Keanu Reeves names the film that sent his career to “studio movie jail”
Hollywood celebrities curate a very specific kind of public image, which sells them as ‘normal’ in the public sphere, but only a few actors are able to successfully pull this act off successfully. Keanu Reeves is one such star, rising to popularity in the 1990s alongside similar industry hunks Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio before thriving in modern cinema thanks to roles in The Matrix and John Wick franchises.
Walking the tightrope between a career in independent and mainstream cinema, Reeves has never dominated one space solely, dodging from one role to the next with infectious creative energy. Having flexed his natural ability for action movie roles in the 1990s, starring in Point Break, Speed and more, in contemporary cinema, his skills are far more spread out, embracing a number of comedy roles, as well as being a prominent fixture in the Cyberpunk video game series.
Still, his rise to success wasn’t plain sailing. Reeves’ real mainstream Hollywood dominance was sparked following the release of The Matrix in 1999, which catapulted him to further acclaim. Sequels followed in the early years of the new millennium, as well as critical and commercial hits Constantine and A Scanner Darkly, but Reeves knew he was only a film or two away from irrelevance.
“You’re always fighting for a career,” Reeves told Esquire in 2017 before pointing out one specific moment in his own filmography when he felt like things could come to an end.
“Sometimes I call that The Day My Career Stood Still,” he says of the 2008 sci-fi disaster The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name by Robert Wise. Regretting ever taking on the project, he said, as a result of the film, “I kind of went to Studio Movie Jail,” with the actor finding it hard to pick up the pieces following the release of the $80million flop.
Appearing in the movie as Klaatu, an alien messenger who is sent to Earth to try and encourage humanity to change their behaviour in order to save the planet from environmental destruction, Reeves was hesitant to take on the remake but liked the script from David Scarpa. Seemingly, Reeves was the only person to enjoy the script, with the film receiving pretty negative reviews at the time, despite having a cast that also included the likes of Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese, Jon Hamm, and Kathy Bates.
Take a look at the trailer for the highly forgettable sci-fi flick below.
