Keanu A-Z News Reports
Monday, June 30, 2003
Award for child prodigy
[Sophia Echo 29/06/2003]
He is studying acting at the Hollywood School for Talented Children, in a class led by Stensy Stokes, one of the most influential casting directors and scouts of young stars.
She discovered and brought to the big screen Leonardo DiCaprio and Keanu Reeves.
Keanu Spends $4.8 Million on Hospital for Dying Sister
[Fox23 29/06/2003]
Caring movie star Keanu Reeves has spent $4.8 million converting a Los Angeles mansion into a custom built hospital for his dying sister.
The Matrix Reloaded star will move sister Kim, 37, into the luxury house and hire top doctors to look after her around the clock.
Kim - who has been suffering from the killer disease for 10 years - will be the only patient in the hospital, which has a 50 foot "infinity" pool and incredible views overlooking Hollywood.
A source says, "Keanu isn't sparing any expense for Kim's leukaemia treatment.
"He's using his millions to make his house a sanctuary in an attempt to give her the best treatment and care.
"But, if she's facing her final years, Keanu wants to make them the happiest they can be. Kim means everything to him."
Keanu, 38, has earned at least $72 million from the two Matrix sequels, the second of which - The Matrix Revolutions - is set for release in November.
SUNDAY FLASH! Seen & Heard
[New York Newsday.com 29/06/2003]
3) Pixel Presse Photo-HEY, ISN'T THAT �.A cyclist has a moment of recognition as she pedals by Keanu Reeves Friday outside Chez Marius and Janette in Paris, where the actor was having lunch
Connery's Irish lilt is 'worst film accent ever'
[ Breaking News.ie 30/06/2003 - 12:06:58 pm]
Sean Connery�s much-mocked attempt at an Irish twang was today named the worst movie accent of all time.
His efforts to play cop Jim Malone in 1987 film The Untouchables, barely disguising his ubiquitous Scottish lilt, topped a poll of experts at movie magazine Empire.
It beat the much mocked performance of Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins with his laboured cockney chimneysweep.
Connery is renowned for making every voice he does sound exactly the same.
The August edition of Empire says: �Whether he�s a Russian sub captain (The Hunt For Red October) or even an English King (First Knight and Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves), always that baritone Highland burr remains.�
Other Brits to make it into the top 10 include the late Laurence Olivier at number eight for his �end of the pier Jewish� accent in the 1980 remake of The Jazz Singer.
And Pete Postlethwaite is pilloried for the hammy Indian accent he attempts as Kobayashi in The Usual Suspects.
Olly Richards of the magazine said: �Putting on a foreign lilt appeals to a star�s vanity, giving them the opportunity to inhabit someone a million miles from themselves and prove that they are more than a pretty face.
�Sadly in most cases it does the exact opposite.�
Empire top ten worst movie accents:
1. Sean Connery in The Untouchables (1987).
2. Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins (1964)
3. Brad Pitt in Seven Years In Tibet (1997).
4. Charlton Heston in Touch Of Evil (1958).
5. Heather Graham in From Hell (2001).
6. Keanu Reeves in Bram Stoker�s Dracula (1992).
7. Julia Roberts in Mary Reilly (1996).
8. Laurence Olivier in The Jazz Singer (1980).
9. Pete Postlethwaite in The Usual Suspects (1995).
10. Meryl Streep in Out Of Africa (1985).
Sunday, June 29, 2003
Switching drivers
[Calendarlive.com 29/06/03]
Yet keeping the same director for a sequel doesn't promise success, either, especially if you lose your key actor. Jan De Bont directed both "Speed" and "Speed 2: Cruise Control," but the first was a smash whereas the second, missing original star Keanu Reeves, came to a screeching halt.
He's Off the Hook
[Liz Smith, Newsday.com June 16, 2003]
'Everything has been said before, but since nobody listens, we have to keep going back and beginning all over again," wrote the scribe Andre Gide.
OH, YES, they're having a hot time in the Hamptons. Jack Nicholson, Diane Keaton, Keanu Reeves and Amanda Peet have been filming the much-talked-about Nancy Meyers' "Christmas project" - that is, a movie with no title yet. These biggies rented houses in the Hamptons, and they filmed all over the place, including the mansions on Meadow Lane.
Now the stars are in Manhattan briefly before going to Paris. Nancy dreamed up this Christmastime project for Columbia after being divorced from her director-husband, Chuck Shyer, some years back. She'd rented a house in Sagaponack to recuperate and had an idea about an ad guy, 63, dating a young beauty, 29. She takes him home to mother, 55, on Long Island. A stint in the Southampton hospital brings them all together with a handsome doctor, 30.
Guess what happens next? Some people call this "The Older Woman's Revenge," but I'm sure they'll think of something better to name it for the marquee. Meyers' credits include "What Women Want," "Private Benjamin," "Father of the Bride" and comedies of that ilk.
Nettavisen: Matrix-sex er tidenes verste>
Vote for Neo/Trinity in this site's favourite movie kiss vote
Does Keanu hate his father?
The "Matrix"-star (38) has refused each contact with his father Sam Reeves (60) for 25 years (!). Reeves senior - a drug-addicted ex-dealer - let his family unfounded in the sting in the seventies. Now came, what had to come: Sam tried to contact his now rich and famous son recently. He is dangerously ill by diabetes and is afraid to die without reconciliation in peace. "Each day can be the last. My only wish is to meet Keanu and to say sorry to him!" Since Sam was released out of jail a year ago, where he spend many years, he now lives with his mother in a two-bedroom apartment on Hawaii close to the clinic, that supplies him with methadone on a daily basis to prevent him to fall back on a habit of taking cocaine. For Keanu, the subject "father" died. Even his narrowest friends know little about Sam. Forgiveness? Keanu remains hard: "I had a father until I was six years old. After that I saw him only during holidays - since I was 13, not anymore. So What?"
