Sunday Sitdown with Willie Geist - Keanu Reeves (2019)

Episode Date: August 9, 2020

Keanu Reeves has been a Hollywood powerhouse since Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure put him on the map three decades ago, going on to star in movies like The Matrix, Speed and Point Break. Through it all, Reeves has stayed grounded and kept his personal life private. In this week's "Sunday Sitdown" Willie Geist talks with the actor about his role in John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and coming full circle with the new film Bill and Ted Face the Music. (Original broadcast date: May 12, 2019) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey guys, Willie Geist here with another episode of the Sunday Sit Down podcast. My thanks for clicking and listening along today. Got a good one for you, not just because he's a name you love, full of movies you love, but because he's a guy you don't hear from, I don't think, in depth that often. It's Keanu Reeves, whose career launched 30 years ago. Can you believe 30 years ago, Bill and Ted's excellent adventure came out in 1989, turned him into a star. He went from there to movies like point break, of course, speed, the monster hit with Sandra Bullock, made $350 million, I think, on like a $30 million budget. Also, of course, the Matrix movies, where he dodges bullets in slow motion as Neo. And now he's here today to talk about the third installment in his John Wick movies, John Wick 3, Parabellum. Really enjoyed sitting down with Keanu Reeves. Again, a guy I hadn't met before, a guy I don't think you see all over the place on TV.

and he was happy to sit down and talk about his career. You'll hear as we dren toward some personal stuff, not his favorite subject area, not talking about celebrity stuff and TMZ stuff, but just even asking about his reputation as a super generous guy. There are these legendary Hollywood stories of him renegotiating his Matrix deals so the crew could get more money, less for him. He bought Harley Davidson's reportedly for his stunt men and all his movies,

He's a super generous guy, a guy about whom there's some folklore. I don't know if you saw in March when he, you know, the plane he was on made an emergency landing and he landed with all the people on the plane and he arranged with the airline to get a van to drive everybody to where they were supposed to fly. All these sort of sightings of Keanu Reeves in the wild. So we try to touch on some of that. He gets into it. But what's most interesting to me is about his career, this long range of 30 years.

and we talk about it all, including John Wick 3 Parabellum right now with Keanu Reeves on the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Kenu, thanks for doing this. Thank you for the invitation and the opportunity to converse. Absolutely. We've already been conversing quite a bit. Yes, indeed. We'll pick up where we left off. But I want to talk first, obviously, about the movie.

Congratulations. Thank you. On John Wick, Chapter 3. Yes, indeed. For people who may have not seen the first two yet, or people who are excited now to see the third, where do we pick up John? Where is he in the story?

Oh my gosh. Well, I mean, if you've seen the film where you haven't seen the film, I would probably... Slightly different, yeah. Yeah, so I'll do the, I don't know. How about people who've seen the first two? Okay, so at the end of chapter two, John Wick had killed a member of a, let's call it, a guild.

That's in this other world. You have the real world, and then you have this other John Wick world, which is the world of the Continental, which is the hotel. And you find out through the series that these hotels exist all around the world. And then there's this guild or this thing above the Continental called the High Table. So I killed a member of the High Table on Continental grounds, meaning the hotel, which is breaking the rules.

And so Winston, the fantastic Ian McShane, who runs the New York City Continental at the end of John. He gave me an hour, but he made me excommunicado. Right. And there's an open contract. So in an hour I can have no help from the system of the Continental, and in an hour the assassins can come after John Wick. At the end of chapter two, we saw John Wick running out of Central Park for his life. In Chapter 3, we slam cut.

It's a little later, it's night, it's raining, and John Wick is still on the run. How is he going to survive? This should have been the trailer right here, by the way. That was incredible. I mean, even if I hadn't seen the first two, I'm ready. New characters, great new cast, lots of John Wick action. How do you describe John Wick? Like, who is he and why was he an interesting character when you first read about him?

