Keanu Reeves Joins To Talk Hockey, Past Roles And More!

All right, it's time for the conversation you probably have been waiting for this entire time. Ladies and gentlemen, Keanu Reeves. Our guest today is a six-foot-one actor from Toronto, Canada. New York Times ranks him as the fourth greatest actor of the 21st century, but he's number one in your heart. You know him from The Matrix, John Wick, Point Break, Speed, The Replacements, and many more. And coming soon, now his new movie, Good Fortune. Please welcome Keanu Reeves! Hey, Jesus. Thank you, thank you. This is awesome. Dude, Keanu, you're a legend, brother. Congrats on everything as of late, and congrats on Good Fortune, man. Thank you, thank you. It's a fun film. I had a great time making it. Oh, yeah. It's a fun watch, man. It's a fun watch. How about it, my guy? Oh, yeah, of course. We got the screws. Oh, yeah. I'm in, yeah. You played a hell of an angel, man. Tacos, baby. Who doesn't love tacos? Tell me about what it was like working with Aziz Ansari as a director. He was really lovely. He had a vision. He invited me to the vision, and then was really collaborative. I'd go to his house, we'd work on script, get some rehearsals, some read-throughs, worked with he and Seth Rogen. Legends. And so then he just kept working on the script, trying to make it better and better, get his kind of the tone and what he wanted the film to be about. And I really appreciated him inviting me into that process through the character Gabriel. Do you want to tell us a little bit in your words about the film? I mean, I know, obviously, you're an angel. It feels like the trope has very much been done before of like, you know, does money solve happiness? But I feel like you guys did it in a little bit different way and you shed a more truthful light on it, I guess. I mean, it's like an angel comes down trying to do better. He swaps Aziz's character, who's kind of having hard times, and he's sleeping in his car. And with Seth Rogen, who's kind of venture capitalist, doing pretty well off. And in the typical kind of body swatch switch movie, the, you know, the guy, you know, kind of see, I'm like, I expect Gabriel expects him to see how the other half lives and that money doesn't mean anything and really about this film, like, well, no, actually money can help. Actually does make a difference. Why would I go back? You make me go back. And I'm like, no, I'm like, but you're not that kind of guy, you know, you're someone else's life. And he's like, yeah, yeah. Well, then let me just do it for a couple of weeks. Yeah. But through that journey, because then, of course, I'm kind of screwing up, I'm not supposed to switch these lives. And then when he doesn't want to go back, then I basically get fired. Human. And then I go on this journey of kind of seeing how they both are. That's some of my favorite parts of the movie is you having to now be human and realizing what food tastes like. And that was fun. I found it pretty funny because I feel like of all the celebrities of A-list celebrities, when I think of them, you seem the most like down to earth, like figuratively and literally, like I see you go and taking public transport, you're walking down the street, like you are with the people. There's nothing that like you push that like you are not connected to like the human experience. Yeah. Was there something that spoke to you in particular about like what this the message this film was trying to put across in that regard? Yeah, for sure. I mean, I thought that it handled the kind of allegory or, you know, taking on a kind of tough subject of people, you know, having to work multiple jobs and and and he kind of disease kind of takes on the perception of the American dream. And, you know, that can be not funny. And I thought he was really sensitive to representing that struggle at a certain level and and coming to a place that's, you know, not just about hope, but practical things and sent in this in the sense of just it's about friendship. It's about connection. It's about laughter. It's about heart. And yes, these other things are happening. But take that, take the take what we have, what we can do, you know, take each other, reach out, be connected. You know, yes, really just on a backbone and the and the riches of being alive. Beautifully said. Beautifully said, as always. Beautifully said, man. Well, I got to ask you, would Keanu Reeves be a good angel or a bad angel in real life? How do you think you'd nail that? That's my job. Well, if I'm in my mind to it, I think I would. Yes. My angel Gabriel, he's just in charge of like texting and driving. So I love that. I