HOLIDAY sighting, #2: Keanu Reeves is motorcycling around Cairns, where he is believed to be staying at the Double Island resort in Palm Cove. Reeves was also seen chatting with Hollywood sound engineers Brian McCarty and Jeff Wexler, founders of the soon to be constructed Coral Sea Studios, also in Palm Cove.

11 Dec 2001

STEVE Bing has discovered that spending time with movie stars is not always everything it's cracked Actually, a not-so-close shave with celebrity. up to be. Still, when faced with a choice between hanging out with a Hollywood star in Sydney or reading the news on a local radio station in Hull, most of us would consider our options for about 0.02 seconds before cracking open a Fosters and throwing a few shrimps on the barbie.

Rachel Jones, obviously, is not like the rest of us. The "sexy news girl" has "ended her steamy affair with Keanu Reeves - to move back to HULL", reports an incredulous Star.

Rachel left Britain two years ago to work in Australia (as a barmaid in Bondi, like the rest of her compatriots) and met Keanu a month ago when he arrived to film the sequel to The Matrix.

"The stunning blonde presenter has boasted of her passionate romps with mega-rich movie star Keanu," says the Star. "He treated Rachel to a life of luxury and begged her to stay in Sydney when she announced she was heading home to Yorkshire after their three-week affair. But poor Keanu, 37, couldn't compete with the charms of Hull."

Within a couple of days, though, Rachel will be sure to regret her actions. She confessed that Keanu was "a star performer between the sheets" as well - and where is she going to find a bloke like that in Hull?

A penniless British back-packer is missing her pet dog more than her lover - film star Keanu Reeves.

Rachel Jones says she is missing Flipper her dog after returning to Britain from Australia.

She began an affair with Reeves while living in Sydney, where he is shooting a new movie.

"Being with Keanu was really good. But although I'll really miss him the truth is I'll miss my pet terrier, Flipper, much more," she said.

"I had to leave him behind with a friend and it's breaking my heart."

Rachel, 26, from Hull, was working in Sydney after spending the last two years travelling.

She met Reeves at a bar in Sydney last month but returned home today.

The couple had one final night together on Tuesday, Rachel told the Mail on Sunday.

"We had a wonderful last night. Keanu is a bit of a star performer between the sheets as well as on the screen."

Story filed: 11:04 Sunday 9th December 2001

I can live without Keanu, not my dog

10 DEC 2001
The Advertiser

THE British backpacker who stole the heart of Hollywood actor Keanu Reeves has broken off the affair - and says she'll miss her pet dog more than the movie star. Rachel Jones, 26, from Hull, who has spent the past two years travelling in Australia, began dating Reeves after they met at a Sydney bar last month.

The 37-year-old actor, who was recently photographed back with his ex-fiancee, TV presenter Amanda de Cadenet, is said to be smitten with the English girl, but Rachel says the romance is now over for good.

Rachel, who returned to the UK yesterday, said: "Being with Keanu was really good. But although I'll really miss him, the truth is I'll miss my pet terrier, Flipper, much more. I had to leave him behind with a friend and it's breaking my heart."

The couple said goodbye last Tuesday after spending one final, "wonderful" night together at a $300-a-night hotel.

Reeves a proper gent

Proving that he is not only a nice guy but an impeccable gentleman, Matrix star Keanu Reeves appears to have been looking after local love interest, Rachel Jones, 26, extremely well. The couple were spotted dining out at Lucio's during the week and Reeves, who arrived without booking, graciously accepted the news when told there were no tables available and waited at the bar with his companion.

Jones, a journalist, is heading back to the UK, where she is about to start a radio job, so Reeves organised a driver to take her dog to a kennel way out of town.

Afterwards he allegedly told her he wasn't fussed if she sold the story - something Jones was reluctant to do, despite being offered significant amounts of cash by the UK press.

Jones has also hit back at recent media reports which described her as a backpacker, saying she has always been a working journalist.

With the attractive young woman soon to be heading back home, Reeves-is apparently set to welcome many of his chums from LA for a Christmas celebration.

