Keanu Reeves is the internet’s darling. The actor is known for his charitable personality and kind nature. After all, he put his rising career on hold to take care of his sister, who was diagnosed with cancer. He moved closer to her, cooked her meals, and ensured that she took her meds. But Reeves’ good deeds are not limited to just his family.
He gifted the stuntmen of John Wick: Chapter 4 personalized Rolex watches. However, not everyone loves The Matrix actor. In fact, he was allegedly blacklisted by a studio for refusing to do what they wanted.
Keanu Reeves Blacklisted By A Major Production Company?
In a 2019 GQ interview, Keanu Reeves revealed that he was put in movie jail because he refused to obey one of the biggest studios of that time- Fox. The company wanted him to star in a sequel to Speed (1994) with Sandra Bullock. The movie made $350.4 million on a $30 to $37 million budget. But Reeves refused and this irked the studio. However, Bullock returned to reprise her role. Joining her were Jason Patric and Willem Dafoe. Patric had replaced Reeves and Dafoe was playing the antagonist.
Read More: Keanu Reeves Beat Will Smith, Johnny Depp To Bag $2.4B Franchise: “I was very lucky”
Reeves had opted to play Hamlet onstage in Winnipeg instead of doing the film. However, it looks like not doing the film was the right move because the 1997 sequel film bombed at the box office, grossing only $164.5 million against a budget of $110 to $160 million. It is also widely considered to be one of the worst sequels of all time and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 4%. Thankfully, Reeves wasn’t sidelined by Fox Studios forever. As per the actor:
“I didn’t work with [Fox] again until The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
So Reeves was in movie jail for almost a decade till the 2008 apocalyptic sci-fi film. Reeves starred as an alien in The Day the Earth Stood Still, who came to Earth to convince mankind to correct their ways before the apocalypse. The movie went on to gross $233 million against an $80 million budget. However, the days of Reeves worrying about which studio favors him or not are probably gone. After all, the actor now leads the famous John Wick franchise.
Keanu Reeves Barely Speaks In John Wick: Chapter 4
Keanu Reeves’ character John Wick is a man of mystery and intrigue. To reinforce the mystery surrounding the character, Reeves spoke a total of only 380 words in John Wick: Chapter 4. Wall Street Journal also stated that the number of words spoken by the actor has decreased sharply over the years. The outlet reported:
“In the first installment, clocking in at 101 minutes, Mr. Reeves said a total of 484 words. With a run time of 169 minutes, the fourth movie pushes three hours but features just 380 words by Wick. About 10% of them are featured in the movie’s trailer… Wick says more in that 2.5-minute clip than he does in the first 25 minutes of the movie itself.”
This is by design. The site says that Reeves and director Chad Stahelski tore out about half of the dialogue for the titular character in the script. It was done because the director wanted to show and not tell. The director said, “He (John Wick) isn’t just stoic, he’s mysterious, and the mystery lets the audience fill in the gaps.” Stahelski’s plan has clearly worked because the film has grossed upwards of $160 million till now and it will surely rake in more thanks to its stellar 94% critic reviews.
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.