Courtesy of Keanuweb
Acting out a fantasy [Delaware Online 29/06/03]
Movie stars such as Bruce Willis, Russell Crowe and Keanu Reeves parlay their celebrity into a second career, or at least a hobby, on the concert stage
By GARY MULLINAX
Staff reporter
06/27/2003
Movie stars such as Bruce Willis, Russell Crowe and Keanu Reeves parlay their celebrity into a second career - or at least a hobby - on the concert stage
Bruce Willis may be one of the most celebrated actors in the world, but his appearance tonight in a Philadelphia venue with only 1,200 seats will prove that old dreams die hard.
Willis, who as a teenager played in a bluesy New Jersey barroom band called Loose Goose just across the river from Delaware, will perform with his Accelerators at the Trocadero.
Of course, his current group has been described as essentially just another bluesy bar band. The difference: When today's Bruce Willis is the frontman, people pay attention.
So the Accelerators get booked onto stages a similar band fronted by Joe Smith couldn't get close to. People will go because, well, it's Bruce Willis.
It's hard to blame Willis for taking advantage of his celebrity to have a little fun, but the situation seems to inspire negative preconceptions. Then again, critics who have actually heard a performance aren't kind, either.
"For those of us who prefer singers who can actually sing, the experience was not so memorable," an English critic wrote after listening to Willis' vocals.
A critic in Paris (Willis does get around) was quoted as saying Willis "had a hard time warming up the crowd." A Canadian writer was a little kinder, noting that the actor "would be right at home in a local weekend band."
Willis is hardly alone. He's part of an actor-to-rock-star crossover phenomenon. It makes a certain kind of sense.
After all, many rock musicians have demonstrated that the charisma they show on stage can be translated onto film. Look at Eminem or David Bowie, Ice Cube or Mark Wahlberg. Why can't it work the other way around?
Nor is Willis alone in drawing the ire of critics. The actors fronting bands are considered interlopers even though most of them were involved in music before becoming movie stars.
Russell Crowe is the biggest of these stars (along with Willis). He is lead singer for a band called 30 Odd Foot of Grunts. The group has been playing a type of earthy soul-rock inspired by fellow Australians Midnight Oil off and on since the 1980s - though mostly "off" as Crowe has become bigger and bigger in the movies.
The band has released three albums, including the new "Other Ways of Speaking."
Billy Bob Thornton released a country album called "Private Radio" in 2001 with help from Nashville cat Marty Stuart.
Keanu Reeves plays bass for the hard-core band Dogstar, which has released two albums, the latest in 2000.
Kevin Bacon plays folk-rock with his brother Michael as the Bacon Brothers. The duo has released two albums and has performed at the Philadelphia Folk Festival and the Bottle & Cork in Dewey Beach.
Dennis Quaid leads a bluesy party band called the Sharks that performs in clubs around Los Angeles.
Harry Dean Stanton has a rockabilly band that plays a regular gig at a club in West Los Angeles called the Mint.
Johnny Depp has performed with a band called P.
Thornton has taken the most heat. His album made a number of "worst" lists for 2001, inspiring comments like "bland silliness ... vocals that never rise beyond the plausibility level of mediocre karaoke" and "howlingly ridiculous" and "sheer blinding wretchedness."
Still, some critics liked the album for its Gothic mood and thought the music was not bad. "Serviceable roots rock," one called it.
Reeves has received his share of abuse for his work in Dogstar. A Texas critic called the band "a howling mediocrity."
When Dogstar played in Bangkok a few months ago (more jet-setting), a critic wrote that Reeves "rarely interacted" with a crowd that had paid little attention to anybody but him.
Crowe's 30 Odd Foot of Grunts tends to escape vicious criticism, perhaps because it sounds like a band that could conceivably have a record contract even without a movie-star frontman.
But one problem is Crowe himself: He's a decent singer, but there is no way not to think of Russell Crowe the movie star when you hear that voice. It gets in the way.
The Bacon Brothers also are spared the nastiest barbs, but they really should not be lumped in with some of the others at all. They play good music.
None of these groups is likely to develop a major recording career precisely because of their most visible members. Willis
and the others don't have time for long performance tours or painstaking hours in the studio.
They have to spend most of their time where the money is - on a movie set. After all, that's what got then within sniffing distance of music stardom in the first place.
Quaid freely admits he will never be a music superstar.
"I don't want a record deal or anything like that," he told an interviewer. "I've been playing music since I was 12 - I'm 48 now - and I like to be in a band. It takes the place of theater for me, the live-performance element."
Two younger actors have managed to pursue a simultaneous music career without drawing the wrath of critics: Jared Leto of 30 Seconds to Mars and Jason Schwartzman of Phantom Planet. Neither is prominently positioned in the band's promotional material.
"Phantom Planet and 30 Seconds to Mars don't seem like hobbies to me," an industry insider told Billboard magazine recently. "It's almost like a second career. It's a much different animal."
Leto has been in such films as "Fight Club" and "Panic Room" and was in the television show "My So-Called Life." The most recent 30 Seconds to Mars album, self-titled, is a compelling work that shows off a dense, melodic style that combines metal with progressive rock.
Schwartzman starred in "Rushmore" and is the son of Talia Shire and nephew of Francis Ford Coppolla. The Weezer-like band can be heard on the album "The Guest."
Willis made two albums for Motown in the 1980s after he became a television star, but to hear him and the Accelerators you'll have to go to the Troc.
You might hear some words from Willis that suggest he understands where his critics are coming from.
"I can't sing," he announced from the stage during one performance. "I can't dance. All I can do is memorize lots and lots of words and repeat them back to other actors all day."
Self-deprecation usually plays well. But the folks who turn out to see Willis probably wouldn't mind if he sang like a frog. They'll be in the presence of a celebrity they couldn't get within five miles of if he weren't out there pursuing an old dream.
Saturday, June 28, 2003
Anthrax drafts indie-metal groups for new round of dates [Live Daily 27/06/03]
by Rob Evans liveDaily Editor
June 27, 2003 09:46 AM - Anthrax hits the road with a group of up-and-coming metal bands in July and August as they continue to support their new release "We've Come for You All."
The New York-based group's latest is their first album of new material since 1998's "Volume 8: the Threat is Real." The set features guest appearances from The Who's Roger Daltrey and Pantera's Dimebag Darrell.