It is expected that he will spend the holidays in Sydney, but at a location out of town.

Keanu's backpacker pal

01dec01

IF Sydney stargazers were expecting to see snaps of Keanu Reeves with his on-again off-again girlfriend Amanda De Cadanet, who flew into Sydney last week, then they will be sorely disappointed.

Instead, Reeves has spent most of his time with a blonde British traveller – who Confidential hears he met on the set of The Matrix Reloaded. The pair spent Thursday night together in the Water Bar at W Hotel in Woolloomooloo after sharing a meal at Otto Ristorante.

Apparently the young woman's name is Rachel Jones, a 26-year-old backpacker who lives at Bondi.

To prepare for her big date on Thursday night she had her hair done in Double Bay that morning.

Rachel appears to be the same blonde Reeves was seen dining with at bel mondo in The Rocks.

Keanu Reeves and Dennis Quaid are to star in a film about gangland killings and police corruption, centring on the murder of rapper the Notorious BIG. Time for a Killing is based on a Rolling Stone article about the murder and a subsequent investigation into the case by Los Angeles detective Russell Poole who examined police involvement in the death of the musician, aka Biggie Smalls, and of another rapper, Tupac Shakur. Ananova reports that Reeves is to play the investigating officer and Quaid a man who arranges contract killings for the mafia in the FilmFour production.

Keanu Reeves in police corruption movie

Keanu Reeves is to star with Dennis Quaid in a US police drama. The film Time For A Killing is based on the Rolling Stone magazine article The Murder of Notorious B.I.G. The article covered an investigation by Los Angeles Detective Russell Poole into gangland killings and police corruption. His probe focused on police involvement in the deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G, alias Biggie Smalls.

Reeves will play the investigating officer in the film about the scandal which swept through the Los Angeles Police Department. Quaid is to play the Mr Fixit who organises contract killings and payments to police officers who assist The Mafia.

The project, backed by FilmFour, is scheduled to go into production next summer.

There's this martial-arts guy who looks cool in black, dodges bullets without breaking a sweat and is referred to in godlike terms as "The One."

Sound familiar? It should, since that description fits the superhuman protagonist played by Keanu Reeves in the 1999 science-fiction thriller "The Matrix." Not only did that movie hit a home run at the box office, but its innovative fight scenes also continue to influence other high-tech action fare.

The latest, and most blatant, example of the post-"Matrix" trend is "The One," starring Jet Li as this martial-arts guy who looks cool in black, dodges bullets and -- well, you get the drift.

Li reportedly turned down the opportunity to join the cast of the two upcoming "Matrix" sequels because he didn't get his asking price of about $13 million. Let's hope he's happy with his reported $7.5 million fee for starring in "The One," because the movie itself is a one-trick phony.

Oh, sure, it has the "Matrix" look -- computer-generated effects play with time and space as combatants fly around like they're made of Flubber. But confusing plot holes, cut-out characters and cretinous dialogue undercut the visual feast. The film's clumsy attempts to be metaphysical as well as physical -- something "The Matrix" pulled off with surprising flair -- only serve to make "The One" unintentionally amusing.

Keanu Reeves is helping his late fiance Jennifer Syme's mother to fight her legal battles. He has remained close to Jennifer's mom Maria ever since the young beauty was killed in a car accident earlier this year. And Reeves is now lending a hand to aid Maria in a legal argument involving her upstairs neighbour. According to court records, Maria is seeking a restraining order against a woman with whom she's been involved in screaming matches. A friend of the bereaved parent says, "Keanu has been paying Maria's legal bills. He wants to make sure that the woman who could have been his mother-in-law lives in peace. They're still very tight."

Say What?

"I wanted to spend some time with it and get to know it"

IT was intriguing to learn from one of this column's super-fit moles that none other than Russell Crowe and Keanu Reeves had been given access to the Consolidated Press executives' private gym, inside the splendid Hyde Park Club.

