In the incredulous private world of Keanu Reeves: tragedy, motorcycles and epic film

When Keanu Reeves was asked the other night, "What do you think happens when we die?" to interview Stephen Colbert I probably did not expect such a deep or assured answer from the movie star.

"I know that those who love us will be missed by us," said the 54-year-old actor wisely. Last show host unusually voiceless.

It was a sincere and thoughtful answer – Reeves' true, really – about someone who had reason to think about such things.

"I did not really think about my professional future or what was going to happen until recently," he said. GQ in February. When asked why he started thinking about it, he said, "Death!"

Reeves, still young, who returns in theaters Friday in the third installment of the blockbuster John Wick franchise, has become a brand in itself, the name "Keanu" meaning not only a cinematographic celebrity, but also a certain type of performance and even a state of mind: cold, zen, perfectly inspired (despite the word "Sad Keanu" "). Her name – which lent herself to a comedy about a cat and to a recent song of LogicAnd who of course, a studio director wanted it to change when he first arrived in Hollywood – it means "a cool breeze on the mountains" in Hawaiian, after all.

But the waters are still deep and, despite being in the public eye for more than 30 years, he is one of the least known people whose chiseled face could be recognized anywhere. Few people are as close to the waistcoat as Reeves, who, although he does an occasional interview and shows up to fulfill his role in promoting his films, does not talk about his personal life. And not like most celebrities do not really talk about their personal life.

As time passes, we do not know if he even has one, though – look at him – he is.

"I came to Hollywood to do cinema," said Reeves Parade recently. "I'm really grateful to have had this opportunity, but I'm only a private person, and it's good that it may still exist."

He does not even publish his charity work, but his causes include children's hospitals, the fight against cancer, the arts and the environment.

"I always find it surreal that perfect strangers come to ask me personal questions," he said. Parade in 2008. "I do not mind talking about work, but when the discussion turns to:" Who are you? "And what are you doing off screen?" I'm like, "Get out of here." I've been in situations where people have had the feeling of having a relationship with me or something like that and I did not even know who they were. "

Not that Reeves is an anti-star. He lives in the hills above West Hollywood, has spent a lot of time enjoying the local nightlife in his youth and has starred in many of the action movies cited – and is getting paid enough for them, enough for to take off and make passion like his first film. (and only, so far) management effort, 2013 The Tai Chi man, or do not show up on a Swedish sitcom (Swedish Dicks, now on Pop) or in any independent film he wants so much, like the recent Destination wedding, an acerbic comedy that redefines it with Bram Stoker's Dracula costar Winona ryder.

He is perfectly friendly, but looks generally serious, but not because he takes himself seriously, but rather as he wanted to answer the lighter questions with respectful gravity. But, as Stephen Colbert just knew, if you ask Reeves a potentially complex question, get ready to get an answer.

Ask by Parade in 2008 if he believed in extraterrestrials because he was playing alien Klaatu in a remake of The day the earth stoppedHe said, "Some days I do it, some days I do not, there are so many unexplained and inexplicable phenomena that are presented to us, but beyond that, the cosmos is so vast. not be the only sentient entity, may not look like us, but it's going to be there. "

His signature, Keanu's cadence, was once regarded as a sign of emptiness, but Reeves attributed to the interviews that he was not well-versed in his talks, to his general uneasiness in speaking of himself.

"I've never played stupidly to keep someone at a distance," he said. Vanity Fair in 1995. "I do not play stupid, either it was a failure on my part, either my naivety or my naivety, or sometimes it's the nature of the form … And you know, I'm more able to Explain a project five years later than in the middle of it.It is so present that I can tell you how I feel, but its context is harder to explain … Sometimes when I I'm interviewed, I'm not ready to do it, so you say … "Excellent!" And you know what, man? It's good. "

That was certainly.

Ted Theodore Logan, Johnny Utah, Travern Jack, Neo, John Wick: all the characters that had to be played by Reeves. He did everything from Shakespeare to sports movies to A dark scannerand soon you'll hear his voice as Duke Caboom, a motorcycle stuntman with a nostalgic backstory, in Toy Story 4, who will probably sneak The matrix reloaded, which has grossed $ 742 million worldwide, as its most profitable film.

