‘The Watcher’: the movie Keanu Reeves point blank refused to promote
Most actors who have been around the block a few times have a few movies under their belts that they’d rather forget about. For every Taxi Driver, there’s an Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and for every Uncut Gems, a Jack and Jill. And in Keanu Reeves’ case, for The Matrix, there is The Watcher.
In the case of that project, however, things run a little deeper for Reeves than simply wishing he could forget about it, the way that Mark Hamill once completely forgot about being in a movie. The Watcher was a 2000 thriller that brought together Reeves and James Spader, with The Wrestler’s Marisa Tomei adding some steamy appeal.
Reeves, who had endured a mixed 1990s before going stratospheric in The Matrix the previous year, was good friends at the time with the film’s director, Joe Charbanic, who had helmed some music videos for Reeves’ band Dogstar. He was adamant that Reeves had to play the killer in the movie, but Reeves, who had read the script, was far from convinced.
Somehow, somewhere along the way, it seems Reeves’ signature was forged on a contract, according to Reeves by Charbanic himself. That led to the end of their friendship and Reeves being forced into participating in the movie, which he decided to do rather than end up in court. He also accepted a vastly reduced salary, especially compared to the seven-figure wages earned by Spader and Tomei.
When it came to the film’s release, there was no way that Reeves was going to do a full tour of press junkets for it. So he came to an agreement with Universal Pictures that his role in the movie could be downplayed. He wouldn’t have to participate in any interviews or events to promote the film or reveal the issues with his signature for at least 12 months.
He probably had a lucky escape all told; the film was panned and the week of release went down as the lowest-grossing in US cinema since the 1980s. It still holds a horrible reputation across critical aggregators, and sadly for Reeves, his keeping his head in the sand didn’t save him from earning a Razzie that year for ‘Worst Supporting Actor’.
It sparked a rough period for Reeves; his band broke up, and he didn’t have another hit until he returned to the Matrix franchise for the two sequels in 2003, which were big hits despite Reeves’ performance coming under some scrutiny. But that then marked a change of direction for Reeves, who started to make some genuinely interesting films. One of these was Richard Linklater’s Rotoscopic animation A Scanner Darkly, which, while not pulling up any trees at the box office, did gain critical acclaim.
But despite some brave projects, including his own directing of a martial arts movie with different dialogues in Man of Tai Chi, Reeves spent a decade without much attention and without a successful film of any description. That was until he roared back with the surprise hit John Wick, the dead puppy revenge flick that sparked a global franchise, a spin-off and three more instalments (with another soon to follow).
They’ve grossed over a billion dollars worldwide and pushed Reeves back to the forefront of A-list Hollywood. Things are looking up for Keanu. Even his band is back together.
