Keanu Reeves: Some Women Like to Be Beaten

Posted Mar 22nd 2006 7:09PM by Kim Voynar
Filed under: Celebrities and Controversy, Politics

Buddhist actor Keanu Reeves has women's groups up in arms over an interview with Playboy Magazine in which he discussed domestic violence. In the interview, Reeves was discussing the 2000 film The Gift, in which he starred opposite Hilary Swank as an abusive husband and said, "By the way, I also learned a bit of...well, some of the ladies don't mind it. A part of me was afraid of my violent side."

Radiohead Pen Keanu Reeves Movie

Radiohead will contribute music to a forthcoming movie called Before Sunrise / School of Rock which is directed by Richard Linklater and stars Keanu Reeves. Picthfork Media reports that the band won’t be responsible for the entire score but it will feature their music and a brand-new track from lead singer Thom Yorke's upcoming solo release. The band are busy recording the follow up to 2003’s Hail to the Thief and headline the sold festival in August.

KEANU WANTS TO GO BACK TO SPEED

KEANU WANTS TO GO BACK TO SPEEDPublished on 19/03/2006

It seems Keanu Reeves has a need for Speed.

The actor's reportedly in negotiations to appear in a second sequel of the action film, alongside his original co-star Sandra Bullock.

The pair worked together on the first film back in 1994, but Keanu decided not to be a part of Speed 2, which featured Sandra and Jason Patric.

But after teaming up once again for new movie The Lake House the pair are now said to be interested in looking a scripts for a third Speed flick.

Barry Weir

'Speed 3' for Keanu Reeves & Sandra Bullock?

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock are in negotiations to revive the Speed franchise. The couple starred in the hit bomb-on-a-bus action film, but Reeves refused to be a part of the flop sequel, which featured Bullock and Jason Patric trying to steer a boat to safety.

Now, after teaming up again for new movie The Lake House and attending the Oscars together earlier this month, the couple are interested in a possible "Speed 3."

Movie news website Gossip Monkey claims executives at Fox movie studios have dragged the second sequel to the top of their priority lists and are looking for a good script.

Anime and Animation at the New York's New Comic-Con

Joe Strike attends the first New York Comic-Con, reporting back on an event that hopes to become a sci-fi, comics and fantasy Mecca with an east coast flavor.

March 15, 2006By Joe Strike

Printable Version

Fans line up in the cold to enter the land of coolness inside New York Comic-Con. All photos courtesy of Joe Strike.

"Hello Comic-Con New York!" The speaker is Keanu Reeves, or at least a video projected image of him. Not quite a real-life image either — more like a surreal, dreamlike Waking Life image. Keanu is greeting a roomful of fans who have gathered to learn more about his starring role in Richard Linklater's adaptation of Philip K. Dick's A Scanner Darkly.

Keanu and the filmmakers whipped up their surprise for New York City's first Comic-Con literally days before the event, working 35 hours non-stop to create the star's 27-second greeting in the same style as the upcoming film itself.

However, the biggest surprise of the convention weekend may have been the unexpected, overwhelming turnout for the mega-sized gathering. On Saturday alone, upwards of 20,000 New York area fans and professionals crowded into the Javits Convention Center on Manhattan's west side. Fire marshals were forced to close the building and turn away hundreds who had purchased tickets ahead of time — not to mention about 1,000 more who arrived planning to pay their way in.

The organizers should have seen it coming. New York City had never hosted a major comics or sci-fi convention beyond one-day affairs (or the occasional weekend) that filled a hotel ballroom or two. Genre entertainment has gone mainstream in a big way in recent years, with graphic novels, anime and cartoons breaking out of the fan/geek ghettos that originally nurtured them. The Comic-Con conducted an extensive advertising campaign, and was showered with an unexpected degree of coverage from the local media. Reed Exhibitions, the convention's organizer knew they were filling a vacuum, but no one guessed how huge that vacuum was.

While the weekend's many panels and sessions attracted respectable attendance, the exhibit hall was literally filled beyond capacity. Once in the building, many con-goers had to wait an additional hour for their opportunity to purchase comics, manga and the latest anime DVDs.

Exhibitors included anime distributors, mainstream comics heavyweights DC, Marvel and Dark Horse, smaller independent publishers as well as movie art and collectibles dealers. Near the hall's entrance stood an impressive array of comics and cartoon memorabilia that weren't for sale, including a framed, three-foot tall black-and-white portrait of a 1930s superhero drawn by his co-creator, and original maquettes from Walt Disney's Fantasia. Inside a tightly locked glass showcase, a near-mint copy of Action Comics' first issue was on display, featuring the debut of the above referenced hero on its cover, a fellow by the name of Superman.

The invaluable items were the property of Steve Geppi, owner of Diamond Book Distributors, the country's reigning distributor of comics. This summer they will be traveling to their soon-to-open new home in Baltimore's Camden Yards, Geppi's Entertainment Museum. "It's a journey through American pop culture, from the end of the 1700s through the present day," enthused Dr. Arnold T. Blumberg, the museum's curator. "Steve has dreamed of this museum for 30 years. It will mostly be from Steve's own collection, but there'll be items on loan as well. We're trying to make it a destination for people, and an opportunity for academic and educational studies."

Disney maquettes are only one of the higher end products that were on display at the event.

Halfway down the hall sat Sean Wang, whose tongue-in-cheek sci-fi adventure comic Runners was translated into a six-and-a-half-minute CGI featurette by Orlando's DAVE School of computer animation. "I met some people from the school at the San Diego Comic-Con this summer," Wang explained. "They saw the book and wanted to adapt it as a class project. It was a tradeoff — no money changed hands and we both got something out of it." For the school and its students, it was an opportunity to polish their chops and add to their reels; for Wang it was a slick-looking CGI short that may give him a leg up selling Runners to film or TV. "There is some interest," Wang allowed. "We'll see how it pans out." (Runners and other DAVE School productions can be viewed on the school's site.)