Anthrax--singer John Bush, guitarist Scott Ian, bassist Frank Bello, drummer Charlie Benante and new guitarist Rob Caggiano--recorded "We've Come for You All" at Caggiano's Scrap 60 Productions studio in New York.
The video for the album's single "Safe Home," which features a cameo appearance by actor Keanu Reeves, is currently getting airplay on MTV.
According to a press release, "support on this tour will be split among bands that Anthrax feels are the crux of a new wave of heavy metal." The first leg (July 29- Aug. 13) will feature Lamb of God and E Town Concrete, and the second (Aug. 14- 29) will feature Lacuna Coil and E Town Concrete.
Most of the dates for the tour's second leg weren't confirmed at press time; dates confirmed by the group's publicist can be found in the itinerary below.
'Matrix' re-mastered for IMAX run [Kansas City Star 27/06/03]
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star
Some scenes in the Imax version of "The Matrix
Reloaded" � like the fight with Agent Smith and his contingent of clones � don't render as well as in the original.
No matter what
you may think of its dramatic viability, just about everybody is united in their admiration of the filmmaking technology on display in "Matrix Reloaded."
And there's no better way to appreciate that technology than in the new "IMAX Matrix Reloaded."
This isn't just a case of taking a 35mm feature film and projecting it on a bigger screen. Instead the Keanu Reeves sci-fi epic has undergone alteration via the IMAX DRM system. DRM (digital re- mastering) goes through the film frame-by-frame and, instead of just enlarging the image -- a process that would increase the celluloid's grain until it looks like a large sand painting -- actually reconfigures it to achieve maximum clarity and minimal distortion.
You'll see the difference in the film's opening moments, when glowing green lines of computer code click across the screen and metamorphose into the ghostly shape of a computer-generated city. The sequence is almost physical in its intensity; you'll feel like you've been picked up and thrown at the screen. There's a sensation of no longer just watching but, because the IMAX image is so large, of actually being in the movie.
Then there's the action opener as Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) falls from a skyscraper window. Watch the twinkling shards of glass that rotate slowly around her as she falls toward the city street far below; each sliver has been perfectly rendered to reflect the lights as they drop past the illuminated floors of the building. It's pretty awesome stuff.
As was the case with the IMAX version of "Star Wars: Episode 2 -- Attack of the Clones," this is an opportunity for hard-core fans of the film to study all the little details, things going on in the corner of busy scenes that previously were easily overlooked. You can actually see individual threads in the costumes.
Is there a downside? Actually, yes.
For starters, some of the actors would be better off without looming five-story-tall closeups. Several players have complexions that, when blown up to this size, resemble a relief map of the moon. A viewer must suppress an irrational fear of tripping and falling into an acne scar.
And while the big, big image allows us to relish the complex choreography of the major fight scenes, it also reveals their imperfections. Upon first seeing the Agents Smith playground fight I thought that Reeves looked too much like a puppet. That sensation is only reinforced this time around -- sometimes it doesn't even look like the actor. And in this version you easily can tell the real Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) from the stunt men made up to look like him.
At one point during a recent screening I shut my eyes just to listen to the sound design as it's played through the Sprint IMAX's superb system. That's a whole new experience in itself, with oodles of ambient sounds coming from all directions.
Bottom line: If you're a "Matrix" geek, you'll have to see this version at least once. And if you've yet to catch "Matrix Reloaded," IMAX technology will put you in the picture in a way that will leave your head spinning.
Sunday, June 22, 2003
More from DC [SunSpot.net 22/06/03 ]
Among other films featuring DC characters is Wonder Woman, which has been under consideration for years and has now interested both Sandra Bullock and Jennifer Lopez, according to Greg Dean Schmitz of Upcomingmovies.com.
The indefatigable Schmitz also reports that Keanu Reeves, who stands to become incalculably rich because of the comic book-like Matrix trilogy, will take on the title role in another DC-inspired film, Constantine, based on John Constantine: Hellblazer. Among the other properties in development are Preacher, with James Marsden (Cyclops of X- Men), and Death: The High Cost of Living.
Full speed ahead [Daily Telegraph 22/06/03]
HOLLYWOOD'S newest rich kid, Keanu Reeves, is rumoured to be dating his former Speed co-star, Sandra Bullock.
Reeves, estimated to be pocketing between $220 million and $400 million from the Matrix sequels, had drinks with Bullock at an LA club where he was playing with his band, Becky. "They were gazing at each other across the table and holding hands," a fellow club reveller said.
Saturday, June 21, 2003
Keanu Reeves movie to be shot in Beaverton [KGW.com 20/06/03]
By ABE ESTIMADA, kgw.com Staff
Beaverton - the Matrix it’s not.
But the bustling burb of Portland may very soon see the kung-fu fighting, Agent Smith busting Keanu Reeves -- the star of the summer blockbuster Matrix Reloaded -- coming to town as a hypnotizing orthodontist in the movie Thumbsucker.
Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski announced Friday that the director and producers of Thumbsucker will shoot their film in Beaverton and Oregon.
From left, director Mike Mills, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, and producers Anthony Bregman and Bob Stephenson, talk about "Thumbsucker." (kgw.com Photo)
Beaverton provided the ideal backdrop for a dramatic movie based on the novel by Walter Kim, which chronicles the story of an orally- fixated teen-ager who seeks help from an orthodontist, played by Reeves, and a debate coach, played by Matthew McConaughey, said director Mike Mills.
The teen-ager character will be played by Lou Taylor Pucci, who played a hitchhiker in the critically acclaimed movie Personal Velocity, which won a grand jury prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival.
"He’s going to be great" Mills said of Pucci.
While not tipping his hand too much about the storyline, parts of the plot deal with hunting and the physical changes around the teen-ager as he comes of age, Mills said. Mills said Beaverton’s neighborhoods, which are a mixture of housing styles built alongside farms, fit his vision for the screenplay.
"You can kind of have this history of the whole area visible on film, which is really exciting to me," Mills said. "I can have a scene where I’m on a suburban street, a cul-de-sac, and right at the end, there’s pine and fir trees."
