{"id":150943,"date":"2025-09-02T08:00:32","date_gmt":"2025-09-02T12:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=150943"},"modified":"2025-09-02T09:11:33","modified_gmt":"2025-09-02T13:11:33","slug":"happy-birthday-keanu-reeves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=150943","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;The simple act of paying attention can take you a long way.&#8221; &#8212; Keanu Reeves"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/source-1.gif\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/source-1.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"230\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-150944\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\nIn 1987, <em>Interview<\/em> did a small profile on Keanu Reeves because <em>River\u2019s Edge<\/em> had dropped and he was the hot new thing. I saved that profile all these years because something about him really struck me, then and now. (To those of you just discovering him, welcome.) He spoke with a stilted yet earnest tone. He didn\u2019t talk like other up-and-comers. He sounded unique, his own man. That short interview ended with a quote from him that also struck me: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cYou know my favorite role? Mercutio \u2013 you know, in Romeo and Juliet \u2013 \u2019cause he\u2019s so full of passion and wisdom and anger. I don\u2019t know. I just live out here in L.A., man. Been out here two years from Toronto. L.A.\u2019s a twisted place. It\u2019s a varied animal. I guess it\u2019s like free ways. Get it? Two words. I don\u2019t know. Nothing\u2019s for free, huh?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>There it is. That tone. It caught my attention. Especially since I went and saw <em>River&#8217;s Edge<\/em> (because of course). His words showed this odd grace and trust in himself. <\/p>\n<p>Plus, at the time, it made me think: He\u2019s smart. Smart actors know Mercutio is a far better role than Romeo.<\/p>\n<p>Mercutio came up again in a beautiful recent interview he did with Drew Barrymore. She shares a great anecdote of Reeves taking her on a wild motorcycle ride on her 16th birthday and how she had never felt so free, and she asked him if he has a memory of what made him feel free. His answer is one of the most beautiful &#8211; delivered haltingly &#8211; sincere monologues about what acting is and why it matters. <\/p>\n<p>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a7Qo7RuRO04\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\nI love so much how he keeps coming back to the concept of <em>fun<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Happy birthday, Keanu Reeves!<\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CB9F5207-22DC-4CA5-8EAB-5348234607D4-e1654092216770.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"864\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175617\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\n<img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CC556E28-228E-4A26-887E-88E43081BA77-e1654092226193.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"865\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-175618\" \/><\/p>\n<p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1987, Interview did a small profile on Keanu Reeves because River\u2019s Edge had dropped and he was the hot new thing. I saved that profile all these years because something about him really struck me, then and now. (To &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/?p=150943\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7,4,39],"tags":[2358,218],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150943"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=150943"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200880,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150943\/revisions\/200880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=150943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=150943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sheilaomalley.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=150943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}