Yeah, it's the character and the world that was created by the writer Derek Kolstad. this reality and other reality. And John Witt, John's partner, life partner, love of his life, passes away. And she gives him a dog to kind of keep a connection, I think, to the heart and soul, to keep him grounded to have a friend. Because she knows, but the audience doesn't know that I was an assassin, a mythical assassin.

And five years ago, I did the impossible person. task to get out. But one day, as the director likes to say, fate would have it. I run in this, I'm just getting gas in my Mustang with the dog. I'm getting dog food and this kid pulls up. Anyway,

long story short, him and his friends come to the house and they kill the dog and beat me up. And then it turns out that the kid was connected to a Russian crime lord, Vigo, who I had worked with and helped with the impossible

task and then John Wick goes from the grieving husband man to the Baba Yiga the mythical assassin who wants to get some revenge all this to say consequences right

so this man who is grieving and trying to live his life this event this fate this something happened and this other part of John Wick the part of that dog what that meant was it was trying to ground him. And once that was taken from him, this other person, this other thing came out, kind of light and dark side of ourselves. And he goes to this revenge place. But then that has consequences, which in chapter two, he was like, I just want peace. They take his car. He wants his car

back. Just leave me alone. I just want to greed. But in the world of John Wick, there's the high table and there's a thing called a marker. And if I have your marker, that means I did something for So now I have to get, I have to this character who ends up being the person that I kill as a kind of revenge. Anyway, this is the long version. I'm sure that I've got into the story

of John Witt. You slept to see the movie, even though he just walked through the end of it. No, I just went. I ended up doing both. But it's this journey with themes of action and consequence, a little fate and destiny. I mean, this series has a lot of honor in it. There's a lot of rules, consequences, breaking rules, obeying, this idea of filty

to the high table, and all of these characters that inhabit this world. And then you have John Wick action and humor. So you ask me, well, how do I explain, you know, this? I think we're following the journey of a man who's grieving and who is in a battle to live, who's trying to survive with the consequences of his past and the actions that he's doing. And I think he wants to try to kind of become free, but it keeps coming after him. Yeah, so that's what we're doing. That's an amazing summer. And then there's humor, right?

And then John Wick humor. For sure. And Johnwick action. Johnwick action is, you know, kind of longer takes really the director chats to I call him visionary, wants to make the action an immersive experience, wants to almost present it like theater, like a concert, like it's literally happening in front of you. That involves training and cooperation with all the stunt people, the camera. And that's also part of what makes John Wick a little different is the action. And then the characters and the humor that's in there as well.

And within that action that you're talking about, go for it. Refresh, reload. So I got to stay hydrated. We can see how passionate you are about the movie. That action you're talking about, you're doing it all. I mean, right? Stunt-wise, like you're out there doing it. No stunts.

But you're fighting. Jackson Spidell, Stuntman, extraordinary. We're not taking anything away from him. But you're fighting in those scenes. Oh, I do all the action. I mean, I'm 90% of what's happening there. And for me, it's great to be working with a director who has that, who wants to do that because if you can make it immersive, what is that?

That means that if I can do it, I'm maintaining the connection with the audience and with the story, right? It's not like, there's no, the suspension of disbelief is a little different, you know, if you don't have to cut, and if you're right there. Right. You know, and if it's wacky, crazy stuff, then you're just like, oh, my God, did that just, what did I just see? Well, that's exactly what I thought, the knife fight scene, when you both break the glass. You have knives. You get some thrown to some very close to some very important areas. Yes, indeed.

Is that fun, those scenes? Yeah, I mean, and that's part of like John Wick action in the sense that the director wanted to have a knife fight with a group of people. Yeah. That was like a snowball fight. Like just grabbing knives and then throwing at each other and then getting more snow and making, getting throwing knives. And, you know, John Wick has, you know, a Kevlar suit. Right. Some of them bounce off.

Yeah. But yeah, so this idea of a snowball fight being a knife fight is very wiki. That's a damn intense snowball fight. Yeah, so we shot that for a couple of days. And, you know, it's really fun. It's really fun. I mean, the director talks about the action being kind of like dance. You know, like there's this vision of a movement and, you know, and then comes a choreography.