Cons Press staffers who join up are given access to the aerobics and exercise rooms, the swimming pool and spa rooms.

But no-one except those high up the company totem pole can gain access to the screened-off gym, right next to the pool.

This is where, I have been reliably informed by an insider, Keanu and big Russ have been working up a sweat with their respective trainers.

And all this with some of Australia's most dedicated magazine gossips working away upstairs on some of Kerry Packer's more popular titles.

I think this is most unfair. News Limited, publisher of The Sunday Telegraph, has a perfectly equipped gym in its beautifully refurbished Holt St bunker, and if the guys would only grace us with their presence, we promise not to look.

STILL with Rusty, one reader called Confidential to ask whether there was a chance Keanu Reeves would jump up on stage with his band TOFOG(30 Odd Foot Of Grunts) when they perform at The Metro on October 19 and 20.

Reeves, also a no-frills kinda muso, has been known to perform bass around the traps with his band Dogstar.

Stranger things have happened.

Thing started badly on Sept.12 when Spears's planned secret arrival for her proposed three-day visit was foiled by having (tennis champ) Lleyton Hewitt and Matrix star Keanu Reeves on her flight

Keanu's interview in Toronto Film Festival.Please Check here

Keanu's Kiss Tops Katie's List

Katie Holmes enjoyed kissing movie heart-throb Keanu Reeves in psychic thriller The Gift, but found the scene a little scary. The Dawson's Creek star plays a ballsy beauty queen whose murderer is foreseen by tarot card reader Cate Blanchett in the film. She says, "Actually, this is the first time I'm not playing someone naive or apologetic! The kissing scenes were a little awkward at first but, really, I had a great time doing them! It was a big stretch for me and kinda scary, but I like doing things that scare me."

Keanu Reeves wined with a pretty woman at the Four Seasons Avenue lounge.

Keanu Reeves is happy to be in Sydney here again.He is here fliming Matrix Reloaded.

Forget Hollywood glamour. After tough workouts at the purpose-built gym to get in shape for the demanding fight sequences, even Reeves was hardly recognisable in a tracksuit, beanie and boots.

Actor Keanu Reeves arrives on the red carpet for the premiere of the film "Training Day" at the Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada, Friday, Sept. 7, 2001. Denzel Washington stars in the film. (AP Photo/CP, Kevin Frayer)

A Not-Always-Excellent Adventure --- Action Star Keanu Reeves Wants to Play the Field

Like "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure," the dopey time-travel movie that made him famous, Keanu Reeves's career has been one of Hollywood's strangest journeys. To the bewilderment of studio executives, who have been pushing him toward action roles, he has flitted for more than a decade between oddball art-house films ("My Own Private Idaho"), syrupy commercial fare ("A Walk in the Clouds") and highbrow stuff in which he has often seemed out of place ("Much Ado About Nothing"). Now, in his latest movie, "Hardball," he's back once again playing a down-on-his-luck loser. Only instead of uncovering the secrets of history, he finds redemption coaching baseball.

Mr. Reeves's unconventional choices are emblematic of many younger actors today. Like Johnny Depp and Brad Pitt, he defies the traditional norms of building a career in Hollywood, refusing to pick projects that could build him a reputation as a reliable marquee name. Erwin Stoff, Mr. Reeves's longtime manager, says it took him an entire 12-hour plane ride to convince the actor to do "Speed" (the blockbuster that had him commandeering a city bus rigged with a bomb). And the actor's box-office record is as erratic as the roles he picks: In 1994, for example, the same year he made "Speed," he also made "Little Buddha," a drama by Oscar-winning director Bernardo Bertolucci, which grossed only $1.7 million.

What is really weird, by Hollywood standards, is that he doesn't always seem motivated by money. In fact, on several films he has literally handed over part of his salary to other actors or crew. After Mr. Reeves was cast as the lead in 1996's "The Devil's Advocate," for example, Al Pacino expressed interest in playing the devil. When the studio balked at Mr. Pacino's salary demand, Mr. Reeves cut his larger fee by a couple million dollars and told them to give it to Mr. Pacino. He did the same thing when Warner Bros. said it couldn't afford to cast Gene Hackman as the coach in last year's "The Replacements."