love that it separates like they separate the angel duties like, no, that's not your department over here. You know, I look up to another angel as well, who's like, you know, saving lost souls. I don't know. Good try. Well, I'm sure you'd nail it. What? You haven't done a comedy in a minute. What sparked you to kind of go back into that genre? Well, I mean, John Wick's got some humor. Oh, yeah. But it's not a comedy. Yes. I mean, I love it. I love it. And I haven't I hadn't done it for a while. I had done another sequel with Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure a few years ago. But really, since then, no, I hadn't done it. And it was great to work with Aziz and Seth Rogen, who's a genius. Yep. Sandra Oh, and Kiki Palmer's in it. She's amazing. And I just, you know, it's fun. Hey, there we go. Just have fun. I mean, there's a lot of crap to it, but it's that group that you just mentioned right there, man. That sounds like one of the funnest hangouts you could put together. It sounds like everybody's having a good old time for us, for us, like non like professionals in the in the movie world, in the film world. You were talking about how you and Aziz got together beforehand in terms of the script and like to like build these characters or build like his vision on it. Like how far in advance does that happen before you guys even start to film? Or is it just like a nonstop like ongoing? I don't know. I got the script a few months before we started filming. And then I would say probably the four weeks leading up to four or five weeks leading up to just meet a couple of times just before filming a little more intensely, you know, because I was going a certain path with the character and he really wanted me to bring back some of the energy and and lightness of previous roles. So he wanted a little bit of Bill and Ted in there. You ever see a film called Parenthood? Of course, on Howard's film, a character in that. And he wanted some of that guy. So he wanted a little bit of and I liked that. I mean, I liked this old soul with a bit of innocence to him. Yeah, but he really directed that. And he gave me that note about three weeks before we started. Wow. And you can and you can just channel it all. I mean, obviously, you're one of the best ever do it. But you could just channel it all right then and there and really start to like get ingrained in it from there. I had to bring a little bit back, you know. There we go. There we go. There we go. I had to knock the cobwebs off a little bit. I'm 16 years old, man. I'm like, I'm just I but it gave me light. It gave me energy, you know, and it gave the character a kind of like presentness, you know, a way to see things that I think the viewer can take on his point of view, which was which was great. That's awesome. Well, we got one last question with the related. If you could swap bodies for lives with anyone, who would you swap with? Oh, my gosh. I'm just trying to make it work in this one. That's fair. I don't know. I mean, both you guys are involved in athletics. So let's do let's go. If I was like, what would be a moment like, you know, we hear about those moments in sports where where they go, people go into the zone, you know, like where you were almost unconscious and you're just instinctive and you're doing that. And then I always I love the Olympics. Yeah, I love that. Someone here's been in four years, a lifetime coming up. It's crazy. One moment, right? And you guys, it's like the whistle, right? Like, yeah, you know, and like, and now it's time, you know, everything you've worked for is going to happen right now. You better ******* get this bobsled moving. So imagine being like, I don't know, Usain Bolt breaking the world record. The fastest man in the world is a genius. I'll trade spots with that. Like a perfect die. Yeah. I mean, like hockey, I grew up playing hockey. Heck yeah, baby. Hell yes. Grew up on the ice, baby. Toronto, Canada. You're not allowed to grow up in Toronto without playing hockey. Exactly. What'd you play? What position? What position did you play? I was a goaltender. Goaltender? Goalie too? What? I played net. Let's go, man. I think being in someone's body, but being in an athletic body, achieving that one moment, like whatever that was. Yeah. Heck yeah. I'm with you, man. Cool. Well, I'm not gonna lie. We've talked about it before. For me, winning the Super Bowl was kind of like that. And you feel like the people that make these movies, man, they ******* nail it. Like, how did they do this? It's crazy. Like, I still remember Super Bowl 52, the last play of the game. Tom Brady goes back. We're gonna win the game. We