What makes a real movie star?
The question is as old as Hollywood.
On the women's side, the fame and influence of an actress are measured by the number of admissions generated by the films in which she plays, but also by the amount of her advertising fees for luxury brands, by the quantity of items that the celebrity press is ready to devote to him and, today, to the number of its subscribers on Instagram or Twitter.
On the men's side, it's pretty much the same, with less pressure from age, plastic, and surgery to keep her looking perfect.
We immediately think of George Clooney and his "What else?"
”In the advertisement for Nespresso, to Brad Pitt, divorced, whose every move fascinates the crowds, or to Dwayne Johnson, alias The Rock, followed by the record figure of 218 million subscribers on Instagram.
A very very human Cyberpunk
And then there's Keanu Reeves.
Keanu does not advertise, or almost.
Keanu doesn't make the front pages, or almost.
Keanu is not on any social network.
Or indirectly.
Despite this, the ex-young premier of the late 1980s, who landed in the cinema with an avalanche of commercial successes like “Point Break”, “Speed”, then the “Matrix” trilogy, remains at the top of the list. poster.
He managed to reinvent himself around a new franchise of action films, the John Wicks, and garnered the attention of moviegoers on the lookout for any leaked photo of "Matrix 4", shot last year under high security anti-Covid-19 and anti-paparazzi.
Keanu Reeves took $ 80 million from his "Matrix" stamp to give to the tech team.
Sygma / Getty / Ronald Siemoneit
He is also making his mark on other screens: he embodies a former rock legend, terrorist and ghost in Cyberpunk 2077, a video game that made the event at the end of 2020. And although he does not There is no personal account, the more than discreet Canadian actor is a mega star on Twitter and Instagram.
Each of his TV spots and interviews are included there, for their simple wisdom, but not necessarily naive.
Example, in May 2019: “What happens after death?
"Asks American comedian Stephen Colbert on CBS 'flagship show" The Late Show ".
"I know that those who love us are missed," he replies most calmly.
The video goes viral, and commentators are quick to add it to the long list of little phrases and good deeds from the one some fans describe as "the most human human being on the planet."
Keanu mechanic, Keanu in the subway ...
Is it because he has known trials?
On the rise, in April 2001, his ex-partner Jennifer Syme, from whom he was just separated, died in a car accident.
Fifteen months earlier, she had given birth to a stillborn girl.
With only possession of his motorbike and a big bag, Keanu Reeves decides to reconnect with a nomadic life for several years.
An existence he had with his costumer mother who, depending on the contracts, changed countries: Australia, Canada, United States - in Hawaii, New York… And who helped him to be open to others.
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Because Keanu is nice, very nice.
The evidence?
In a video filmed by a passenger, we see him, in 2011, taking the metro, which is quite unusual for a star, and giving way to a woman.
On the social network Reddit, a page is dedicated to him.
It is teeming with anecdotes posted by anonymous people who have crossed its path, like that of this young girl who had broken down on the edge of the highway.
He tries to restart his car, before offering to drive her back in a Porsche 60 kilometers away, and without ever making any advances.
In 2001, a traveler plays the paparazzi to film Keanu Reeves in the subway.
/ YouTube @El Con-Dort
Or the time he paid for his ticket himself to see a show and refused to be placed in the VIP area.
Not to mention the $ 80 million he would have taken from his salary to give to the team of makeup and special effects "Matrix".
The one who has never won an Oscar, the grail of the actor that Tom Cruise still dreams of too, holds another record, as improbable as it is difficult to obtain: the number of “memes”.
These images where he appears, subtitled and shared on social networks, are numerous.
It's even in the Ukrainian history books
A simple photo of him eating a sandwich on a bench, looking like he had all the misery in the world on his shoulders, hit the nail on the head.
Called the "Sad Keanu" ("Sad Keanu"), it has been inserted using image editing software in multiple famous photos.
Created in 2010, this meme is one of the first to achieve worldwide success and made history for these new modes of communication.
And even in history books.
In Ukraine, a publisher reproduced the legendary photo of New York workers having lunch on top of a skyscraper in the 1930s, without realizing that it contained a new host: "Sad Keanu" had been added to it with Photoshop.
She's stuck around and is fueling some ranting online that claims Keanu is actually a hundred years old, and not getting old.
A bench, a sandwich, a bird and here is "Sad Keanu" become an Internet phenomenon. / Splash New / Abaca
But, of course, Keanu Reeves is getting old.
He is 56 years old, and the age suits him.
The impassiveness of his face, which the critics have long criticized him, now turn to his advantage?
“A lot of people say he plays badly because he has few facial expressions,” explains Anthony Oliver Scott, the dreaded New York Times critic, “when I find that this is what makes all the difference, and its superiority.
He has something of the great actors of silent cinema, a la Rudolph Valentino.
It's his gaze that changes everything, the way he sets the goal.
"
The journalist still smiles at his audacity: last December, he placed him in the daily ranking of the best actors of the twenty-first century.
“And in fourth place, in addition, behind Denzel Washington, Isabelle Huppert and Daniel Day-Lewis, so it made waves!
That, and not including Meryl Streep, but that's another story.
"
Sad Keanu can also be very funny
For the critic, Keanu Reeves has achieved the feat of pursuing an eclectic career.
In the United States, he is also known and recognized for his comedic roles, as in the delirious trilogy of the adventures of Bill and Ted, whose first opus was released in 1989, a film for teenagers in which he plays a left and naive geek. who thinks that men from the future would have come to seek him to compose a "song that will save the world", than for his roles in "Dangerous Liaisons", "Dracula" or "Point Break".
Certainly, unlike others, he did not gain tens of pounds and then lose them, never played the game of mimicry with a famous character.
If Keanu Reeves is not in search of this type of performance, he has, on the other hand, many films to his credit, from blockbusters to independent feature films.
Keanu Reeves with his partner, artist Alexandra Grant, in Berlin in 2020. Splash News / Abaca
The curiosity of this Canadian, born in Beirut, Lebanon, also flourishes in another art.
The actor now writes poetry.
He even publishes some, and can talk for hours about the quality of vellum of paper.
He also builds motorcycles - he created a brand, Arch, which produces magnificent cars.
And, on the heart side, Keanu Reeves has lived for years with Alexandra Grant, a woman who confuses the press people: not only this 47-year-old artist, who leads her own career, makes fun of the red carpets, but in addition, she assumes her age, refuses cosmetic surgery and coloring to cover his white hair!
A perfect partner for an atypical man who, despite success and fame, has carved out a place for himself in Hollywood.
