He bares a perfect set of incisors. ‘I sheared some skin off my right shin and I have a scar on my stomach from running into the hillside when I took a turn a little too fast.’ He shows me the battle scars. ‘I’ve ruptured my spleen, I’ve broken my ankle and I’ve got a couple of scars on my knees…’ I point to the scar above his mouth. ‘Oh, yeah – that’s when my tooth went through my upper lip,’ he says. ‘You go faster when you’re younger, but I won’t give up. I love it.’ Not only is Reeves unfazed by these injuries; they seem as meaningful to him as anything he’s achieved in his 20 years in Hollywood. This is more significant when you consider the sheer extent of his success as an actor: in dollar terms, he’s one of the biggest and safest bankers in the business, as effective at garnering profits for his films as Pitt, Clooney, Cruise or DiCaprio. It’s estimated that in total his films have grossed a staggering $3 billion – the Matrix series made $1.7 billion, with The Matrix Reloaded alone pulling in $740 million. Which explains how, after the series was filmed, he could afford to share $100 million of his earnings with the costume and special-effects teams. Reeves made his name with the cult Bill & Ted slacker comedies and followed up with the art-house classic My Own Private Idaho, co-starring his friend River Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose in 1993. Next he appeared in the adrenaline-charged hit Point Break and Bernardo Bertolucci’s Little Buddha. After the 1994 action blockbuster Speed he was hailed as the new action hero – yet he turned down Speed 2. ‘I don’t want to keep doing the same things over and over again,’ he says. ‘What’s the point?’ It’s an attitude more suited to a drifter than an A-list actor.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 08:52:22 +0000
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