Due to bandwidth, keanuvision will probably go down one more time this month, most likely sometime tomorrow so I thought I would post this tonight.
My back-up plan isn't quite settled in yet so I just wanted you to know that I will probably just leave the site down until the new cycle starts on the first of June.
Thanks to everyone that is still hanging in there with me.
This pic is the front and back cover design I made to submit for consideration for use on their (hopefully soon) upcoming becky demo CD. Paulie, becky's guitarist, made the request to the beckyband egroup to submit designs. After I did this one, the outline of what was wanted was made clearer and more specific (what they ultimately wanted was more of a logo, no photographs) so this one not only didn't make the cut, it never got to the audition. But I thought it turned out nice so I wanted to show it off.
All of the submissions that were sent in from becky fans are now displayed on the beckyband.com page.
Yes, there's a few of mine in there, but I won't tell you which ones.
Go check them all out, lots of talented fans out there.
Oh! And the dandelion image is one of Jon Sullivan's photographs.
Yup, someone bid 10k for those signed tighty-whiteys. Craziness.
This item was obviously listed by a complete fruitbat.
And I can't believe that no one has bid on these jeans.
And I'm really really busy, but thought I'd better post something.
Oh, this pic from today's Pic-of-the-Day club makes me giggle madly.
I just got off a 30 minute phone call with the guy that wrote my business software.
We spent the last 25 minutes talking about Reloaded.
...from FreeWillAstrology.com:
Virgo~week of May 29, 2003 More than seven centuries before a few European men dared to sail beyond the safe boundaries of their known world, entire Polynesian families crossed vast expanses of the Pacific Ocean in catamarans. The first humans to arrive in Hawaii, they were led by "wayfinders." These miracle workers navigated the uncharted seas by reading star positions, discerning weather patterns, and interpreting the ocean's colors and movements. I want to make a connection between you and those pioneering souls, Virgo. In recognition of the brave, exploratory urges now ripening in you, I hereby give you the honorary title of "wayfinder."
I'm not sure if A&E's Biography on Keanu is going to air tonight or not. Some people are saying it's been rescheduled, but I also have friends emailing me to let me know that they saw it advertised. Not that it matters to me, I don't have cable anyway.
Plus, apparently it sucks.
Of course, if I wasn't such a big hayfever victim slacker I might have something to post now that the site is back up.
As it is, I'll just apologize for the outage.
Here's a quote (thx wry!) from People Mag (there's a whole article about him in the June 2 issue):
Reeve's friends call him shy, loyal, generous--and a man of expansive appetites. "When we were playing in St. Louis, Keanu came knocking on everyone's door and said, 'We're in the land of ribs! Let's go find America's best ribs!'" says Bret Domrose, his bandmate in the rock group Dogstar. "Keanu makes a point to live it up, not on a five star-level, but in a down-home way."
Hope everyone is having a good day. Enjoy your BBQs.
I'm having my ass kicked by hay fever so I'm going to stay in bed and eat tangerines.
*sniffle*
Snipped from an article on Cannes in The Age:
"Less of a surprise was Keanu Reeves's snappy repartee in the press conference for The Matrix Reloaded. Someone asked kindly whether the success of the film had made it more difficult for him to live a private life. Reeves thought for some time, his expression still as artlessly innocent as we remember him in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, the film that made him what he is today. Laurence Fishburne, who was sitting next to him, decided to help him out. He whispered in his ear for a long time. Reeves nodded. He faced his interlocutor, took a breath and then exhaled slowly. "No," he said. No. No! That was it! Isn't Keanu fab? And come to think of it, he doesn't seem to be ageing either. Get that boy to Thunderbird Island right now!"
Funny how that single word answer got a whole paragraph, though huh?
Foxy like a clever, he is.
And is anyone else besides me wanting to see "The Brown Bunny" just to see what the fuss is about?
And big thanks to Keanuette for the heads up. The Matrix cast presented at the MTV Japan video awards. Yahoo has photos...
Aren't those the same clothes he got off the plane in?
Poor baby must have lost his luggage.
According to Big White Guy, the title "The Matrix Reloaded" got translated to:
22nd Century
Killer Matrix 2
War with the Future
in Hong Kong.
Thanks, Jenn!
Photographs by Sam Jones
Thank you to Petra for these scans....
I've pretty much given up on getting any of the new Matrix memorabilia (besides a couple shirts), but if anyone out there is thinking of bidding on one of the key/necklaces without the matching box I wanted to point out that the one in the picture is not what you want. Unless the key is rounded and has the 5-15 stamp (like in this auction), it's just some old housekey that the seller has put on the chain. Probably so they could keep or sell the nice lock box seperately.
When I first saw them I thought that maybe they were using the prop keys from the keymaker's room on the necklaces (and still think that would be a very cool thing to give away), but when I saw the real ones that go with the promo box, I realized that these were basically just bogus.
I just looked and there are a BUNCH of these bogus key necklaces out there (with those tempting "buy it now" options....evil!), in fact this one is the only legit set without the box I can find right now.
So you might want to skip bidding on one unless you know it's the original untouched set.
Keanu celebrates his 17th day without shaving by going to Tokyo to promote the Matrix Reloaded. A fresh-faced Hugo Weaving offers a cuddle.
Audiences are plugging into "The Matrix Reloaded" in record numbers, powering the second chapter of the "Matrix" trilogy to unprecedented box office receipts. Making motion picture history, Warner Bros. Pictures' and Village Roadshow Pictures' blockbuster film earned $157.6 million in its first seven days of domestic release, setting a new record for the biggest opening week ever, and surpassing the $151.6 million grossed by previous record holder "Spider-Man" in its first seven days. "The Matrix Reloaded's" gross to date is now $158.2 million.
"Reloaded" also charted the fastest climb to $150 million in film history, hitting the mark on its sixth day of release and continuing to build momentum. "We are extremely proud of the success of `The Matrix Reloaded,'" said Dan Fellman, President of Domestic Distribution, Warner Bros. Pictures. "It is vastly gratifying when a film that we believe in so strongly is received by audiences with such unparalleled enthusiasm."
"We set the bar remarkably high for `Reloaded,'" said producer Joel Silver. "Our ultimate goal, made possible by the brilliant work of Larry and Andy Wachowski and our exceptional cast and crew, was to deliver an extraordinary film to the fans who have waited three years for the next chapter in the epic story of `The Matrix.' Their commitment has been unprecedented, and the film's success is a testament to that devotion."
Funny thing happened on the way to pick up Roi for dinner last night...I got freaking rear-ended at a stop light. I'm fine and the damage is minimal, mostly just the imprints of the screws of the guy's license plate and a bit of a scrape, but since the Station Wagon is barely two months old, so it WILL be claimed and repaired. He also said that right before he kissed my bumper with his front end, he was looking at my license plate, and mentioned that he just saw Reloaded Tuesday night.
It's too bad I was thisclose to wrapping my fingers around his throat for hitting me, as we could have dated.
I think I will probably go see the movie again tonight. I've done a lot of reading the past few days, so it will be interesting to view it again with some new knowledge.
I know that the reactions around have been pretty mixed. You'll never see me say anything bad about this movie, the cast or the Wachowskis, though.
Like they need a fan griping and nitpicking when they've apparently got their hands full. What, with post-production on Revolutions and pissing off not only the Republicans, but the albino community as well.
Of course, Keanu has been handling the promo tour with class.
"Wearing a black suit and white shirt he withstood the pouring rain, walking from fan to fan to sign autographs and pose for photographs.The star, who ploughed a lot of his own money into the film, spent 30 minutes rewarding those who had waited so long, and later said: 'I wish I could have stayed out longer.
'It's absolutely fantastic,' he continued. '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.
'I've loved making the film and I just hope that it brings as much enjoyment to those who watch it.' "
It does baby, it so does.
No more pop-up comments for some reason, so now the comment link will take you to the individual entry page where you comment at the bottom. It's the same thing, only different.
Everything will be better soon.
I'm going to split the site in two and relocate this blog.
More info as it draws nearer.
Yahoo has some photos up from the London premiere.
I also want to mention the Matrix Essays Blog, for some nice discussion and linkage to more good things Matrix.
Or for something less serious, blame Rhonda for this link...
*snerk*
But here's some freewill astrology...
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Your sense of mission should be heating up, Virgo. Your tribe needs you more than usual. Your potential is ripening at the same time it is becoming most useful to your cohorts. But wait: That doesn't mean your path will be effortless in the coming weeks. There will be adversaries and agents of confusion you'll have to outwit. In order to be a radiant instigator of beauty and truth for your allies and a cagey master
of strategy when dealing with your competitors, I recommend the paradoxical approach Jesus described: Be as pure and harmless as a dove and as wise as a serpent.
There are some technical behind-the-scenes things that are pissing me off today. If things go a little weird, that just means the fucker chose the wrong door again.
You can help me de-bug by leaving a happy comment.
It's a good thing I managed to get the cute candy tank top on eBay that I wanted, or I'd consider becoming a VFX/Grip/Caterer groupie in order to get some of the sweet sweet swag from Reloaded.
There's quite a bit and it's fun to look through (even if a bit taunting for a t-shirt collector like me).