And there's the troupe, the dance, you know, the stunt. people and myself learning choreography and then the cooperation to do that with the camera with the production design the sets and so there it does have something that's and then you watch the performance of it you know like that knife fight is a lot of long takes like there's no cut there's one section I think it's almost a minute long that's just crazy crazy that whole scene is It's crazy. It's crazy, but it's fun. So what's it like to do those scenes now?

Because you and I are not in our 20s anymore. No, we're not. Really? And to be flying all over a scene. I don't know how old you are, but I'm in my 50s. I'm 54. I'm pushing you a little bit. Oh, yeah?

40s. Oh, but you're not there. You're in the 40 club still. All right. Is it different to do an action scene today than it was 20 years ago in The Matrix, for example? Oh, wow. Yes, absolutely. I mean, if more so, well, if you're going back that far,

I can't run. How about the first wink now? We're going in five years. Okay. It's more about recovery. Okay. Yeah, I would say that's the biggest difference. I would say recovery and the running.

But with the experience, though, you become more efficient and hopefully you get better at what you're doing. So for all of the, I generally train about three months before we start filming, working. with the stunt team, the action team, because there's judo, a little jiu-jitsu, all the weapons manipulations. In chapter three, there's a, and I keep calling that gun-foo. Another Wiccan thing is combining things. So, like, in John Wick, in the first one, it was like car food because I was like hitting people with cars and shooting out of cars, and then there was gun-foo because I was doing,

you know, people coming after me to kill me. I'm grabbing them with a weapon, so I'm doing judo with a word jujitsu. And then in chapter three, we wanted to open up the action. So now there's horse foo. Yes, there is. There's some motorcycle foo. There's some motorcycle foo. We need a better term than motorcycle foo.

Moto foo, okay, I like that. It's with ninjas. Ninja Moto Fu. That's not so bad. That's it. You know what I love about this series, too, this franchise of movies? Because I don't think people realize it, given how successful it's been. When you guys started, it was an underdog.

It was not a big budget movie. It was not a big budget. Well, I know, but it wasn't expected to be the smash. No, of course. You didn't have a ton of money to work with by Hollywood standards for an action movie. And it probably wasn't even that easy to get it made just on the concept on the paper. Was that a challenge out of the gate? Sure.

Definitely resources-wise, but, you know, And the first one, Chad Stahelsky and David Leach were the directors. And I had worked with both of them on the Matrix in the Matrix films as stunned people. And then the two of them partnered up and started an action design company called 8711, Action Design. And they would do choreography. And then they would be who, you know, certain studio films would hire to do choreography or to do second unit photography. So they were started a direct second unit. When John Wick came to me from the producer Basil Iwanik,

once that script came, I had a couple of notes, they did a couple of drafts, and then we started to look for a director. And so I thought of Chad and David because they've always been interested in always, when working with them, action and story. And I knew that they came from the Wachowski film school, right? And we knew each other, we had gone through that.

So I brought it to them for the action, and then they were like, actually, we'd like to direct this. And I went, yes. You know, and this goes to your point of what were the resources that we had. What was the vision that we might have? And I felt like with their experience, and because it has the potential for a different kind of action, that they were the people for it. And so there was really like, it was all hands on deck, let's go.

And the material, and this is with new directors, you know, the material brought in amazing actors and actresses. It brought in artists that were, you know, Willem DeFoe, Ian McShane. You know, they were like, this is wacky and kooky. And then they would meet the directors

and be like, okay, these people know what they're doing. I want to go, okay, yes, I'll come jump into this world. And then, so regardless, and yeah, we didn't have this or that, but we had the passion and the love. And so, you know, that just helps you keep going. And of course, Michael Nyfist was performing in that, Alfie Allen. Anyway, it was a really cool Dean Winter.

