‘Platoon’: The iconic war movie that Keanu Reeves turned down
Potentially the nicest man in Hollywood, Keanu Reeves landed his big break in 1991 with Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. The comedy sequel was by no means an indicator of things to come, with Reeves going on to showcase his dexterity in indie flicks like My Private Idaho, action thrillers such as Point Break and blockbuster franchises like The Matrix and John Wick. However, there was one iconic role the actor couldn’t bring himself to accept.
By 1986, Reeves had been working as a professional actor for about two years, having made his acting debut in the Canadian TV sitcom Hangin’ In and secured roles in TV movies like Babes in Toyland, Act of Vengeance and Brotherhood of Justice.
The same year Reeves made his feature debut in Peter Markle’s Youngblood, Oliver Stone unveiled his iconic Vietnam war film Platoon. It tells the story of Chris Taylor, a university student who leaves college life behind to enlist in combat duty in Vietnam in 1967. Patriotic and idealistic to a fault, Taylor’s understanding of heroism is completely altered once he finds himself on the ground in the midst of battle. As the infighting in his unit becomes more and more pronounced, the soldiers wind up fighting not one but two enemies: the Viet Cong and themselves.
Taylor is played by Charlie Sheen, but Oliver Stone initially offered the role to Keanu Reeves, who turned it down. In retrospect, it was probably the wrong move, given Platoon is today one of the most celebrated war films of all time. At the time, though, Keanu Reeves was unsure if doing a very violent war film was the best thing for his career. Of course, Reeves wasn’t the only actor being considered for the role. According to an interview for EW, Stone also thought Kyle MacLachlan or Johnny Depp might be a good fit.
According to Stone: “Keanu turned it down because of the violence. He didn’t want to do violence.” Reeves may not have been right for the role anyway. Describing what attracted him to Sheen, Stone said: “Charlie was a dumb-struck 17-year-old the first time he came in for the film, back when we were going to make it in ’84. And in those two years, he’d grown and seemed perfectly wide-eyed and had a vaguely privileged look”. Reeves was just as young, but already boasted the brooding intensity of someone twice his age.
Depp, meanwhile, simply wasn’t ready for the role, being relatively new to the acting game. “Frankly, it’s going to sound cliche, but I clearly believed he was going to be a star,” Stone confessed. “He was a great-looking kid. He was considered for other roles, but I didn’t think he was quite ready at that time to play Charlie’s role. We got to know each other pretty well in the jungle and I really thought he was going places. He was shy. I think it was before Jump Street.”
You can revisit a clip from Oliver Stone’s Platoon below.