know that this is gonna get completed. He throws the ball up. And I mean, a stadium full of 65,000 people, you don't hear a thing. It is completely silent. The ball feels like it's taking forever. Finally, it falls. Somehow, while it's in the air, there's violins playing. I remember running on the field and I still, I'm like running on the field. Is this game over? And you still don't, your senses are so in the moment of like what's happening up here that they're blocked out. Like you don't, until I saw everybody else celebrating, then it almost like the sensation like rushes in all at once. It's insane. And Trav talks about being in the zone a lot. He talks about it being blacked out on the field. Yeah, blacked out. It takes me a second to actually have to like process, wait, what just even that just happened right there? Like, how did I just get hit that fast? And why are we 10 yards downfield? Do you guys find this too? I mean, I did it. I mean, I went to a pretty high level in hockey as a junior. I mean, I didn't do junior A or anything like that. But to me, it was like, even when you were like unconscious, it's so interesting. And this happens on stage too. How much you can also think. All those built up, it almost like frees up your thinking. Like you're not like bogged down overthinking it. It just feels like you just process it. You have all those built up instincts that you just been, you just been channeling and fixing and just making it to where when you need to pull out that answer to, to whatever's going on, that instinct just hits so fast. I'm sure you're looking at people, people are looking at your hips and where you're going to turn and how do you, they don't want to look at the hips, baby, whatever it is. I got to ask you more questions about being a goal. First of all, nine times out of 10, for anybody watching, whoever's the goal is usually the craziest person on the team. It's almost always that way. What was your, what was your style in net? Are we butterfly? Like, were you, did you have a weakness? What was your strength? So I grew up in an era in that, I guess, I mean, I started playing street hockey, nice hockey in the seventies. And then I guess my, my hockey was like 80, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85. So it was like, and high school hockey. I had to try out for junior B team and then had a possible trial for June major junior eight. But, um, so I was kind of like a crossover style. So I, my seventies styles were more stand upright. Yeah. No, but I was like Jerry Cheever's from Boston. And then she really kind of brought around the butterfly style, but early days. And then there was like seventies Russian hockey, which was like who kind of did the butterfly a little bit. Okay. And I was doing Jacques Plant, uh, Bernie Perron. I was about to say Bernie rest in peace. Just passed away. Legendary flyer. I was going to, you beat me to it. Yeah. And he was kind of upright. So I was like, I would get told I went down too much. Okay. So I was like a standup goalie with a little, I was standup goalie first. So like in ice hockey, but in a butterfly position, you kind of kicked out like here. Yes. Yeah. Old standup style. If you were going to do a skate save, you would turn out. Oh, wow. That doesn't make any sense, man. Right. So if you were exposed, you're right there here. No, but like if the shots going low to my glove side, right. Yeah. You would go butterfly and stop it here. Right. Got it. Got it. You would go out. Yes. Anyway, I've seen that maneuver now watching old school hockey. That's good. Get right there, man. Celebrity games. And I remember some of the players were playing like, you know, you're in the celebrity game and it's like, oh, you can play hockey. I'm like, yeah, I'm okay. And then they're like, wow. You're like, they would say to me, it was like, wow, playing against you is like when we played like in high school, like old time. So good. I love it. I had a good glove and really fast reflexes. And I was positionally sound. Oh, is that a good angle? I love it, man. We grew up playing hockey. I don't know if you know that we played growing up too. I recently got back out on the ice and just like rented a pair of skates, haven't been out there in like 10 years. There was like a, I just happened to stumble across this. I was trying to watch football games in Jacksonville. And for some reason, the sports bar was in an ice rink and there were beer leagues happening all around me. And one of the guys like, Hey, do you want to hop out on the ice? I'm like, hell yeah. Let's go, baby. And I mean, I was like a deer, like a baby deer trying to