It was really a cool cast. So what do you think people respond to about these movies, Keanu? There are a lot of action movies out there, but you have not only a big following, but passionate following. People are so psyched that this movie's coming out. They're speculating. They saw pictures of Yon Horseback a few months when you were shooting it. They're into it. They're in there with you.

What do you think it is about that character? I don't know. I mean, I've heard people say that they like the never say die quality of John Wick, that I've heard people speak about the kind of, that it's about his dog being killed. So this, you know, that seems to be just like, okay, once you do that, you know. We're on your side of me. Yeah, and again, I think it's the real world and then this hyper other world, this continental high table world. And I think the films look dark good.

You know, in Chapter 2, I mean, we had Jonathan Seller in Chapter 1, and then Dan Lausson for two and three. You know, these are great, wonderful cinematographers, and Kevin Kavanaugh for production design, Lukumoska. So they look good. The action is different and extraordinary. And, again, the tone. I think there's humor and the gravitas and the pathos,

and they're fun. Yeah. You know, it's fun. You're just going to a movie. It's going to be out there. It's not going to rip you off. There's some good actions, laughs. Get your money's worth.

Yeah, and you're going to like, you're not going to know what's going on, but then you are. And then it doesn't tell you everything, but it tells you something. And then what is that? So I don't know. So I think it's just the whole, the whole shebang.

It's, I have to say. I just said the whole chabre. You did. It didn't seem like a line you typically used. The whole chabre. Just throw it out there. Wick and the whole chabang. That's the next movie,

for Wic and the whole chame. And the whole chabin. In 4D. In VR. An incredible Rama. It's really cool to listen to you talk about these movies with passion and to give credit to the stunt guys and the cinematographers and all that, which leads me to wonder what you look for in a movie.

When something comes your way, you can do anything you want to do. Right. What do you want to do? as an actor? What excites you about a project like this? Yeah, yeah. I mean, it generally starts with the script, and then what the story is, what's the role, and then, of course, who's involved? And what's the character? I mean, I was hoping, I started pretty young, went professional when I was like 16. Yeah. But even from then, I was hoping, you know, hoping to be able to do different kinds of roles and different kinds of films.

And so really what I look for hasn't really changed. From the beginning. Yeah. So, but it's, but as a, when you're first starting out, you can't, you can say yes or no to an audition or if you're not responding to material and stuff. But you can't, no one's going to ask you when you first starting out, like, what do you think about that scene? You know, no one's going to ask you to collaborate. The director's not going to go, interesting. Well, what else could we, what do you think else I should do?

Or what else do we have here? Yeah, a teenager. What should I do? Yeah, what else? What should we do here? Right. You're not getting that. And so with the experience, and I can,

and I don't do this all the time, but depending on the project, but you can have more collaboration in what's going on. Or not, you know. And it really depends on the, on the filmmaker as well, what they want you to do. You were, as you say, so young when you started. I'm curious as you look back through your childhood, you bounced around a little bit.

when did even the idea of being an actor come into your life? When was that even a possibility of something you could do? Yeah, I don't... I grew up in a show... I grew up in show base. The whole shebang. The whole shebang. Let me color your picture.

My mother, my mother's a costume designer. She works for Anne Murray and Dolly Parton. True story. True story. Yeah. And then I had a stepfather, Paul Aaron, who was working. on Broadway, who was a very young director, but he had done, he was on Broadway. And so in that milieu, and then as I was growing up, so it was the music industry going to,

like, you know, those artists and that vibe and being in that world of the theater. And then when I was in school, like when they would do playtime or drama in school, that was fun. you know, when I was in high school, first, you know, when they would do scenes for Shakespeare. And so then my mother says that I came to her when I was like 15 and I said, I want to be an actor, is that okay? And she was like, of course, darling, whatever you'd like to do. And then I was really self-motivated,

so I started taking acting classes and improv. That's pretty clear thinking for a 15-year-old. 16, yeah, by that. Yeah, to know what you wanted out of life. Yeah, I felt actually really lucky for that, you know. Yeah. It's never a chance you were going to be anything else along the way. No, no, it was it.

