| Since the thread was deleted at CK | |||
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| 2008-10-04 10:53:45 | |||
ADMIN  Forum Posts: 3074 Comments: 405 Reviews: 1 | gah, censorship. Anyway, the edited and extended version because I didn't save the original: Could those of you who had been in Keanu fandom longer than I have clarify whether or not Keanu knew David Geffen, because several pre-May-1994 sources have casually listed him among Keanu's best friends (without any gay implications at all); whereas in a May 1994 article where they were interviewed on the supposed marriage, the two of them declared that they had never met. So was this a matter of: 1) Keanu's spokespeople decided that it would make matters simpler if they simply said that he never knew David at all, even if he did 2) All he said was that he was not gay, and the media somehow took it to mean that the two men had never met 3) They truly had never met, and all those previous articles - about how Keanu was good friends with David and had temporarily moved into David's house after the earthquake - were all false, in which case what was the motivation for fabricating this at all? (Once again, these did not say anything about being gay and simply called David a friend a la the Dogstar members.) --- I posted something like that, and the thread proceeded to be filled with responses about how Keanu wasn't gay and even if he were it wouldn't matter and he wasn't gay and zzzzz and he wasn't gay and to stop listening to people like lflipout and THEY ALL WERE BESIDES THE POINT and eventually Chicks got the thread deleted before I could get any proper response.  The closest that came to that was LucaM's that questioned the sources, so thanks for that. So. Did he or did he not know David Geffen prior to 1994? That's all I want to know, seriously. I like to have my Keanu history straight (pun not intended). This has nothing at all to do with gayness or the lack thereof. | ||
| 2008-10-04 10:58:28 | |||
| Forum Posts: 160 Comments: 3 Reviews: 0 | Oh, Anakin...you TOTALLY intended that pun.  As for your question - sorry, I got nothin. | ||
| 2008-10-04 11:22:15 | |||
| Forum Posts: 328 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | Anakin, I never read anything that KEanu knew David Geffen before the rumors "came out." (Like you, no pun intended)  But I wasn't *that* big of a fan then-didn't read everything I could on him at that time. That probably started in 1994 when Speed came out. And I wasn't on the Internet then (1997) But actually thinking back on it I was able to read some early interviews with Keanu (when he just started out) that some Keanu web sites had posted and again I don't recall any mention of David Geffen in them. Josh Richman, yes. Rob Mailhouse, yes. Friends in Canada, yes. Alex Winter, yes. He mentioned he drove out to L.A. in his Volvo with a girl named Penny (from Toronto). He said when he first moved to L.A. he didn't know anyone (beside his stepfather). The other tabloid stories I remember are that he was swimming with Sharon Stone in the Chateau M pool and that he spent some time with Anna Nicole Smith.  I remember when the earthquake happened and he said he had to move, because he couldn't afford the rent on that house anymore (pre-Speed acting fees). I think that is when he started living in hotels. Most notoriously, the Chateau Marmont. I do recall a blurb in one of the tabloids saying that David Geffen supposedly bought Keanu a bunch of clothes, but that it was supposedly a Keanu look a like and not him. DG was quoted in Time magazine that he'd never met Keanu. As for your post being deleted at CK, that's a bummer.  I know you're just asking a sincere question.  | ||
| 2008-10-04 11:28:14 | |||
ADMIN Forum Posts: 3074 Comments: 405 Reviews: 1 | GAH typo. I didn't mean pre-May-1994; I meant pre-May-1995. Article dated 24 Jan 1995: "But Reeves, 30, is packing the house through Feb. 4. His mom, and pals David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg are said to plan visits. But Reeves' managers won't let the theater give tickets to U.S. media." Feb 13 1995: "Keanu Reeves' latest theatrical triumph, in a Canadian production of Hamlet, has one critic saying Keanu's an "eagle, or a glossy supple stallion" - and that's just off-stage. While most of Tinseltown scoffed, Keanu's close friend, showbiz mogul David Geffen, flew to Canada to show his ardent support." March 1995: "It isn't untrue that Keanu has a solid friendship with David Geffen. When Keanu's home was destroyed by the last earthquake in Los Angeles, he moved into the Geffen mansion. They were also seen spending about a million and a half (approx. $15000) in clothing in Rodeo Drive." It's very strange, basically. | ||
| lefty10 | 2008-10-04 11:28:15 | ||
