Were you watching last night's broadcast of the Golden Globes? Keanu Reeves was one of the show's presenters, and the CA readers who were watching the ceremony took note of the actor's leg leg.

He was not wearing a cast. And he was not limping either.

We're taking that as final proof that The Keanu is all better now and whatever that injury was, it's certainly wasn't ever a broken ankle. Finally the Matrix fans can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

[Reported by that Jeff guy, Alex Coydan, Jon the Movie Man, and 'Reggie'. See how it pays to watch TV?]

January 10, 2001... We've just spoken to a representative Keanu Reeves' publicity agency who debunked the Sun and Aftonbladet news reports, as well as the photographs that appeared with them. Coming Attractions has been informed by Reeves' publicist that the actor is still training for the Matrix sequels and has not taken any time off for a foot injury, and at no time was there anything on his foot region.

CA was told Reeves did complain about some "tenderness" that he felt around his ankle region, and at the time his ankle was wrapped and later examined by a doctor. In fact, the 36-year-old had an MRI taken of his ankle region to see if there were any possible fractures or broken bones but the result was negative. The actor then returned to his Matrix training routine. Again, we were told at no time did Keanu ever have a cast on his foot, nor was his diagnosed with a broken or injured ankle. As for the photos that popped up earlier this week in European papers, Reeves publicist says the photos showing him hobbling about are "bogus."

A number of our readers have expressed concern that the photo that appeared in Aftonbladet is a Photoshop forgery. In fact, we've even had a reader do a detailed examination of the Aftonbladet photo, highlighting suspicious areas that may indicate it's been digitally altered. "He may be injured, but unless there is some extremely weird phenomena surrounding his foot, I would say this photo has been altered. (It's also strange that although they had to get a stake-out shot of him leaving a store, they got him long enough to take that close-up of his foot.)" [That came to us from 'Backlash', and we're going to use him now for all our crime scene analysis.]

The photos you see above come directly from the Splash News website, and show different shots of Keanu Reeves wearing a plaster cast on his left foot, walking from a Beverly Hills doctor's office (seen on right.) In some of the photos Reeves examines x-rays, accompanied by a woman. In all, there are sixteen photos dated January 5th showing Reeves walking with some sort of obvious protection surrounding his left foot. (To do a search for the rest of the photos, enter "Keanu" in the search field.) Splash News gave us permission to show these photos on CA.

We called Splash News and Picture Agency to find out the mystery behind these "bogus" photos. We spoke to Kevin Smith, a representative for the company, and he went on the record as saying these photos were taken last Friday, January 5th in Beverly Hills, CA. Smith also told us that there were two photographers there that day taking photos of Reeves as he went into and emerged from the doctor's office, and that the other photographer's photos were sold to the World Entertainment News Network. The photo that appeared in Aftonbladet was from Splash News.

We are being told two different things here:

1. Keanu Reeves' personal publicist has told CA that there is no serious injury to the actor's foot/ankle, there was no sort of cast/support on Keanu's foot, that the actor is continuing with his Matrix training and that the photos are either forgeries or dated incorrectly.
   
2. Splash News told CA the photos were taken last Friday, January 5th, that Reeves was seen wearing a cast/support of some sort around his left foot, and that the photos are indeed authentic.

There cannot be two sides to this story: either Reeves had a cast or some sort on his foot last Friday or he didn't. If he did, then the logical question is: how serious is the injury? Is it serious enough that it will affect shooting The Matrix sequels? And if he really is injured, why are we being told he's not?

Suppose the photos are authentic. Reeves is walking without the aid of crutches. He's putting weight on it. It doesn't seem very damn likely he'd be walking on a broken ankle, does it? Maybe it's a bad sprain, or maybe even a hairline fracture -- but it sure looks more serious than someone experiencing some minor discomfort. Remember that Reeves' assistant said the actor went in for a MRI and he is looking at what appears to be a set of x-rays.

Still, what we have right now are two completely different stories and a major enigma. Our paranoid side tells us that if Reeves did bang himself up enough to cause a delay on Matrix training/filming, it's going to be viewed as a serious setback to the production. That means that the production's insurance might come into play, and the training might have to be extended. If that indeed happened, it would set off a domino effect: delay the training and the studios space the production has rented will need to be extended and/or re-scheduled, along with the permits to film in San Francisco, and Sydney. And looming ahead on the horizon is the possible Actors strike come May, followed by the Writers strike in July. If you even bump the schedule for Matrix training/filming a week, that's one week less the production has if/when the first strike hits and filming has to stop. It could cost a lot of money.

