Keanu Reeves reveals details of brutal injury suffered on set of new movie
One of Hollywood’s most beloved stars, Keanu Reeves, has revealed how he injured himself on the set of his upcoming film, Good Fortune.
The actor will be appearing alongside Seth Rogan, Sandra Oh, Keke Palmer, and Aziz Ansari, with the latter also writing and directing the film. Reeves plays a guardian angel to Ansari’s character, although he soon loses his wings after suggesting that excessive wealth won’t improve his life proves to be advice that backfires. When Ansari’s character temporarily swaps lives with his rich boss, he finds himself in love with the lavish lifestyle, even though Reeves’ character was trying to communicate its emptiness.
The comic tale seems to explore themes of class and what it means to live a fulfilled and happy life. It marks Ansari’s directorial debut, which has been delayed until now due to last year’s writer’s strike.
During filming, which began in January, Reeves unfortunately became injured, yet he soldiered on through the rest of production regardless. On The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he revealed, “I was filming a scene with Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen and we were in a cold plunge. I was loving it, I was standing there, and we finish the scene, and you know when you’re cold and you’re [shuffling]? I had a bathing suit and a towel, and you put it over your head and you do the cold shuffle?”
However, as Reeves was shuffling away from set, disaster struck. “I’m doing the cold shuffle in this room that had protective carpets down and then, just here, there was like a little pocket, and my foot got caught in the pocket in the shuffle, and then I went [down], but [my knee] didn’t follow.”
The actor knew that he was in trouble. “And then, in slow motion, I went falling. My arms came out, but then my knee failed because it’s got some stuff, and I spiked it. And my patella — kneecap — cracked like a potato chip,” he explained.
“Comedy’s hard, man,” he joked. According to Ansari, Reeves kept filming after the incident, only delaying several scenes, such as a salsa dancing sequence, because of the strain on the injury.
Meanwhile, Reeves recently admitted his fears about mortality, telling the BBC, “I’m 59, so I’m thinking about death all the time.” He shared this bleak revelation while promoting his first-ever novel, The Book of Elsewhere. Luckily, his injury on the set of Good Fortune was not life-threatening, and the movie will arrive in the near future, although a precise release date has not yet been decided.
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.