Larissa Zageris - For Your Consideration: Keanu Reeves

Copyright 2019 by Quirk Productions, Inc.

All rights reserved. Except as authorized under U.S. copyright law, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Number: 2019936801

ISBN: 978-1-68369-151-8

Text by Larissa Zageris and Kitty Curran

Book design by Aurora Parlagreco, adapted for ebook

Cover illustration by Mercedes deBellard

Interior illustrations by Ben Mounsey-Wood

Production management by John J. McGurk

Ebook ISBN9781683691525

Quirk Books

215 Church Street

Philadelphia, PA 19106

quirkbooks.com

v5.4

a

For our loved ones, good ones, and The One

September 2, 1964: Keanu is born a Virgo

1979: Keanu plays Mercutio in a production of Romeo & Juliet

1981: Keanu drops out of high school to do theater

1984: Keanu moves to Los Angeles to try his hand at Hollywood

January 31, 1986: Young Blood

May 8, 1986: Rivers Edge

December 19, 1986: Babes in Toyland

1988: Keanu is in a serious motorcycle accident and has his spleen removed

April 22, 1988: Permanent Record

December 11, 1988: Dangerous Liaisons

February 17, 1989: Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure

December 17, 1989: The Tracey Ullman Show

1990: Bill & Teds Excellent Adventures (animated series)

1991: Dogstar, the folk-thrash band is formed, with Keanu on bass

July 12, 1991: Point Break

July 19, 1991: Bill & Teds Bogus Journey

July 20, 1991: My Own Private Idaho

November 13, 1992: Bram Stokers Dracula

July 2, 1993: Much Ado About Nothing

May 25, 1994: Little Buddha

June 10, 1994: Speed

1995: Keanu refuses role in Speed 2: Cruise Control; stars in Manitoba Theatre Centers production of Hamlet

May 26, 1995: Johnny Mnemonic

August 11, 1995: A Walk in the Clouds

August 2, 1996: Chain Reaction

September 13, 1996: Feeling Minnesota

October 17, 1997: The Devils Advocate

March 31, 1999: The Matrix

August 11, 2000: The Replacements

September 8, 2000: The Watcher

January 19, 2001: The Gift

February 16, 2001: Sweet November

September 14, 2001: Hardball

May 15, 2003: The Matrix Reloaded

June 3, 2003: The Animatrix

November 5, 2003: The Matrix Revolutions

December 12, 2003: Somethings Gotta Give

2004: Keanu receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

February 18, 2005: Constantine

June 16, 2006: The Lake House

July 28, 2006: A Scanner Darkly

April 11, 2008: Street Kings

December 12, 2008: The Day the Earth Stood Still

July 10, 2009: The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

May 2010: First appearance of Sad Keanu meme

June 15, 2010: Fans create Cheer Up Keanu Day in response to the Sad Keanu meme

2011: Keanu cofounds Arch Motorcycle Company with Gard Hollinger

January 14, 2011: Keanu produces his first film, Henrys Crime

April 21, 2011: Keanu publishes Ode to Happiness, a grown-up picture book

August 17, 2012: Keanu co-produces Side by Side, a documentary about digital and photographic film

May 28, 2013: Generation Um

July 5, 2013: Keanu makes his directorial debut with his Tiger Chen collaboration, Man of Tai Chi

December 25, 2013: 47 Ronin

October 24, 2014: John Wick

October 9, 2015: Knock Knock

2016: Swedish Dicks (TV series)

April 29, 2016: Keanu

June 24, 2016: The Neon Demon

February 10, 2017: John Wick: Chapter 2

June 23, 2017: The Bad Batch

July 13, 2018: Siberia

August 2, 2018: Destination Wedding

September 21, 2018: A Happening of Monumental Proportions

January 11, 2019: Replicas

May 17, 2019: John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum

May 29, 2019: Always Be My Maybe

June 21, 2019: Toy Story 4

We grew up taking Keanu Reeves for granted, first as the sweet but dimwitted kid in Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure, then as a complicated heartthrob in Point Break and My Own Private Idaho, and later as a full-bore action hero in Speed and The Matrix. Between the blockbusters, we embraced him ironically as he was cast (and miscast) in a dizzying array of prestige and genre movies that we rented from our local video store on Friday nights.

For a certain generation of fansthat nebulous space between Gen X and MillennialKeanu was both an object of desire and an afterthought. But the irony of loving someone ironically is how earnest that devotion can become. And in our moment in culture, its not hard to earnestly appreciate the man who has launched a thousand internet memesand inspired the era in which we currently live: the Keanussance.

But why the need for irony in the first place? Much of the reason is Keanus style of acting.

Often charged with being blank or expressionless, he is blank much as a piece of paper is. He gets filled up by his role, the story, our perceptions, and the ideas he invites us to form with a look through his long-ass bangs or a gesture you could blink and miss. He is a cipher, but hes also active and present, inviting the audience into worlds built for their entertainment, not just for his celebrity.

And Keanu is, admittedly, not a knowable celebrity. He rejects the traditional trappings of stardom in favor of walking the path of the artist, often in a perfect-fitting T-shirt and well-worn suede boots. He likes his privacy. He selects movies based on his own secret criteria, an algorithm which meant that we saw him in A Scanner Darkly and The Lake House back-to-back in 2006. (This was the beginning of what would be a notable commercial dip in his career, before he reascended with John Wick.) He is enigmatic but clearly driven by his own desires and interests. We cant pin him down, and thats part of the fun.

At the same time, hes made a career of learning new things his Thing, all while steering clear of the outsize and awful behavior typically expected (though definitely not encouraged) of a male star. His vulnerability, his love of art and literature, and his long-running friendships with female co-stars like Sandra Bullock and Winona Ryder make him a tender and complicated example of nontoxic masculinityor, at the very least, a person striving to be kind and excellent in work and in life. In this endeavor, he helps us imagine that we could be ourselves but better, too.

In this book, we will explore what we talk about when we talk about Keanu because we believe he merits study. We will riff lovingly on his persona between critical essays because were your cool teachers who let you pass notes and eat candy in class. Weve never met him personally, but weve grown up with him, in a sense. To us he seems decent. He seems good. He seems actively engaged. In the words of the man himself: The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.