It makes me so happy.

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PuP5: so here we've been glorifying chuck norris who turns out to be a douche, and shitting all over keanu reeves, who turns out to be more humane than most of us are... largely because of how hollywood chose to portrait them. we are the bitches. will correcting the meme bring solace?

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Finally, people are getting it. Finally.

Edit: As to whether this site is doing what WINM could not, I think not. Let's say each has done and is doing its own bit.

Edit+: and will do ...

Edit: we really should copy and keep the comments where ppl relate their stories about meeting him or hearing nice things about him.

lingyuk:
Ok, so I've met and chatted with one of the casting directors for Warner Brothers Pictures that cast The Matrix. One of my associates at the meeting asked her point-blank why they cast Keanu when "he is so clearly not a very good actor".

Her response went something like this:

The Wachowskis didn't like him as an actor before they met him and only auditioned him out of courtesy - but they were stunned when he turned up on the day with this enormous stack of papers in a filing case that he'd compiled about the project. Extensive notes, drawings, ideas for how to shoot scenes, notes on all the characters, etc. They were so impressed by his commitment to the project that they cast him despite their initial doubts, and have never regretted it since.

Apparently, she says they even ended up incorporating some of his ideas into the movie. He was just a huge fan of the genre and the script engaged him on a deep level.

It was in a private industry meeting that I heard this story, but I don't think anyone would mind me passing it on because it's simply to highlight that a positive, engaged attitude is the most important thing in any profession, and Keanu embodies that.

And another:

whatthedude:
true story: a friend of my ex taught at a private school in manhattan, one day she comes to meet up with us and is like "I MET KEANU TODAY!!!" and I'm like "on the street?" and goes "no, we had parent/teacher conferences today and his sister couldn't make it in, so he came in for his niece."

And yet another:

thedevilyousay:
I knew someone who knew someone who worked with a production company, doing something finance related (settle down, ladies). He worked with the producers who would hire Keanu. This person was once confronted with the question: "How does this shitty actor keep getting these rolls?"

The response is that people genuinely like him, and that makes him extremely easy to be around. Imagine working with people and it being a real pleasure. Like an active pleasure. Of course you'd want him in your movie. Being a great guy can do more than you think. If only more people knew that.

P.S. I have always disagreed when people say he can't act. I'm glad people agree with me!

Aaaand yet another - I'm loving this one:

photoletariat:
My brother works at a coffee shop in New York, its got pretty alright coffee but the real draw is that they roast their own beans and all the beans are sucked through pneumatic tubes into a machine that grinds and brews all at once. It's a bunch of bells and whistles, and doesn't necessarily make for the best coffee ever. Anyway, Keanu comes into the store and orders a coffee, asks my brother how the whole system works and immediately after he finishes, he pauses, looks surprised and says "Whoa." It was perfect. And it seemed like he was actually interested and impressed by the fancy nature of the coffee shop.

And here's the last one before I start a new post:

BigDawgWTF:
He went to my highschool for a little bit in Toronto (Malvern C.I.) and we had a few of the same teachers. One of them always told the story about him being a real stand-up kid back in the day.

biscuitsucio:
I realize this is a second-hand story, but it is in keeping with the other anecdotes I've read on this thread so far so I thought I'd share. I have a friend who moved to L.A. from Arkansas and works as a wedding photographer. She ended up running with a circle of friends that included Keanu. These friends would get together and go out for drinks every couple of weeks. When I asked what he was like, she bursts out in flowery praise saying that he was one of the nicest, most generous people, a good listener, and was laid back enough that he'd invite people over to his house. I was filled with disbelief until she showed me a group photo. This made an impression on me because my friend is not what you would call a "mover and shaker" or the L.A. type. At the time she was just a very overweight twenty-something from Arkansas trying to get her shit together and recover from some bad past experiences. He'd had obviously made a big impression on her, because she was very protective of his person.

paulderev:

Chatted with a feature writer for Details who spent basically a whole day with Keanu for his profile last year or maybe the year before. He went to a bookstore with him and (this is in the story) Keanu is REALLY well-read: Keanu mused enthusiastically about Thomas Pynchon, obscure poets, Norman Mailer, etc. as he bounces around the book store. Keanu is also a lot better read than he seems, apparently.