Maybe Reeves is just wearing the cast as protection just in case there was a problem, but the x-rays showed there wasn't. Or then again, since he is wearing the wrapping around his foot, maybe the injury is a bit more serious than what Reeves' publicist told us. Frankly, at this point, we would need Keanu to tell us what's up with his foot.

We were hoping to have some final answers today, but now we just more questions. Stay tuned for more as we uncover it.

[Thanks to CA readers Fredrik Lundh and Quidam Q. Agathezol for supplying invaluable tips during our sleuthing efforts, and to Splash News and Picture Agency for allowing us to use their photos.]

Hey folks, Harry here and man... the problems seem to be plaguing the MATRIX off shoots... Keanu breaking an ankle would be BAAAAD news... I mean at the moment, we've like ILMWannaB says, all those problems have come to pass... then there was the walkout by Jet Li over cash... then there was the rumor about not having enough 60 watt bulbs... but that one... luckily was false. Folks, these movies will get made, but the real question now is... will they be made or can they be made prior to the strike with Moss having a light injury and Keanu having an actual break? And the real question is, will this mean having to rush scenes when Keanu is healthy... and isn't it better to have your time on this baby... and I swear to God if Woo-Ping isn't involved I'll scream like that girl did that night when... nothing happened whatsoever, but like I said... the films will be made, but can they or should they make the 2002 slot? We'll see...

Hi Harry,

I noticed that www.hackintothematrix.com (matrix news site) had a lot of reports on production problems surrounding the Matrix sequels. Woo-Ping threatening to walk out because of money problems, Keanu broke his leg a couple of days ago, and Carrie-Anne Moss severly hurt her ankle in training, and then there's the whole strike-thing which could severely hurt the production (although they claim they can work around it) They'll probably move up the release-date by a few months (again!) if this whole situation doesn't come to an end.

The ILMWannaB

Keanu Reeves has broken his ankle. Again. Both sequels can be in danger. During the last weeks Reeves has been training for the recording of the Matrix-sequels. "We are shooting the two movies back to back. That's 17-18 months of my life." the actor said before christmas in a interview Aftonbladet had with him. But now the hard training seems to have been a waste of time. The actionstar has broken his ankle. The picture is taken in Beverly Hills, showing Reeves after fetching his x-rays. Eye witnesses said that after he checked the x-rays, he looked pretty frustrated and went straight to a liquerstore. [probably not true IMO.] The film company should have all right to be angry cause a delay of the movies could cost millions of dollars.

Morning, January 9, 2001...

Carrie-Anne Moss has suffered a sprained knee while training for the Matrix sequels. "I injured the knee working out for the Matrix shoot. It promises to be an even more strenuous shoot than the original because we're filming Matrix 2 and Matrix 3 back to back," the actress told JAM Showbiz. [Which appeared on Movie Headlines.net and The Matrix Online first.]

Afternoon, January 9, 2001...

Keanu Reeves has sustained a serious injury to his left foot while training for the Matrix sequels.

What little we know now comes from two independent news agencies. Our first alert came from a reader of yesterday's London Sun newspaper who read a story and saw a picture showing Reeves with his foot in plaster. The Sun article went on to say that the injury had pushed the start date for filming Matrix 2 back. The amount of time that would be lost was unspecified. [Sent in by Jonathan Littlemore.]

We tried finding the original Sun article but it seems the online editon of the paper doesn't archive its past stories, so we had a dead link and no proof that Reeves had really injured himself...until Scott Chitwood at Movie Headlines came through and confirmed the story. Movie Headlines got a tip from a reader pointing towards a Swedish online paper, Aftonbladet, that is running the Reeves story, and in fact shows two pics of the injured Neo hobbling his way out of a grocery store (one of which you see on the left).

So, can any of our Swedish readers translate the article for us so we can find out what kind of injury it was and how it's set back filming on the sequels?? [Thanks to Scott Chitwood and Movie Headlines for taking the blue pill; originally appeared in Aftonbladet.]