Outside of Beaverton, the film will also shoot at Trillium Lake near Mount Hood and in Vernonia in Yamhill County.
Keanu Reeves, star of "Matrix Reloaded," will be in the movie "Thumbsucker," which will be filmed in Oregon. (ifrance Web site)
If "Thumbsucker" is anything like the movie "The Hunted" that starred Benicio Del Toro and Tommy Lee Jones and generated $30 million for the local economy during its ballyhooed shoot in Oregon, it will pump much needed cash into the Portland metro area’s industries.
"Oregon is looking at every aspect of some way to build its economy," Kulongoski said. "This is one that I think we have a great opportunity to get involved with."
To entice the movie shooting to Oregon, Kulongoski authorized the release of about $100,000 from the state’s strategic reserve fund earmarked for film and media projects. If the cast and film crew spends $1 million in Oregon, the state will reimburse the movie producers up to $100,000. "Thumbsucker" filmmakers estimate they will spend $3 million in Oregon for the shoot.
"It’s an investment," Kulongoski said.
The governor said he hopes drawing the movie "Thumbsucker" will entice commercial and television movie makers to come to Oregon.
Shooting starts July 9. Filming will last about 7 weeks.
Filming "Thumbsucker" will provide jobs for at least 75 local film and video crew people and approximately 300 actors and extras. Most of the extras and crew will be from Oregon.
Shooting "Thumbsucker" will also provide the public a chance to star search and perhaps rub elbows with the actors.
"If you’re walking in downtown Beaverton when we’re shooting, we’ll enlist you as an extra," said movie producer Anthony Bregman.
Mills said he hopes the shoot will be as low-key as possible "at least compared to some of the pyrotechnics and stunt filming involved with "The Hunted."
No sets will built because the filming will be on location in Beaverton, Mills said. Beaverton, Oregon will appear as Beaverton, Oregon in the movie. Even the Hall Street Restaurant in Beaverton has been written into the script.
"It’s a contemporary story, realistic," Mills said. "Everything’s here."
Here's a cute pic I found at Forbes.com
I believe it was taken at the Tree Lighting Ceremony from a few years back...
Hollywood, Oregon? [KVAL 20/03/03]
(Portland-AP) -- Governor Kulongoski wants Hollywood to come to Oregon.
Sort of.
The governor has found a way to lighten Oregon's budget woes: using a "strategic investment program" to lure film productions to the state.
His flagship project is "Thumbsucker," a drama based on Walter Kim's novel. It stars such big names as Keanu Reeves, Matthew McConaughey and Vincent D'Onofrio.
The three (m) million dollar production begins shooting in Beaverton in July.
The state plans to offer the film's makers a ten percent rebate on their spending. That's provided they drop at least one (m) million dollars into Oregon's economy.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press.All Rights Reserved.)
Katru 2: Hollywood heart-throbs heading to Oregon [VIDEO - Watch this story]
PORTLAND - Two Hollywood heartthrobs will spendpart of their summer in Oregon shooting a new film.
'Thumbsucker', a new film starring Keanu Reeves and Matthew McConaughey will be shooting in Portland this summer.
Meanwhile the state legislature is considering incentives to entice more movie-making to Oregon. The movie is about a nervous teen with a major thumb- sucking problem. He seeks help from an orthodontist played by Reeves and a high school debate teacher played by McConaughey.
The announcement comes as Governor Ted Kulongoski tries to put Oregon's name back in lights.
Oregon legislators are currently considering Senate Bill 313, which would give economic incentives aimed at enticing more filmmakers to the state instead of competing locations.
Glen Boss, who owns Pacific Grips and Lighting, the biggest movie equipment rental company in the northwest said filmmakers are "going to states that have incentive programs and Canada who has a fantastic incentive program."
Boss has $3 million invested in his equipment alone. But lately, the c-stands, grips, and scrims have been just sitting, while the movie business goes elsewhere.
Boss' crews have worked on "The Hunted" with Tommy Lee Jones; "Drugstore Cowboy" with Matt Dillon; and "Maverick" with Mel Gibson; movies all shot right here in Portland.
In these tough economic times, why is the governor offering handouts to an industry that only employs 3,000 people statewide?
Proponents say the movie industry has a ripple effect. Crews need to eat, and they need to sleep. The hope is folks who see Portland on the big screen will want to eat and sleep here too.
"I think the only way to keep films in the northwest and in America, in general is to offer incentives like that," said casting director Danny Stoltz. "Otherwise if you're a producer you're going to go where the bottom line is."
Boss' bottom line is this: Unless Portland can attract at least three movies here a year he'll be calling it a wrap.
"If the business doesn't come I may take my stuff down to L.A. and sell it," Boss said. "I have a son. Of course I would like to build up the business so that I have something to give to him."
By Hollywood standards, "Thumbsucker" -- expected to cost a mere $2 to $4 million -� is low budget, but it may be enough to get the ball rolling here again.
Right now, it looks like the film will be shot in northwest Portland and maybe Tigard. Filming is expected to begin July 9, and 300 extras are expected to be needed.
Sunday, June 08, 2003
A kind Keanu
[Calgary Sun 08/06/2003]
Keanu Reeves, who until now preferred living in hotels, has bought a $5-million Hollywood estate with breathtaking city views. He plans to bring his leukemia-stricken sister, Kim, there to live with him. Parts of the house will be fitted out like a hospital in an attempt by Keanu to extend her life.
The generous actor has also given millions from his Matrix movies to charities.
Prediction: Kim’s last years in Keanu’s home will be among her happiest. A new treatment extends her life.
Friday, June 06, 2003
From Iafrica.com [06/06/03]
From stars getting up to their elbows in chocolate to a celeb getting down and dirty in the trenches with us ordinary folk… After ‘The Matrix’s huge Cannes splash it also got a premiere in London — a city not exactly known for its perfect weather. But that didn’t hold the movie’s star, Keanu Reeves, back from spending half-an-hour greeting fans in the pouring rain. Some lucky Londoners managed to nab an autograph or get their picture taken with Keanu, after having waited hours in the awful weather for the chance.