Which is awesome.

bo2dd2

Back in the late 90s and fresh out of college I got my first job as an assistant prop designer on the set of Chain Reaction (Keanu was a supporting actor with Morgan Freeman). EVERY DAY for the last few weeks of filming, Keanu treated the stage hands and "grunt workers" (including myself) by taking us out for free breakfast and lunch. He was genuinely a very nice guy to work with.

Since then, I've worked on about 30 different sets and have never met an actor as generous and friendly as him. Most actors I've seen and worked with are total douches who always think they are better than us. Keanu on the other hand, at the very least, was socially approachable and definitely kindhearted.

That was one example (that involved me directly), but (on the same set), I remember him going out of his way to give my friend a ride to the repair shop to pick up his car... I'll write more as I remember, but its been a while.

kahi

A family friend builds movie sets, doesn't design, is one of the poor dudes that just builds. Anyways he worked on the set for the Matrix and Keanu heard about family trouble he was having and gave him a $20,000 Christmas bonus to help him out. He also was one of the only people on the set that genuinely wanted to know peoples names, would say hello and mean it, and would talk to people as they were his peers and not below him just because they were practically making nothing to build a set. I've never heard anyone say Keanu is douche, seems like the nicest person in Hollywood from a second hand experience.

lovemyax

A friend of mine told me that she was once stranded on the side of a highway outside LA when her jalopy broke down. She had no cell phone (that was before most people had cell phones) and no way to call for help. Then a nice black porsche pulls over and as you can guess, it was Keanu. He tried to help her jump start the car and when it didn't work, he called AAA for her. When they towed her car, he offered her to drive her home, which she accepted. He drove about 50 miles out of his destination just to drive her home. She told me she hoped he would hit on her but he didn't, he was just a gentleman, dropped her at her house, gave her his phone number and told her to call him if she needed further help.

mangocurry

I meat Keanu when he was in Australia doing the matrix. I knew who he was, but when I asked him what he did for a living he answered "I'm a struggling musician". I thought that was sweet.

svunt

I had a few friends working special effects jobs on the Matrix movies, he bought all of them fucking HARLEYS for Christmas during the shoot for the second one.

One of those guys, Paul, said that Keanu was the most sincere, humble and lovely dude he'd ever met. Said he eschewed contact with the cast in favour of hanging out with the crew, was the only guy the martial arts coaches respected out of the whole cast, and was the bravest man he's ever met. That scene in the first Matrix film, the assault on the office tower lobby - Keanu turned down earplugs for all the charges blowing everywhere taking "bullet holes" out of pillars, walls etc, just for authenticity. When he turns and hides behind a pillar which explodes with bullets hitting it on both sides, Paul said "the entire crew was about 15 metres away, with ear protection, and all flinching anyway when the charges blew - Keanu just took it like a complete badass".

EDIT: I remembered, Paul also told me that Keanu once explained to him why he was getting so many action roles. He had injured himself at some point and had fused vertebrae in his upper back or neck, so when he turned his head, his shoulders and chest tended to follow, because of his limited flexibility. "It makes me look dynamic, rather than disabled" was his explanation.

gfixler

There are no bad stories about Keanu. I live in LA and work in North Hollywood, and everyone I've ever heard out here tell a story about Keanu says nothing but great things. Everyone loves that guy. It's made me love his movies. I don't care how great they are. I love to see him, because he makes me happy. I like to know there's someone like that.

I have an old high school pal who ended up working at a nice restaurant in Hollywood. I met up with him and another old friend there to catch up over a meal after years apart.

He said one night while he was working there, Keanu came in and sat quietly at the bar for awhile, waiting for a guest. When the guest arrived, it was Alex Winter. They had a meal together. Apparently they've stayed in touch. Of course, it took all my friend's strength not go fanboy all over them, but he managed it.