You know, I had the courage of youth. And also, you know, I was fortunate. I got an agent while I was playing Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet at a Jewish community center in Toronto. So that was a big break, you know, to get an agent that young. And then starting to do some commercials. and my stepfather had started an entertainment company, and then there was a manager in that company, and also with my stepfather,

was able to get a green card. So I worked in Canada for a few years, and then when I was 20, I got in my car, and I drove to Hollywood. And then when I got here, they wanted to change my name. I heard that. And by the way, to something very specific, right? Like they had a name in mind? No, they didn't have a name.

I thought they did. They eventually had to have a name because I was so shocked. And literally I found out once I was, you know, landed in Los Angeles. So welcome to Hollywood change your name. Yeah, which I think is kind of like, it's classic. You know what I mean? It's almost cliche. No, it's, yeah, but it's classic.

It's like, you know, I'm part of that tradition of performers who've had to change their name because, you know, they're people who are agents or managers, you know, are like, we've got to change your name. Right. It can't be named, you know. I don't even know what kind of crazy name to come up with, you know. But, but Keanu was a little confusing. So, so then I, and then I was kind of like, well, why don't you just call me Templeton?

I think I told this story once on Fallon, but like, you know, Chuck Spadina. That's the one I was thinking of, Chuck Spadina. And my agents were just like, when are we going to get serious here? My middle name is Charles. So they were like, why don't we just call you Casey Reeves? My heart, my heart and spirit, doth feel wounded, doth slings and arrows. I think that's an arrow. That was the sling.

So how do you, at 20 years old, wanting to impress people in Hollywood. I didn't know, so I had the thing. It said Casey, but then I would go to auditions, and then they would say that name, and I would just still be, like, working for the audience. Oh, so you were Casey for a while? Yeah, I think there's one job where I have that, but then I couldn't take it anymore.

I just couldn't take it. I couldn't take it. I had to have my name back. Actually, the first high school play I did was I played John Proctor in the Crucible, and I remember there was that line. Why are you doing this? Why would you? Because it is my name, because I can have no other.

So I learned actually from the art, and it gave me some courage. It's impossible to imagine you with any other name than Keanu. Oh, that's Kai. Chuck Spadina. Chuck Spadina. It just wouldn't be the Sanana? I don't know. I don't know.

I don't know. What is there? A rose by any other name. So what felt like the first big break to you? What was the moment where you were like, I'm a working actor. I can make it here. I don't have to move back to Toronto. Yeah, I mean, I was really fortunate.

I mean, I didn't, I went to do a lot of auditions, didn't work for about a year. I've had a lot of breaks. But I guess here was the first job. You know, it was a job, I don't know what they ended up calling it. It was, at the time when I did it was the adult children of alcoholics. It was with Andy Griffith. I played Andy Griffith's alcoholic son. It's a good gig.

And I made my first friend in Los Angeles then, too, on that show. Yeah, it was great. I had to do improv. They had fake snow. I had to, like, bring the shotgun and drink and shoot bullets into my, you know, my father's grave. Oh, God. You know, it was fun. And you were an actor, and you were like, all right, here we go.

Yeah. Fake snow, cotton snowballs thing. Right. The thing, the gun. 8 the morning. I'm sure. by now you're painfully aware of this, but it's been 30 years since Bill and Ted's. Right.

Right. It was this year. Is it? Is it really? Yeah, 1989. You didn't know that? I thought I didn't know it was 30. Yeah, 30 years. I thought it was like 25 or something.

No, it's 30 years. So a lot of people view that as your sort of, that rocketed you to a new level of start of in Hollywood. Did it feel that way at the time? No. Really? Yeah. I mean, that was another film, too, that almost in the kind of John Wick sense.

It was certainly under the radar. It didn't have a lot of money. It was really, you know, almost it was independently financed. It was a whole bunch of show business shenanigans went on with it, but eventually it got released and then kind of word of mouth. Certainly, yeah, the success of that was different than anything that I had had before. But I don't Is it gratifying to know that kids like mine

Who 30 years later are 9, 10, 11 years old Watch that movie? That it's got legs, that it's considered a classic Did they make them laugh? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yes. Oh, yeah, it holds up.