I like that accounting and the medic team have good senses of humor.
I actually hope that not much of this ever appears on the 'bay, and I don't think it will. I imagine that what these t-shirts represent in labor and love is far more precious than the pretty penny they might fetch.
Besides, I can't afford to bid on them anyway.
Well, I didn't actually make it to another showing of Reloaded this weekend.
Not that they needed my nine bucks, as the box-office pretty much trounced everyone else (thanks to Anne for the boxofficemojo.com link).
Everyone I know has wanted to talk to me about this movie. I guess I'm the hometown "Keanu pundit" (tho I prefer "maven").
I love the conversations that start out "I hear it sucks."
Because then I get to argue why it doesn't and that "you're just an idiot".
That's always fun for me.
Because there is no 'suck' in this movie (except maybe in the ladies' room, heh). Sure, it's a little dense with ideas and maybe, just maybe it didn't live up to the hype (but does anything? ever?) and perhaps sometimes one can be a little distracted by the imagery and not be able to catch all the words but what's wrong with a film that makes you work a little bit?
And to those that complain that it was too hard to make sense of I have to remind that it's really just half a movie. A half of a movie that needs to be watched more than once or even twice. And that you need to pay attention, because every thing, every scene, every character has its purpose.
Granted, that in some cases the purpose might be to show off a little bit. I do think the burly brawl went on a smidge too long (and while I'm on the subject, while the virtual camera was impressive, certainly better than anything we have seen in motion pictures yet, I don't think we need to worry about virtual actors taking away jobs. Maybe it's because I'm so very tuned into Keanu's face and the way he moves that I didn't enjoy the effect as maybe I should have). But I don't agree that the Zion dance/ Neo and Trinity sex scene was gratuitous. I think they were very important to show the passion and love of human beings. To emphasize the flesh. I think that there was a lot to tell in this middle part of the story and it was done well with amazing attention to detail.
And it's in the details that you will find both the story and the genius that goes into telling it.
Like this....
"We have all seen many movies like Hackers which pass off ridiculous 3D animated eye-candy scenes as hacking. So I was shocked to find that Trinity does it properly in The Matrix Reloaded. She whips out Nmap version 2.54BETA25, uses it to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then proceeds to exploit it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001. Shame on them for being vulnerable. "
Thanks to Jen from Illusionaire for the info.
It's that kind of fine touch for which I adore this movie, and those involved with it.
After the second viewing, I even felt myself start to complain that as a whole there was something I was not quite happy about. But then if I broke it down into individual scenes, I have to say that each one was perfect. I think the reason that the whole film seems "off" is because it's unresolved and only after we see the third film, and complete the cycle from birth to life to death will we really appreciate Reloaded.
And at that point you might as well put a big bowl of water at the Wachowski's feet, because we will all be their bitches.
The thing with Keanu Reeves is that he requires the very quality he offers to the world – a degree of acceptance that is rare in such neurotic times. Like the trouble he has with questions – I mean, don't you know how aggressive, how totally inappropriate questions can be?
In 1992, Reeves was doing a cover interview for Movieline magazine, and he was given the not unreasonable (or unlikely) question: "Why do you act?". After a great deal of hesitation, philosophy, and shifting the position of his motor-cycle helmet on the table, he came up with "You know, man, whatever". But then as time passed some seed of doubt began to sprout – perhaps that question needed more. Here is the more: "Did you ever want to jump off a bridge on to the back of a truck? I just remembered your flight of fancy. You know, about why I want to act. It's a question that arises every day. I mean, it's the meat of the matter. I just didn't feel like meandering, you know. I was trying to give you a clear, defined answer. So: did you ever want to jump off a bridge on to the back of a moving truck?"
Some people confronting Reeves have opted for the trite, cynical answer – that this handsome, deadpan guy is pulling their legs. But now, as Reeves comes close to 40 (as an age) and is pulling down a minimum of 30 (as in millions of dollars) for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolution – and that is 30 up front, before the profit participation on these immense commercial enterprises – then I think it's time for us to look in the mirror and ask, "Who is the idiot then, dude?"
For it's not Keanu – or "cool air over the mountains" as he was named in Hawaiian – it's anyone who's ever doubted him. Truth to tell, I have to break the news – this after months of Hawaiian research – "Keanu" doesn't actually mean "cool air over the mountains". It means simply "the coolness" – and who needs anything more, when you can wear black leather and rimless granny shades, when you can fly and make love and utter runic inanities about existence that might look silly in interviews but send the teen Matrix fanatics into trance?
Isn't it clear? Keanu is not of woman born. He's something else. He's either a robot or a spirit. It's the only possible explanation for how he gets away with it. So it's some kind of androidism plus ... plus what? Well, as Keanu admitted on American television when pushed by the stooge interviewer Charlie Rose to explain the weird mixture of drab fashion, kung fu, Kahlil Gibran and aerobics in The Matrix: "Well man, I'm going to say it. I think it's love."
I think so too: it's robotics + love = our future. And I'm outta here.
I know. You can hurl the "facts" at me: that he was born in Beirut, Lebanon, his mother a showgirl and later a designer for Alice Cooper; his father a geologist who later served time on multiple drugs charges. The upbringing in Australia and Canada. Dropping out of high school at 17 to concentrate on surfing and ice hockey and the motorcycling. I don't care. I think he's the man who fell to earth. I mean, use the evidence of your own eyes. Look at The Matrix Reloaded and then look at Keanu in River's Edge (1986), in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989), in My Own Private Idaho (1991), in Speed (1994), in The Devil's Advocate (1997). Is there really the slightest evidence that he has grown one minute older?
And then recollect that this is the man who said, "What would happen if you melted? You know, you never really hear this talked about much, but spontaneous combustion? It exists ... people burn from within. [This is true – I'm burning.] Sometimes they'll be in a wooden chair and the chair won't burn, but there'll be nothing left of the person. Except sometimes his teeth. Or the heart. No one speaks about this, but it's for real." I mean, is that a human being or a robot anxious about stray sparks?
Not that I mean to complain. If there's anything that a hundred years of movies with real people has taught us it is that those people are trouble. They forget their lines. They overeat. They do drugs. They have crises and other problems. Keanu has always been above problems. You don't have to direct him; you can't – he is nuance-free. The equipment is either on or off, which simplifies so much, especially if kids regard his being "on" as the equivalent of a water bed timed to rock 'n' roll.
There are problems, of course: put Keanu in costume – as with Dangerous Liaisons, Bram Stoker's Dracula and Much Ado About Nothing – and there is an obvious dissonance between what is often known as period, or literacy, and the coolness. So put him in the kind of situations that all kids now take for granted – like a city bus that can't drop below 50mph; or being a floating zombie that thinks computer generation is the international language of love. (Is there any phrase that moves us more than "You've got mail"?)
What I really like about Keanu and the coolness is that there's not a glimmer of threat to him. Yes, he can fly, fight off millions of replicants, and just be cool, but he's so gentle, so sweet, so passive. In part, it's the uninflected way of speaking that does it – don't you actually think about the kind of person it is who says: "You've got mail"? Suppose he said more. Suppose you sometimes saw his face in the screen. And then, one day, there he was, young, supple, cool, uncritical, and ready to service all your mad desires without so much as a gravel-sized piece of judgement or commentary. Face it: we all deserve a little Keanu in our lives.
And that's why the films made by the Wachowski brothers are so pregnant. I laugh (ha ha!, I go) when I hear the dumb commentators of the world surmising that The Matrix and its run-ons are the future of the movies. They are quite simply the future of everything. Come to think of it, are we really supposed to credit the Wachowski brothers for being real human beings – or just naughty twins, like bold and italic?
The readers of Empire magazine, in 1997, voted Keanu 23rd in the Top 100 Movie Stars of All Time, but since the readers of Empire believe that All Time began around 1980 (just like a weird computer program) I take that as somewhat churlish. Are we supposed to believe that thereare 22 people more beautiful, cool and lifelike than Keanu? That's the point – he is so extraordinarily life-like. Despite being Canadian. Is there anything more ordinary or charming than Keanu's smiling admission: "I'm a meathead. You've got smart people and you've got dumb people. I just happen to be dumb."
Maybe there will be a few losses along the way as dumb culture sets in. But I think 2,000 years of learning, literature and conversation have been ample proof that smart people, sooner or later, end up unhappy, antisocial and just difficult. Do we really enjoy that, or want it?
You know the answer (as in "You know the answer") and, yes, it's all about love and being cool.
I'm probably going to catch Reloaded one more time this weekend before I really get into talking about it.
I'm thinking of the themes and implications of the film constantly, though.
So much so, that I haven't had an appetite (except a craving for cake) and haven't really even slept well for a couple days.
It's kind of freaking me out.
Anyway, since I know there's enough out there to keep everyone busy, I'm going to try and take the weekend off.
Thank jebus for Yahoo news alerts*.
Reloaded is breaking box-office records.
*(I have no idea what's going on, I've been busy all day trying to design band logos to submit to Paulie of becky for use on their demo CD, wish me luck!)
I'm so glad that I found a Matrix themed picture for today. He's practicing with a weapon, so this must be for Reloaded and the Chateau fight.
