Keanu Reeves is one of the most entertaining actors to watch in the wide landscape of Hollywood. From his acting genius to his knack for some impeccable action scenes that look too effortless to not be true, Reeves is a whole package deal.
Best known for starring in movies like Speed, John Wick, and The Matrix, Reeves’ roaster of filmography boasts some of the most amazing movies that the audience has ever seen. Yet, he has had his fair share of box office bombs. And among these is one less-known, critically panned movie of his with Morgan Freeman that he really regrets, especially since it almost made him say no to The Matrix due to a serious spinal injury.
Keanu Reeves Really Regrets His $60M Movie With Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is a Hollywood legend, a fact that no one would contest. Having starred in numerous award-winning films, having a chance to work with him is an honor in itself no matter what results it bore. Yet Keanu Reeves deeply regrets his 1996 movie with him, Chain Reaction.
A science fiction action thriller, the movie is not only a box office bomb but also a critically panned film. Made against a budget of about $55 million, the film only managed to gross $60 million worldwide (via The Numbers), making it one of the biggest fails of his otherwise splendid career.
While taking to UPI in a 2001 interview, Reeves himself revealed what went wrong with the movie,
“I felt like that for ‘Chain Reaction,’ but when I got there it was a different movie. Originally, I was married. I had this kid and I did this research… And then all of a sudden I turn into this 24-year-old machinist and I turned to (director) Andrew Davis and I said, ‘What happened to the movie I said yes to? What happened to that script? Where did that go?’ And he said, ‘No, I got something better,’ and so I just had to go with it.”
While he did not regret working with Freeman but only the movie, his regret was also because of the spinal injury that he got as a result of the movie. And the injury almost made him not star in one of the most revered action franchises in the world, The Matrix.
Keanu Reeves Would Have Never Been In The Matrix
Keanu Reeves’s movie with Morgan Freeman would not only turn out to be a blot on his impressive career but would also have become the reason we would have never had Reeves’s version of Neo. The movie Chain Reaction turned out to be a major flop but also left the actor with a terrible spinal injury as he revealed during an appearance on the podcast, The Art of Action.
“I met with the Wachowskis… they talked about in the meeting was training in Hong Kong-style martial arts and asked if I was okay with that… The only problem – I was dealing with a neck issue which was getting worse… I had done a film called Chain Reaction in Chicago and had a couple epidurals put in, shot up in the spine. I had a bulging disc and I had a fractured disc too, and I started losing feeling and balance.”
His growing neck issue ultimately led to a visit to a neck doctor and getting diagnosed with Spinal Stenosis.
“My spinal column was being sausaged basically, so I had to have a two level fusion on my spine before training, and they put a plate in my neck. But I never actually told anyone because I didn’t want to tell anyone I wouldn’t be able to do the film.”
Fortunately for him and his fans, Reeves was told to start moving right away instead of sitting it out. While the injury thankfully healed, the actor nonetheless had to train for The Matrix wearing a neck brace.
While Chain Reaction can be streamed on Max, The Matrix can be viewed on Netflix.