Good. As is the sequel, as will the next one. I hope so. Yeah, yeah, we might have a chance to tell another part of that story. They have a title, Bill and Ted face the music. Yep. Are you doing it for sure? Yeah, yeah.

Everything is looking towards that. And we've been trying to make it for eight years. So knock on wood, salt, whatever things. So hopefully it'll work out. So why did you want to come back to that story all these years later? Because the writers had a good idea. You know, they approached us about seven, it's probably eight years now.

They approached Alex Winter and I. And they had a story. And so we worked on it for a little bit Because yeah, you have to answer that question why Why do it? But I think they have a really good story Hopefully it'll be funny I mean it's crazy

It's wacky I have no doubt it is Having seen the honest Yeah yeah So I don't know what it's going to be like to play that role Yeah I was going to say what's that going to be like I have no idea I'm scared Are you really?

Yeah but you know Ted Theodore Logan you know part of the premise is that they were supposed to write a song that was going to unite the world right and unite everything right and they haven't but they're still trying

but they haven't and they've dedicated these 30 years to trying and they're married they have a kid and what is it done to the family how are they feeling and then and then they find out that the future comes down again and says like

well if you don't write the song now, it's the universe is going to end. So now they have even more pressure. So what do they do? And hijinks ensue. That's another one like the shabank. Hygings, shabang, shenanigans, wacky.

You are full of them today. So you obviously rolled out of that into point break, into speed, which is a massive hit, obviously, into the Matrix movies. There's a famous Hollywood story, and you can tell me whether or not it's true, that when it came time to make Speed 2,

which seemed like an obvious thing given the success of the first movie, you said, thanks, but I'm going to do Hamlet in Winnipeg. Is that the way that happened? Kind of, sort of. Yeah, it was a tough decision, yeah. I mean, it was really, you know, I really had an amazing time

filming and making speed, and it did pretty well. Yeah, so there was a, like, let's do it again. And then I was doing a film at the time called Chain Reaction, and I was in Chicago, and I read the script. And that film was pretty physical. It was a lot of running and cold. And, yeah, so they showed me the script, and it was just, I didn't see it.

I didn't get it. So I couldn't do it. That's pretty impressive, because I'm sure they were throwing a lot at you to come back and do it. Yeah, yeah. The hit the first one was. I mean, I didn't work at Fox for 15 years after that. Because you said no. I believe so.

But I don't know. It's only a theory with a, I don't know. In hindsight, it may be worked out. I don't know. I ended up working there again, but it took 15 years. And how was Hamlet and Winnipeg that worked out well? Yeah, no, it was a great experience. It was a great experience.

We, you know, I think if people ask, what's the Keanu Reeves movie everybody might say something different but I think most people might go to the Matrix is that where you would go if I said what's the signature Keanu Reeves movie I know that's a hard question yeah I don't

how about how about like all right you don't have to pick one I mean yeah I don't yeah did you see like I said I was hoping to do different kinds of films and different kinds of films and different kinds of things.

Right. And I think, so I feel really fortunate and grateful that I've had the chance to work with the artists and play in different kinds of films. In a way, I feel like, you know, it would be... We'd be talking about the filmmakers, too, right? But, I mean, I think certainly the way the world reacted to the Wachowski's and the Matrix and the trilogy,