I'm also glad for those grey sweatpants.
Once again, thank you to Hugh from Voicemonkey.
Here are my calls to the blog last night. They aren't terribly interesting, but what the hell.
from the parking lot
waiting for Jo
still waiting
in line
in the theater waiting
harassing a stranger
one last short one
aftermath
I just lisened to them all. I'm so dorky.
There are some photos from Cannes up at Yahoo News.
The Official Site says there will be some new content today. I haven't gone poking around yet.
Both The Last Free City and Matrix Fans forums are all abuzz.
Of course there are a ton of reviews. Some good. Some not so much (I'm ashamed that this is my local weekly).
A reminder that the cast will appear on the show The View tomorrow, check your local listings.
Yes, I saw Reloaded again this morning.
I'm still going to have to go a couple more times, there's so much to parse.
Below are a few random thoughts, don't click if you haven't seen it yet.
I mean it.
Apparently, there are no laundry facilities in the real world.
To mention Dozer and not Tank was a bit awkward. OK, he *was* mentioned (just not by name) when Zee says "two brothers". I stand corrected But I do enjoy Link.
I spotted Bret in Zion!
I hate when I'm having sex and my partner has premonitions of my death and just rolls off, that's just rude.
Speaking of which, I hope my next partner doesn't have a problem with Fluke's "Zion" on repeat at full volume while we do it.
My eyes welled up seeing Gloria Foster.
He took the candy but didn't eat it.
I didn't like the music for the Burley Brawl. If it was a homage to something I'll understand, though.
Merovingian is a most delicious villan.
Next time I eat out, I'm having chocolate cake for dessert.
Trinity handled Persephone's request much better than I would have.
My favorite fight was the Chateau, Although I liked the one with Seraph as well. Burly Brawl was all about the effects. I'll elaborate later.
Heh. Bane. Clever name.
One of the main reasons I HAVE to go yet again soon is that I was so distracted by the images on the screens in the scene with the Architect that I missed part of what he was saying.
The sexiest, most intimate scene was not the sex scene in Zion, but when Neo reaches inside Trinity to massage her heart.
"I love you too damn much." THUD!
There's more....a lot more, but a have to get to work.
Oh, P.S. Hello to the girl I met in the parking lot (who's name I've forgotten, sorry!) and gave my card to.
I'm definitely leaving early from work today.
I've updated the sidebar with a stupid radioactive tic-tac looking thing. Click that to listen to the voicemonkey mailbox where I'll be leaving messages tonight. It only posts the most recent message, but don't worry, if there's any real good ones I'll post direct links in an entry tomorrow once I sort them out.
I hope I can manage something interesting to say besides "ohmygod!I'm here" and "ohmygodthelineissolong" or "wheeeeee! I'm drunk!" . I expect the whole experiment to be pretty lame, though. So don't stay home for it or anything.
I'll be meeting Jo between 8 and 8:30 at the hotel bar. I'm not too worried about getting good seats, with stadium seating these days, as long as you aren't in the nausea-inducing first row, pretty much every seat is good.
I hope there aren't any jackasses in the theater (besides me, of course)...I hope I remember to turn the ringer off of the phone.
I'm almost sick with excitement. I'd better go get some tums.
UPDATE:
Because I can never get his comments to work, there's a special voicemonkey message for Tony Pierce, who fucking rocks.
There is a great collection of photos from the premiere over at Yahoo, and I couldn't choose just one or two to use in a wallpaper so I ended up with this.
There's even more to browse through so go check them out, and some of the captions are hilarious.
This week - a very big week for Keanu - freewillastrology.com says this for Virgo:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I predict you will have a lavish amount of composure this week. It won't be tainted by arrogance or feelings of superiority, either. And it won't be fueled by a need to prove anything to anyone. Rather, your poise will flow from your strong new link to your soul's code -- the life blueprint you decided on before you were born. One more thing: While you will be calm, you won't be passive or laidback. This will be an electrifying variety of relaxation.
... is the most beautiful woman in the universe.
goodnight.
PS- I suck. It IS spelled with an E at the end of Anne....
Wah.
I want one of these.
I don't care about the CD/DVDs I just want the box and the key.
Want. Want. Want.
I also want one of the cute promo tank tops.
Thank you to M.C> for sending this article from the Globe and Mail in Canada.
By BOB STRAUSS
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Los Angeles — Keanu Reeves, advanced being.
Five years ago, those words strung together would have elicited derisive laughter. Before then, the closest the Toronto-bred actor came to representing a state of bliss was the ignorant kind associated with his perfectly embodied teenage doofuses from the Bill & Ted and Parenthood movies. Even the budding Buddha role he played for Bernardo Bertolucci had a certain Dude! quality; or, at least, could not avoid audiences projecting one onto it.
But all of that has been changed by The Matrix, in which Reeves started off as a computer hacker who said "whoa" a lot but, by the end, had metamorphosed into the comic-book Christ figure Neo. With most people enslaved by a race of sentient machines, but wired to think they were living free in the high-tech title illusion, Neo and a small band of human rebels represent mankind's only hope of salvation.
Not too much unlike the way The Matrix itself brought new hope to moribund action, sci-fi and special-effects movie genres in 1999. The brainchild of writer-director brothers Larry and Andy Wachowski, the film mixed myth and philosophy, gravity-defying martial arts, digitized dances with bullets and a brain-taxing inquiry into the nature of reality.
Unexpectedly a big hit but a bigger pop-culture watershed, The Matrix had many elements. But as the hotly anticipated Thursday release of its first sequel, The Matrix Reloaded, looms (the final chapter, The Matrix Revolutions, shot concurrently with Reloaded, comes out in November), Reeves remains the franchise's most iconic element.
Dude. Whoa.
"I don't really get that Neo-as-icon thing," says Reeves, 38, lean and more impassively handsome than ever, wearing a blue sports jacket over a red T-shirt. "If anyone comes to me, it's always about The Matrix, it's always about the film. All of us characters are really just part of this world of The Matrix that Larry and Andrew Wachowski have brought to us with their vision and have hoped to create in this collaborative artform. But it's really, The Matrix is it; we're just part of it."
Here's where the real-life advanced being manifests. Any other movie star, especially one whose thespian worthiness has been questioned in the past, would surely display some signs of ego after success of this magnitude (the actor will reportedly pocket $30-million [U.S.] or more, depending on box-office grosses, for the two sequels).
But key as he is to the whole Matrix equation, Reeves remains humble and surprisingly unaffected. He still speaks in either the same goofy, impulsive cadences he did when he was playing teenagers — in such acclaimed pieces as River's Edge and Permanent Record, along with the Bill & Ted burlesques — or the intellectualized, awkwardly formal constructions that reflect the Dangerous Liaisons and My Own Private Idaho section of his résumé.
He has to be goaded to even address the Herculean physical effort required for the sequels' 270-day shoot — and the six months of training that preceded it. Informed that co-star Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Neo's warrior lover Trinity, says she often heard him screaming in pain while preparing for some insanely complicated martial-arts acrobatics, Reeves seems almost embarrassed that it would be considered anything more than part of the job.
"I mean, I'm not doing real kung fu, but I'm doing real stretching, and it's no joke," he'll admit. "It's 20-pound sandbags on your legs, it's people pushing down on you and it's what we call popping. You know that pop sound? It's necessary. Well I mean, if you want to heighten your kicks and stuff like that and have clean lines and lower stances and stuff."
Not one to dwell on suffering, Reeves becomes much more articulate when addressing the artistic intelligence that informed the labour.
"In The Matrix, Neo is an ass-kicking kind of guy," he bluntly but accurately notes. "As an actor, it's a matter of finding that part of oneself and meeting it with the character, then trying to play the role. So it's pretend, but it's also coming from a source inside myself.
"He's a fun guy to play. In the fake fights, in the kung-fu stuff, I got to do some cool things. I wanted to have a certain style of fighting in The Matrix. I wanted it to feel physical and visceral, but at the same time have a kind of style to it where — because it's something that's not really, physically, happening — it had an otherness feeling to it. But there still had to be physical effort on his face, and impact. And I also wanted it to have a certain elegance to it, so that there was, sometimes, effort, but also an aspect of effortlessness to it. That was the kind of style I tried to create in my acting out of the choreography that was developed by the directors and Yuen Wo Ping, the fight choreographer."
Sounds tortured, in several senses of the term. But the results are sublime.
"Keanu expects a lot of himself," Moss observes. "It comes from a very genuine desire to be good and to fulfill his obligations. At times, I would feel like maybe he was pushing it too much. But you know what? In order to do what he did, he had to push himself that hard. He's the most committed person I've ever met."
There are other passions and distractions. He still loves motorcycles despite some hairy accidents. And he's still committed to the band Dogstar, for which he plays bass.
"The status of Dogstar is, we did some shows when I first got back from Australia," Reeves explains. "We had a great time; we went to Japan, and played a show in Bangkok, which was great. Right now, we're taking a little break. We tried to write, but we'd been away from each other for so long . . . We've kind of got to have a band meeting and decide what we want to do here. But it's important to me because I love the friends that I make the music with and it's fun to create."
