“He didn’t want to do violence”: The two classic movie roles Keanu Reeves turned down
Maintaining a certain level of stardom for 35 years and counting takes a special sort of charisma and appeal, something Keanu Reeves possesses in quantities more than most, considering he’s spent the bulk of his career being bombarded with accusations that he’s not even all that good at his day job.
The majority of big-name performers in Hollywood who enjoy decades in the limelight often tend to be recognised for their dramatic range, versatility, and gravitas, as well as their innate wattage, but Reeves has overcome the repeated criticisms aimed in the direction of his limited abilities to become one of the most popular and beloved figures in the industry.
It helps that he found himself a niche as one of cinema’s greatest-ever action heroes, though, with roles in Point Break, Speed, The Matrix franchise, and the ongoing John Wick saga guaranteeing that if there’s ever a lull in momentum or a dip in visibility, all he has to do is pick up a gun, mow down some bad guys, and he’ll be right back on top again.
Of course, he didn’t arrive on the scene with designs on conquering the action arena, with Reeves initially garnering notice for his introspective, thoughtful turns in dramas like River’s Edge and My Own Private Idaho, which he balanced with his breakthrough comedic performance in Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure.
However, he could have made one of his first big screen appearances in a ‘Best Picture’-winning classic, only to turn down the opportunity for the most ironic of reasons.
For somebody that’s become so closely linked with gun-toting adventures, Oliver Stone confirmed that the part of Chris in Platoon was earmarked for Reeves, and the director told Entertainment Weekly how “Keanu turned it down because of the violence.”
History has shown in the decades since that he’s not averse to dropping a body or ten when the occasion calls for it, but Stone recalled that “he didn’t want to do violence” at the time.
When his star reached another level following Jan De Bont’s high-octane Speed, Reeves was also being lined up for a part in another future classic, but he reportedly declined the Chris Shiherlis character inhabited by Val Kilmer in Michael Mann’s Heat because he was already booked up performing Hamlet and treading the boards in Canada.
Kilmer was excellent in the seminal crime thriller, and it’s difficult to imagine Reeves filling those shoes to anywhere near the same extent, although it’s admittedly just as hard to envision him pulling off a worthwhile Hamlet.
Reeves made his big screen debut in sports drama Youngblood the very same year Platoon hit cinemas, and if he’d ended up anchoring the unforgettable war story as its protagonist, then it’s not a stretch of the imagination to suggest that his entire career could have turned out completely differently.
