Keanu Reeves, Hollywood's Sad and Kind 'Vampire'
Since his impressive appearances in 'Point Break' and 'Speed' in the mid-1990s, Keanu Charles Reeves has continued to intrigue the public about who he is. He proved to be very successful at keeping a private life.
Many people refer to Reeves' sad face as beautiful. Actually, such a tragedy was never far from the life of the 54-year-old man. At the age of three, his father left him and his mother. In 1993, his best friend actor River Phoenix died right in front of Johnny Depp's club from a drug overdose.
Then, he lost his future child at the age of eight months from his then girlfriend, Jennifer Syme. They broke up shortly thereafter because they were so grieving, and 18 months later, Syme died in a car accident.
"Grief can change shape, but it never ends," Reeves said in an interview with Parade Magazine in 2006.
But life doesn't stop, neither does Keanu Reeves. He became the team's mainstay hockey player as a teenager, starring in numerous box office films and playing bass for the band Dogstar, which opened David Bowie and Weezer as an adult.
Reeves did many other things. As a Hollywood class A actor, of course he has many advantages or privileges, if he wants to. The public became aware that Reeves was 'different' after a number of small things were revealed to the public even though it was not through media coverage.
For example, Reeves still travels by public transport. In the video, taken secretly by a train user who is the same as the star, Reeves is seen sitting alone, looking sad and serious as usual. He glanced at the other passengers a few times, before giving his seat to a woman who didn't seem to know who Reeves was.
Actress Octavia Spencer revealed, early in her career when she didn't even dare dream of getting an Academy Award, Reeves had helped her. At the time, Spencer was on his way to Los Angeles from Alabama. The car broke down. Reeves, who happened to be passing by on a motorbike, stopped and offered to help.
"Nobody wanted to help because my car was so dirty. Nothing, until Keanu Reeves came. He was riding a motorbike, wearing a helmet and sunglasses and I didn't recognize him until he stopped. He asked, 'hey, you need help?'" said Spencer.
Reeves helped by pushing the broken down car to the side of the road. Spencer recalled the incident, recalling he felt 'very embarrassed'. "I thought, 'oh no, he's going to touch my car!' And I looked terrible that day. There was a hole in my shirt. So to this day, I go to every premiere of his [Reeves] film."
In 2014, Reeves is said to have held a party to welcome the film 'Daughter of God' at a club in New York. It was raining very hard, and visitors were lining up to enter the club. Instead of using his star status, Reeves chose to wait in line for 20 minutes in the rain.
"I didn't know he waited so long, and he didn't say anything to me. He was so relaxed," said club owner Noel Ashman, who said he felt very sorry.
Reeves is also known to be very generous. On set, he often treats the crew to breakfast and lunch. He owns a private charitable foundation, once gave $20,000 to a worker who builds film sets for Christmas, and he buys Harley Davidson motorcycles for each of the special effects crew of 'Matrix'.
As these acts began to spread, more interviewers asked Reeves about his feelings about the past. Why isn't he angry with the world and still continues to do good in a way that is not uncommon among Hollywood scintillates? Reeves never answered. An article in the Irish Times clearly describes how the man, who almost always wears black, refuses to answer provocation questions.
"Uh, no," and "No," were Reeves' words of choice. Sometimes he replaces it with, "I just don't want to do it." and the excavation effort was forced to end there. He seemed to have a high wall as a fortress. If he was lucky, he would drop a few stones, but as the conversation grew more intimate, the wall rose again.
"I'm a very private person, so when things get non-private, it's not good," Reeves said as the Irish Times tried to clarify the sad story of the actor's life, which never came out of his own mouth.
Furthermore, asked if the answer came because he was worried the stories would affect his image as an actor, Reeves is said to have looked directly at the interviewer and said, "No. Because it's private."
In the age of more than half a century, Reeves barely visible changes in appearance. The public called him 'immortal' or 'vampire'. Vampire or not, he is not spared from grief and distress. His personality, simplicity and generosity make him almost a mythical reality.
16 years ago, in an interview with Hello! Magazine, Reeves said, "Money is the last thing on my mind. I can live with what I have for the next few centuries."