Also important: getting back on the legitimate stage. Reeves has, after all, played Hamlet as well as Neo and Ted.
"I want to do a play," he says, almost giddy with anticipation. "I need to go do a play. I'm trying to find a new play, and hopefully next year . . . I've gotta get back on stage for a little bit. 'Cause I love it. It's not short segments of acting, it's the whole experience. The continuity aspect of it, the live aspect of it; for me, it's home."
Not that Reeves is doing too badly in the short-take film-acting department. Although his projects between Matrix productions have been modest or forgettable or both (The Gift, The Replacements, Sweet November), Reeves is currently filming a romantic comedy with no less than Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton.
"It's just amazing to see such great artists at their craft," he says with enthusiasm. "And Laurence Fishburne and Hugo Weaving in The Matrix? Those are just some of the best actors I've ever worked with. So the chance to act with artists like this, all of that does give me a sense that I've been through some things and really done some acting."
Rarely treated kindly by critics for even some of his biggest hits like Speed, Bram Stoker's Dracula and The Devil's Advocate, Reeves seems at peace with the notion that there'll always be room for artistic growth.
"On good days . . . well, you learn about acting by acting," he says. "I know, certainly, more about my craft and what works for me now. I know what tools and what things I need to do for myself to perform a role.
"One of the great things about working as an actor is to find things out about yourself and express them . . . and, y'know, not have to go out and wife-beat or anything," Reeves says of his own path to personal realization. "But to have the opportunity to look into it, to feel that, to experience oneself, to have things revealed or to find out things that you have problems revealing or things that you didn't know . . . it's just all of that. So if you've got some acting classes, you want to do some theatre, you want to go out there and play, I'd recommend it for anybody. 'Cause it's good."
Tomorrow night Keanu, Carrie-Ann. Laurence, and Joel will be on Charlie Rose on PBS.
God! I hope it's the whole hour.
Thanks, Tess!
I think the Heineken Matrix commercial is pretty cute. And I'm not just saying that so I can gain karma points and win a pair of Blinde sunglasses in their sweepstakes. (note:must be 21 to enter)
I do covet a pair for my very own something fierce.
Not 240 bucks worth of fierce, but enough to enter.
Once a day.
Until May 31.
Not that I ever win anything....
(via mischiefgurl)
Holy Achin' Ovaries Batman! How cute was Reeves on Regis this morning?
If I could start out every day with a glimpse of his smile, I could give up caffeine for good.
3 more days.
I suppose you've noticed that I'm not even following articles, reviews...anything.
I have the fear. I just know that there are spoilers behind every link and email and on every channel. I don't want to know any more than what I do already and I sure as fuck don't want to be tainted by any reviews or reports by some lucky schmuck that has already seen the film.
I enjoy his talk show appearances, but have already reached maximum tolerance of entertainment television junket-type clips. The only thing that could possibly be a bigger drag than being an actor and having to sit and rehash the same responses to the same questions while doing promotion, is being a viewer and sitting through sitcom star wedding coverage, Lisa-Marie Presley interviews and anything to do with American Idol in order to watch forty-four seconds of that re-hashed promotion.
So again, I say....make use of the sidebar if you hunger for information, articles etc. This is not a news blog. It's my fan blog and right now my fandom is all about not maxing out on exposure to this movie before I even see it.
So what is there to talk about?
Ummm, there's a short video clip from the Viper show over at the BECKY site. You may have to download and updated media player and then search for codecs to make it work (I did), but once you do it's fun to watch.
I am listening to the Reloaded soundtrack a lot (disc one, I won't listen to the score disc until after I see the movie. Do I need to explain?).
I have to say that I'm liking the M. Manson track best so far. It's catchy!
Everything's been said before There's nothing left to say anymore When it's all the same You can ask for it by nameBabble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing along
Babble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing alongAre you motherfuckers ready for the new shit?
Stand up and admit it, tomorrow's never coming
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit it
Do we need it? NO!
Do we want it? YEAH!
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit itBabble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing along
Everything's been said before
There's nothing left to say anymore
When it's all the same
You can ask for it by nameAre you motherfuckers ready for the new shit?
Stand up and admit it, tomorrow's never coming
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit it
Do we need it? NO!
Do we want it? YEAH!
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit itNow it's you-know-who
I've got the you-know-what
I stick it in the you-know-where
You know why, you don't care
Now it's you-know-who
I've got the you-know-what
I stick it in the you-know-where
You know why, you don't care
Now it's you-know-who
I've got the you-know-what
I stick it in the you-know-where
You know why, you don't care
Now it's you-know-who
I've got the you-know-what
I stick it in the you-know-where
You know why, you don't careBabble, Babble, Bitch, Bitch
Rebel, Rebel, Party, Party
Sex, sex, sex, don't forget the violence
Blah, blah, blah
Got your lovey-dovey sad and lonely
Stick your stupid slogan in
Everybody sing alongAre you motherfuckers ready for the new shit?
Stand up and admit it, tomorrow's never coming
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit it
Do we need it? NO!
Do we want it? YEAH!
This is the new shit
Stand up and admit itLet us
We're entertaining you
Let us
We're entertaining you
Let us
We're entertaining you
Let us
We're entertaining you
Let us
We're entertaining you
Oh, hell yes.
Keanu may be well-adjusted, but SimKeanu seems to be having a little problem letting go of Neo.
So he's taken to wearing black leather and sunglasses around the house all the time.
He still manages to help out, but mopping becomes a problem when he starts swinging it around to re-enact the Burly Brawl.
I try to explain to him that it's only a movie. Simulacra, special effects and all that. He's not really Neo. But he just starts babbling about "what is truth" and Zion and I have to leave the room before he starts in about Trinity or I'm bound to smack him.
But I realize that it's just a little hard to let go...I'm sure that me playing dress-up in PVC with him doesn't help, but damn it makes me feel sexy.
OH, and The One may be able to dodge bullets, but a little kitchen fire makes him scream like a girl.
Plus, he needs to STOP answering the phone "Tank! I need an Exit!"...
...or I'm going to start taking it personally.
I suppose I'll just have to put up with it for a while. I can't stay mad at him for long. And it can get VERY interesting when he decides he 'wants to direct'.
Besides, it gives me something to blog about while I avoid all of the spoiler boards and articles.
Reeves Reloaded
Keanu Reeves brings a deeper sense of his hero character -- and more fight sequences -- to The Matrix Reloaded.
HOLLYWOOD -- The twin sequels to The Matrix are among the most eagerly awaited films in years.Perhaps only Peter Jackson's final instalment of The Lord of the Rings -- The Return Of The King is due in December -- has its fans as wired, as weary of waiting and as eager.
But the mysterious Wachowski brothers, co-writers and co-directors of all three Matrix films, have two sequels costing an astonishing $310 million US ready to explode in quick succession.
The Matrix Reloaded is due for full release Thursday and The Matrix Revolutions on Nov. 7. So, it is easy to argue that, packaged together, this is the film event of the year.
Even the habitually wary actor Keanu Reeves -- who is only slightly less-reclusive than Andy and Larry Wachowski and often either deadpans or stumbles his way through interviews -- is absolutely effusive about the pending release of The Matrix Reloaded.
"I'm very excited about it," Reeves says in an interview deep in the heart of Stage 16 at Warner Bros. Studios, where set decorators have replicated the rebels' computer command centre on board Morpheus's inner-Earth spaceship. Being surrounded by the familiar from the films puts Reeves in a rare mood to talk to strangers, all of whom had to show passports or other picture ID to even access the Warners lot. For Canadian journalists, it was easier to get into the United States on this trip than it was to get into the studio because of paranoid levels of security for the screening of The Matrix Reloaded and for the interviews.
"I can't wait to see it," Reeves says. "All my friends are excited and my folks are excited to see it. So, it's great to be a part of something like that. It was a great experience acting in them (all three Matrix movies) and to spend time with the great people and artists that I got to go through this with. And I'm stoked that my folks are excited about going to the movies to see The Matrix."
The first film, The Matrix, was a shocking spectacle that galvanized audiences in 1999 with its heady and potent alchemy.The Wachowskis blended unlikely elements such as the thoughts of cyberpunk author William Gibson with ideas from Greek mythology, Christianity, the Bible, Zen Buddhism, Taoism and the fairy tale story Alice In Wonderland. They added pop culture cliches, future and retro science fiction, Hong Kong chopsocky and wire work, plus ballet, Japanese anime, multi-culturalism, ironic humour and dazzling special effects.
The F/X included the invention of "bullet time," a camera trick to stutter-stop time during elaborate fight sequences.
The Matrix exploded at the box office, earned $460 million US worldwide and even launched a Mensa-level lecture series at Harvard University. The Matrix Reloaded has much more of the same -- and lots of new tricks and extra layers of questions in the philosophical musings.
There is also substantially enough of Reeves embedded in Neo, his Christ-like cyber-human character in the trilogy, to turn a conversation about The Matrix Reloaded into an insight into the reclusive star.
"Well, the platform of the film itself lends itself to that," Reeves says of finding the layers of meaning in the film, in the philosophical musings of the filmmakers and, perhaps, within himself.