"So I made Duke a bit more gritty, but I still tried to give him some energy and a great personality," Reeves told Weekly entertainment in March. "I just thought Duke should like what he was doing – he's the greatest stuntman in Canada! I wanted him to constantly pose on the bike while he was talking, to have this great outgoing passion. "

He refused Speed ​​2 play Hamlet on stage in Canada. He was one of the first big stars to memorize his own group, Dogstar, in the 90s, and he is currently co-owner of a bespoke bike shop, ARCH Motorcycle, in Hawthorne, California, because he loves motorcycles as much as you think.

"Riding can be a place of reflection and feeling. It's a way of solving the problem, "he said recently. Parade, noting that bad weather does not stop it. "I like riding in the rain – it's a bit more basic." He rides mainly alone, but the ARCH team is on the Pacific Coast Highway on Sunday morning.

And if the bikes provide a soothing balm to Reeves, the acting game provides another.

"When you play, you constantly discover new feelings and thoughts and expose yourself to them," he said. Parade in 2008. "I guess it could be considered psychotherapy.All I know is that as an actor, I can tell you a story that you will listen to." -being it will not entertain you, it could also teach I think the movie has the power to change your life if you want to leave it.

Combine his impenetrable into real life with his approach of playing the same, every time he's great, or he's just doing the same thing, and he's become more of a myth than man – and that too, is a huge part of his calling. He is fair so Keanu.

"I do not have a computer and I do not receive e-mail," he said in 2008. Parade interview. "I am fascinated by people who panic when they do not get an instant response to an email.This is how they expect it as soon as they send an email to get the answer and if they do not, it 's horrible I just hope that people will not totally lose the ability to write letters because that' s a good way to communicate. "

Reeves said he preferred the typewriters. We can only hope that he and Toy Story star Tom Hanks had the chance to talk about typewriters together.

"I only have good things to say about him," Swedish Dicks star To fart Stormare, Who met Reeves doing Constantine in 2005, which led to the role of the actor in his show, said GQ. "Once a year, we drink a beer together and talk about life and things, he's very private, he lives his life as he likes, and I guess it can sometimes be alone. think he's just like me.It's comforting to be alone sometimes, especially when you're working on something. "

"We stuck on the bikes, the bass guitar and Harold Pinter," Alex Winter, the bill to his Ted, also told the magazine. "Reeves had a very good collection of books."

Reeves was born in Beirut, from a Hawaiian father and an English mother, but they divorced when he was about 2 years old. Patricia remarried in the United States, but after that did not work, she moved in with Keanu, 7, and her younger sister, Kim, born in Australia, in Toronto. Reeves apparently would not have spoken to his father since the age of 13.

"We were children caught," he said Squire in 2017. "It was basically" leaving the house in the morning and coming back at night "it was cool." But, he said Parade"Even for a runaway English girl, my mother educated us well.We learned good manners, respect for our elders, formal work tables.I also learned an unprejudiced acceptance and without judgment from others. . "

His favorite part of the school was playing drama and studying Shakespeare in English class. So he gave up at 17 to try out at the theater.

"My attendance record was very bad, I was lazy," Reeves said. Vanity Fair. "I knew I wanted to play in mid-11th grade, I guess, and the school was not important."

His first actor work came on the Canadian series Hangin & # 39; In in 1984. He then moved to Los Angeles and made his big screen debut at Rob LoweFeatured drama Youngblood in 1986. Later that year, he won his first major role in the dramatic drama of adolescent crime. Riverbank, Who then won the Best Feature Award at the Independent Spirit Awards.

Reeves is therefore turned to the race. Over the next five years, he has produced a multitude of films, including 80's comedy. The night before, Dangerous Liaisons, The great adventure of Bill & Ted (and his suite, Fictitious journey) parenting, Point Break and My own private Idaho.

He was living fast Hollywood life very fast, and all was not seduced.

In 1993, Phoenix River died of an accidental drug overdose – another painful thing that Reeves did not want to talk about, but he spoke fondly of his friend and My own private Idaho costar.

