reeves in the image of Neo who became a real icon of pop culture at the beginning of the 21st century.

In addition, on the set of The Matrix, the actor first worked with stuntman Chad Stahelski. They became friends, and after years Reeves invited him to direct the film "John Wick", which later became one of the best action films.

To prepare for the role of the hitman, Keanu Reeves trained a lot, improving his hand-to-hand combat skills and the use of various types of weapons.

Despite the fact that the actor had already passed 50 at the time of filming, he tried to work out the maximum number of scenes on his own. And, as you can see, he really handles weapons perfectly.

And more recently it became known that Lana Wachowski will remove the fourth part of the legendary "Matrix". Keanu Reeves will return to the role of Neo and I think he will do a great job.

For cyberpunk in all its forms

The Matrix was not the first cyberpunk film to star Keanu Reeves. In 1995, the film "Johnny Mnemonic" was released based on the story of the same name by William Gibson. The plot tells the story of a courier who carries the data uploaded by the customer in his brain.

Initially, they wanted to shoot several sequels of the film, or rather adaptations of other works by Gibson. But the failure of the first part put an end to these plans. Some critics believe that Reeves' invitation played an important role in the failure: having got a star of youth cinema, the producers wanted to make the picture easier.

But nevertheless, Keanu fully justified himself with the "Matrix", and over time, "Johnny Mnemonic" became a cult.

In 2006, the actor played another cyberpunk classic, Philip Dick, in the film adaptation of The Blurred novel. This is the story of an undercover policeman who is trying to find out about the channels for the supply of a new drug. The hero infiltrates a criminal environment, but becomes a drug addict and begins to take care of himself.

This film is unusual not only in its plot, but also visually. The main character wears a special costume that changes his appearance every second, and under the influence of drugs he is visited by visions. Therefore, after filming, each frame of this picture was hand-painted, which allowed to create the atmosphere of madness that Dick described.

And in June 2019, a trailer for the game Cyberpunk 2077 was released, where Keanu Reeves also starred. His hero can be seen at the very end of the video.

Of course, after Reeves appeared, everyone immediately started talking about a possible film adaptation of the game. But these rumors have not yet been confirmed.

For modesty and charity

Keanu Reeves is one of those who do not like to talk about their life and activities outside the cinema. Therefore, over time, his personality has overgrown with many legends, and sometimes it is already difficult to figure out where the truth is and where the fiction is.

Keanu Reeves is often fond of various sports that he has to deal with on the set: after the release of On the Crest of the Wave, he took up surfing, and after the film adaptation of Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing, he fell in love with equestrian sports. The actor also plays the bass well.

He is known to be very humble indeed. It can be seen regularly on public transport. And the actor most often does not refuse those who want to take a selfie with him. In 2014, the story of ‘No one recognized him!’ Keanu Reeves waits 20 minutes in the rain outside his OWN party rather than make a scene spread widely, as he stood in line in the rain for 20 minutes to get to his own party.

There is a lot of talk about how he met his birthday alone in the park, just buying himself a cupcake. It is true, but still it should be clarified that then Reeves was preparing for a role in the film "Three in New York" and got used to the image of a man absorbed in loneliness and his own insecurity.

He often agrees to understate his fee to help promote the picture. So the authors of "Devil's Advocate" were able to attract Al Pacino, and the creators of "Doubles" - Gene Hackman. The actor did the same while working on the sequels of The Matrix. According to rumors, the money from his royalties went to pay for the work of costume designers, make-up artists and special effects specialists.

In addition, Keanu Reeves founded The Tragic Life of Keanu Reeves Foundation, which funds children's hospitals and cancer research. Moreover, he himself rarely mentions this. He also supported the animal rights organization PETA and the SickKids Pediatric Research Foundation.

For memes

Well, in addition to serious acting achievements and truly respectable deeds, Keanu Reeves often becomes the hero of all kinds of memes. A huge number of well-known roles and different images allow you to use them in all occasions.

For example, here is a photo of the paparazzi that spread on the network under the name "Sad Keanu" and became a symbol of loneliness.

Or a shot from "The Incredible Adventures of Bill and Ted" as a reflection of confusion and misunderstanding.

There is also a photo that is often captioned "Keanu Reeves stole the camera from the paparazzi," although this is actually a frame from the movie Three in New York. But the main thing here is the face of the actor.

More recent memes - "Mini Keanu Reeves". This is a photo from the presentation of Cyberpunk 2077 at E3. Twitter user KojiMads shared a disproportionately shrunken footage that instantly went viral.