Over the years, Keanu Reeves has made quite a name for himself. He has starred in several different films and has played three iconic characters, ranging from DC’s John Constantine to The Matrix’s Neo and the beloved mass-murdering assassin, John Wick. Despite all his success, his image and reputation have not been spared criticism.
Even though he has been a part of several genres throughout his career, many have been critical of his range as an actor, pointing out that all of his characters lack a certain depth and seem very surface-level. Even though he has diversified his acting portfolio quite a lot to outrun this, it seems to have followed him unrelentingly.
However, he continues to have some of the most dedicated and passionate fans in Hollywood, and Richard Linklater seems to have the perfect theory for why this is the case.
The Hollywood Curse of the Breathtaking
Richard Linklater is an exceptionally respected director in Hollywood. While fans do not see him feature in the Academy too frequently, he has made several notable works like Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Boyhood, and The Hitman. During an interview with Esquire, he tried to solve the mystery of Keanu Reeves for fans, having worked with him in 2006’s A Scanner Darkly.
He started by talking about one of the biggest challenges that attractive and ethereal-looking actors go through in Hollywood; not being taken seriously. Oftentimes, when actors are playing characters that are predominantly attractive and have little to offer to the story other than that, audiences assume that the person playing the role is of a similar intellect.
It’s that curse: if you’re a young, good-looking actor, male or female, everyone projects on you a shallow stupidity, whatever. No one gives you credit. It can take a career, a couple of decades of solid work, for them to go, ‘Oh, maybe they’re not as dumb as I thought…’
Assuming that some of the most attractive actors in the industry aren’t that sharp, it can take a very long time to change this sentiment.
He thinks it all matters. Put it this way: he’s the opposite of full-of-shit. I think audiences pick up on that. That’s why he’s so effective in so many things. They go with his quest. They come onboard Keanu’s train.
Speaking specifically in the context of Reeves, Linklater mentioned that he did not have to face such issues thanks to the hold that he has on his viewers. He controls every piece of information that the viewers have about him and the characters that he plays, and the timing of when he is going to give it to them is also in his hands.
Everything is intentional with the John Wick actor, and the degree of control he has over them is not lost on the viewers. Due to this, audiences never questioned Reeves’ intellect, despite his attractiveness.
Keanu Reeves—The Arcane Actor
Richard Linklater then went on to talk about all the mystery surrounding Keanu Reeves. It would seem that even though that director has known him for many years and spent a lot of time on sets with him, there is little he knows about Reeves. His fans seem to be in a similar situation, according to Linklater, who stated that even though they think that they understand the actor, they are usually wrong.
You look at him and think you know him. You kind of do but you don’t.
According to the director, Keanu Reeves is very careful with what he tells the world about himself, giving them just enough information to make them think that they know him, only to realize just how wrong they were. Linklater revealed the reasoning behind holding this belief about such a beloved actor, having a similar experience time and time again.
I don’t pretend to know anything about him and I worked with him for a long time. I don’t know who he’s sleeping with. I don’t know what he’s doing when we’re not together. It’s an innocence, actually.
While many would assume malice to be around such a public image, Linklater clarified that this was certainly not the case for Reeves. The director believes that it is the actor’s innocence that makes him come off in such a way, not some calculated public persona.