"I enjoyed his company. Very good," said Reeves Rolling stone in 2000. "And enjoyed his mind and his spirit and his soul.We did good one to the other.He was a genuine original thinker.It was not the status quo In anything. "

As for Phoenix's death, "it's something he's thinking about all the time, something he never really talks about," said one friend. People. "Friends do not go with him."

In 1994, his father, Samuel, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for drug possession in Hawaii, but was released in two. "Jesus, man, no, the story with my father and me is pretty heavy, it's full of pain, grief and loss, and everything that happened to me," he says. RS at that time. In 1995, he said Vanity JustWhen asked why he did not want to know more about his father's case, "Why would I want to know what I did not know?" He called the situation "pretty incredible", and that was all.

Reeves has a huge scar on the abdomen since he had a ruptured spleen during a motorcycle accident while he was driving in the LA Topanga Canyon in 1988. He went on a hairpin turn at around 50mph.

"I call it a demon trick," he thinks Rolling stone. "It's when things go wrong, but there are other times you go fast, or too fast, by excitement … I remember saying in my head, & I'm going to die. "

"I remember calling for help," he continued. "And someone answering in the dark, then flashing lights from an ambulance coming down." It was after a truck crashed my helmet. I took off because I could not breathe, and a truck fell, I went out of the way, and he ran on my helmet. "

In addition, while her star was on the rise, her sister Kim battled cancer for years beginning in the late '80s. "He helped me through," she said. Vanity Just about his brother. "When the pain became acute, he held my hand and prevented the villain from making me dance, he was there all the time, even when he was away."

Actor and member of the Dogstar Group Roger Mailhouse told Rolling stone about Reeves in 2000, "He's a very generous guy, he'd give you his last shoe, he's really smart, he's incredibly smart in the bookstore, he's a very interesting person who does not speak not a lot."

Asked about the evolution of his friend during the last decade, namely in the 90s, Mailhouse replied: "I do not worry so much about him, I was worried about him. as one of my best friends in the world, was he going to crush his bike, this or that? We did some wild things, I guess it's just growing, I do not know – maybe it was something to see with River Phoenix, maybe Losing someone close to But now, I'm just proud of him, he's going to do it the right way. "

For years, you would be much more likely to see Kim or Patricia on Reeves' arm during a first or another big event, like the one where he had a star on the Walk of Fame at Hollywood in 2005, that any girlfriend and actor has not been publicly involved with anyone for years.

Not that he has not been linked to a host of his co-stars, including Sandra Bullock and Charlize Theronbut he's in a serious relationship, it's not with a celebrity.

Sure The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon In 2013, it wore what everyone would take for an alliance in the left ring finger, but no revelation arose from this choice of accessory.

When Parade Recently asked Reeves if he was single, Reeves replied (squirming a bit, according to the magazine): "Well, I'm not married."

In the course of the interviews he has given over the years, a theme that runs through them is the visible discomfort that he begins to highlight when the conversation turns to the overly personal. And some topics are simply forbidden.

Reeves started dating the actress Jennifer Syme after meeting at a party in 1998 and that they were expecting a baby together – but the child, a girl whom they named Ava, was stillborn at 8 months old. They put him to rest in January 2000, according to Peopleand broke several weeks later.

They stayed close until Syme, who was suffering from a severe postnatal depression, died in 2001, after crushing her Jeep Cherokee in several cars parked on a LA street and knocking her off the vehicle. . In 2002, her mother, Maria St. John, continued Marilyn Mansonwho had organized an evening attended by Syme that night, for an unjustified death, alleging that he had given Syme the cocaine that an autopsy had found in his system.

"After Jennifer was sent home safely with a designated driver, she found herself driving her own car for reasons known to herself," said Manson, who knew Syme through the filmmaker David Lynch and had worked with her Lost Highway, Said in a statement.

"This totally unfounded trial will not bring Jennifer's life back, it only serves to reopen the wounds and pain felt by all those who loved Jennifer, it is unfortunate that St. John is defiling her own daughter's reputation." by filing this claim without foundation ".

They would have resulted in an amicable settlement, but Manson claimed that it had nothing to do with Syme taking drugs that night.