And in an era when almost no actor turns down sequels (they usually pay more than the original), Mr. Reeves passed on doing "Speed 2." Why? "He read the script and hated it," his manager says. More recently, Mr. Reeves gave up one of his valuable "back-end points" (a percentage of profits) for sequels to "The Matrix," and turned it over to the special-effects and costume-design team working on the movies. "He felt that they were the ones who made the movie and that they should participate," one executive familiar with the situation says.

Of course, the 37-year-old Mr. Reeves is making plenty of money: While he was paid about $10 million upfront to star in "The Matrix," industry executives say his total earnings ballooned to about $35 million because of his back-end profit-participation deal. (His rich deals on two sequels to the film, which he is filming in Australia, will almost certainly make him far more.)

In that case, his interest in offbeat projects paid off. Many actors turned down "The Matrix," put off by its confusing script. "I'll always love Keanu for saying `yes' to `The Matrix' because he was the first one to understand what it could be," says Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Warner Bros.' production chief.

The problem for Hollywood is keeping these independent-minded stars happy -- and getting them to repeat the kinds of roles audiences want to see them in. Unlike the contract players of Hollywood's golden age, today it's the stars, not the studios, that decide which roles they'll play. A scruffy Mr. Pitt makes violent fare like "Snatch" or "Fight Club" when studios would rather see him clean-shaven in romantic roles.

The clincher in convincing Mr. Reeves to do "Speed" and other action films, his manager says, was the simple argument that they would enable him to do smaller films for which he had more passion. "One `Speed' or one `Matrix' gives you a pass to try some other kinds of movies," Mr. Stoff says.

To keep Mr. Reeves happy, for example, Warners ended up green-lighting "Sweet November," a pet project of his. The film, a remake of a 1968 drama, was skewered by critics. Then he made "The Gift," a low-budget film that was a critical success, but brought in just $12 million. Whether Mr. Reeves's new movie "Hardball" will end up in the win or loss column remains to be seen. Even the film's director, Brian Robbins, says "When I at first heard `Keanu Reeves,' I thought `I'm not sure. I see this as an Irish guy.'" But he says he was "really surprised" by Mr. Reeves's performance.

Either way, Mr. Reeves is likely to keep looking for unusual roles, as he has since he got his career-launching start playing a dim surfer-dude at age 23. His manager says: "When you become a star playing `Ted,' I think you may have to go the extra mile to say `That's not who I am.'"

Reuters Today in History for September 2

LONDON (Reuters) - Here are some notable events from this date in history:

1666 - The Great Fire of London began in a bakery in Pudding Lane. It raged for four days, destroying wide areas of the city.

1789 - Congress established the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

1864 - Union forces under General William Sherman occupied Atlanta in the American Civil War.

1901 - U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt made his famous speech in which he said America should "speak softly and carry a big stick."

1910 - Henri Rousseau, French painter, died in Paris.

1930 - French aviators Dieudonne Coste and Maurice Bellonte completed the first non-stop flight from Europe to the United States.

1945 - Japanese leaders aboard the U.S. battleship Missouri signed the unconditional surrender which ended World War Two.

1962 - The Soviet Union agreed to send arms to Cuba to help it meet "threats from aggressive imperialist elements."

1963 - Alabama Governor George Wallace stopped public school integration of blacks and whites by encircling Tuskegee High School with a cordon of state troopers.

1964 - Laconic actor Keanu Reeves, best known for his roles in "Speed" and "The Matrix," born in Beirut, Lebanon.

1968 - Actress Salma Hayek born in Mexico. Films included "Desperado," "Wild Wild West" and "54."

1973 - J.R.R. Tolkien, South African-born English author, died in Bournemouth, Dorset. He is best known for "The Lord of the Rings."

1990 - Canadian soldiers seized control of an outpost of Mohawk Indians near Montreal, ending a 53-day armed standoff.