Said the sweet star: "I wish I could have stayed out longer. It's absolutely fantastic. It's extraordinary. Some people have been really anxious for this film to come out and I just hope it lives up to their expectations." Must be living up to them quite nicely, given the amount of money it’s making…
Thursday, June 05, 2003
Keanu Reeves [Young Independent 05/06/03 by Hasib Khan]
Keanu Reeves is one of the most versatile actors in Hollywood. From lame brained teenager to sci-fi superman he has portrayed every type of character you can imagine. Despite being frequently blasted by the critics, he does not fail to captivate the audience and maintain his lucrative career by balancing his lesser efforts with intermittent box office hits. He was born in Beirut, Lebanon as Keanu Charles Reeves in September of 1964. He became a world traveler by the age of two, thanks to his father's career as a geologist. His mother on the other hand works as a costume designer of film and stage. Keanu followed his mother together with his sister to live in New York after their parent's divorce; they later moved to Toronto. There his interest in ice-hockey and acting got more priority than his study. He was nick named "Wall" because of his strong presence as a goal keeper. His interest in school and hockey waned further as he began pursuing acting more seriously. Dancing in a Coca Cola advertisement was his first bit on camera. Reeves began with small roles in various Canadian television programs while working as a manager in a pasta shop in Toronto. He debuted in a Canadian film called "One Step Away" in 1985. But the American audiences were best introduced to him in 1986 when he appeared in a drama called "Youngblood". But it wasn't until the release of Tim Hunter's "The Rivers Edge" that Keanu got the breakthrough he was looking for. In 1988 he found himself drawing a favorable nod for his role in "Dangerous Liaisons". In "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" his performance as a moronic, guitar wielding wannabe rocker traveling through time was so popular that it resulted both in a sequel and a cartoon. This kind of acting was transforming him into something of an 80's icon. So, it wasn't long before Reeves was looking to take his career to next level. Reeves battled the undead in Francis Ford Coppola's production, "Dracula" in 1992, and got favorable reviews for his role as a rich kid turned street hustler opposite River Phoenix in "My Own Private Idaho". He also did "Freaked" the same year. In 1993 he surprised the audiences with his unex pectedly complex performance as Siddhartha in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Little Buddha". Just when the audiences began thinking whether they had underestimated Reeve's talent as an actor, he surprised them with 1994's mega hit "Speed". He balanced such big budgeted rushes with "Johnny Mnemonic" and "Chain Reaction" as well as romantic efforts in "A Walk in the Clouds" and "Feeling Minnesota" all in 1995-96. Reeves spooked audiences as an attorney suffering from a major case of soul corrosion in the 1997 horror thriller "The Devil's Advocate". But it was 1999 when Reeves entered into the most successful stage of his career thus far. Reeve's career reached feverish heights because of Wachowski Brothers' wildly imaginative and strikingly visual sci-fi breakthrough "The Matrix". Here Reeves played the role of a computer hacker who discovers that he may be humankind's last hope in the forthcoming war against mainframe computers. With the cultural phenomenon of "The Matrix" soaring higher and higher, it was only a matter of time that the Wachowski Brothers announced that the film had originally been conceived as the beginning of a trilogy and two sequels were in the works. It's only been weeks since the first of the sequels "Matrix Reloaded" had been released, playing havoc at the box office from the very first day' ensuring that the film would be among this year's biggest hits. As well as ensuring Keanu Reeves' status as a Hollywood top notch star, he also just happens to be a member of the band 'Dogstar'.
Big, brassy 'Matrix' [Alameida Times 05/06/03]
You want "Matrix," we'll give you "Matrix" so big and brassy that it will fill your eyeballs almost to bursting. Which, if you are a fan of the Wachowski brothers' "The Matrix Reloaded," is no doubt what you want.
The movie is all about eye candy and experience. And Friday, the experience becomes giant-size when "The Matrix Reloaded" moves into the IMAX theaters at the Regal Hacienda Crossings 20 in Dublin and the Metreon in San Francisco.
The sci-fi extravaganza has been digitally remastered to fit the IMAX screen, which is eight stories tall and 100 feet wide, and to fill your ears with 12,000 watts of sound from the IMAX six-channel audio system.
The screenings will bombard you with all you can stand of the movie's good characters, played by Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Laurence Fishburne, as they engage in countless martial-arts battles with nefarious Agent Smith, played by Hugo Weaving, his many replicants, and other agents of the machines that rule the world.
Keanu Is Keeping His Money, Thanks Very Much [Fox News 05/06/03]
Matrix star Keanu Reeves is a generous guy, but reports of his wild generosity are not true.
Yesterday the British tabloids, in a fit of creative mania, decided that Reeves had given $82 million to the crew who worked on The Matrix films.
"I have enough money to last for centuries," Reeves proclaimed, and it was reprinted everywhere.
Where do they get this stuff from?
Indeed, one of the people cited as receiving a check for $2.8 million was Kym Barrett, the costume designer for The Matrix series. She's the one who made Neo's famous long trench coat. So I called Barrett up and asked her how she felt being a millionaire.
"A what?" she asked. Sadly, she has not gotten a dime in the mail from Reeves.
"I mean, he's very nice. He plays with my kids. We love working with him, but no, no checks," she laughed.
Was there anyone who'd gotten this money as described in breathless reports?
"No one I know of," she said.
Barrett, by the way, wouldn't mind if Warner Bros., or Joel Silver wanted to merchandise those long coats. She's ready to become a fashion designer.
As for Keanu doling out the big bucks, here's the real story: two years ago he put some of his upfront money back into the production budget to ensure the creative staff -- costumes, special effects etc -- could continue working on the trilogy. This was back when the first Matrix had not yet hit pay dirt. Since then, believe me, the movies have been such a success that everyone's gotten what they needed.
But Keanu has not written any personal checks to anyone. Sorry.
Anthrax.com: Us With Mr. Anderson [30/05/03]
From: Skizum
Sent: Friday, May 30, 2003 7:27 PM
To: brent beat manifesto
Subject: last night
GREAT SHOW IN L.A., I think it was one of our best.
