The star of ‘John Wick’ and ‘Matrix’ was one of the favorites for this important film about the war, but he passed on it for a curious reason.
Today there is no doubt that Keanu Reeves has managed to find one of those roles that change your life forever. But in his case it has happened twice, first with the Neo from the Matrix and then with the relentless john wick. And there’s no shortage of amazing movies in his career. Still, she could have had another one on his resume, but turned it down for surprising reasons.
The rejected film was platoonthe huge (and for some definitive) piece on the Vietnam War that was one of the biggest phenomena of the year 1986. A box office success with 138 million dollars raised (it cost, surprisingly, 6 million) and was the great winner at the Oscars that year with four statuettes, including best film and also best director for Oliver Stone.
Despite being a choral story, with various characters involved in the war, the main character was Chris Taylor, played by Charlie Sheen. This is a young man who drops out of school to voluntarily fight in the war, landing in a platoon fighting on the Cambodian border. Contact with the reality of war is an emotional shock for the young and naive Taylor. He suffers the psychological wear and tear of the war and the internal struggle of the group, problems that are aggravated by the weight of his moral dilemmas, caused by the atrocities of a senseless warfare.
The powerful reason why Aitana Sánchez-Gijón did not return to Hollywood after working with Keanu Reeves
At the time of casting Keanu I was still a promising young man in Hollywood. The revelation role of her in the comedy had not yet arrived The amazing adventures of Bill and Tedbut if he had appeared in sitcoms like Hangin’ In and some TV movies. Its premiere on the big screen was with Youngblood (Champion’s Forge)and thanks to this he was in the orbit of this project.
it was not the time
As Stone revealed in an interview for Entertainment Weekly, his first choice for the role of Chris Taylor was Keanu. He was also considering Kyle MacLachlan and Johnny Depp (who ended up being cast as Private Gator Lerner), but Reeves was his favorite choice. But the actor turned down the role, and for the most curious reason. According to the director, he turned it down because he “didn’t want to do violence.”
It is interesting to say the least that Reeves did not look favorably on making a violent film at the time, but then ended up becoming one of the most spectacular and long-lived action starswith the character of john wick standing out for being a killing machine. Ironies of life, but everything comes when it has to come.
You can see platoon through Filmin and the MGM channel in Amazon Prime Video.
