WINM :: Defending Keanu Reeves

a r g u m e n t

Keanu only got famous because he's lucky

r e b u t t a l

Luck alone cannot account for a Hollywood career that is more than twenty years long. It might have helped in the beginning, but it would have taken a lot more than that to sustain it so long.

It takes a bit more than sheer luck to get so many movie studios raring to cast him for what turn out to be big blockbuster movies.

It wasn't luck that made him turn down Speed 2: his excuse was that he wanted to tour with his band, but elsewhere he admitted incredulity at the plot and thinking that it would be a flop. It wasn't luck that made him agree to taking on the role of Neo in The Matrix - other actors either didn't understand the script or were unwilling to commit themselves to what looked like a lot of work.

This is foresight and an ability to spot good scripts; not luck.