So many of our friends were there to share in the festivities, I give it an A+. I talked to Keanu about one movie - THE RIVER'S EDGE, I loved that movie and he agreed that it was one of his favorites. I did bring up that other film he did "The Matrix" , we liked that one too. I wish I had my NEO figure last night....dammit!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 04, 2003
Summer serves up a series of sequels, action heroes and Jen and Ben at the multiplex [Herald.com 04/06/03]
MAY 15
The Matrix Reloaded: Keanu Reeves returns as Neo, the messiah figure destined to lead mankind in a revolt against the machines that have enslaved us. But is he really the anointed one? The writing-directing team of brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski deepen the mythology of their post-apocalyptic future to confounding degrees -- this is the talkiest, most confusing blockbuster of the summer -- but they also deliver the goods in terms of ''Whoa!'' spectacle, including an outrageous, 15-minute chase sequence involving cars, motorcycles, tractor-trailers, swordplay, gunfights and kung-fu that is one for the history books. Ends with the words ''To Be Concluded'' in The Matrix Revolutions, due in November. Admit it: You can't wait.
Tuesday, June 03, 2003
Die Another Day, dude: Canadians choose Keanu Reeves as their Canadian James Bond [Canadian Newswire 03/06/03]
TORONTO, June 3 /CNW/ - Forty-two per cent of commuters in Toronto and
Vancouver would cast action star, Keanu Reeves, as the first Canadian James
Bond, according to an informal survey released today to celebrate the launch
of Die Another Day, available on Special Edition DVD and VHS tomorrow.
While Reeves beat out fellow Toronto actors Kiefer Sutherland and Mike
Myers by a clear majority, the survey revealed that choosing a Canadian Bond
Girl was a more difficult task. Though Vancouver-born Carrie-Anne Moss was
chosen as the Canadian Bond Girl with 43 per cent of the national vote, 39 per
cent of Torontonians selected the buxom Pamela Anderson, narrowly edging out
Carrie-Anne Moss by one per cent. In Vancouver, commuters were more decisive:
51 per cent of voters chose Moss over Anderson.
On May 27, 1,280 commuters in Toronto and Vancouver were asked the
question, "Who would you choose to be the Canadian Bond and Canadian Bond
Girl?" The informal survey was conducted in high-traffic commuter areas to
support the DVD and VHS release of MGM Home Entertainment's newest James Bond
blockbuster, Die Another Day, available in stores nationwide on June 3.
Take The Red Pill [Tom Paine.com 02/05/03]
We never thought we'd catch ourselves calling Keanu Reeves a Hollywood cliché-buster, but his recent act of benevolence definitely breaks out of the me-first, pampered-star paradigm. Now if only the Upper One Percent who'll be benefiting so mightily from Bush's recent tax cut would follow suit and hand their refunds over to the people who make our economy work: the behind-the-scenes folks who, instead of making whiz-bang special effects, perform the prosaic tasks that multimillionaires rarely sully their hands with.
Keanu reloaded [Mid Day.com By: Noel de Souza - June 3, 2003]
For an actor who actively resists fame, Keanu Reeves has become a reluctant movie star and has acquired a few trimmings to go with it.
Last week he put down the hefty sum of $7 million to purchase his first house in the Hollywood hills and now demands — and gets — a salary of $15 million per sequel of The Matrix films.
The Matrix and Keanu are synonymous; it is hard to imagine another actor in the role of Neo.
But all this does not mean that he has acquired a star attitude. To begin with he’s successfully cocooned his public image somewhere in a mist and therefore remains an enigma.
Keanu Reeves in
Matrix Reloaded
When answering personal questions by the press he’s learned the art of minimalism, not wanting to conjure up the demons of his past. When he was a child his father abandoned his family, for a long time Keanu carried the scars and pain of that event.
In 1994, his father served two years in prison for possession of large quantities of cocaine and heroin.
In 1988, when riding his motorcycle in the canyons of the hills off the coast of California, Keanu took a nasty spill that has left him with a scar on his stomach having had an operation to remove his spleen.
It’s not his first scar; that came on his leg in 1996. But the biggest pain struck him in 1999 when his girlfriend, who was expecting his child, revealed that at full term the baby was found dead in her womb. And the very next year she died.
Up until he bought the house, Reeves was rootless and showed no signs of settling down. He’s close to his mother and sister. The latter now has cancer. He’s getting on in years so wouldn’t he like a family of his own?
“Yes, it depends on the day. Some days you are sitting at home or are in bed or walking around and you’re like ‘I’m lonely’ and some days you are like ‘Thank God I’m alone’.”
The open road is where Keanu is most at peace; he has two vintage motorcycles, which he rides every day, alternating between them.
While on the subject of Speed, which co-starred Sandra Bullock and was a box office success, Reeves turned down a hefty paycheck to forego the sequel.
“It would have been more than $20 million by the end of it, but I have no regrets. My days have been for the most part blessed.”
Reeves was keen to do The Matrix for more reasons than just artistic sensibility. “The whole idea of questioning where you are and why you are is something I go through all the time. When you think you’ve taken one step forward but in actuality you’ve taken two steps back.
Or in life when you think you’ve got it, you’re thrown a curve ball and everything is turned upside down.
The Matrix is more about a beginning than an end; it’s a film about questioning, awakening, consciousness, and love. Support, faith, evolution, man’s relationship to machines.”
A heavy load for an actor to carry as a back-story.
Doing a Matrix film has its share of physicality, so Keanu has to go through a rigorous regime.
“I had four months of basic training which consisted of two hours of stretching in the morning and an hour to hour-and-a-half of kicking and specific exercises. I’d maybe focus on a spinning roundhouse kick or a jump sidekick or something and then I’d break for lunch.
After lunch I’d warm back up and stretch a little more. Then if there was choreography to learn for the use of weapons, I’d do that and some more kicking and weight training at the end of the day. I spent a month working on the fight sequences and about three weeks with the stuntmen.”
The character Neo, played by Keanu Reeves in The Matrix films is almost Christ-like with an aura of mysticism surrounding him.
“It’s a film that utilises a lot of mystical, religious themes, it’s a synthesis of so many different things.