"Thank God that there is something to talk about because, otherwise, what are they doing? Some other films don't have that ambition."
In The Matrix Reloaded, Neo continues his journey both as the One chosen to save what is left of mankind and, in his awakening, as a more complete human.
Says Reeves: "I think that Neo, in the beginning of Reloaded, is full of a lot of fear about what he has to do and about the responsibilities that the community is asking for."
In the same vein, Reeves says Neo's arc is "a development of the birth of a messiah," as well as an exploration of "the identity of a man."
Reeves elaborates, while trying not to give away important plot details that might spoil the fun for audiences
"I don't think the character is such -- what's the phrase? -- a reluctant hero. He's accepted it, but I don't think he's accepted it without question. I think Neo is trying to find out, 'What's my life?'
"I mean, he says: 'What if I fail?' Right? And it's kind of cool what happens later on. I don't what to give away the plot, but the aspect of what Neo finds out about being the One, I love that."
Reeves is asked how much he believes in the philosophical basis for the films, especially because the Wachowskis introduced him to a series of serious tomes exploring the Big Questions, such as the meaning of life.
"I don't have my list in front of me," Reeves says of what philosophies he believes in that are buried in the text of The Matrix films.
"I could probably make a list, but then I'd be doing what the brothers don't want to be doing (themselves): 'Here's my literal thing.' They don't propose a finality to it. They don't say: 'Here's the answer!' They don't do that except -- and this will be revealed in Revolutions -- they do come to something. And I think it sounds really goofy, but it's about love."
Indeed, in Reloaded, there is more of the romantic-sexual connection between Reeves and his slick, Canadian-born co-star, Carrie-Anne Moss.
"It's great," says Reeves. "It's one of my favourite aspects of the piece because I get to love someone and I get to be loved by someone and share that."
Reeves calls his romantic scenes with Moss "some of my best days working on that project, just because we love and trust each other and enjoy working together. It's great to feel that. It's great to be able to give over that loving feeling, that kind of respect and appreciation for somebody else."
Reloaded is also a far sexier movie than The Matrix, which was more preoccupied with setting up the big picture saga that could be continued in Reloaded and finished off in Revolutions. Reloaded has some joyous scenes set in the underground human city of Zion, which is fully realized in the new film.
Reeves agrees that Reloaded is sexy and sensual.
"I do. I mean, I think they (the brothers) are interested in flesh and blood. They're interested in the emotions and the flesh and blood of life and I think they exalt in it."
Reloaded also ramps up the fighting.
Reeves' character Neo no longer needs training. He is the best there is. In one sequence, known on set as the Burly Brawl, Neo battles evil uber-agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) and his 99 clones. In another sequence, he rockets into the sky doing what another character teasingly calls "his Superman thing." In many more scenes, including a spectacular and surreal Los Angeles freeway car-truck-motorcycle chase, Reeves pushed his body to the limit as he tried to do the majority of his own stunts.
"Recovering was a little harder," Reeves says, comparing his work on the sequels (which were shot concurrently over 18-months) to his work on the original film.
"This one was a much longer time. I had fights interspersed over a long period of time, so, in my time off, I was always training and learning another fight. I've done five fights for the second one and I have more moves in the fight with the Smiths than I did in the whole first movie. Probably twice over."
The manner and ease in which Reeves speaks is surprising.
In other interviews, Reeves was monosyllabic and so restrained and awkward, he could barely complete a sentence. For The Matrix Reloaded, he is generous with words.
"In my quiet," Reeves says so quietly it is like a reverential hush, "I was working something out."
I'm way too tired this morning to offer any pithy commentary.
I just liked the article.
And then wake up right after?
That happened to me last night. I had my tape for Leno all set up, and got an email from someone letting me know that Dave Letterman had star's moms on for a Mother's day Top Ten.
Keanu's Mum, Patric was # 7-
Unfortunately, I dozed off at some point after the monologue and woke up about the same time they were applauding Dave's lovely mother.
I cursed something and turned the channel so I wouldn't miss Leno.
Anyway, I would have loved to see her say that. Anyone catch it?
P.S. Gah! The Matrix is on FOX right now!
I don't quite recall where I originally heard that the "I want room service!" monologue in Johnny Mnemonic was improvised by Mr. Reeves (I even mentioned something about it in a comment on the Backlot). Just another piece of Keanu Lore, I suppose.
Anyway, Willliam Gibson says this about that speech in today's blog entry:
The "I Want Room Service" speech: Keanu asked for something a little more projective, for this scene, so I sat up, one night, in the hotel on Avenue Road, writing this speech out, longhand, on a yellow legal pad. Delivered it to the set in the morning. Keanu and and Robert Longo both liked it, so I went back to Vancouver. They went off to Montreal, shortly after, to shoot the under-bridge exteriors. I don't remember when I first saw what they did with it, but I had written it imagining Johnny hissing it petulantly into Jane's face, up close, eyeball to eyeball, and the declamation from atop a gomi-mound threw me for a loop. It took a while to get used to, but eventually it became one of my three or four favorite scene in the film. It's Johnny's infantile self, pure and simple, and the plummetting VW-carcass full of Molatov cocktails is like a wake-up call from a universe rapidly losing its patience with him.
I tried to find the discussion thread that he wrote this in response to, but I don't think it's this one. I'll have to look deeper later. It's Friday night and I'm trying to leave work.
Thanks to Scott for pointing me there.
----
Update, May 10:
The BECKY official site has been updated with more pictures from Monday night's show at the Viper Room and the Lyrics to Oblivious
(bonus points if you can NAME THAT FONT! hint:there's a reason I recognize it)
Oooh, he's all shiny.
Thanks for the heads up, Chianti!
...according to this FOX news article on last night's Tonight show appearance. Not that I care much, she was cute. And hey, supermodels need tequila too.
Here's the part I'm interested in....
Backstage at the Tonight Show -- an unglamorous warren of worn out dressing rooms with mostly broken down furniture -- Gisele and the night's main guest, Keanu Reeves, were attended to by the crack staff.In fact, what the Tonight Show doesn't have in physical amenities is made up for by a group of producers, assistants and pages who couldn't be more helpful or professional. The show runs like a well-trained military effort with no weak links along the chain.
Reeves took the room next to Gisele's, but the two had no contact other than on stage. As much as Gisele's group was a traveling party, Reeves' was the complete opposite -- organized, quiet, and earnest. And no partying. When Keanu came off stage, he asked a couple of strangers hanging around the hallway: "Was that OK?"
He did say, as we made small talk, that he was very happy with The Matrix Reloaded. He also said he had no immediate plans for other films (the third Matrix also comes out in November) other than a romantic comedy now filming with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton. "It's a supporting role," he said matter-of-factly.
"Why did you take a supporting role?" I asked, considering that he's about to open in what may be the biggest movie of all time.
"It was a good script," he said, simply.
I just adore him.
"You're on the cover of Time magazine"
"Neo's on the cover of Time magazine"
*swoon*
And speaking of last night, the fight with Seraph....Oh My God......was anyone else bouncing on the bed, clapping and squealing?
I may very well implode next Wednesday night.
AOL gave "the ladies of The Matrix" their own cameras and had them take pictures last night to benefit a charity...DATA, Raising awareness about Debt, AIDS, and Trade in Africa[keyword:celeb candids]
Did you know the carpet last night was BLACK and not red? It's true.
Carrie-Ann and her hubby, Joel and his wife. Wife? Ooooh, it all makes sense now.
Carrie-Ann took this photo of Keanu and Ozwald Boateng, who designed the clothes that the stars wore to the premiere.
MORE in the extended entry...
Jada "turned the tables on the paparazzi" with this statement.
And then she took a few pics of her husband, who wishes he was Neo.
Jada also took this one of Keanu being interviewed by whatshisname...
I like Jada's sense of humor. She snapped this picture at the after-party.
Those are the waiters...*snicker*
Monica Bellucci took quite a few pictures of herself. Can't say that I blame her, though. If I looked like that I'd have a camera in my bathroom, too.
And one more......
Carrie-Ann took this one of Keanu. I thought I'd save it for last.
Just a reminder:
Keanu will be on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno tonight and on the Today Show tomorrow morning.
Both on NBC.
Some people arrive in limos, while I tool down the street in a clear acrylic golf-cart-type-thing that has no visible means of propulsion. I'm lost and stuck in a huge crowd and then the cart melts like ice around me and I have to walk. I'm barefoot and wearing something that's a cross between a black Vera Wang wedding gown and a straightjacket, covered in buckles that I constantly have to keep re-fastening or the sleeves will fall off. I'm looking for someone that can tell me where I'm supposed to go and everyone I ask takes my picture before they tell me that they don't know, but the band is upstairs. When I find the stairs, Rob Mailhouse is there. He says something funny that I can't remember and then hands me a folding chair. You have to take your own chair it seems. So I do and the stairs turn into an escalator and then a moving sidewalk that leads to a huge wall of glass doors and I can see a crowd inside. I have to put down the chair to open the door and when I turn around to pick it up again it's gone. I go in anyway and head for a group of a bunch of guys that are ALL dressed like the Wachowski brothers, but none of them are the actual brothers. I'm trying to figure out where to go. One of them asks me where my chair is and I tell him I don't know so he hands me a ticket/flyer that looks like it's made out of foil. I look at it and it's like a mirror (and my hair looks great!) and I can't read the writing on it. Then I think I see Joel and I try and get to him but get caught up in a push of the crowd and end up in this huge dome of an arena that turns out to be the theater, but the screen is round and in the center.