Forum Posts: 13 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | That was 14 years ago. It is almost impossible to find out. It seems there had never been pictures of them two revealed. But saying "Geffen is among Keanu's best friends and move to his house" makes me laugh . Keanu seems barely having any big-name friends. His friends whom he hangs out often with are almost all average people. I believe people have a tendency upon choosing friends. As for the Geffen rumor, I have been wondering: what movie roles of Keanu's were most likely to be obtained through Geffen if the rumor were true? I can't think of any of them. | ||
| lefty10 | 2008-10-04 11:33:29 | ||
Forum Posts: 13 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | Anakin, the gay rumor started off from late 1994 when Keanu was in Canada playing Hamlet. The resources you quoted are all after the rumor came out. "pals David Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg", why didn't they even include Steven Spielberg? These are all BS i have to say Keanu said he did not want to clarify this ridiculous rumor at the beginning. However, people got more and more excited for the love of a billionaire and a super handsome movie star. They had to marry them off. Later his manager thought the gay marriage rumor had to be clarified. Then both sides denied it. | ||
| 2008-10-04 15:05:11 | |||
| Forum Posts: 4842 Comments: 381 Reviews: 13 | like I wrote on the other thread... I still question the sources for this kind of articles. after all , it's tabloid stuff, not investigation journalism. and the tone reminds me of that of the "Parker Posey" article. " an onlooker said " ; "a source close to the pair" , and so on . yeah, right... twist of keyboard... 'define your terms', as Fred would say then again... I'd also take the disclaimer with a grain of salt. experience taught me that truth is usually elusive... and most of the times ' in-between'  guess there's no way to know 'for sure', not based on article archive research. I've got a suggestion : let's travel to LA and start asking around... you know... a writer and her assistant doing research at the scene of the crime... 14 years later... that would be fun ( I have to win the lottery first, so I can afford the trip. oh, and I'll need a visa to enter the US... fish, this is getting complicated ... ) later edit - in a more serious tone IMO, it's impossible to live in LA in the years 1993-1995, be involved in the music business, be a member of a 'trash-punk-rock' band struggling to close a record deal and NOT know who David Geffen is. I'd say for sure they got to meet at some party, some other band's gig in some club... exchange a few words... social contacts in movie and music business are essential. but from this alleged acquaintance to "something borrowed, something blue"... it's quite a long road to ruin. ( serious tone... yeah, sure ) | ||
| 2008-10-05 01:03:00 | |||
| Forum Posts: 328 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | Well, that makes more sense Anakin. Pre1995. Actually, I think those rumors came out of the tabloids. I think *some* tabloid writers had a rich fantasy life back then. Or they were smoking something!  Do you still have your Sheila Johnston Keanu book? I was looking to see what she had to say. David Geffen is mentioned pages 183-188. Some excerpts: Sex was another matter. Keanu seemed to have no love life and the media were eager to invent one for him. In july 1994, some popular papers ran stories of him splashing with Sharon Stone in a hotel swimming pool one night. 'Their passionate love play almost turned the pool into a sauna,' the Daily Mirror drooled. Within weeks they were to change their tune. Reports began to appear that autumn that Keanu had been seen at parties with David Geffen, the billionaire record producer. Geffen was of interest to entertainment columnists for several reasons. He was about to form, along with Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg, a new studio,DreamWorks, thus becoming one of the most formidable new powerbrokers in the film business. Geffen had another distinction: since coming out in 1992, he was one of the few openly gay senior executives in Hollywood. Soon it was being claimed (by the Daily Mirror again) that Geffen had spent some $15,000 on clothes for Keanu at Barneys, an upscale men's clothing store on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles. According to one account, they were 'giggling like schoolboys' as they tried on mounds of expensive shirts. In another, Keanu charged up thousands of dollars worth of clothing to Geffen's credit card. It was, Keanu said, while he was in Winnipeg working on Hamlet that he first heard he had allegedly entered into a secret marriage with Geffen on a Mexican Beach. In an alternative version, the ceremony, conducted by a rabbi, was held in the grounds of a Hollywood restaurant in the presence of Elizabeth Taylor, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and STeven Spielberg. The magazine which recorded the happy event also described in detail the outfits worn by everyone present and noted that a hired band of twelve musicians entertained the party until 2 a.m. The rumour--which had been circulating for a while on the HOllywood grapevine--had first broken into print in European papers, but quickly crossed the Atlantic, hitting the American press in late December, first as a blind item in Hollywood Reporter. 