I'm a part of that and certainly the scale of that film I have no other film that has had that appreciation for it you know so nobody could see a multi-billion dollar franchise coming

but when you read the script and you started shooting that movie did you know you were on to something pretty special? Well I knew that I was working with visionaries. I knew as right because they wrote it as well so I knew as writers and from their cinema, you know, I think it came to be known as bullet time, you know, and this idea. And they showed me kind of proof of concept. When I went to meet them, they had these folios of art. You know, there was a script that we spoke about in folios of art. And

and then they showed me bullet time. And I was like, wow, this is pretty exciting. And then they were like, so, and then there's four months of training, you got to learn some movie kung food. And I was like, sounds good. I can do this. I can, let's give this a try. Yeah. And so what did the exposure of that movie and the success of that movie do to your life? Obviously, if you weren't famous already, boy, were you after that? Um, yeah, no, I mean, I think if you have, um, something that's, uh, artistically and, and if it works, show business that brings opportunity, you know. So after that film, definitely, you know, I could have, I had more opportunity. Did it your private life, you've obviously been very

protective of that, which I completely respect. I'm going to take a drink now. Bring up the private. No, no, no. But my question is, how have you, you've been able to sort of keep your life private while being one of the most famous actors in the world? Is that something you work at, or is that something that just happens? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think, yeah, my days are pretty normal. Yeah.

You know, in the sense of that. So, yeah, definitely. I think most people are pretty private, aren't they? But anyway. Yeah, well, some people, some people who are well-known or working on keeping their face out there. Yeah, I don't get out much. Yeah, yeah, I'm a bit of, uh, I'm a bit of, uh, Yeah, I don't get out. I'm like, yeah, yeah.

But yes, I mean, I really, yes, I'm a private person, and I like to keep it. Yeah. Is it hard to do that ever? It gets more intense if you have a film. Yeah. If you have a project that's coming out, there's, you know, I think whatever entities there are, see that is more opportunity for them. So, yeah. You also have a reputation as being a very, generous guy. There are stories about you buying Harley Davidson's for crews and you know what I love about John Wick is like the cast that I'm working with. Can you imagine

like I got to work with Angelica Houston? Yes. Angelica Houston. So I mean and she was amazing. You know it was really great to meet her and she would probably find you generous too. Yeah, I don't know but she was I mean because yeah we had this role and you know, we get to learn a little bit about the past of John Wick, and she plays this role of the director. And, you know, we were trying to, and I was like to the director, what about Angelica Houston? And so she was contacted.

I think she read the piece, and then didn't really, hadn't seen the series before, hadn't seen the two films. And then we met in New York, and then she went back, and then she watched both films. And then she came back, and she was like, yes, okay. I know what I'm, I know more about what I'm doing here. And so it was really, and then, you know, And then chat's like, and we want you to have an accent.

She's like, okay. So it was really, she's spectacular. The whole cast is, Hallie, too. Yeah, and Hallie Barry came in on it. Yeah, and that was actually one of the, that's one of the cool things that's happened, you know, over the course of time with the films, is that there were people who have, like,

common in Chapter 2 with someone who was like, you know, to the director, like, let's go do this. and, you know, and Common committed really to John Wick Action, you know, because John Wick Action training is no joke for movies. It's just movie fighting, it's fake fighting, but it's fun. But you have to do the judo jiu-jitsu, you have to work with the weapons, you have to put the time in. And Common did it, and then for Chapter 3,

when Hallie Barry came to the director, Chad Sealski, and said, I love these pictures, I want to be a part of this, and we had a role, and Hallie Barry just, I mean, she spent told like over six months. Her character has these two malinois, these shot dogs. And so she trained with them for over six months and then did all the judo and all of the genre training. And you see it on screen.

There's one sequence that's just like crazy. The whole movie's kind of that way. Is it? Yeah, it's 95? Cool. Yeah. No, it's a badass movie, which begs the question for me, What comes next for you? You have this vision of cool projects.

Oh, I wish that sounds great. I wish. That sounds fantastic. You obviously have an eye for things that are going to work. I don't know if that's necessarily true. I don't know. I can rob them off for you. I know there's a couple, but there's a list of other ones.

Don't exclude them. I think sometimes they're good movies. Like what? I don't know. I recently did one with Winona Ryder. I think there's a really good destination wedding. I mean, Siberia. I think is pretty interesting.

