"Watcher" dogs Reeves

By Tim Swanson

HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - Poor Keanu. So many seven figure deals, who can keep track of them all?

Apparently, not even Reeves, nor his reps.

Recently promoting "Hardball" at the Toronto Film Festival, Reeves was quoted in the Calgary Sun claiming that his signature on an agreement to appear in last year's "The Watcher" was forged by "a friend," thus accounting for the A-lister's unlikely appearance as a prancing psychopath in the $25 million schlock shocker.

But sources close to the picture say that Reeves did agree to work, for scale no less, as a favor to "Watcher" director Joe Charbanic, a personal pal who'd been a roadie for Reeves' rock band Dogstar.

At the time, Charbanic, who also had directed a music video for the group, was putting together his feature directorial debut, the low-budget road picture "Macon."

But "Macon" was scrapped, and Charbanic teamed up with production firm Interlight to make "The Watcher." Reeves, as he told the press in Toronto, "never found that script interesting" and tried to back out, but couldn't.

With a reluctant Reeves toplining under threat of lawsuits, "The Watcher" was later acquired and distributed by Universal, which was forced to mount a promo campaign without use of Reeves' image or interview support.

Reeves ultimately received an additional $2 million for his 11 days of work on the picture. Reeves' agents at Creative Artists Agency and publicists at PMK have both declined comment, as have Charbanic and Interlight.

Keanu Forced To Do Film After Forgery

Hollywood heart-throb Keanu Reeves was forced into starring in The Watcher - because his friend signed the contact for him. The Speed star was dismayed to find a pal has forged his signature on the agreement to appear in the Joe Charbanic and Jeff Jensen movie and only went through filming with it to avoid a lawsuit. Keanu revealed he was under a year's gagging order, and after arriving in Toronto, Canada for the Toronto Film Festival to promote his new film Hardball, he was relieved to finally speak. He says, "If it's September that means it's been a year so I can finally talk. I never found that script interesting, but a friend of mine forged my signature on an agreement. I couldn't prove he did and I didn't want to get sued for not honoring the contract so I had no other choice but to do the film."

Keanu tricked into film

Friend's forged signature trapped star

Keanu Reeves has revealed that he was tricked into starring in last year's box-office flop The Watcher. Unable to prove that his prankster friend Joe Chrabanic had forged his signature on the contract, the Matrix star took the role rather than face a long legal battle. Now that the contractual obligations forbidding him to comment for 12 months are no longer in force, Reeves has spoken out. 'I never found the script interesting,' he claims. Reviewers worldwide agreed. 'Short of getting Lassie for the part,' said the Guardian critic, 'the miscasting could not be more complete.' 'The movie is frequently so ridiculous,' agreed another, 'that your own laughter may keep you awake.' Posted 11 September 2001

Reeves watches his words

TORONTO -- For the past 12 months, Keanu Reeves has been watching his calendar.

"If it's September that means it's been a year so I can finally talk," says Reeves.

What he wants to talk about is his version of what happened with the movie The Watcher in which he played a psychopath.

Reeves did not do publicity for the film and it was clear he was not happy with the project.

"I never found that script interesting, but a friend of mine forged my signature on an agreement.

"I couldn't prove he did and I didn't want to get sued for not honouring the contract so I had no other choice but to do the film."

The indignity didn't stop there.

Reeves was not allowed to say anything negative about the film for one year. If he had, he would've faced a lawsuit.

Reeves flew in to Toronto for the weekend from Australia to help promote his baseball film Hardball which opens Friday.

The film is not part of the Toronto International Film Festival, but this was the only weekend Reeves could spare from the hectic filming the two Matrix sequels.

He says it is difficult for him to talk about the sequels as separate entities though they will be released in 2002 and 2003.

"Right now I simply think of them as one film that will eventually be split into two separate films. We're not filming in any particular order so we're doing them simultaneously."

Reeves had not worked with singer Ayallia who was killed in a plane crash earlier this month. She had been set to appear in the sequels.

"I have no idea what she filmed or what, if anything, will be done with her footage."

In Hardball, Reeves plays a chronic gambler who redeems his life by teaching a little league baseball team in a depressed Chicago inner-city neighborhood.

Reeves is resigned to the fact for years to come he'll be known for his role in the Matrix films but hopes "by the end of my career I'll be defined by five or six films and not just The Matrix."

He wouldn't elaborate as to whether he would like his Bill & Ted movies and Speed to be in that lexicon. (More on The Matrix and Keanu Reeves)