'Sources close to Geffen have sworn it's true,' the Boston Globe claimed. As a story it was seductive, combining as it did, in the words of one commentator, a potent cocktail of 'hidden desire, New Age ceremony and conspicuous consumption.' This columnist also observed that it was 'the kind of package that fits our notion of the Dream FActory-a sex n shopping blend of perversity and excess. Since arriving in Hollywood he had dated a few women, including Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, and an actress-model named Autumn Macintosh, but had only had one long-term lover, 'an on-again-off-again thing a few years ago that lasted about a year', according to his sister Kim. These liasions took place well away from the public eye: they were rarely recorded in photographs and never in interviews. He was not seen squiring supermodels or starlets around night clubs and movie premieres. This was more than just another actor, overwhelmed by the unwanted side-effects of his sudden celebrity, secreting his love life. There seemed to be no love life. Colleagues on his movies speculated in vain about his sexuality, 'monkish' was a word often used to describe him. Keanu had now become a public fantasy and was committing what was, for an object of desire, a cardinal sin: he seemed unburdened with sexual or emotional entanglements. There was, on the other hand, not much in the way of hard evidence to support the marriage rumour. One observer, the Los Angeles colunist Steven Gaines, believed the Barneys story may have begun as a case of mistaken identity, since Geffen had a close friend who resembled Keanu (others remakred that Reeves' grungy style was anyway hardly that of a man who shopped at one of the most exclusive clothing stores in Beverly Hills). Witnesses to the marriage ceremony itself proved shy about coming forward; nor did photographs begin to circulate. None of his friends, or indeed the numerous Keanu watchers in the gay community , thought the story plausible (although some claimed a friendly connection between him and Geffen, who had, they alleged, taken the actor under his wing at a difficult time in his life and career). 'On our summer camping trip in 1978 he was certainly very much turned on by women', said his childhood friend Shawn Aberle, while others remembered him at acting school with a steady stream of girlfriends. Alan Powell dismissed the idea succintly. 'When I knew him? Not a chance.' There's more. I'll try to post later when I have more time.  | ||
| 2008-10-05 09:57:39 | |||
ADMIN Forum Posts: 3074 Comments: 405 Reviews: 1 | I've since returned the book, but thanks for the post.  It's the "although some claimed a friendly connection between him and Geffen, who had, they alleged, taken the actor under his wing at a difficult time in his life and career" that's kind of strange. | ||
| 2008-10-05 10:16:02 | |||
ADMIN Forum Posts: 3074 Comments: 405 Reviews: 1 | And more similar weirdness, this time with Johnny Depp, who was countless times listed as a close friend of Keanu's. In 1992: And then in October 1994: JOURNALIST: Do you hang out with any actors? Johnny Depp? Tom Cruise? REEVES: I've never met Johnny Depp or Mr. Cruise.  | ||
| 2008-10-05 16:34:16 | |||
| Forum Posts: 4842 Comments: 381 Reviews: 13 | well, there's one thing to 'meet' someone at a social event, movie festival, and so on... shake hands, 'nice meeting you' ...and move along... and there's something else being friends ( not to mention close friends). judging by all the candid photos and all the articles written in the past 10 years, K's close entourage , although consisting by people related to the movie business in one way or the other, seems to lack any A-listers. | ||
| 2008-10-05 20:29:05 | |||