That came out. Devil's Advocate was good. Devil's Advocates. I love Devil's Advocate. I mean... That's a great flick. That's a good film. I mean, if you haven't seen it,

a scanner darkly. Sure. If you want some independent New York Super 16 cinema, you could watch Generation Um. If you want to watch some wacky stuff, maybe you can watch Eli Roth, Knock Knock. That's pretty...

Yeah. I'm in. Those are a couple of... Those are a couple of movies. Just check out. Do you have thoughts? Oh, Henry's Crime on a Sunday. On a Sunday movie.

James Khan. Walking the clouds. You can do that. Oh, my God. Anthony Quinn, Itana Sanchez, Guillaume. We could just go through your entire Indb page. You could like, walk through them.

I'm sorry. You know. I mean, I've been fortunate that you know, I've had a chance to You know, you don't always know how the film's going to turn out. Yeah. You know, and sometimes, you know, there are some artists who act or, you know, I've heard that, you know, don't necessarily see the films. You know, like they paint the picture, but they don't need to.

Right. And I'm not like that. I like to at least see the film. You know, I want to know if what I said yes to and gone through this experience, if we have, you know, if it worked. know, and if you like it. So anyway, so if it does, you know, then you want to like, you know, fan the flames of your babies. Yes, which is what we're doing here. Yes, indeed. Thank you. Flaming of the fan. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks for listening to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Stick around to hear Keanu talk

about his passion project running a motorcycle company and what he gets from being out on the road alone. Welcome back to the Sunday Sit Down podcast. Now for more of my conversation with Keanu Reeves. Also, before I let you go, love to ask about your motorcycle business. Oh, cool, thanks. Yeah, not at all. How did that begin for you? I mean, I know you've been a collector and a fan and you sort of collaborated. Yeah, so I had a Harley Davidson that I wanted to personalize, customize, and then I was introduced to this builder, Gard Hollinger. over the course of four or five years, he designed and built a motorcycle. That motorcycle was amazing, he is amazing.

And I said to him, if that needs to be in the world, do you want to start a motorcycle company? He's been in the motorcycle industry for a long time. And eventually he said, yeah, let's give it a try. And so we started it in 2011. We've been selling motorcycles for the past four years. It's called Arch Motorcycle, and we build what I call it performance cruiser. It's a long-wheel base, big twin. We make over 200 of the parts, build it aluminum.

It's a production motorcycle, but it's personalized. So every customer, it's basically like a fitted suit. Yeah. You know, and these motorcycles, they're really confident riding. They're great in turns, which for long wheel bases isn't often the case. And the ride of them is spectacular. And so if you get an arch, then that bike is yours. No one will have your bike.

But you have the reliability of a production motor cycle like they were. You've rid bikes for forever. Not that long. No, I started when I was 22. Okay. Well, that's pretty, that's a little bit. Yeah, but I mean, like, guard starting with like state. Right.

You talk to these other kids. Right. I was four. Right. And the dirt bikes. Yeah. Yeah. I didn't have that.

What do you get from being out on the road alone on a bike, clear your head a little bit? Yeah, sure. I mean, riding a motorcycle is fantastic. You know, you're in the elements. I mean, I love how motorcycles look. I like how they smell and then riding. Yeah, just being on the road, being able to travel like that, the sights and sounds and smells. Yeah.

And then, yes, to your point, yeah, you can think, you can get away, you can focus, you can feel, you can just let it go. but you know there's a kind of presentness when you're on a motorcycle not all the time sometimes you're not so present and then oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh thanks for the time all right this is the whole shebang all right really well the homiegillard thank you thank you man that was great i appreciate it sure my thanks to keanu for taking time for a great conversation you can catch john wick chapter three arabellum in theater May 17th. And my thanks as always to all of you for checking out the Sunday Sit Down podcast. To hear more of my full-length conversations with all my guests, be sure to click

subscribe so you never miss an episode. And don't forget to tune in to Sunday today every weekend on NBC. I'm Willie Geist. We'll see you right back here next week on the Sunday Sit-Down podcast.