Keanu Reeves

from Essential Magazine December 2021

Gourmet Bytes

We live in a world where self-preservation and selfishness are acceptable norms and, in some circles, even admired; and perhaps the Hollywood elite could be said to be the very best (or ‘very worst’) at furnishing their own fortunes at the expense of others.

ANOTHER EXCELLENT ADVENTURE FOR KEANU

Even the extent to which so many were seen to be clambering on the bandwagon of apologising for past indiscretions – be that a movie role, a period of bad behaviour or even a 140-character tweet – in light of cancel culture, showed that most of these well-known figures weren’t genuinely offering contrition for past sins, more protecting future pay packets.

Luckily, as far as Keanu Reeves goes, there aren’t too many sins to account for. In fact, if skirting back over past behaviour is a determination of popularity in the years to come, then the 57-year-old Beirut-born star has stored up enough credits to last well beyond retirement.

From queuing in the rain outside his own party because he didn’t want to make a fuss to bouncers, to redistributing his movie fees around support staff and special effects workers whose presence you would only usually acknowledge on the closing credits of the movie.

Then there’s acts of random kindness to strangers, such as giving up his seat on the New York subway – the fact he’s even there in the first place is remarkable – to sitting on the pavement, chatting with homeless people.

Add in charitable donations thought to exceed $100m, and the star clearly goes well beyond what is expected of him. “I don’t do things for any other reason than they feel right,” he says. “And that makes me no different to 99% of people out there – good people who give up their time or their energy for something that doesn’t directly benefit them.

“I don’t want praise for it any more than other people do – it’s just a case of doing things because we know it’s the right thing to do.”

While his behaviour on-set is no less community spirited, it’s accurate to say the actor’s feelgood vibes haven’t directly translated into big hits in the past couple of years – his most recent movie being the semi-successful reprisal of Ted ‘Theodore’ Logan in the Bill & Ted franchise last year, and John Wick in 2019.

Yet prepare for a triumphant return to form this month when Reeves reassumes the character of cybercriminalturned apparent superhero Neo in the fourth instalment of The Matrix series of films.

The bullet-dodger takes Reeves back into the action genre where he, perhaps most famously, occupied the minds of fans with his portrayal of John Wick, on three occasions. Of course, the actor will additionally point to hits including Through The Devil’s Advocate, Speed, 47 Ronin and The Day the Earth Stood Still; voiceovers for animated characters in multivisited SpongeBob and Toy Story versions, and a career on stage that even saw the guitarist play at Glastonbury… That is, he would reference those, were it not for the fact his humility instructs him to do otherwise… You have a reputation for being one of the nicest guys in the business. What is it that keeps you grounded?

In myself, I don’t subscribe to the fanfare and the glamour. You’ve seen the way I live – I like basic things, I love motorbikes; I’d rather be out on a gravelly road getting mud on my boots than sat in the back of a limo. That’s just then person I am and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

I respect in others a desire to go after the bright lights, but I’d rather have a conscience that is more about people and worthwhile experiences, so I guess that leads me to do a lot of the things that I do. I’m not doing it for any other reason than I want to. Q: Do you know where that spirit comes from?

I think a lot of it is as a result of

the experiences I had growing up. We moved around a fair amount so I think as a kid I was always very conscious of the value of friendships and how important it was to be nice to people… because I had plenty of practice when it came to needing to make new buddies!

I was born in Beirut in Lebanon in September 1964 and after a few months my mother and father, who were in their early twenties at the time, moved to Sydney, Australia, where my sister was born. They then went to New York and then from there, they split up!

My mom married a guy called Paul Aaron who worked in the theatre on Broadway, but they were only married for a short time, but I did keep in touch with him and I started out in the movie business as a PA on one of his projects at the age of about 15 years old.

I guess those experiences have shaped a need to stay versatile and be kind. You have to do that if you want to get on in life. Even when I was making music with my band Dogstar, you have to be respectful of everyone around you. So you’re a movie star? So what… tell that to a record label or a room of musicians – they don’t care; you have to earn everything on your own terms. There must be a temptation to get Dogstar back together?!

Ha. Dogstar. I played bass guitar. To be honest, we were just a bar band, but we wanted to live a little and have some life experience. We organised a tour of the United States and that went well, and we did another and another and a fourth.

