{"id":221282,"date":"2019-07-02T22:05:27","date_gmt":"2019-07-03T02:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=221282"},"modified":"2019-07-02T22:05:27","modified_gmt":"2019-07-03T02:05:27","slug":"parsing-out-keanus-totally-excellent-year-after-decades-of-highs-and-lows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/07\/02\/parsing-out-keanus-totally-excellent-year-after-decades-of-highs-and-lows\/","title":{"rendered":"Parsing out Keanu’s totally excellent year after decades of highs and lows"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The prolific Toronto-bred action hero is riding high on a dizzying array of film and TV roles while internet memes and tributes have exploded in recent months with unified adoration. (File Photo By Marybel Le Pape – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 Overexposure can dim the brightest Hollywood star \u2014 except, it seems, Keanu Reeves.<\/p>\n

The prolific Toronto-bred action hero is riding high on a dizzying array of film and TV roles while internet memes and tributes have exploded in recent months with unified adoration.<\/p>\n

The so-called Keanuaissance is sweet justice for devotees of the heartthrob, who has weathered decades of critical pans that often dismiss his acting as little more than wooden portrayals of himself.<\/p>\n

Most notably, the 54-year-old is dominating the box office with \u201cJohn Wick: Chapter 3 \u2014 Parabellum,\u201d which pushed the cult franchise into the mainstream when it debuted at #1 mid-May, and appears in last weekend’s #1 film, \u201cToy Story 4,\u201d as the voice of bombastic Canuck stuntman Duke Caboom.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuddenly, he’s at the top of his game and he’s leading a franchise that I don’t think … anyone thought would achieve this kind of status,\u201d Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian says from Los Angeles, referring to the violent \u201cJohn Wick\u201d film series that has amassed more than $500 million worldwide according to his data.<\/p>\n

\u201cKeanu Reeves has this cool factor that’s pretty undeniable, and the guy builds motorcycles \u2014 he has that Arch Motorcycle company. He’s well-known for being super-friendly, affable, down-to-earth kind of guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The preternaturally youthful star is a rare celebrity to have anchored culture-shifting hits in each of the past four decades, including \u201cBill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure\u201d in ’89, \u201cSpeed\u201d in ’94, \u201cThe Matrix\u201d franchise in ’99, and ’03; and the \u201cJohn Wick\u201d instalments that launched in ’14.<\/p>\n

It’s a testament to Reeves’ iconic stature that he turned up as an outsized version of himself in the Netflix romantic comedy \u201cAlways Be My Maybe\u201d in late May. It pokes fun at the myriad stereotypes projected onto his low-key image by casting him as a self-involved windbag full of obnoxious zen platitudes.<\/p>\n

Dig deep and you’ll also find guest appearances on the detective comedy \u201cSwedish Dicks\u201d on Super Channel, and his turn as a misanthropic bachelor in last summer’s box office flop \u201cDestination Wedding,\u201d now on Amazon Prime Video.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s been like the Keanu year, he’s doing well,\u201d acknowledges Pixar animator and fellow Canuck, Benjamin Su, who animated Reeves’ voice for his introductory scene as an insecure plastic stuntman in \u201cToy Story 4.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuke was originally like a side-joke character and I think when he came in and he started to delve into the guy’s past a little bit more and figure out what was driving him, it forced us animators and the writers to dig a little deeper into the character.\u201d<\/p>\n

What results is an unabashedly patriotic portrayal in which Duke declares: \u201cYes, I Can-ada!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDuke can’t help it,\u201d Reeves says in production notes for the film. \u201cHe’s a showman and a daredevil \u2014 he has to perform. It’s who he is. It was great to express my inner Duke Caboom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even avoiding the multiplex is no guarantee to escape the weirdly omnipresent Reeves, as Twitter is awash with random videos suggesting one could encounter the actor at any moment: ambling into a Carl’s Jr., giving up his seat to another passenger on the subway, assisting fellow airline passengers waylaid by an unexpected detour, simply getting groceries.<\/p>\n

Largely absent on social media is Reeves himself.<\/p>\n

The man is famously guarded about his personal life and that seems to have lent an air of mystery, says Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

At least two childhood acquaintances challenge an especially persistent image of a sad loner, epitomized by the \u201cSad Keanu\u201d meme that made the rounds nearly 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Instead, 55-year-old Maia Frumhartz describes a reserved but athletic, happy-go-lucky teen with a solid circle of friends back when they hung out in the summer of 1983.<\/p>\n

She says they met the year before when she was 18 and each lived in Toronto’s Yorkville neighbourhood. A mutual friend brought him to a party she was hosting, and he struck her as a shy \u201cwallflower.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kind of a mousey kid, a quiet, shy kid but the next summer he kind of started to come out. He was 18 that summer and really active and you could tell he was more confident,\u201d says Frumhartz, who went by Judy as her first name back then.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’d go play tennis, we would take bike rides. Once we had our licences we were driving in cars, just partying,\u201d says Frumhartz, adding that life took them down separate paths the following year. \u201cKeanu was a great dancer, I remember loving to dance with him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jason Kay says his older brother grew especially close to Reeves after meeting around junior high, and the two remained close into their early 20s, even as Reeves’ career took off in Hollywood.<\/p>\n

In high school, Kay says Reeves was a talented hockey goalie who was good enough to try out for a major junior hockey team but chose to pursue acting instead.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when we talked about it, 25 years ago or whatever it was, he said that he just didn’t see himself in a dressing room after games,\u201d says Kay, two years his junior. \u201cIt was the acting that was his passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flash forward to May of this year, and we find Reeves officially being embraced by Hollywood at last with his signature, hand and footprints immortalized in concrete at the TCL Chinese Theatre.<\/p>\n

Back in his hometown of Toronto, the Beirut-born actor of Hawaiian, Chinese and British heritage has yet to receive a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame.<\/p>\n

But there’s no sign his career is slowing down any time soon.<\/p>\n

Reeves sent gaming fans into a frenzy in June by announcing he’d lent his voice and likeness to the upcoming sci-fi role-playing video game \u201cCyberpunk 2077,\u201d and upcoming film projects are said to include a return to the slacker character that helped start it all, \u201cBill and Ted Face the Music\u201d, as well as another \u201cJohn Wick\u201d outing.<\/p>\n

Dergarabedian suggests Reeve’s reinvention as an R-rated action hero has gone a long way towards shifting a spotty film legacy for the better.<\/p>\n

Or maybe it’s his sheer likeability that allows audiences to forgive multiple misfires such as the savagely reviewed \u201cReplicas,\u201d which screened at the Toronto\u00a0International\u00a0Film Festival in 2017, and 2008’s misguided remake \u201cThe Day the Earth Stood Still.\u201d<\/p>\n

The fact Reeves has made a point of alternating big-budget popcorn flicks \u2014 think 1989’s \u201cParenthood,\u201d 2003’s \u201cSomething’s Gotta Give\u201d \u2014 with more challenging indie fare \u2014 there was 1991’s \u201cMy Own Private Idaho,\u201d 2005’s \u201cThumbsucker\u201d \u2014 suggests there’s long been more to Reeves than many give him credit for, says Dergarabedian.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it’s just in his DNA to be low-key about everything and let the work speak for itself. That, I think, is the absolute key to longevity.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 Overexposure can dim the brightest Hollywood star \u2014 except, it seems, Keanu Reeves. The prolific Toronto-bred action hero …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":221284,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-221282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","mauthors-cassandra-szklarski","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221285,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221282\/revisions\/221285"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}