There are red velvet couches everywhere. So I start to look for Keanu whom I can't find, of course. It gets darker and I can't find anyplace to sit. Then I see Carrie-Ann because she is glowing so I go and sit next to her. The "movie" starts. It's very loud but I can't see it. It's all blurry swirls projected on this big ball in the center of the room. Carrie-Ann tells me to go find John (Gaeta) and when I turn around he's right there, handing me his glasses. I put them on and the blurs on the screen turn into wireframe images (that look a lot like the things found at sodaconstructor) and they are pointy and coming off of the screen/ball and moving into the crowd. It's scary and I feel the need to leave. I go through some doors and end up in some sort of restaurant. And there's Keanu in a booth. He's writing something. I ask him why he isn't in watching the movie and he tells me tha he's already seen it. He gives me his pack of cigarettes and I know to light two and I give him one and he uses it as a pencil. I can't read what he's writing even when he tries to show it to me by tearing off little pieces of the paper and handing them to me. They keep falling out of my hand. I keep trying to pick them off from the table but can't and Keanu seems annoyed so he climbs over the table to leave. It's then that I notice that he's barefoot, too.
It's (Neo) classic Reeves
By HENRY CABOT BECK
HOLLYWOOD - Keanu Reeves is standing behind a curtain on Stage 17 of the Warner Bros. lot in Burbank.
He's getting tired of answering questions about the "Matrix" movies and his character, Neo.
What he wants to talk about is a book he's reading, "Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk," by Legs McNeil and Gillian McCain.
The set is full of strange machinery, as if somebody took a long-abandoned submarine and turned it inside out. It has all been imported from "The Matrix Reloaded" set in Australia for purposes of promotion.
But Reeves, never the most enthusiastic interview subject, just wants to talk about this book.
"I'm just digging that book so much," says the 38-year-old actor, who tours and records with his own band, Dogstar.
In particular, he digs "the way those people gained their individuality, how they lived their lives - [New York icons] Patti Smith, the Ramones, Blondie, Iggy Pop - the vitality of the city and the vitality of those people, all trying to have a post-'60s musical thing happening.
"I was a little young to be a part of that Max's Kansas City or CBGB's scene," he adds, "but I could have been there as a kid, a rat kid. Instead I was in Toronto being a rat kid around Yorkville."
Reeves was born in Beirut, Lebanon, and raised primarily in Canada, the child of a showgirl and a geologist. Keanu means "cool breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian. Reeves had a succession of showbiz stepdads and a few smallish roles on TV and in the movies through his late teens before he was cast in "The River's Edge" (1986), the movie that effectively launched his career.
Even so, he floundered in a series of unmemorable pictures until he played Ted in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989). "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" followed, two years later.
Reeves is a bit defensive about those films, not because they weren't entertaining but because they gave the public the idea that he's a bit thick, like the character he played. When it's suggested that Reeves is most often thought of for his roles in "Speed" (1994), "Matrix" (1999) and "Bill and Ted," he's quick to speak up.
"What about 'River's Edge'?" he asks. "How about 'My Own Private Idaho [1991]'?"
"I love those Bill and Ted pictures," says "Matrix" producer Joel Silver, "but he got a bum rap with that stuff. Keanu's smart and well-read, likes all kinds of music. He's an interesting guy, and people don't really know him. He defies what people think about him."
Reeves' good work includes Kathryn Bigelow's surf/crime drama "Point Break" (1991), Bernardo Bertolucci's "Little Buddha" (1993) and the low-budget Beat-era drama, "The Last Time I Committed Suicide" (1997).
He also stood out as the serial killer in "The Watcher" (2000), a part he particularly relished.
"Villains are fun. They're looser. Often times you're asked to be more flamboyant," says Reeves. "I don't get to go over the top a lot, so when I do, I really like it. But even with something like 'Speed,' I like to give some sense of the character so that he's less of a cipher."
"Speed" did more to put Reeves on the map than any prior role, mostly because it earned nearly $300 million at the box office worldwide.
But even that was small potatoes compared with "The Matrix," which pulled in more than $450 million and launched two sequels, the first of which, "The Matrix Reloaded," opens next Thursday. The third and final film, "The Matrix Revolutions," will be released in November.
In these films, Reeves plays Neo, aka The One, who is sent to destroy an evil regime run by intelligent machines. The second film explores the powers Neo discovered he had at the end of the first movie.
Asked what exactly distinguishes Neo - is it genetics? - Reeves responds: "Neo discovers that he's really some sort of mathematical and metaphysical probability. Beyond that, I don't think that's addressed in the story. But his role is pretty clear - to bring down the machines and save the human race.
"And he has to make hard choices along the way," says Reeves. "He isn't a case of one-dimensional heroism, because his fears make him human. Neo has a bit of a sense of humor now, which I like a lot."
Reeves' interviews are finished for the day, and as he picks up his book and prepares to leave the lot, he says of Neo:
"I love the character mostly because he's a seeking, questioning guy. In the first movie, he jumps right in and takes the red pill because he wants to see how deep the rabbit hole goes. It's a quality I admire, like the punk rockers we were talking about earlier. And for that, I find him noble."
-Thanks to Janey for this link
It's always nice to hear what he's reading.
I find it a little hard to believe he spoke of David Allen Griffin with "relish" if at all. I thought maybe he was talking about Donnie Barksdale, a role he said he had to "put a little mustard on it" when preparing with Hillary Swank.
Damn. Now I want a hot dog.
Thanks to Margarete of the Pic of the Day club for the first look at Keanu from tonight's premiere of Reloaded.
Oh my god. That little lip scar drives me bonkers.
Oooooh, here's another...
He's looking around wondering "where's krix"?
And there are more from tonight up at Yahoo's photos.
The BECKY website has been updated with pics from Monday night's show.
Track Listings
Disc: 1
1. Session - Linkin Park
2. This Is The New Shit - Marilyn Manson
3. Reload - Rob Zombie
4. Furious Angels (Instrumental) - Rob Dougan
5. Lucky You - Deftones
6. The Passportal - Team Sleep
7. Sleeping Awake - P.O.D.
8. Bruises - Unloco
9. Calm Like A Bomb - Rage Against The Machine
10. Dread Rock - Oakenfold
11. Zion - Fluke
12. When The World Ends (Oakenfold Remix) - Dave Matthews Band
Disc: 2
1. Main Title - Don Davis
2. Trinity Dream - Don Davis
3. Teahouse - Juno Reactor Featuring Gocoo
4. Chateau - Rob Dougan
5. Mona Lisa Overdrive - Juno Reactor/Don Davis
6. Burly Brawl - Juno Reactor vs. Don Davis
7. "Matrix Reloaded" Suite - Don Davis
This is in stores now. I'm thinking of closing up shop to go pick one up.
I hear there are even some CD enhancements on the second disc.
ALSO, note that this comes in 2 versions, one with an advisory label and an *edited* version without the explicit lyrics. Read the label.
This week, Keanu's horoscope from freewillastrology.com:
VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): I'm smarter in some parts of the earth than in others. In Florence, Amsterdam, and Milwaukee, my IQ is off the charts. In Munich, Madrid, and Washington, D.C., I'm rather dull-witted. Even in Northern California, where I usually live, some places are more conducive to my higher brain functioning. I'm an idiot on Market Street in San Francisco, for example, whereas I'm awash in wise insights whenever I set foot on Mt. Tamalpais. What's this about? The specialized branch of astrology called astrocartography would say that the full potentials of my horoscope are more likely to emerge in certain power spots. In the coming weeks, Virgo, I urge you to investigate the possibility that this phenomenon holds true for you, too. Wander around and test to see where you feel most in tune with your deep, brilliant self.
I'm pretty sure there's a Virgo power spot in my bedroom. Naturally, he's more than welcome to come check it out.
And now for something completely different....
It looks like nonsense, but if you look deeper you'll appreciate the hysterical serendipity within the chaos (note the category on the powerade entry and the ass friday one below it).
Oh, I haven't laughed so hard at my own blog in ages.
keanuvision, filtered through the Eater of Meaning
(note: don't click on any links or comments thingies, you'll just get an error)
Eater of Meaning found via emptybottle.org
The Second Renaissance Part 2 is now up at the Animatrix official site.
The Second Renaissance parts 1&2 are the anime shorts that were written and directed by the Wachowski brothers and show us the events that lead up to the war with the machines. I really liked part one, and now I can't wait to get home to download and watch the second part.
Well, it's premiere minus 30 hours and even though I tried everything short of dressing up as a rabbit and dropping an anvil on Warner Brothers' head it seems that the festivities tomorrow night shall go on without me.
Ah well, the fact that the real most important man in LA gives me link props and refers to me as a "hot chick" is the wild yam that soothes this bruised ego o'mine.