1997 - Sir Rudolf Bing, a controversial and strong-willed general manager of the Metropolitan Opera House in New York from 1950 to 1972, died. He was 95.

1998 - A Swissair plane crashed into the sea off Nova Scotia, Canada; 229 people were killed.

The Globe (US)

Charlene Tilton's Hollywood Gossip

Keanu's manners aren't up to Speed

Hi readers ! I hear Keanu Reeves made no friends at the Avi Resort and Casino in Laughlin, Nev., when he performed there with his rock band Dogstar last month.

The moody movie star was "rude and obnoxious" to fans and workers who asked for his autograph. To add insult to injury, when he and a girlfriend had a FREE champagne brunch at the resort's Moonshadow restaurant, he stiffed the waiter. "He didn't leave one thin dime." blasts one employee. "What a cheapskate.... and what a jerk! I'll never go to a Keanu Reeves movie again."

It wasn't surprising then that staffers giggled with glee when they heard that Keanu clutching a bottle of Jack Daniels as he was driven to the local airport to fly back to L.A., fell flat on his face as he got out of the car! "Serves him right," says the worker.

Comment from sitekeeper

Hollywood Wax Museum Packs a Punch ... Times Three

Date:07-Aug-2001
From:news.excite.com
(The detail is News Excite news)

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Angelina Jolie, Russell Crowe, and Keanu Reeves give a whole new meaning to the phrase "star power" as they wield weapons from their box office hits in the Hollywood Wax Museum, starting today. The trio of action heroes will be showcased as intricately-crafted wax figures in detailed recreations of memorable scenes from "Tomb Raider," "Gladiator" and "The Matrix."

As video game vixen Lara Croft, Jolie's wax likeness -- sans tattoos and clad in her movie poster black spandex -- grips a gun as she's ready to spring forward and fire. The wax replica of Oscar winner Russell Crowe's Roman general Maximus holding his four-pound combed metal sword, was created from a mold of the original used in the epic film. And, the wax look-a-like of Reeves, as genius computer hacker Thomas Neo Anderson, is cloaked in his infamous full-length black jacket in a back alley of the future, brandishing his gun.

The hardest part of creating the shapely Jolie? "Her chest," says the Hollywood Wax Museum's sculptor Paul Barnes. To create perfectly-uniform D-cups, Barnes says, "I drove dry wall screws evenly into a rounded base and then filled up the spaces to the heads of the screws. The finishing touch was to make the breasts smooth all the way around. Funny thing is, Jolie is really a C-cup but they split the difference so she could play a double-D video game character."

The Museum's heavy-hitting newcomers will join more than 180 figures, including other favorite action stars such as Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in "Men in Black," Arnold Schwarzennegger in "Terminator 2: Judgment Day," Lucy Lawless in "Xena: Warrior Princess," Sylvester Stallone in "Cliffhanger," Jean Claude Van Damme in "Street Fighter," and Steven Segal in "Exit Wounds."

The Hollywood Wax Museum, located at 6767 Hollywood Boulevard, is the world's only wax museum dedicated to showcasing Hollywood's greatest celebrities. Open 365 days a year, the most popular indoor attraction on Hollywood Boulevard has been rousing Tinseltown fans for over 35 years. Call (323) 462-5991 for more information.

Hollywood Star Game

Date:04-Aug-2001
From:Dodgers2001.com
(The detail is Hollywood Star Game)

Dogstar with Keanu Reeves joined to the Dodgers Hollywood Stars Game at 11:30 am PDT on 4th August,at Dodger Stadium.

THE STAFF AND THE CUSTOMERS:

Date:27-June-2001
From:Sfgate.com
(The detail is here)

THE STAFF AND THE CUSTOMERS: Keanu Reeves and a friend had dinner at Rose Pistola the other night, in the course of which Reeves stepped outside to have a smoke and struck up a conversation with an off-duty waitress. They ordered a bottle of wine and had a drink. When dinner was over, Reeves, his pal, the off- duty waitress and the waitress who had served him all took off for elsewhere, and the actor sent the half-finished bottle of wine back to the chef, with his compliments on the meal.

