John Wick star Keanu Reeves was blacklisted from Hollywood. It came upon after he refused to do a role in a movie.
In a 2019 GQ interview, Keanu Reeves revealed that he was put in movie jail because he refused to obey one of the biggest studios of that time- Fox. The company wanted him to star in a sequel to Speed (1994) with Sandra Bullock.
The movie made $350.4 million on a $30 to $37 million budget. But Reeves refused and this irked the studio. However, Bullock returned to reprise her role. Joining her were Jason Patric and Willem Dafoe. Patric had replaced Reeves and Dafoe was playing the antagonist.
Keanu Reeves was blacklisted
Reeves had opted to play Hamlet onstage in Winnipeg instead of doing the film. However, it looks like not doing the film was the right move because the 1997 sequel film bombed at the box office, grossing only $164.5 million against a budget of $110 to $160 million.
It is also widely considered to be one of the worst sequels of all time and has a Rotten Tomatoes score of just 4%. Thankfully, Reeves wasn’t sidelined by Fox Studios forever. As per the actor:
“I didn’t work with [Fox] again until The Day the Earth Stood Still.”
John Wick: Chapter 4 is now playing in theaters.
