The one role Keanu Reeves would love to play again
Keanu Reeves‘ iconic roles feature some of the most beloved fictional characters of all time. For instance, it is difficult to look beyond everyone’s favourite saviour of the Matrix universe, Neo, when narrowing down Reeves’ best and most notorious performance.
Yet, the list ought not to end there with Reeves, for so too do his performances as John Wick in the film franchise of the same name, Johnny Utah in Point Break, and the legendary Ted’ Theodore’ Logan in the Bill & Ted films – amongst many others – are certainly given their rightful amount of praise.
However, earlier this year, when asked by Stephen Colbert if there is a character that he has played before that he would like to play again even though no one has asked him to, Reeves replied, “I would love to play John Constantine again from Constantine.”
Colbert then went on to say that by saying it live on national television, it might just force Reeves’ hand in fulfilling his wishes. Interestingly, Reeves replied by saying that is not necessarily true, as apparently, Reeves has already tried to get the film made, further indicating his love for the character.
Constantine, the film adaption loosely based on the DC Comics story of Hellblazer, came out back in 2005. Reeves stars as John Constantine, an exorcist who can communicate with angels and demons and travel between the realms of Earth and Hell. He performed alongside Rachel Weisz, Shia LeBeouf and Tilda Swinton.
At the San Diego Comic-Con back in 2020, Constantine producer Akiva Goldsman said that numerous attempts to progress the story of John Constantine had been made. However, none of them had, by that point, proven to be successful.
Goldsman said that even though the film did “fairly well,” it wasn’t enough to impress the studio and convince them to make a sequel. He added, “We wanted to make a hard-R sequel. I think we’d probably make it tomorrow. Yes, we tried a lot of different ways to find – it was always to the studios who made it, which were Village Roadshow and Warner Bros. It was always a little bit of a feathered fish.”
However, it appears that the many attempts to force through a sequel of the film by both Reeves and the film’s producers have paid dividends, as Constantine 2 is now said to be in production, with the original’s filmmaker, Francis Lawrence, taking on directing duties once more, with Reeves again in his beloved role as the cynical and sceptical exorcist.