We got to be able to go and play in Japan, in Europe, where in 1999, we managed to get ourselves booked for Glastonbury, but that one didn’t go so well, because I got loads of fruit thrown at me [laughs]! But I seem to remember that we played, and they were throwing stuff just to try and get my attention. It didn’t work that well, because I was concentrating on trying not to mess up!

It’s always been about trying to fit the gigs in around my filming and when I was able to, we ended up playing in some pretty cool places and touring alongside some huge and cool bands. There was a time when Bon Jovi gave us a proposal to play with them at some point on their tour and it was obviously dependent on where they were in the world once we called a wrap on The Matrix.

It turned out that we would be supporting them in Australia, and we did a couple of nights with them. The crowd didn’t come to see us, and we knew that – we were just happy to be able to perform our stuff to a lot of people, but the crowd were nice to us and we’re grateful for that. Q: While we’re talking about things away from work, you’re still keen on riding those bikes too?

KEANU: Yeah, I have the need for speed [laughs]! It all started when I was young and growing up in Toronto and there were gangs on motorcycles who would come through the town where I lived, and I was instantly hooked. ›

When I was filming in Germany in the mid-1980s, there was a young lady who was riding a motorbike there and I asked if she could show me how to ride one properly. She did and when I got back to LA, I bought my first one and I’ve never been the same since.

One of my favourites is a Norton and I’ve a 1973 Mk2A Commando which I’ve had for about three decades - we have shared a huge number of hours and miles together. Such great memories and amazing times. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you do, in life you’ve got to have these distractions, these escapes – they are what truly make us the people we are. It’s not work that ever does that. Didn’t you have a huge wipe-out on your Commando?

Yeah, that was bad. I suffered a ruptured spleen from that. Usually it’s just been slide-outs although I’ve broken my arm, broken a few teeth, and lost a lot of skin and got road rash on my knees. I’ve tried to slow down and become a little safer over the years, though. Whenever I would get angry or upset about something I would just take the bike out and go as fast as I could but that’s not always the best mood to be in if you’re riding at 150km/h or faster. I don’t do that anymore. › Thankfully though, one thing you have held onto from the past is a desire to bring incredible characters back to life, right? Well, yes, and that’s a credit to the strength of the character, of course; but I’m looking forward to people seeing Neo in The Matrix Resurrections. It’s been a great ride so far and I am absolutely happy with where he is because, if I am honest, unless I was going to be totally ramped up with how he is for this fourth instalment and where the landscape is and everything else around it, I would not have agreed to do it. I couldn’t do that.

When I read the script I was really stoked up to do it because it’s a very ambitious piece, and rightly so, as it’s such a huge part of a lot of people’s movie past. Those who watched the first movie were captivated with it and they’ve been hooked ever since.

I mean, as was I when I first picked up the script for that first movie – I was pulled in immediately… but like everyone I was a little confused as to what exactly was going on. I had to speak to the Wachowskis about how I could play the role and what I could give away, because it’s such a heavily layered and cloaked movie.

Because it’s always said that Neo is ‘The One’ - we had to make sure it was perfect. Q: How did those conversations go then?

I wanted to do the role justice and play it with conviction and I had to ask the Wachowskis if Neo knows that he has the capability inside him, that something which convinces him to go along with Morpheus and Trinity, played excellently by Larry Fishburne and Carrie-Anne Moss.

Does he know he can be what they want and need him to be or is he simply a brilliant hacker who just happens to be in the right place at

the right time? That was something we absolutely had to get right to make sure the whole film worked.

Obviously we wanted to make sure we get the film absolutely right. I’ve been geeked out for a while since I knew that this was coming and since I read the script. So, I am as excited as any fan will be about it! The way the previous three movies have been, the focus was on the visuals and the CGI and everything, from those watching. Do you think that the dialogue doesn’t get talked about enough?

Well, it was definitely what the writers wanted. They wanted the film to be an action classic, to have its own world… emotional content and mind-bending storylines and layers, instead of it just being a shoot ‘em up, sci-fi, run-of-the-mill thriller.

They wanted it to stand out, to be talked about for years to come; and the fact we’re coming back with a fourth one surely validates that wish. e

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