Actor Keanu Reeves broke his ancle. Again. The shootings of the two sequels to Matrix is in danger. These last weeks Reeves has been training hard for the shooting. He has practised martial arts as well as lifting weights to get in shape for the time-demanding work that was supposed take place in Australia in just a couple of weeks. 'We're filming two movies back to back. It'll consume 17-18 months of my life', he said when Aftonbladet met him for an interview just befor Christmas.

But now it looks like he's been training in vain. The action star broke his ancle. The photograph to the right is taken in Beverly Hills, when Reeves got his x-ray photographs from his doctor. He left the clinic patched up with a plaster. Eyewitnesses says that after he examined the x-rays he looked really frustrated and disappeared into a liqour store. The film company also has a reason to be upset. Filming the sequels to Matrix is a gigantic project and a delay can cost millions of dollars. Right now it is not sure when the filming can begin. Reeves had been looking forward to the job. -I can't reveal any plot details but the filmmakers have really high ambitions. Both scripts are great and they want to take filmmaking tecnology to the next level. They are planning to shoot the film on locations where nobody has managed to shoot before.

It is not the first time Reeves broke his ankle. One night in the end of May 1996 he suffered from a similar injury after crashing with his MC, a 750 Norton Commando Roadster. That accident occured when he tried avoid being hit by a car and instead crashed with another one.

[Thanks to JP!]

Now, we're also starting to get emails from people saying this can't be a real story, that the image of a hobbling Keanu is fake, or that he's not that badly injured. Well, if it's a false story, at least two news agencies have published stories that it's factual. In addition to the Swedish online newspaper Aftonbladet, we mentioned that another one of our readers said they read about the story in Monday's edition of The Sun newspaper published in England. We ourselves couldn't find the Sun story online, as it seems the newspaper only archives the current day's stories, but another one of our readers said they caught the article too. "Just read the story about Keanu Reeves injuring his left ankle on your site and living in the UK I quickly looked to see if I had yesterday's Sun newspaper which I luckily I did," writes our new scooper. "All it says is that Reeves left leg is in plaster up to the knee after he broke his ankle in a mystery accident. It then says Reeves is mad as this means shooting for the Matrix sequels will be delayed, for how long it does not say. Hope this gives you a little more info!" [Thanks to D.Simpson for the backup.]

Our own scoop radar sense is getting a little bit concerned about this one, too. Something's got to be up. Isn't it unusual that, if Reeves did injure his leg badly enough that it required a plaster cast there'd be some kind of annoucement? Or is it truly a case that two European papers are indeed the first to break the story?

One of our readers suggests the Aftonbladet photos are doctored in Photoshop. The magazine credits a "Splash-Bulls" with the two pics that appear on their site, which doesn't mean a thing to us but then again, maybe it's some weird Swedish media photo company thing. Another strange item is the lack of a copyright date with the Aftonbladet photos. The level of quality for Photoshop forgeries is nearing the plateau where it's nearly impossible to tell the real thing from a fake. In the end we cannot completely eliminate the possibility that these are doctored photos, or old photos of Keanu taken from his 1996 motorcycle accident.

Also late this afternoon we heard from another of our more solid sources who spoke to someone within Reeves' camp. When they asked about the broken ankle story that's appeared on the 'net, the contact said that Reeves was fine but also seemed unaware about these recent reports surfacing in the European press and now on the 'net. So what's going on? Is this story bogus or not? The Sun doesn't have the best journalistic reputation when it comes to these types of stories, but if there's pictures involved, people are going to assume the story must be legit. Then if it's true, why hasn't there been an official press release? Which may mean it's not true...

By late this afternoon we had had enough. We called Keanu Reeves' publicist in Hollywood but they were gone for the day. Nevertheless, we left a message and explained the nature of our request, and we hope to get an answer straight from the source first thing tomorrow morning. As soon as we hear back from Reeves' publicist, or additional information surfaces that proves or eliminates the Aftonbladet and Sun stories/photographs, we'll let you know.

KEANU'S CAUGHT ON THE HOP

Date:08-Jan-2001
From:http://www.the-sun.co.uk/news/13287863

MOVIE hunk Keanu Reeves puts his best foot forward as he hops out of a Beverly Hills shop with an armful of groceries.

The actor's left leg is in plaster to the knee after he broke his ankle in a mystery accident.

Cast member ... Keanu's plastered foot

Keanu, 36, is hopping mad as the injury means shooting for the sequel to sci-fi blockbuster The Matrix will be delayed.