The TV series Keanu Reeves offered to play any role in: “Just put me in coach”
There might not be another actor with the clout of Keanu Reeves who is as universally hailed as a genuinely good guy, and where rumours tend to circulate about the not-so-appealing qualities of any number of celebrities, he has been consistently praised for being a good collaborator and nice person.
One of the reasons that the success of the John Wick franchise has been so exciting is that it is a series that Reeves supported from the beginning, even when resources were thin, and no one else believed in it.
The actor is most closely associated with action films, which isn’t all that surprising when considering that John Wick, Point Break, and Speed are all considered to be classics of the genre. However, his involvement in science fiction projects like The Matrix franchise has also made him an icon for genre buffs.
Beyond starring in other films of the ilk, such as Johnny Mnemonic and The Day The Earth Stood Still, Reeves, a self-admitted geek who still gets excited by exciting new works of science fiction and fantasy, co-wrote the BRZRKR comic book series and its spinoff novel The Book of Elsewhere, and also provided his voice for the video game Cyberpunk 2077.
Given his fascination with sci-fi storytelling, it should come as no surprise that he’s reached out to the creators of projects that he is a fan of. Although he had a guest appearance on Tim Miller’s anthology series Secret Level, Reeves told the showrunner that he was interested in being involved with his other animated show, Love, Death, and Robots, and Miller, a lifelong fan of Reeves, told Gamesradar that he was blown away by the request.
“He is a huge animation fan, and he came down to Blurto talk to me about a movie, another movie entirely and said, ‘What I really want to talk about is Love, Death and Robots, can you tell me all about it? I love animation’,” he recalled, “I said, ‘Well, we’re doing this other thing. Would you want to be in it?’ And he said, ‘Fuck yeah’. I said, ‘Do you have anything in particular you want to play?’ And he’s like, ‘No, just put me in coach’, essentially.”
Miller said he was so stunned by the request that he had to work hard the ensure that his co-creator, Dave Wilson, believed him. “I asked Dave, ‘If you were to cast Keanu Reeves in the show, what character would he be?’” he posed the question to his partner, to which, “At first, Dave thought I was joking that Keanu Reeves wanted to be in the show.”
Reeves was certainly being truthful about his love of animation, as it is a medium that he has taken a greater interest in in the last few years, voicing a more comedic version of Batman in DC League of Super Pets and earning praise for his vocal performance as Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3.
Given that the man is now 61 years old, there’s only so much time he has where he could realistically make more action sequels to The Matrix and John Wick, so appearing on an animated anthology show like Love, Death and Robots wouldn’t just be a step in a new direction, but the opportunity to appear in a passion project.
