The actors that Keanu Reeves “shared an artistic sensibility” with
There’s never been another movie star quite like Keanu Reeves. He’s been a major name for over 35 years despite having his ability to do the job to an acceptable standard called into question for the entirety of that time.
Of course, not every great actor is a bankable movie star and vice versa, but it’s fascinating that Reeves has remained on top since the late 1980s despite constant accusations he’s terrible at his job. Sure, he’s very unlikely to win an Academy Award for his on-camera efforts, but nobody spends that long on the A-list without having something special about them.
Before he became a household name and an icon of the action genre through Point Break, Speed, The Matrix, and John Wick, though, Reeves was hardly shy when it came to broadening his horizons. He was always seeking ways to get better at his craft, which saw him tackle a number of disparate characters.
Crime drama River’s Edge, period piece Dangerous Liaisons, the cult classic slacker comedy of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, ensemble dramedy Parenthood, intimate drama My Own Private Idaho, the lavish gothic fantasy of Francis Ford Coppola’s Dracula, and Shakespeare adaptation Much Ado About Nothing are hardly the career choices of a performer unwilling to take a risk or two.
It didn’t always work out as planned, with his horrendous accent and blank-faced mundanity in Dracula the most egregious example, but that early period did at least introduce him to two peers who he immediately identified with as kindred creative spirits.
In a conversation with The Guardian, Reeves referred to My Own Private Idaho‘s River Phoenix and the other half of Wyld Stallyns Alex Winter as “definitely my closest friends from that era” for the way “we shared an artistic sensibility”. He and Winter have remained close ever since they first crossed paths, with Phoenix’s passing hitting his co-star in Gus Van Sant’s powerful picture especially hard.
“River was just so down to earth, spiritual, and a unique artist,” he said. “Yeah, I miss him.” It was that bond that got them into the film in the first place, with Phoenix’s agent refusing to even show him the script. However, Van Sant enlisted Reeves to personally hand-deliver the treatment to his friend at his home, which naturally saw him hop on his motorcycle and venture from Canada to Florida to do so.
Neither of them had officially signed on by that point, but when Phoenix revealed his interest in the project, Reeves followed suit after the two made a handshake agreement between them, guaranteeing that neither would bow out.
“I was in right away,” he admitted of the moment they sealed the unofficial deal, and they’d stay friends until the former’s tragic passing in October 1993 at the age of just 23.
