“I started losing feeling and balance”: Keanu Reeves Chose to Hide His Injury for $465M Action Movie with Laurence Fishburne
Known for being the nicest guy in Hollywood, actor Keanu Reeves is most known for his role as Neo in the science fiction film series The Matrix, which debuted in 1999 and received great reviews from critics and viewers alike and managed to gross over $465 million worldwide.
The Matrix is one of the famous films, which is why devoted fans of the film frequently revisit it. It was a commercial and critical accomplishment and introduced the world to pop culture icons like the red and blue pills. There may have been a Neo other than Keanu Reeves, according to rumors.
Keanu Reeves’s injuries almost cost him the role in The Matrix
During his appearance in The Art of Action podcast via CBR, Keanu Reeves, who plays Neo in the movie, shared that his injuries could have nearly cost him the role that he is now admired for, along with hampering his health. He said,
“The only problem – I was dealing with a neck issue which was getting worse, I’d spent a couple of years fighting it off, I was getting tingling. I made a film called Chain Reaction in Chicago and had a couple epidurals put in, shot up in the spine. I had a bulging disc and I had a fractured disc too, and I started losing feeling and balance.”
The actor who was signed in to play Neo in The Matrix by the Wachowski sisters was asked to follow martial arts training in Hong Kong and he decided to keep his health condition hidden from them.
He mentioned,
“I said yes to The Matrix and the four months of training, but it was pretty bad so I went to a neck doctor, and basically I had spinal stenosis too. My spinal column was being sausaged basically, so I had to have a two-level fusion on my spine before training, and they put a plate in my neck.”
Reeves continued, “But I never actually told anyone because I didn’t want to tell anyone I wouldn’t be able to make the film. What was cool, though, was at the time, the way to recover from spinal surgery was different.”
He lastly added that they put the plate on his neck and told him to start moving right away before sharing that he had to train for The Matrix in a neck brace.
Laurence Fishburne says Keanu Reeves’ The Matrix Resurrections ‘wasn’t as bad as he thought’
The actor who played the character of Morpheus in three parts of The Matrix shared his thoughts and feelings about the fourth part of the movie for which he was not called back to reprise his role.
In an interview with Variety, he was asked if he missed out on being a part of the fourth movie, to which he said he isn’t really, before adding, “But I thought Carrie-Anne and Keanu really did their thing.”
The actor noted that the movie which was released in December last year, “wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. And it wasn’t as good as I hoped it would be.”
Laurence Fishburne had said at the time that he was not invited to be part of the fourth film but went ahead to appreciate the makers, noting that he was hoping that this would make him write another play.
