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In a round about way, did Keanu Reeves kind of have the career that Brandon Lee could've had?

posted 5 years ago by TMC-4 (20259)
8 replies | jump to latest

Don't get me wrong, Keanu was already a pretty established star by the time that Brandon Lee died. But one could suspect that Brandon at the very least, could've in theory, picked up the parts that Keanu had turned down. There's actually a rumor that the Wachowskis' first choice for Neo when they wrote The Matrix in late-'92 was Brandon Lee (followed by Johnny Depp when the script was picked up in '94). And Brandon could've still been left with some good scripts in the '90s considering movies that Reeves did after Speed like Johnny Mnemonic and Chain Reaction. And around that time, the script Simon Says was being reworked as a Rapid Fire sequel. After Brandon's death, it was then rewritten as Die Hard with a Vengeance.

[–] AP (5290) 5 years ago

Maybe. He probably would have been a good John Wick.

[–] TMC-4 (20259) 4 years ago

I found this thread that discussed Brandon Lee and they go into the various hypotheticals regarding his career:
https://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/609555/brandon-lee-fans

One commenter said that Brandon seemed like a far less problematic version of Johnny Depp. Because if you listen to both of them talk about film and how they go about prepping for characters they always seemed to have a similar philosophy and views.

[–] Otter (24464) 4 years ago

Considering that Keanu's career has always seemed inexplicable, I don't think you can assume that anyone under any circumstances could ever have done the same.

I mean I like Keanu, everybody likes Keanu! Everybody's liked him for the last thirty-odd years! But really, he's photogenic and likable but he's far from a great actor, he's not butch, he's not versatile, he doesn't seek publicity, he doesn't seem to give a rat's ass about his career or much of anything... but he's been a movie star for thirty years anyway. Nobody else has ever done the same, and there's no way that Brandon Lee could have pulled it off as well.

[–] SteveG (1370) 3 years ago

LMAO!!! Oh my goodness what an amazing question! It’s actually a very good question. I actually get the context but I seriously disagree Brandon Lee was a much better and charismatic actor than Keanu Reeves can ever be. No disrespect to Keanu, I dig his work. But Brandon was gonna be an A List star.

[–] Cognoscente (2712) 2 years ago

I would have liked to have seen Brandon in a comedy with Robert Downey Jr.

[–] TMC-4 (20259) 2 years ago

This is going to sound funny for me to say, but Brandon Lee was also a really good looking guy. So I could've easily seen him as a heartthrob or sex symbol for the ladies as well as an action star. Even in The Crow, where he's more grungy looking and has the white paint on his face, he's still pretty handsome.

[–] CookieMonster (7) 2 years ago

I can never find any info between the two actors over the years. If the two ever met before and what are Keanu Reeves thoughts about Brandon Lee? If both guys hadn't, I've always imagined... had Brandon been alive today, both of the two would be good friends. And been in movies as brothers, martial art films or many buddy cop movies. 😇

[–] javie (2216) 2 years ago

They are cool and they have o be a certain surface.