It might be an aspect of rebirth, dying, of Christianity or freeing one’s mind in context, in a kind of Siddharthic aspect. The characters ask the questions.”
The Matrix Reloaded, in spite of its spectacular action sequences, is a thinking person’s film.
What you learn about Keanu Reeves at the end of an interview is that he’s a gentle, polite human being, that he’s book smart and that somewhere deep down is a soul that has been wounded and yearning to be free.
Matrix Reloaded opens on June 13
Keanu's $313m pay day [Sun Morning Herald June 3 2003]
According to press reports today, his contract pays him 15 per cent of the gross take - giving him a paycheque of $US206 million ($A313.79 million) when videogame, DVD, TV and merchandising sales are taken into account.
And he still stands to earn more when the final film in the trilogy The Matrix: Revolutions comes out in November.
Monday, June 02, 2003
Kindly Keanu: [Empireonline 30/05/03]
Good old Keanu Reeves, while many Hollywood stars hoard their millions and live a life of opulence, Reeves has given £50 million of his Matrix sequel profits to the effects and costume people who worked on the movies. Having secured a deal that guarantees 15 per cent of the box office for both films, Reeves has nonetheless risen hugely in our estimations with an act of largesse that will likely see him receiving Christmas cards well into the next millennium. "Money is the last thing I think about," he said, "I could live on what I’ve already made for the next few centuries."
HOW UN"INDUSTRY" CAN ONE MAN BE? [William Gibson 31/05/03]
*This* much, apparently:
http://www.hellomagazine.com/2003/05/28/keanureeves/
Soldiering on
[Calgary Sun 02/06/2003]
Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Jada Pinkett Smith originally flirted with the possibility of playing Trinity in The Matrix. At the same time, her husband Will Smith was involved in talks to play the main character Neo, "the chosen one."
TOUGH ... Jada Pinkett Smith stars as the gung-ho femme fighter Niobe in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
It did not work out for either actor for the film that became a 1999 hit and pop culture phenomenon. Larry and Andy Wachowski ended up with two Canadians in the key roles.
Keanu Reeves was cast in the Neo role — it dramatically resuscitated his mainstream movie star career — while the then unknown Carrie-Anne Moss did a star turn as Trinity.
And that was exactly right for the original film, Pinkett Smith says now.
The 32-year-old says her husband has no regrets. "Nah. He knows for an absolute fact that he couldn't have done the job that Keanu did. He knows it would have been a different movie with him in it. He thinks he probably would have ruined it."
As for her own participation, things worked out perfectly. She and the Wachowski brothers, parted on good terms in 1999 and the co-writers/co-directors wrote her into the two sequels. Pinkett Smith plays the gung-ho femme fighter Niobe in both The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, which is due in theatres Nov. 7.
"What I loved about Niobe was that she was created for me," Pinkett Smith says of a character who joins Neo, Trinity and warrior Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) on a quest to discover the secrets of the Matrix computer system that threatens free humans in a retro-future world.
NAKED TRUTH
"I met the Wachowskis for the first Matrix," Pinkett Smith says, "so I really didn't need to read anything when I was told: 'They created this character for you! Really? Any nudity?' " The answer turned out to be no.
"All right then!" Pinkett Smith says of how she felt joining the Matrix team, fully clothed. "Let's get it on!"
Her husband is not jealous, says Pinkett Smith. Instead, he's supportive. "There's no rubbing faces in anything. You know, he's just really happy for me because he knew how much loved the first one was. And to be able for it to come back around again, and for me to have the opportunity to be involved, he was just really happy for me. He really was."
The couple have two children, son Jaden Christopher Syre Smith, who will be five in July, and daughter Willow Camille Reign Smith, who will be three a week before Revolutions is released.
HIGH PROFILE
Willow was born just before Smith had to ramp up her physical training and join the rest of the cast in intensive martial arts and other physical training for the sequels.
Even though the kids are young, they're eager to see mom in the Matrix movies, if and when they're allowed to go. "Yeah," says Pinkett Smith, "they're very psyched."
She, on the other hand, is not worked up yet, especially about the exalted and sometimes controversial place The Matrix movies have in pop culture.
"It hasn't really hit me yet, in that sense. I did this movie because I love the Wachowski brothers. I did it because I loved the project, you know. I really didn't think about the (hype) because, you know in my life right now ... I mean, come on."
She laughs. As a movie star married to a movie star, Pinkett Smith knows fame already.
"So, at the end of the day, this really was for the love of it. And to do a movie like this, it has to be. It has to be."
Charlie's Angels the answer to a fashion prayer [BY WESLEY MORRIS The Boston Globe 01/06/03]
Matrix got you down? Tired of all the dreary black-on-black-on-
black, the masking sunglasses, the hair gel applied like mortar? Do all the creaky leathers worn by Neo, Trinity, and crew make you long for the touch, the feel, of cotton? Do you miss frolic? Do you want flip-flops? Do you need flesh?
''Yes'' means you might be suffering from Matrix fashion fatigue, which also means you might be totally ready for heels and abs, bikinis and cosmetics: You might be ready for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. The sequel to the 2000 film of the kitsch TV series doesn't fly until June 27, but know that it's a fashion-besotted assault of vintage couture and strategically engineered get-ups. And by ''strategically engineered,'' I mean that halter top with the vertical corset lacing that's found its way onto a judo-licious Cameron Diaz.
The movie's clothes are mercifully seasonal; just try hitting the pool in Keanu Reeves's floor-length duster.
'Real' Estate? [The Guardian] 02/06/03 by John Sutherland
Keanu claims he enjoys living out of a suitcase. So can a few fireplaces and ornamental fish tie him down?
One face has gazed at us, enigmatically and ubiquitously, over the past three weeks. It glides by on the sides of buses, stares down from hoardings, looks up - impassively but beautifully - from glossy magazine covers. Almond shades, orientally high cheekbones, Anglo Saxon pallor: Keanu, Neo, the "One", blend of all races, cool wind over mountains (does the Hawaiian actually mean that?).
