Keanu Reeves Felt That This Horror Movie He Starred in Was a Complete ‘Disaster’: ‘I Hate That Movie’
Keanu Reeves has had a hand in a variety of movies over the years in a range of genres. From sci-fi to action thriller to horror, Reeves has shown he’s not above any subject matter or material. But even Reeves believes he’s made some mistakes when it comes to picking movies. And there’s one horror film Reeves starred in that he finds absolutely horrible.
Keanu Reeves was tricked into starring in ‘The Watcher’
As some may know, Keanu Reeves starred in the 2000 horror film The Watcher. In the film, he went against type a bit by portraying a serial killer, starring alongside Oscar-winner Marisa Tomei. But if Reeves had it his way, he wouldn’t have had anything to do with the film in the first place.
“I never found the script interesting, but a friend of mine forged my signature on the agreement,” Reeves told the Calgary Sun newspaper (via The Guardian.) “I couldn’t prove he did and I didn’t want to get sued, so I had no other choice but to do the film.”
Reeves then had to wait a full year to disclose his feelings towards the situation. Until then, Guardian reported that Reeves hardly promoted the film before its release.
Keanu Reeves called ‘The Watcher’ terrible
To make matters worse for Reeves regarding The Watcher, he had a much more prominent role in the film than he expected. In the movie’s earlier drafts, Reeves’ presence in the film was much smaller.
“The script did change,” Watcher director Joe Charbanic told Inside (via Hollywood). “It got bigger than [he] wanted. He wanted it to be a little boutique film.”
As asserted by Reeves himself, Hollywood also reported that The Matrix star tried to back out of the movie. But it was an attempt his lawyers strongly advised against. Reeves’ instincts were spot-on, however, as the movie went on to earn an almost overwhelming amount of negative reviews. In a much later interview, Reeves revealed that he shared the same opinion as critics. Although he briefly confused The Watcher for another horror film he starred in.
Reeves discussed with IndieWire his 2015 horror flick Knock Knock. The publication mentioned that he hadn’t starred in a horror movie prior since The Gift.
“Yeah, that was a horror of a different sort,” he said, at first referring to The Gift.
When asked to elaborate, Reeves told them that “it was a disaster. I hate that movie. It’s terrible. It’s a disaster.”
But quickly, Reeves realized his error. It wasn’t The Gift he had in mind, but rather the critically panned Charbanic film.
“Oh, The Gift! I was thinking The Watcher. Oh, The Gift is fantastic. Sam Raimi! That’s great. You said The Gift and my brain went to The Watcher. Donny Barksdale. So fantastic,” he corrected.
Why Keanu Reeves returned to the horror genre with ‘Knock Knock’
Knock Knock was a 2015 horror film directed by Eli Roth. In the movie, Reeves plays an architect who offers two stranded women a chance to spend the night at his house. But the invitation leads to a frightening situation. Before this movie, Reeves hadn’t touched the horror genre in years since 2000’s The Gift.
As far as why Reeves decided to star in the film? It started with the narrative.
“Fantastic story, fantastic script,” Reeves told JoBlo. “Meeting with Eli, I met him over Skype, he was in Santiago, Chile. He was like, ‘Man, we’re doing this crazy movie. Here’s the script.’ And I read it, and I thought it was fantastic.”