Make It A Blockbuster Night, Sucker

Date:05-June-2001
From:Sfgate.com
(The detail is here)

Blockbuster Inc. is offering to settle 23 class-action lawsuits by customers claiming they've paid inflated fees for overdue video rentals and that the company profited unfairly as a result. Says it cannot, however, compensate customers for that horrible, spirit-deadening feeling they get when they enter a Blockbuster store, where you sense your life is a dead-end and everything is harshly lit and dumbed-down and hypermarketed and vaguely sinister and everything seems to star either Keanu Reeves of Bruce Willis or Julia Roberts and you feel like smacking yourself in the head with a brick.

When actors become singers

Date:04-Jun-2001
From www.sfgate.com

(The detail is here)

CROSSING THE GREAT DIVIDE

When actors become singers, singers become actors and William Shatner writes poetry

[Snipped for Keanu]

Sometimes, it's been for the majestic good, as when a singer proved so talented at crooning and acting, he defied categorization: Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Judy Garland -- some circles would even include Elvis Presley (early movies) and Barbra Streisand.

For actors trying to break into the pop world, it's meant having to put up with a Rick Springfield or watching a Keanu Reeves flog his band. This is not to mention William Shatner, so let's not.

SPOTTED AT THE CAFE

Date:04-May-2001
Author:David Barton
From:Sfgate.com
(The detail is here)

The warm weather has brought Keanu Reeves outside. He and Winona Ryder shared an outdoor table at Caffe Trieste in North Beach on Sunday night. Fashionably underdressed, especially Winona with her exposed midriff, they gabbed and laughed for two hours, nursing a couple of iced lattes. You think the management was going to ask them to move on? They smoked almost continuously, but since neither had a match, they had to ask passers-by for a light. Only Reeves was hit on for an autograph. Ernesto Evangelista, who works behind the counter, guessed that fans may not have recognized Ryder with her newly blond hair.

Director Stephen Kay

Date:04-May-2001
Author:David Barton
From:news.excite.com
(The detail is here)
[Snipped]

Director Stephen Kay most recently directed "Get Carter" for Franchise Films and Warner Brothers starring Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine. He also directed the indie feature "The Last Time I Committed Suicide", starring Keanu Reeves and Thomas Jane. Kay is currently directing the MTV film "Wasted".

Point. Click. Pray.

Date:04-May-2001
Author:David Barton
From:sacbee.com
(The detail is here)

Point. Click. Pray. A new book says millions are putting their faith in computers

If you're a religious Jew who wants to follow in the footsteps of your ancestors and leave a prayer wedged in the stones of the Western Wall of the second temple in Jerusalem, you can buy a plane ticket, book a hotel, take time off and brave the political uncertainties of Israel.

Or, you can go online. The Web site www.aish.com/wallcam takes you to a live photo of the Western Wall, and with a couple of clicks, you can write a prayer that will be copied down by people there and placed by hand in the wall, as Jews have done for centuries.

All without leaving your computer.

This is just one small aspect of what Brenda Brasher says is an exploding world of online religion. Brasher, an assistant professor in the department of religion and philosophy at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio, has just published a guide to that world, "Give Me That Online Religion" (Jossey-Bass, $24.95).

[Snipped for Keanu Reeves]

More colorful and entertaining are the alternative religion Web sites, Brasher says. Neo-pagan and Wiccan groups, apocalyptic sects of different lineages, and even what Brasher calls "cyber-religions," which exist only in cyberspace, have a strong presence on the Internet. Many are more present on the Internet than they are in real life.

Others are just a hoot. Among many tongue-in-cheek Web sites are "celebrity religion" sites such as the Church of Elvis, at www.churchofelvis.com, and the site for those who worship Keanu Reeves, "The Dudes of the Keanic Circle," at http://users.aol.com/keanicdude/keanics.htm. (* Comment : Now this URL is invalid)

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