skate. I couldn't do it. I'm blaming it on the skates. I'm hoping I still got it, but it just made me fall in love with, I just love being in an ice rink, the smell, like everything about it. Yeah. It's like stale. Yeah. Yeah, man. I'm telling you, I hate playing in the heat in football when it gets to like right now to November and December and January, where it feels like I'm just breathing in an ice rink. I could go all day. We do want to ask some more questions. Is there a Mount Rushmore in your opinion of Keanu Reeves quotes? Like what are your favorite quotes that you get thrown at you like routinely from your career? Okay. Well, I'll just say some of that hit, come on the street. Like, you know, Gary Busey saying, you know, Utah to give me two. Yeah. Okay. Okay. There we go. Not my line, but that's a good one. I did a film in the eighties called river's edge where, uh, my character calls another character ************ food eater. You just hear I guess I've been known for saying, Whoa, yeah. Yeah. Whoa. Excellent. Dude. That's, that was the one I immediately think of. It's just such a great way to go about life, man. Summed up perfectly. Be excellent to each other and party on baby. So sweet. Be excellent to each other. I don't know. Does John wick have any, I mean, it's just a dog. It wasn't just a dog. Yeah. I don't know. He doesn't, he's more of a quiet, throughout the whole thing. I think up just this maniacally. Yeah, that was crazy. He just gave it to the screen, man. Maybe that's what it makes you think. Dude, after good fortune, you're going to be having cigarettes and tacos thrown at you, man. It's so good. It's one of the things we love as humans. We'll get to our last segment, big dog and get you out of here, man. Our last segment is called. We got to ask, but you don't have to answer. You can tell us the **** off, but we would love that. We would love to hear your, uh, your input on a few of these men. Um, first one famously played Neo from the matrix, as we were just talking about, um, are you upset? We apparently learned nothing from those movies. AI is how far are we out from just the matrix being real brother. Do you think about this? You got to think about this like a lot, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. It doesn't seem like, uh, we're like moths to the flame. It's like, we can't help ourselves. You know, if we can do it, we'll do it. Yeah. We're doing it and we don't know actually what we're doing. Yeah. That's what it feels like. What are the ramifications? What are, what, what, what could go South here? How far does this go? Are we already there? Are we already in a simulation? I get, I have to go back and forth, man. I choose to believe. No, I choose to believe. No, but yeah, I don't know. Maybe I've just watched the matrix too many times. I mean, the matrix kind of is like gives a lot of, especially in the first three films, a lot of weight to reality. What is real? What is real? And a lot of, um, power to that question. And I remember a few years ago, I was at a dinner and, um, uh, the host had a, uh, a couple of kids at 15, 12, 13, 15. And someone, and one of them asked me to explain the plot of the matrix. And I was like, well, I play this character, you know, basically trying to fight for what's real against, you know, a simulation. And, and this young person goes, well, like who cares if it's real? No way, man. It's, and I was like, Oh, okay. Yeah. It's one way to look at it. Yeah. Yeah. That's where it's headed. You know, and it's so sick how we're going to value the matter and who will care. Well, it's crazy. I'm on the side of real crazy, isn't it? I'm on the real, I'm on the real side, man. Yeah. Yeah. All right. In point lighters, lighter note. Okay. In point break, Patrick Swayze does a lot of his own skydiving. Are you known as your own stunts kind of guy? And like John Wick, obviously we've seen all the action moves. Like, do you do a lot of your own stunts? Yeah. I like to say, because it's true that I don't do stunts. Okay. Fair enough. All right. My stunt double Jackson Spiedel got hit by a lot of cars. I didn't get hit by a lot of cars and Jackson was getting hit by cars. Okay. So if I'm there, if I'm doing something like I, you know, I really learned actually with point break and a wonderful stunt coordinator named Glenn Wilder was, and, and in a film called speed with a stunt quarter named Gary Hines, how can we put the actor into the action? Because then you don't have to cut away from the story. And so you create a really good connection with the audience. And I really liked that and believed in that. And that's something that