Besides, tomorrow is my dad's birthday so I would have had to politely decline (shyeah, right) an invite anyway.
Sorry, Joel.
No krix for you!
If you have an interest in how last night's gig went, you're probably already a member of the BECKY band Yahoo group.
If not, go join now as some of the members went to the show and have tales and possibly pictures to share at some point today.
---update:
Thanks to Rachel for posting a report on the DMB
UPDATE:
I'm SO glad I haven't read this or gotten it yet.
Apparently it pretty much spoils the whole plot.
The Matrix is the coverstory on the newest issue of TIME Magazine.
I'm not sure if it is on the stands yet, I will look tonight.
[link to online article removed!]
The one with the twins at the top of the page has something spoilery, I think. I've already washed it out of my mind.
I think most of the current articles have some level of spoiler info, in order to tease the general public (those philistines that want to know what a movie is about before they go see it, pshaw!). So this next week you're pretty much taking a chance with anything you read. Now I trust that none of it will ruin the experience, but really...if you're a purist, best to lock yourself in a closet for the next 10 days. Or at least stay away from the net.
The main thing I'm going to be avoiding is reviews. God knows what sort of thing those enthusiastic lucky souls who get to see the movie before us mere mortals will let slip.
UPDATE: Looks like I will be avoiding most of the matrix boards as well. You're on your own, folks.
DarkHorizons.com has interviews with both Keanu and Laurence.
For Keanu, though an established success at the time of the original Matrix, he has gone through a lot in the last five years, both personally and professionally. More self-assured these days, he says that although he hasn't reflected specifically about how he might have changed since The Matrix, "I'll just say I'm older and older. I don't know. It's such a hard question. With any experience you have, you know more about yourself in terms of what goes on, in terms of being away from home for so long. Then, through that you discover what is important and there are things that inform you, including the friendships along the way." Including the shoot on the first Matrix, Reeves spent close to two years living in Sydney working on the trilogy, or "basically my whole 37th year working on the last Matrix films." The actor admits that "It was really hard to be away from friends and family that long." But at least it was in Sydney and he defines his experiences in the Australian city as being memorable. "I just loved the city. Great people, beautiful weather, beautiful architecturally and there's good cuisine there. In terms of working that way, and working in film, it doesn't happen all the time, if ever, that you have to apply yourself, go for that length of time on a project. And that's okay to me, especially when you love something and you get the extraordinariness of it. It is demanding in terms of missing your friends and family and also applying yourself to your work for that length of time."
I know there is a ton of stuff I want to get to, including any reports of last night's BECKY show at the Viper (are there any yet?), but right now I'm busy trying to keep my brain from eating itself trying to deal with this.
Oh, and this is curious as well (from Rolling Stone)...
Keanu Reeves and Sum 41 will make guest appearances in Anthrax "Safe Home" video
My universe is crumbling, people...
Crumb. Bling!
---update:
Here's more on this Anthrax thing from MetalHammer.co.uk
06 May 2003 The Matrix one Neo and Sum 41 have been filmed for cameo appearances in the new Anthrax video 'Safe Home'.Guitarist Scott Ian confirmed the rumour in this online post from www.anthrax.com:[still looking for the pictures mentioned--krix]
"If you've been checking out our site for a while you may have seen pictures of Keanu Reeves shooting a cameo for the 'Safe Home' video. Well it's true. How fucking killer is that?!! He was so cool to do that for us. So many other people we contacted said they would do it, but when it came down to it, they flaked. People way less busy then Keanu. He's only the star of the most anticipated movie of the year, and what will be the greatest Sci-Fi epic of all time, THE FUCKING 'MATRIX' TRILOGY!! And he's going to be in an ANTHRAX video. SUM 41 is in it as well. They give us props everywhere they go and they went and did it on their own and gave me the footage. Very fucking cool. So expect a kick-ass performance clip with a cherry on top."
And if the content at the Rolling Stone link is changed don't worry, the relevant part is just the one line I quoted above.
ET hasn't aired yet for me, but thanks to Chianti for the heads up on this link to a clip online. It's a little spoilery, but worth it for all you horndogs, which I'm pretty sure most of you are.
Oh, and I was at Best Buy tonight and they still suck. They don't have the atrocity known as the new Matrix phone yet, but they will sell you a fucking tin box with a picture of the ugly device and "Matrix Reloaded" surrounded by some code for a mere $19.99.
Ohmigod, they can so bite me.
This photo of Keanu and his bass from the BECKY band website is now one of my most favoritest pictures of him ever.
And don't forget, BECKY will be playing tonight around 11 o'clock at the Viper Room in West Hollywood.
Thanks to Steve Enders of Tech TV for letting us know that "TechTV has daily coverage and behind-the-scenes footage all this week on the new Matrix flick on Tech Live."
"Today, see a preview of the new 'Reloaded' film. Also this week, see what went into the movie's special effects, a look at the making of the new "Enter the Matrix" videogame, and a special look at the "Animatrix" series. Look for added coverage and stories on the website, and special web-only video available for download.
Tech Live airs at 8 p.m. Eastern, and repeats at 10 a.m., 1 p.m., 6 p.m. ET.
Finally, catch all the action on TechTV's special "Enter the Matrix", airing this weekend on Sunday at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. Eastern."
Reeves ReloadedToronto actor spent seven weeks on key fight scene Matrix sequel set to open in movie theatres May 15
HOLLYWOOD — Nothing says "thank you" like a truckload of shiny new motorcycles, delivered to the people you've been kicking in the head.
That's if you're Keanu Reeves, the reclusive actor turned master of the grand show-biz gesture.
When work finally wrapped on the Burly Brawl, the key fight scene of the hotly anticipated sci-fi sequel The Matrix Reloaded, Reeves had a dozen Harleys delivered to the set as a gift for his stunt men.
It's the kind of thing Arnold Schwarzenegger or Bruce Willis might do, not the spotlight-shunning Reeves, who usually goes out of his way not to act like a movie star.
"That made me smile, man, for months," Reeves says, relishing the memory.
"I'd be in bed, and I'd be like, `Hah, hah, hah, hah!'"
The gift likely cost close to $200,000 (U.S.). But he could afford it — the former Torontonian is a millionaire many times over — and it was worth every penny to him to get everything just right in the Burly Brawl.
A jaw-dropping combination of martial arts mastery and special effects wizardry, the Brawl sets Reeves' cyberpunk hero Neo against more than 100 clones of Agent Smith, the diabolical avatar of the enslaving computers first enjoined in The Matrix, the surprise movie phenomenon of 1999. When Reloaded opens May 15, it is sure to be the scene most fans talk about, at least until Nov. 7, when the opening arrives for The Matrix Revolutions, the final part of a planned trilogy by the sci-fi visionaries Larry and Andrew Wachowski (a.k.a. The Brothers).
"I worked with 12 stunt men for about three weeks, intensely going through the fight," Reeves says, speaking inside a vast movie soundstage that has been decorated with large mechanical props from Reloaded.
"And then we filmed for basically almost a month, every day.... There was this one sequence where Neo gets grabbed by two agents and I do a back flip and kick two guys in the head. Flip back, and then the two guys get thrown back. Well, those guys got pulled into the floor 21 times. And every time I said, `I'd like to do it again' ... and it was like, `Yeah, man, let's go.'
"So we were all in this thing and we were all training together beforehand. So I just wanted to somehow, besides just saying thank you, say a bigger thank you, to all these guys who helped me make this, I think, one of the great movie fights in the history of cinema."
Reeves got so involved in the sweat and strain of doing the Burly Brawl, his co-star Laurence Fishburne was afraid to watch.
"I don't like being around Keanu when he's being hard on himself," says Fishburne, who plays Neo's mentor Morpheus in The Matrix trilogy.
"And he was hard on himself the whole time during the Burly Brawl. I used to be really hard on myself. But never as hard as Keanu is."
Told of Fishburne's comment, Reeves begs to differ.
"It's just because it was important," he says, shrugging. "It was my job to do whatever The Brothers asked me to do."
Does that mean he's not as self-punishing as people say?
"I can be," Reeves says. "But I don't think I need any therapy or anything. I'm not so out of my mind.
"But it's an aspect of the piece that, as well as (the fighting), we work so hard to get the emotional aspects right. Those are the scenes, in those sequences, where there's something about symmetry, about having those things that you believe in. If I do something and I don't hit it right, or if it doesn't look right, you instantly feel it, you see it: You go `aaah.'
"So you don't want that. You want it to just be perfect."
Getting The Matrix Reloaded perfect, and not just good enough, was a much tougher job for all the cast members than making the original film.
The Matrix came out of nowhere in 1999 to instantly establish itself as a classic of science fiction, combining way-cool style with a head-rattling mix of Western and Eastern philosophy.
It challenged conventions about what is real and what isn't, what is fate and what is choice.
The Matrix, which earned $460 million (U.S.) worldwide, also introduced a new form of physics-defying slow-motion fighting that came to be known as "bullet time," and which has been endlessly copied in films as diverse as Charlie's Angels and Shrek, much to the chagrin of The Brothers Wachowski.