| Forum Posts: 115 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | Oooo, this is an intriguing question Anakin, and I understand your curiousity because I often wish I had paid closer attention to his private life now that I know how much commotion it causes! Unfortunately, I'm no help because I've only been reading up about the man since the days of The Lakehouse. Previous to that I only sat up and took notice whenever he was on the big screen in something I wanted to pay to see on the big screen. However, my sister was more of a fan in his earlier career (I was too busy sighing over Johnny Depp) and I know she went "off" him around the time of MOPI because of all the rumours (gay and drugs) which put her off him. Also, she was a big River fan and when he died, Keanu lost his halo in her eyes because she'd heard it was Keanu who introduced River to drugs as a way to explore their characters. To this day, she despises Christina Applegate for the same drugs & River thing. With River's upbringing, I don't imagine he was completely naive about any of it, but who knows? We weren't there. My sis did manage to see Keanu on Letterman (maybe around Speed time??) despite being "off" him and telling me how amazing he looked in his grey suit... and messed up shoes! So from the very little info I have, I've assumed that it was MOPI that started it all... TWO | ||
| 2008-10-06 00:42:15 | |||
| Forum Posts: 328 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | (Anakin McFly @ Oct 5 2008, 09:57 AM) Oh, there's MUCH more Anakin-that I didn't post. Another comment from "friends" of Keanu in regards to him and David Geffen. (I'll try to post the excepts later on tonight, I've got a bunch of stuff to do today.) I always wonder about these so-called "friends." I mean, Keanu is a pretty private guy. I don't think he'd appreciate people blabbing about his business. I just think they "said" they were friends and weren't really. They might be casual acquaintances, but that's about it. Or maybe he was hanging around people at the time, who maybe weren't the best? I remember some guys around the Dogstar era that seemed a little "questionable." And I mean that in terms of using their status as a "friend" of Keanu's to get things. | ||
| Personality_Disorder | 2008-10-06 04:49:40 | ||
| Forum Posts: 52 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | LOL, I am not a River fan so I always think this is just precious. There are River fans even NOW who still seem to hate Keanu for not being equally dead. Do River's fans even know anything about his upbringing? Next to his apparent childhood Keanu's was positively sheltered. Not to mention that River himself was pretty open about the choices he made, and everyone else was pretty open about the choices he made for his MOPI character. I don't need to be there to know that. It seems Keanu is the resident scapegoat for just about anything.  | ||
| lefty10 | 2008-10-06 07:39:41 | ||
Forum Posts: 13 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | (Personality_Disorder @ Oct 6 2008, 04:49 AM) Years ago when I was browsing Keanu's Chinese fansites, I saw a few River fans had said the similar words. They said if River were not dead, the fame and fortune Keanu had now should have belonged to River. They also said Keanu should have died instead of River.  That was the first time I was horrified by this kind of fandom. Totally unhealthy one IMO.  | ||
| 2008-10-08 18:03:22 | |||
| Forum Posts: 115 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 |
ITA with both these comments. From the bit I've read about the Phoenix family and the kids' upbringing, I figured my sister couldn't see the forrest for the trees. River had an angelic face, but, like I said, I doubt he was that innocent. In my sister's defence, she was quite young when MOPI was released and it made a big impact on her. Those were back in the old days when kids weren't as uneffected by things as they seem to be now. When I told her I'd bought the dvd (about 12 months ago, I had not seen it before) she commented that she should try to watch it again and see what impression she gets now, as an adult. | ||
| SonjaRostov | 2008-10-13 05:55:52 | ||
Forum Posts: 31 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | I've posted this so many times I'm surprised nobody had a cyber copy. Getcher copies now while they're hot! From DETAILS (US magazine), February 1996, p. 29: Careless Whispers The anatomy of a Hollywood rumor. We've all heard the stories. Richard Gere has a problem with small furry animals. Rod Stewart had a pint of sperm pumped out of his stomach. Hollywood is a petri dish for this kind of urban myth, and one of the latest--involving the reputed marriage between 'Velvet Mafia' media mogul David Geffen and pretty-boy actor Keanu Reeves--has all the classic hallmarks of innuendo and wishful thinking. One minute Reeves was the sexiest (and implicitly most heterosexual) man alive, the next a billionaire's blushing bride. Here, we trace the Geffen-Reeves reports from their origins to the present. e 8.30.94 DAILY MIRROR, England. The London tabloid is the first to report that the pair were spotted "painting the town red at parties and going on wild shopping sprees." The story also claims that Geffen spent $12,000 on Keanu at the Barney's New York clothing store in Beverly Hills, adding that they were seen "giggling like schoolboys as they tried on mounds of $500 shirts." 