the, um, the Wachowskis on the matrix believed in and wanted to do as well. Um, so I'll do as much as I can do, but if I'm there, it's not a stunt. And if I'm not there, it's a stunt because it's dangerous. And, you know, so. Well, this brings up another thing I wanted, we wanted to ask you, you've done all of these iconic action movies where you're, you're moving and fighting and running. Is it true that you got hurt doing this last film more than you got hurt in all these other ones? Like you're an angel tapping people on the back who are texting, driving all of a sudden you hurt your knee. Is that accurate? Yep. Oh, no. Well, I was shooting a scene and, uh, and, and I was going back to the dressing room, which was at a residence and they had a carpet laid down, protect the owner's carpet. And then there was a little section and then I caught my foot and I started to fall. And then I spiked my left knee and get spiked it. And my left went like this. Oh, my knee cap. I had a vertical break. It didn't break the top and bottom of vertical break. I've never heard of this. I've never heard of this. Better than a horizontal break. Well, that's good. At least it's better than a horizontal, but that still sounds pretty messed up. Terrible. Did it heal? Like what is it? Do you need surgery for this or it all just heals on its own? But with the vertical, they just said, you know, I was immobilized and wore brace basically 10 weeks, but I filmed while I had that. But until they pulled the blood out of the capsule, the pain was banana cakes. You guys ever had, like, I'm sure your knees aren't in great shape. I've had that exact same fall, but it usually happens on grass or whatever. You don't break your patella. What happens is you rupture your bursa sac. So your knee just fills with insane fluid. Yeah. Yeah. Just balloons up. I remember I burst a bursa sac one time. And for some reason, when all the fluid in there was pushing on a nerve and just, yeah, it was intense pain. I don't want to move it. Yeah, man. Yeah. When you went to drain it, it was like, oh, see, that's yeah. The drain, get the CCs out of there. Oh, I think I had over 50 CCs. Yeah. It's like that can't be good. Oh, man. Yeah, it's the worst. Anyway, so comedy is hard. Pick those knees up, baby. You played the voice of one of our favorite TV shows, Severance. You played the voice of the Lumen building in Severance. What was it like almost losing out on the role to Barack Obama? Oh, I didn't know. Did you hear this? Oh my gosh, are we breaking news? We're breaking this news. Ben told us that. Yeah. He said he was thinking about Barack Obama. Barack must've said no. And I was like, oh my God, I was the second choice. That's okay. As long as I got the gig. There you go. I'm not the first. If you weren't an actor, what would Keanu Reeves be doing? I don't know. We could ask that question a lot too. Playing in the NHL or what? I mean, I was good, but I probably wasn't good enough. I always, when I thought about professional hockey, I always started just doing the Olympic, Canadian. I might have been able, but probably not. But anyway, what would I be doing? I don't know. We could ask that same question and I don't know either. I feel like once you've been going with something for so long, it's like, it's hard to imagine what would have manifested without you doing that. I know it is for us when they're like, what would you do if you weren't a football player? I was like, I don't know. I'd coach. The only thing I can think of is what I wouldn't be. And it wouldn't be a landscaper because my dad always used to look at me when I did the yard work and be like, boy, you better get paid by the hour. You ain't getting ---- done. Exactly. Yeah. Taking my good old time. Nowhere. The rake is on the floor and the football is being thrown in the air to myself. What is the best piece of life advice that Keanu Reeves has ever got? I haven't had a lot. No, you just been out here. I like it though, man. Just take just living and learning. Lots of living and learning. We're trying to a lot of living, but trying to learn. And, uh, advice, advice, advice. Well, what would, what would be the best advice you would give somebody? Oh, I'm, you know, I think, uh, you know, I've been told the best advice was like rest. Um, okay. It's like, before just get some rest. I'm with you, man. I'm with you. They're putting their feet up after you, after you've been working your ******* ass off, man. If you're looking for advice, taking, putting your head down and going to sleep is sometimes some of the best things you could do. I mean, I guess maybe that's not good. It is good advice. I