Keanu Reeves Reveals The Craziest Stunt He Did For The Matrix
Keanu Reeves the wildest stunt he performed for the new Matrix sequel!
The first Matrix film is known, in part, for its amazing visuals and the innovative special effects it introduced. Over 20 years after The Matrix was released, much more is possible in the realm of digital wizardy. You can turn the guy who played the older brother from The Goonies into a purple-skinned space tyrant, or stage epic battles between Godzilla and King Kong more impressive than anything from either franchise. But sometimes, the actual actor has to do the actual thing in the actual place, or it just won’t look right. Keanu Reeves says that’s why he and co-star Carrie-Ann Moss jumped off a building for the upcoming The Matrix Resurrections.
Reeves told the host about it earlier this week on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Mentioning that Keanu Reeves is known for doing a lot of his own stunts, Colbert asked the actor what the “craziest thing” was that Reeves “got to/had to do.” Reeves was visibly excited for the reveal, smiling and rubbing his hands together. He answered, “jump off a building.” He added that the building was around 46 stories tall, and that he and Moss made the jumps “around 19, 20 times.” You can watch the interview clip below.
Colbert was understandably curious why the stunt was necessary when “so much of the movie was digital.” Keanu Reeves enthusiastically explained, “Because it’s Lana Wachowski and it’s The Matrix and you need natural light. And you want to do it real.” He added that, obviously, there were wires attached to himself and Moss, so it wasn’t as if the pair were free-falling into a net.
According to People, the stunt Keanu Reeves told Colbert about was performed in downtown San Francisco last year and some Twitter users were lucky enough to get footage. In the video below, posted by Culture Crave, you can see Reeves and Moss perform the crazy stunt. As Reeves told Colbert, both have wires attached to them, which in turn are attached to what appears to be a series of wires strung from the building the pair are jumping from to one just across from it. You can see the video below.
Toward the end of the jump one of the actors is dropped a bit lower than the other, with both still holding hands. It appears as if one of the characters is supposed to be holding the other up. Since you can make out the outline of Neo‘s coat, it appears that it’s Keanu Reeves who’s being dropped below his co-star.
Colbert brought up the subject of Keanu Reeves not being the young man he was when the first Matrix came out in 1999. Colbert correctly points out that he and Reeves are the same age — 57. Asked about how he handles the physical toll of crazy stunt work now, Reeves first answered, “I love it. And I think because I love it so much, it doesn’t matter.” He did, however, admit that the biggest difference between then and now is that he has to take different steps in recovering from the physical strain, and that the recovery usually takes a longer time.
Audiences will get to see the end result of all that physical strain next week. The Matrix Resurrections will release in theaters and on HBO Max next Friday, December 22. Keanu Reeves returns as Neo and Carrie-Ann Moss reprises the role of Trinity. Among other new and old actor/character combinations to the franchise, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II succeeds Laurence Fishburne in the role of Morpheus, while Jonathan Groff replaces Hugo Weaving as Agent Smith.