12.14.94 VOICI, France. The magazine reports that Geffen and Reeves were married by a rabbi in an LA restaurant, calling the union "the first gay marriage in the history of show business." The article described the outfits worn by the couple and their guests--said to include Steven Spielberg, Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer, and Elizabeth Taylor--and noted that a hired band of twelve musicians regaled the group until 2 a.m. 12.20.94 DAILY MAIL, England. The English tabloid reports that Reeves laughed off rumors that he had taken part in a gay wedding. "It's a joke," says Reeves. "Somebody probably took that magazine for a lot of money." 12.27.94 THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. The first U.S. suggestion of a marriage appears in a blind item in George Christy's column. 1.14.95 THE VANCOUVER SUN. The paper reports a further rumor that Reeves is dating a dancer from the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. 1.21.95 THE BOSTON HERALD. "Both parties have officially denied the nuptial rumors, but sources close to Geffen swear it's true." 1.24.95 USA TODAY. The paper reports that Geffen and Jeffrey Katzenberg are expected to visit Reeves in Canada, where he is playing Hamlet. 3.27.95 TIME. Geffen tells TIME that he's never "met or laid eyes on" Keanu Reeves. Though the American press, bound by stricter libel laws that its European counterpart, was treating the item as little more than a rumor, the marriage story mushroomed as it started surfacing at dinner parties and in salons, gyms, and restaurants. Someone knows someone who knows the LA decorator who redid the house where the wedding took place--in this version, in the Hamptons. A Beverly Hills manicurist claims that one of her clients goes to the hairdresser who did Geffen and Reeves' wedding do's--in Hawaii. Geffen himself says (while denying the story) that he met someone whose trainer swears he attended the wedding. 4.04.95 SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The paper mocks reports of Geffen and Reeves' "unholy rite in France." 5.28.95 TORONTO STAR. The paper reports that Geffen visited Reeves in Canada. Geffen "sent a limo" for Keanu, who is "in deep denial" about the relationship. 7.95 OUT. Keanu attempts to take matters in hand with a cover story in the "straight" issue of the gay magazine. He shrugs off the rumor and recalls being phoned by friends asking why they hadn't been invited to the wedding. 8.95 VANITY FAIR. A second cover story for Keanu. "I've never met him," he says of Geffen. So what started the whole saga off? Three Hollywood reporters speculate. George Christy (Columnist for THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER) "In Europe they reported the rumor as fact. I decided to mention it in the column, and I feel pretty stupid for doing it, because I'm not interested in rumors. Financial, sex, and health gossip is always below the belt. I write a positive column." Kevin O'Sullivan (Writer for New York DAILY NEWS and British tabloids) "It comes down to the relationship between publicists and the press. When publicists have a product to sell, they work the glossy magazines. When something like this comes up in the tabloids, they become ostrichlike, and it spreads. The smart actors have figured out you don't need a publicist at all--it's a waste of $5,000 a month." Michael Musto (Columnist for THE VILLAGE VOICE) "It probably started with another boyfriend who looked like Keanu. Some gay people were horrified by the rumor, but to me it's equal-opportunity rumormongering--there should be gossip about gays and straights. It's a form of silliness that we all play into. And I know plenty of people who'd like that rumor to be true." "I don't know why anyone cares, and I don't know if it matters or not. I just, uh, I don't - it's, you know, the whole aspect of coming out. I mean, there is a whole - people, you know, who are gay have decided that it can be - that whole thing about calling people out - and you have to share that, because there needs to be an equality and a lack of prejudice, and you need to have a voice, so, I mean, it's important, but I'm not involved in those dynamics and I have no point of view on it." - Keanu Reeves to USA Today "There's nothing wrong with being gay, so to deny it is to make a judgement." - Keanu Reeves to Vanity Fair Told "Out" Magazine in the July-August 1995 issue that heÆd never met Geffen and was not gay. Sonja, not gay either--but unless you're planning to bop me, what's it to you? | ||
| 2008-10-13 07:39:37 | |||
| Forum Posts: 328 Comments: 0 Reviews: 0 | Thanks Sonja! I had read that before, but hadn't saved it!  | ||
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