What makes Keanu Reeves so great
Chicago writers reflect in a new essay collection
Keanu Reeves.
The name evokes visions of a rain-soaked Johnny Utah from “Point Break” or a very bronzed Prince Siddhartha in “Little Buddha” or the cancerous and weary John Constantine in the 2005 eponymously named film where hell and heaven is a day at the office. Reeves is a name so renowned that he played himself in “Always Be My Maybe” and the voice of a namesake kitten in the 2016 Key and Peele film “Keanu.”
Chicago authors Larissa Zageris and Kitty Curran have penned an homage to Reeves in “For Your Consideration: Keanu Reeves.” They are also the authors of “My Lady’s Choosing: An Interactive Romance Novel” (2018) and the novella “Taylor Swift: Girl Detective — The Secrets of the Starbucks Lovers” (2016).
Their latest book, an essay collection from Quirk Books that’s part of a new series on celebrities, dissects Reeves’ celebrity on many planes: through the lenses of conspiracies, memes, fan fiction, ethnicity and artistic collaboration. It’s a pop-culture smorgasbord that reveals the hows and whys of the celebrity’s staying power in the film industry since “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989).
“We live in a world where you feel like if you don’t have it figured out, you’re done, hang it up, and that’s not true,” Zageris said. “You keep at it. That’s kind of a metaphor of (Reeves’) story.
“Yes, people loved him, but culturally he was a joke for no good reason. But it turned around. He’s lived quite the life, but we’d all be friends with Keanu. I think that’s part of what you bring to watching a performance — a trust and an enjoyment and a curiosity to see what he’s going to do next. It’s a very beloved, spanning fandom.”
He’s a celebrity “all the fangirls and secure fanboys” can get behind because he’s just a nice guy, the authors said.
We talked to Curran and Zageris about their book and Reeves’ career, in all its John Wick-iness and Neo-ness, and why we just can’t get enough of the actor. The following conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
Q: Why does Keanu warrant this book?
Zageris:
Keanu is one of the good guys, and whenever he’s trending it’s because he did something great or (someone is) discovering he was great in the past.
I think he has this vibe that he’s one of the good guys at a time where every time you turn around either men are emboldened to behave bad or you’re finding out something about them where you’re, like: “Seriously?!” Keanu is someone who hasn’t let anyone down.
Curran: He’s been big for 30 years now, and he got big at a time when the pressure was to lean into the machismo and he resisted that, which is now appreciated. I feel now all the things that people belittled him for are actually things that now people are, like: maybe we should respect that about him, actually.
Q: Which film really put Reeves into the acting stratosphere?
Curran: We grew up with “Bill & Ted,” and I have yet to meet anyone who is part Asian, part white who grew up in the ’90s who wasn’t slightly obsessed with Keanu because he literally was the only celebrity like us.
It was very rare in the ’90s to
have someone of Asian descent whose storylines weren’t all about being Asian. As a kid, my options were Jubilee from the X-Men cartoon and Keanu. Those were my Asian diaspora icons that were like me.
Zageris: I think “Speed” and “The Matrix” made him a household name. “Point Break” is what people might think, but initially when it came out, people were, like, this is ridiculous. It’s become a belated cultural juggernaut since. But, in my soul, it was “Speed” and “Constantine.”
Curran: I think that’s the one that turned him into an icon/star, like a movie star.
Zageris: He just keeps going. Every decade he has some big turn. I think he’s someone that people have long treasured, that people can get into.
He’s done beautiful work in “My Own Private Idaho” and he’s a lovely, sweet-hearted fool in “Parenthood.” He’s really played a lot of shades … way more than people expect.
Q: Is there enough material there to create a Keanu Reeves amusement park?
Curran: There probably is. We have “Bill & Ted” world with all the time travel; then you have “Matrix” land, where you go on a quest in some sort of altered reality; then you have “John
Wick” world, which is the nightclub area for the adults and also with a little shooting range. I think we can do this pretty easily.
Zageris: You can do a lot of air-guitar competitions.You can have an emotional roller coaster that can be his career track — a roller coaster through different worlds.
Curran: And he’s been in enough spooky things for there to be a killer haunted house: You have the Bram Stoker area, the Constantine area, and you have the guy from “The Gift.”
Q: If you get the chance to meet him, what would you ask?
Curran: May I touch the hem of your garment?! I think there would be a lot of hyperventilating.
Zageris: I think I would ask him what his dream project would be because then I would be like: How are we going to write that for you? I would want to weasel my way into a creative collaboration with him. I would be, like, ‘Let’s do an “Inside the Actor’s Studio” with every single one of your movies.’ Tell us tales.
Q: What can average people take away from his greatness?
Curran: Not feeling ashamed or afraid of putting yourself out there and being sincere and just going for what you love and daring it. It’s something that he was mocked for and is now beloved for. Don’t shy away from your weird.
Zageris: And find joy in life and find joy in work. I think that’s two things that he has said in one way or another in almost every interview he’s granted. It’s easy to discount that he’s a big movie star, but he works for it. He works with what he’s got and works to get better with what he has.
Speaking of greatness, Keanu Reeves has left his stamp on our great city in a number of films through the years. Do you remember all of these?
Chain Reaction (1996): Keanu and Rachel Weisz play University of Chicago scientists who get framed for blowing up a reactor, go on the run, don’t know if they can trust Morgan Freeman, and get chased through the city and the Field Museum by the Chicago Police Department, the FBI and Brian Cox.
The Matrix (1999): Neo followed the White Rabbit through an unnamed city (shot in Sydney, Australia) while referencing Chicago street names. Makes sense: Directors Lana and Lilly Wachowski are Chicagoans.
The Watcher (2000): Keanu takes a (serial) killer turn in this thriller that pits him against James Spader. Graceland Cemetery and the Thompson Center co-star.
Hardball (2001): Keanu plays a gambling addict who coaches city kids because he lost a debt — but the kids end up winning his heart. Keep your eye out for the former ABLA Homes, Sluggers on Clark and Michael B. Jordan as one of those kids.
The Lake House (2006): Keanu and Sandra Bullock play a pair of magic-mailbox-crossed lovers in this movie that shot in Daley Plaza, Millennium Park, the southwest suburbs and even Aurora.