One thing we thought we knew about Mr Reeves: he's a nomad. He's been described as "the world's richest homeless person". A wandering star, he lives out of a suitcase. His preferred resting place is poolside at the Chateau Marmont (where Belushi drugged himself to death), playing computer chess, chain- smoking, soothed by the ceaseless hum of traffic on nearby Sunset Boulevard. "There's something about me," he told an interviewer, "that enjoys the fact that I can move around freely and not have any material things which tie me down to any one point."
It's part of the mystique. For Keanu to own a house (fix the plumbing, put the cat out) would be like Leonardo DiCaprio pumping his own gas, Tom Cruise grouting floor tiles, or Winona queuing up like the rest of us to pay for her purchases.
No more Gypsy in his soul. Last week the real estate section of the Los Angeles Times announced to the world that "Keanu Reeves, star of the futuristic thriller The Matrix Reloaded, has purchased a Hollywood Hills home for close to $5 million."
It is, we learned, a "gated estate built in the late 80s as an art collector's residence". It has dramatic city views, high ceilings and massive wall space for displaying art. There are three bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms in slightly more than 5,000 sq ft. The one-storey "contemporary" also has a koi pond, a 50ft infinity pool, a centre-courtyard and three fireplaces.
Fans like me cut through the realtors' fluff to the important stuff. The paper didn't give the address. But it recorded that "Richard Ehrlich and Kurt Rappaport, both with Westside Estate Agency in Beverly Hills," had the listing.
Like all high-profile agencies, Westside ("Quality - Service - Discretion") has a website (www.w-e-agency.com) with video tour facilities. Properties linger a few hours on the lists, until the huge amounts of money dawdle across bank accounts.
I quickly scanned the Westside inventory. The only possible property, at that price and with those named agents (on 6%, gross), was clearly identifiable. It had gone off the site the next day - but not before I had a chance to video-saunter by the koi pond, inspect the master bedroom, and even peek at the bathroom pedestal which, wonderful thought, will receive those starry buttocks. Peeping John.
Some might pay for my information. Websites such as www.contactanycelebrity.com charge you $30 for access to their database. I wouldn't mind betting they don't have Keanu's home address. Yet.
I drove out there last night, spurning the hawkers at the border of Beverly Hills with their tawdry "Star Maps". But Keanu's new home is, I have to report, no big deal. At least, not to the naked, unlensed, eye.
Peering through the gate, it didn't look more impressive than what a podiatrist might aspire to. Hell, if I'd got in before the last housing boom, I could have owned something like that myself - not in Beverly Hills, but certainly out in Bill and Ted's hometown, San Dimas.
Westside's current listings start with mansions going for $18m. The five-mill-and-under stuff is strictly low range. Keanu allegedly got $30m for the Matrix sequels. Why would someone with that kind of money buy something so, well, "blah"?
It worried me. Looking at the unimpressive facade, a terrible thought struck me. "Agent Rappaport"? "Agent Ehrlich"? "Real" Estate? Is it? Am I, horrible thought, caught in a ... Quick, give me the red pill.
Sunday, June 01, 2003
CONSTANTINE (HELLBLAZER) [Comic Book Resource 22/05/03]
Ryan Downey of MTV.com recently chatted up "The One" himself, Keanu Reeves, who last week re-asserted himself as the big-screen's #1 superhero in "The Matrix: Reloaded."
Downey got the actor to spill the beans on "Constantine," the movie version of DC/Vertigo's popular "John Constantine: Hellblazer" comic. Reeves is attached to star as an Americanized version of the character.
Of course, playing the caustic sorcerer will be a sharp contrast to the Matrix's soft spoken and often-confused Neo. Reeves told MTV he was drawn to the part by the characters edge.
"[It's] his anger. He's angry, but he's got a good heart," Reeves told MTV.
According to the report, "Constantine" is due in theaters next summer. Reeves first has to complete an untitled project with writer/director Nancy Meyers ("What Women Want").
The Professor escapes the almighty Matrix [OC Register 01/06/03] By BARRY KOLTNOW
It's been a long time but the professor is finally back in his office, ready to sort through your letters and answer your queries about the summer movie season.
He would have responded to your questions sooner, but the professor was in New York City, where he was producing albums for his longtime buddies Ruben Studdard and Clay Aiken.
When he wasn't producing albums, the professor was busy in New Zealand, helping director Peter Jackson edit the final "Lord of the Rings" adventure. At about the same time, he was commuting to Chicago to advise the Wachowski brothers on how to make "The Matrix Revolutions" more fun than "The Matrix Reloaded."
Despite what you might have heard, the professor was the one who suggested that the second and third installments of "The Matrix" trilogy be released six months apart in the same calendar year. Keanu Reeves kept saying "No way, dude," but the Wachowskis knew that the professor was right.
And now, the professor is delighted to answer your questions.
QUESTION: What happened to "The Matrix Reloaded," whose revenue dropped 60 percent in its second weekend?
PROFESSOR BARRYWOOD: Theaters canceled their half- price geek specials and there was no one left to see the movie on the second weekend.
Celebrity Q&A: Why do we hear so little of Keanu Reeves' life off-screen? [Sun Sentinel 01/06/03]
The millionaire -- he earned $15 million apiece for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, due Nov. 5 -- is notoriously tight- lipped about his private life. Reeves, 38, has had a series of girlfriends, most notably record executive Jennifer Syme, who miscarried their baby girl in 1999. The couple broke up soon after, and two years later Syme was killed in a car accident. More recently, Reeves has been linked with 30-year-old actress Claire Forlani and 31-year-old Amanda De Cadenet, former wife of Duran Duran bassist John Taylor.
The woman he seems closest to is his sister, 37-year-old Kim. The two have been devoted to each other ever since their drug-addicted Hawaiian-Chinese father, Sam, left the family when they were little. Their mother, a former British showgirl, raised them in Toronto, and they have had little contact with Sam, who spent two years in prison for drug possession.
Ten years ago, Keanu was devastated when Kim was diagnosed with leukemia. The disease went into remission, but when it resurfaced last year, he arranged for her to be flown to his location shoots so he could care for her. This has included trips to Australia, where he spent a year filming the Matrix sequels, and Paris for an as-yet-untitled romantic comedy co-starring Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.