think it's great advice. Yeah. Especially if somebody is looking for advice. Cause then they're, they've been thinking about it, right? It's like, man, how can I solve this? What can I do? And nine times out of 10, once you're in that state, it's like, all right, let's take a second and rest, take a rest, get a clear mind, get a clear mind, come back to that brain. I didn't get to clear the mind part. All right. Last question. And it can be good, bad, whatever you choose. Do you have a welcome to Hollywood moment? Oh, welcome to Hollywood. We ask a lot of our guests who are athletes, welcome to the NFL moment, whatever. Do you have a welcome to the industry? Welcome to Hollywood. Welcome to acting. Like, is there anything that stands out where you're like, man, this is either what I want to do or I got paid when I was like 16. So I was a professional actor around 16, 17. Okay. Wow. In Toronto, Canada. And then I got a manager who lived in Los Angeles and I ended up doing a movie of the week in Canada, Toronto that got me an agent in LA. Okay. So at 20 years old, I drove in my car to Los Angeles, got out of my car and my manager said, we want to change your name. And so that's like a welcome to Hollywood. No way. Did they have a name in their back pocket or like, did they say, so you didn't even let it get to that point. You were like, and I remember I was like on the, I was on the beat. I was walking on the beach and I was just like, my name, what am I changed? My name? Yeah. No. And it ended up, my middle name is Charles. So I was like Chuck and I grew up on a street called Spadina, Chuck Spadina. And then I was like something Templeton. But then I was just like, so then I became Casey Reeves. Casey Reeves? Accredited as Casey Reeves. In your first film? I think so. Maybe. Wow. Maybe. I think there is. And then, and then I couldn't do it. So then I would be auditions and they'd go Casey Reeves. And I'd be like, I wouldn't even answer. Six months later, I was like, yeah, there you go. Yeah. But that's a Hollywood moment. Yeah. Let's say welcome to Hollywood, baby. Well, Keanu, we cannot thank you enough. Who's going to win the Superbowl? I think the Kansas City chiefs are rolling right now. On those Eagles. Don't sleep on those birds, baby. Forget rolling here. Do you, do you have a squad? Do you have a, do you have a team you favor? Well, I mean, I've been, I've so enjoyed watching you, your success and like, I've never became a Patriots hater. I always kind of was like, okay, I mean, they are what they are. Um, but emotionally I never got Patriots, but, but I still like preach. They had so many great players. Oh, yeah, sure. But I appreciate the S there's a kid. It was a Steelers. And then, and then Swan Swan. So graceful. So smooth. Sounds just like his name. It looks just like his name. And then I liked, I liked, I liked Joe Montana, Joe Montana, maybe the chief at one point. So now I'm my, I guess my childhood heart is with the Steelers and that experiment that's going on. I mean, they're rolling right now. They're rolling right now. It's the experiment. They're winning. They're, they're, they're leading the North right now, baby. We did it like a, a poll a few years back and I've been on record as this. I think the Steelers is the best name in football. Like, I just, it's like such a football. It's a strong name. It represents the community so well. Like it's an embodiment of the people that built, like literally built the city and a lot of the United States. I just think it's a fantastic like ethos to a city. And then like all the sports teams in Pittsburgh match with the black and yellow. Like it's a very cool sports town. So the team always feels like it's represented, like that's what it represents. Like the toughness and like this, they never lost sight of that. Yeah. And then they go out and get the biggest, strongest, fastest wide receiver in the NFL. It's like, all right, that's a Steelers move right there. I got to say, Keanu, I can't thank you enough for coming on, man. Everyone check out good fortune, but I got to say more than that. Not only do I love you as an actor and what you've embodied in your films are tremendous. I just love your entire ethos, man. I don't, I know, I don't know, you know, you, but just observing from afar. I appreciate what you stand for, hell yeah. You know, the way you go about life and everything, brother. So thank you for hopping on this sports podcast. My girlfriend would love to say hello, Alexandra. She loves your journeys that are going on. And she's like got big love for all of that. And so we'll send the love right back, brother. You already know.