Reeves has never publicly spoken of his relationship with Syme, which perfectly matches his previous state, let alone ever since. But he cried. And he finally had something to say about it.

"I think that after the loss, life requires an act of recovery," he said. Parade in 2006. "You must refuse to be overwhelmed, life must go on."

The actor added: "Grief changes shape, but it never ends, people have the misconception that you can take care of it and say," Everything is gone and I am better. "They're wrong, when the people you love are gone, you're alone, I miss their part of life, and their belonging is part of mine, I wonder what the present would be like." were here: what we could have done together, I will miss all the great things I miss. "

So he knew exactly what he was talking about when he said to Colbert, "I know that those who love us will be missed."

Calling it "unfair" and "absurd," said Reeves Parade"All you can do is hope that grief is transformed and that instead of feeling pain and confusion, you will be together again in the memory, what will it be? there will be comfort and pleasure, not just loss. "

"Much of my appreciation of life has been a loss," he concluded. "Life is precious, it's worth it."

He said at the time that he would like to start a family and reiterated the feeling a few years later, but Reeves said Squire in 2017 regarding "s' install": "I'm too much … it's too late, it's over." When asked to clarify, he added: "I'm 52. I'm not going to have children."

Last famous words of a litany of men of about fifty years, and that reminded him. Reeves just said, "It's a whole different … but no, I'm happy to be always here."

"I am every cliché," he continued. "Death of the King, Aging, I'm just starting to improve, just the amount of things you need to do before you die, I'm totally cliched, and it's embarrassing." C & # 39; is everything is just: "Oh my God. OKAY. Where is the time? How is it that things change? How much time do I have left? What I did not do? "I'm trying to think of the replica of the sonnet … And most of all because of the misfortune to unhappiness / The sad tale of moaning pre-deplored / That I pay again as if I have not been paid before. "

"So, yes," he added with a smile. "I am that guy."

In turn, Reeves can not help but advance as the lonely figure he plays so often in his films, Constantine at The matrix at John Wick. Heck, even Duke Caboom sounds a bit melancholy.

At the same time, you are just as likely to see it in a romantic movie or an original comedy like a shoot-em-up. He has played heroes and prostitutes, cruel lovers and villains, teachers and slackers, doctors and lawyers.

"For me, it's continuing to be able to work with great artists and tell stories that people appreciate," said Reeves. Parade. "I always hoped, even when I was young, that I could do different things," he says. "I'm really grateful for that, I'm very lucky, I'm happy to be here."

Although he has no idea John Wick It would be so successful, Reeves was in great shape in the 2014 action show as a retired retired man who takes revenge revenge after gangsters have killed the beloved dog which was a gift from his late wife.

That represented nearly $ 89 million out of an announced $ 20 million budget. Time away!

"You hope and dream, but the reality is even softer," he told E! News in 2017 on the surprise success of the first movie when it was promoting John Wick: Chapter 2. "It's great to be part of a project that has so much affection."

Chapter 2 makes $ 172 million worldwide.

Now back for John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, Reeves revealed that he had started training intensely about three months before the shoot resumed his dynamo form, and he continues to play at full speed (or on horseback, in the case of this film) in the sequences of action, until a car hits him.

"I'm going to do some fight scenes and then John Wick will be hit by a car," Reeves told Colbert on The show late, "and that is Jackson Spidellwho is an incredible stuntman. "Spidell was the dubbed of Reeves in all John Wick movies. "He's hit by the car, then I get out of the car, and I'm going to do a lot more things, like gun-fu or something else, jujitsu, judo – and then, if I get ejected thing, Jackson is doing his thing. "

What is even more exciting for some fans, however, depending on whether you like your dark Keanu or more dude, is the news that he and Alex Winter are finally about to start spinning. Bill and Ted compete against music, The highly discussed follow-up of 1989 The great adventure of Bill & Ted and more Bill and Ted Fictitious journey, which was released in 1991. The comedy that lasts for years is tentatively scheduled for 2020.

And during his last press tour, Keanu Reeves left his usual trail of breadcrumbs. They can not drive you directly to his door, but they will definitely keep you on the way.