I knew a few people who worked on The Matrix and no one had a bad word to say about him. He bought all the stunt men on the movie motorcycles as a thank you present at the end of shooting. A stand up guy from everything I've heard.

bigboyg

My wife used to hang out with Keanu back in the 80's. He is, apparently, an awesome, kind, generous and friendly dude.

inhereddited

I met Keanu when Woody brought him to the macrobiotic/vegan restaurant in Austin while they were working on Scanner Darkly. He actually came across as both modest and sincere.

legolover64

I saw Keanu Reeves walking around one time in a small city in Colorado. I was walking with my younger brother. Keanu was walking towards us on the sidewalk. My brother elbowed me and nodded towards him and said "isn't that...?" He was wearing a hat and sunglasses, but it was clearly him.

I realized yes, that is Keanu, like "I know kung fu" Keanu Reeves. He noticed that we noticed him, and he just walked right past us, walking faster.

He didn't gloat, he didn't groan, he didn't say "screw off", he just didn't want to be bothered. I have immense respect for people like that.

spiderbacon

I know someone who spent the night with Keanu - no sex just a nice evening chatting.. The way they tell it he's a genuinely lovely guy who pretty much literally sold his soul to Joel silver...poor Keanu...

djarcadian

Explain

spiderbacon

Afraid I can't go into too much detail without giving away identities. But basically when "The Matrix" film debuted in Australia (where it was filmed), Keanu was without a date. Joel Silver called a relative to ask to find him a date (I know, right?), and said relative said "how about my daughter?" - who was around 19 or so at the time... So Keanu went with her, and after the premiere they hung out in his room, eating kebabs and just talking. She told me and my friends the whole story, and swears he kept his hands to himself the whole time (not gay, just a gentleman), and just talked about stuff, and about his life. And at one point expressed sadness at not having a normal life, and said something to the effect that before he was famous, Joel Silver basically said to him "Son, I'll make you a star, but you have to do -everything- I say, ok?" and Keanu said "OK". And the rest, as they say, is history.

I'd seriously still hit that. Possibly even more with the whole pensive-on-a -park-bench thing.

Keanu was living in Sydney for a while during and after the filming of The Matrix films, and I know a few people that ran into him in bars and what not around that time. All said that he was never anything but humble, friendly, quiet, most definitely low-key, and very polite.

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Phew! Did I get all of them? Somebody please check.

YES. THAT.

and guys, they made the site. it's here
http://96.0.16.158/keanu/about-2

all this, and some of the twitter comments lately, make me think there is still hope.

to quote Ani : Finally

and, er, Ani... maybe this reddit page deserves a link on WINM? and also that site they made ? just a suggestion ....

Coolhawks

I met him in the vegas airport. talked to him for about 5 minutes. very nice and seemed very down to earth. numerous people came up for autographs, pics etc.. he gladly signed them all. i have really respected him since then.

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Here's a very fresh one with some Henry's Crime info:

Gurtron

I just met Keanu Reeves in NYC yesterday and said hi to him on the street. He was sitting on a bench alone, with a beard on, smoking a cigarette. I went up and asked: " Are you Keanu Reeves?" He said: " I am." After which I just asked what he was up to and he said he was working on editing a film that he acted in and produced.

Aaand a very old one:

smearedblackink

I saw Keanu play bass for Dogstar years ago in Virgina. I believe it was a 96x fest radio station concert. There were a lot of drunk groupie sluts ruining the show and yelling "We love you!!!" and showing their tits. You know what he did? He took his bass and walked behind the speaker stack and played where he wouldn't be seen. Bad ass.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Thank-You-Keanu-Reeves/124470487586641?ref=ts&v=wall#!/pages/Thank-You-Keanu-Reeves/124470487586641?v=info&ref=ts

qquicksilver

True story

A Friend of mine was a stunt man on the two sequels. A while after he came home, he told us he got a call from Keanus' assistant, asking what color he wanted his new bike. He had bought all the key stunt men Harleys !

I've always loved the guy, but that was a pretty awesome thing to do.

Hey a redditor here, fyi there is an algorithm that offsets upvotes so that all posts end up with around 60% positive, so no worries. Thanks for doing the site, you guys were obviously ahead of the curve...

... gotta love the Reeves humor ;) XD

will there one day be no more need for kswat?

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will there one day be no more need for kswat?

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as Seer would say, 'don't hold your breath' ;)