The aim with Reloaded and Revolutions was to up the ante to stay ahead of the competition, with both the intellectual and physical aspects of the movie. If the dense philosophy of Reloaded doesn't wow you, the action scenes certainly will.
Reeves doesn't normally do sequels — he turned away a king's ransom for Speed 2 because he didn't like the script — but it took no persuasion at all to get him to don Neo's dark shades and natty black overcoat for 18 months of concurrent filming of Reloaded and Revolutions in Sydney, Australia.
"The scripts were great. And I had such great experience with and faith in Andrew and Larry Wachowski. I just said yes."
Reeves was so eager, in fact, he even gave away part of his percentage in the film, a profit-sharing deal that could potentially sweeten his $15 million per-film salary by many millions more. No wonder he can afford to buy Harleys by the dozen.
"What I did was I put part of what was given in my contract to create a pool so that other people who don't usually do profit participation could see some money," Reeves says, clearly not pleased to be talking about money.
Why'd he do something like that?
"I wanted to."
Reeves may be acting more like a movie star these days, but in many other ways he still seems like just plain Keanu from Toronto, a guy who loves playing and watching hockey, riding his own Harley and playing with his rock band Dogstar, which is currently in hiatus.
He'll turn 39 this year — he's pushing 40! — but he doesn't look a day over 25. He worked out hard to prepare for The Matrix and its sequels, but he looks lean, not muscle-bound.
In his 20-year acting career, he's seen both ups (The Matrix, Speed) and downs (Sweet November, Even Cowgirls Get The Blues), and he's wise enough to know that fame is ephemeral.
His attire for a day of press at Warner Bros.' Burbank studios in the Hollywood Hills is a thrown-together mix of a faded burgundy T-shirt with faded blue jeans, topped with an ill-fitting black sports jacket that looks as if someone loaned it to him for the day.
He's an unlikely combination of laid-back slacker and hyper-intense workaholic, which makes him perfect for the role of Neo, a computer hacker who is summoned to accept his fate as The One, the saviour of a mankind threatened by marauding machines.
"Keanu is unlike any actor I've ever met — any person I've ever met," says Vancouver-born Carrie-Anne Moss, who plays Trinity, Neo's lover and fellow warrior. The sexual heat between the two is much hotter in Reloaded than it was in The Matrix.
"Physically, he just takes himself to the edge," Moss says. "He's there because he loves the character and he loves The Brothers."
But Reeves, who has long been seen as one of Hollywood's most inscrutable stars, remains a difficult guy to really know, even for the people who work closely with him.
"I've known the man for five years and I love him," Fishburne says.
"But I don't know a thing about him."
Reeves is not about to change that, his flashy motorcycle gifts notwithstanding. He really does identify with Neo, who constantly queries what is real and what isn't, what is fate and what is choice.
"I really find that Neo is a beautiful man," Reeves says.
"His ethics and his morals and his search for his authentic life being, wanting to see how he deals with people and deals with himself, I really admire.
"It's like, can you live up to that? Can you live up to the best part of yourself every day? Which I think is a really great question. Can you live to the best part of yourself all the time?
"And it's hard. I can't. I try, but I think that aspect is something that the film is also asking."-Peter Howell
~Thank you to Margarete
Keanu Loves a Robust Red-May 3 2003Hollywood star Keanu Reeves has revealed a thirst for rare and expensive Australian red wine.
The star of this month's blockbuster film The Matrix: Reloaded has a prized collection of Aussie red, particularly Penfolds Grange Hermitage and Mount Mary Quintet.
Reeves fell in love with Australia and its top shelf wines while shooting The Matrix in Sydney in 1998 and the two sequels, The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions last year.
"I had a great time in Sydney and I met some awesome people," Reeves told reporters in Los Angeles.
"I miss it, I want to go back."
Asked if he thought about buying a home in Australia Reeves licked his lips and replied: "I brought back some Australian wine. Yummm."
His favourites are among Australia's finest and rarest wines.
The wine cellars in his homes in Los Angeles and Toronto, Canada, are stocked with 1988 and 1990 vintages of Mount Mary Quintet cabernet, made in Victoria's Yarra Valley.
The 1998 sells for about $A270 a bottle and the 1990 a hefty $A420 a bottle.
"The Mary Quintet cabernet blend. Awesome," Reeves said.
"And the Penfolds Grange. The 71 and the 76 are just awesome."
A 1971 Grange sells for $A875 a bottle and the 1976 $A650.
The 38-year-old actor can afford the wine bill as he reportedly earned $US30 million ($A47.66 million) for shooting the two Matrix sequels.
The Matrix: Reloaded opens in Australia on May 16 and The Matrix: Revolutions is scheduled to open later in the year.
I think in addition to making him laugh, I'd like to add "spend time over a glass of wine" to my list of Keanu-wishes.
To steal a phrase from AICN's review of Reloaded:
"Jim-Jammity Jesus Krispy Kreme Christ on a twat-rocket!"
There is NO WAY I can keep up with all the media out there.
But let's see....
Thanks to Club Keanu for putting a schedule right at the top of their page :)
Here are a few upcoming television appearances that you might want to tape or Tivo:
Mon May 5-Entertainment Tonight (syndicated)- More on Reloaded
Mon May 5 - Jay Leno - Laurence Fishburne - NBC - 11:30pm
Thu May 8 (might be the 9th) The Today Show - Keanu Reeves - NBC - 7am
Thu May 8 - Jay Leno - Keanu Reeves - NBC - 11:30pm
Thu May 8 - MTV Movie House - Matrix Special - 9pm
Sun May 11 - MTV Movie House - Matrix Special - 11pm
Thu May 15 - ET on E! - Behind the Scenes of The Matrix Reloaded 5:30pm
Tues May 27 - Keanu on Biography - A&E 8pm
Wed May 28 - Keanu on Biography - A&E
The Last Free City.com has been absorbed by UGO.com and now has some really agressive Powerade marketing to deal with before you even get to the good stuff. But they really are on the ball news-wise so whatever keeps them up and running is okay by me.
One spiffy thing is that TLFC member "the_one" is hosting some sort of "wait in line party" at Universal Citywalk. So if you live in that aera you might want to check it out.
Sounds like a whole lot of fun.
I'm sure there is news I'm missing, so check your favorite links for more hype and info.
Oh, and here's a little snark on a Saturday morning...
The other night, Amanda Peet was on Letterman and talked a little bit about the Nancy Meyers film. She mentioned her other co-stars but not Keanu. What the hell?
So, I pretty much hate her now.
I am tickled to see that Jon Favreau is part of that cast now. I love him.
I don't know what came over me, but I just totally stole the Matrix Powerade window cling off of the cooler at the 7-11 next door.
Oh, I'm a bad bad girl. What a rush, though!
Plus, now I have something to talk to Winona about.
Learn from my misery.
If you are going to buy tickets online for more than one showing, Fandango has some sort "multiple transaction" thingy, where it tells you that you have already purchased tickets for this movie and asks you to confirm the second purchase.
Which is thoughful of them to protect you from your own idiocy, except not.
Seems there is a glitch in their matrix and it won't let you (meaning ME) click through on the "go ahead and buy the damn ticket already" option without sending you into some sort of infinite loop, thus making you unable to confirm that you want to purchase. You can cancel just fine, but who wants to do that?
If you have this problem, you need to log out (if you are signed up with a fandango account) and/or use a different credit card than the one you made your first purchase with.
Basically, it's a HUGE pain in the ass, and even though I have my "print at home" ticket (Aieee! Don't fold it over the barcode!!!), I'm going to be completely paranoid that something is going to go wrong and on Wednesday night, I'm going to be stuck in the arcade playing Dance! DANCE! Revolution for two and a half hours while everyone else is enjoying the movie.
Which would be good for my body, but very very bad for my soul....
Thank you all for the welcome back messages. Now to play a bit of catch-up....
I found out that indeed, there are some showings of Reloaded at 10 PM on the 14th here, So I am planning to catch that show as well as the 10 AM show on the 15th. At least that's the plan, as Fandango hates me today and keeps spitting out "so sorry, come back later" messages. Bastards.
Keanu was adorable on Entertainment Tonight (click that link, there's a video clip) last night. I missed it in the evening, but some mysterious force woke me up at two AM and rather than question it, I turned on the TV and yep, there he was all funny and charming and....well, it was hard to get back to sleep after.
The lovely Zion has posted some screen grabs from the segment over at Reeves Drive MB. (via club-keanu)
ComingSoon.net has a big gallery of Reloaded stills, most we have already seen, but some we have not. I really dig the first one (of him in front of the screens) and am going to try and figure out how to do a wallpaper of it, I think.
Oh, and the May Calendar is up.
A few things before I go to bed...
BECKY will be playing The Viper Room, next monday the fifth of May.
Keanu will be on the Today Show and The Tonight Show, next week on the 8th.
Speaking of the Today show, Al Roker is giving his weather reports from the Reloaded set all week, today he was really cute geeking out over the Zion set and talking to Owen. Oh, and in thier little coast-to-coast via-satellite banter with Mr. Roker, both Katie and Matt confessed that the have never seen the original Matrix movie. What the ....?
I don't think I can get my news from them anymore.