“I wanted someone who could act”: the director who savaged Keanu Reeves’ dramatic chops
It’s probably true that Keanu Reeves is never going to trouble the Academy Awards race, or even win any major trophies for his acting abilities, but it’s foolish to dismiss him as a performer of limited ability.
Since making his feature debut in 1985, Reeves has accumulated exactly zero nominations from any of Hollywood’s major awards bodies, but he does have four MTV Movie & TV Awards and eight Razzie nominations to his name, even if he hasn’t yet been the recipient of a trophy from the ceremony honouring the worst of the worst.
Throughout his entire career, the wholesome hero has been dogged by accusations and allegations that he’s not a very good actor, and while that might be true as it applies to his versatility and range, nobody gets to be a star for as long as he has without possessing an important set of intangible qualities.
Since first breaking through with Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure all the way back in 1989, Reeves has remained a popular figure. He’s also known to be one of the nicest guys in the business, regularly displaying acts of kindness that have only enhanced his legacy as one of the few genuinely good dudes without any sense of ego or vanity the industry has at its disposal.
His best performances come when he isn’t asked to stretch himself too thin, with his finest movies always coming under a director who knows exactly how to maximise his distinctive set of gifts. He’s headlined several of the greatest action flicks of the modern era, which isn’t a coincidence, but neither is it an unexpected development that he’s yet to give a knockout dramatic turn that completely upends the perception everyone has of him.
Reeves will have grown accustomed to criticisms of his work, and he probably doesn’t care. He’s happy, he’s healthy, he’s rich beyond his wildest imagination, and he continues to be excellent at what he does. That being said, there’s an added layer of unprofessionalism when those within the business fire those shots.
For all intents and purposes, Johnny Depp is a better actor than Reeves, and he always has been. They even circled the same parts a couple of times in the early 1990s, but at no point was the Matrix and John Wick figurehead ever under consideration to play the lead role in acclaimed biographical crime drama Donnie Brasco.
Director Mike Newell knew exactly who he wanted to headline the cast from the very beginning, and in explaining that decision to London Times, he took unnecessary aim at one of Depp’s peers. “Why did I choose Johnny and not someone like Keanu?” he mused, entirely rhetorically. “Well, I wanted someone who could act, for a start. And Johnny is a very, very clever actor, make no mistake about that.”
Yes, Depp was on top form in Donnie Brasco as the undercover police officer finding his loyalties tested when he grows too close to Al Pacino’s Lefty Ruggiero, but was it really necessary to lump Keanu into the conversation and call him a shite actor? No, it was not, with Newell striking a needless low blow.