Back in the animation big time, DreamWorks screened trailers for the upcoming CGI features Over the Hedge and Flushed Away, Nickelodeon presented a handful of new shorts and Lions Gate Films held a screening of Ultimate Avengers, Marvel Comics' first direct-to-video release.

Anime distributors Viz, ADV, Central Park Media and FUNimation were all on hand to promote their wares. ADV co-founder Matt Greenfeld hosted a session about his company's upcoming releases, including a subtitled-only Perpetual Earth (about "a phone company trying to take over Earth one prefecture at a time") and a first-time, English language release of the original Macross TV series (previously only seen in the U.S. as heavily re-edited Robotech episodes). Greenfeld said ADV's release schedule of between 17 and 18 titles a month makes the company the fourth or fifth largest video distributor in North America. In order keep ADV ahead of the game and cultivate its audience, the company operates an "Anime Advocates" program that recommends TV-14 and below titles to schools and libraries.

[Snipped for Keanu]

Saturday night rolled around, and with it the A Scanner Darkly's session. Producer Tommy Pallotta and lead animator Sterling Allen were on hand to discuss director Richard Linklater's second foray into animation following 2001's Waking Life. After Reeves's introduction, the opening 25 minutes of the film were screened, leaving one eager to see the completed movie, current awaiting a July release. The film is the latest of late sci-fi author Philip K. Dick's work to be translated to film. "We approached his estate and offered them less money than is usual," Pallotta said. "They gave us rights to adapt it because we promised to be as faithful as possible to the book."

Like Waking Life, Scanner was shot on digital video then turned into animation via "interpolated rotoscoping software," a combination of Flash and Illustrator. Reeves stars as an undercover narcotics cop pursuing users of "Substance D." The cover he's under is a "scramble suit" that keeps changing his appearance to the outside world in a never-ending piecemeal fashion, with portions of three different peoples' features sweeping across his face at any given moment. According to Allen, 18 animators worked on the scramble suit and kept sneaking familiar faces into its scenes, from SpongeBob SquarePants (who was caught and removed), to all the Incredibles, fellow animators and Philip K. Dick himself.

Manson and Reeves to star together

Controversial rocker Marilyn Manson has reportedly signed up along with Keanu Reeves to co-star in the upcoming ensemble film 'Up To The Ground' which will be financed by UVL Film Production International.

Manson could be accused of jumping the gun by signing up for the new project as his recently announces 'children's' film 'Phantasmagoria: The Visions of Lewis Carroll', which has yet to begin shooting.

However, it seems German film outlet UVL are unperturbed by Manson's busy schedule and have moved to finance 'Up To The Ground', while also offering Golden Globe nominee Michelle Williams and 'Elektra' star Jennifer Garner places in the cast.

Dear Oscar Diary

Our film critic attempts to wade through the technical awards and awkward speeches to find comedic gold in this year's Oscar ceremony

Richmond.comMonday, March 06, 2006Coming to you LIVE from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, it's the 78th Annual Academy Awards! And coming to you live via tape delay from my rented accommodations on Patterson Avenue, I've rolled out the red carpet and bought a tuxedo just to watch the Oscars by myself. OK, I'm fibbing. But I did rent a tuxedo T-shirt. Tonight's Richmond.com Oscar diary is brought to you by Natural Light beer and my girlfriend, who I dragged to most of the crappy screenings this year. (And yes, Truman Capote really did talk like that.)

8:03: Oh look, it's a clever opening involving past Oscar hosts. There's Billy Crystal and Chris Rock sleeping together in a tent. If I wanted to hear bad gay cowboy jokes, I would have gone to a Chiles in Greenwich Village. By the way, I think having Jon Stewart host is a flash of brilliance. Expect calm, cool delivery and a whole lot of sarcasm and cynicism. I actually hope some of his jokes bomb, because Stewart is best when he's working an audience doing damage control. In other words, he's the exact opposite of White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan.

8:07: Stewart knows there are fewer Republicans in the audience than you can find in your average Lilith Fair holding cell. And he's working it. Here's a snippet from his opening monologue: "It's the first night many of you have voted for a winner." Rim shot. Nice, although I really miss those cute song and dance numbers Billy Crystal would do in which all the lyrics were Hollywood inside jokes. Just kidding.

8:16: It's the Best Supporting Actor announcement. The Oscars always throw you a bone early to keep you through those riveting technical awards. Our presenter is Nicole Kidman and our winner is….(I don't know why I'm building suspense since you already know who, but what the heck)………………………………………………………George Clooney! On a side note, Kidman and Clooney have also starred in the two worst Batman movies ever made. Women 30+ all over the world are happy about this. If I made and marketed a "Clooney Gone Wild" video and bought some commercial time during "Desperate Housewives," I'd be set for life. By the way, we've already seen Clooney twice in the Oscars' first 20 minutes. Is it just me, or is he becoming the heir apparent to Jack Nicholson as the next BMORC (Big Man on the Red Carpet)? They should just do the ceremony now ? have Jack hand Clooney his sunglasses and be done with it.

8:27: And the best animated short Oscar goes to…Nick Park and Steve Box for ""Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit." And the two Brits are wearing cartoonish, oversized bowties up to the stage to accept their award. They'll be celebrating and drinking with prop comic Gallagher after the show. Maybe they'll even take a sledgehammer to a watermelon or two.

8:31: As Naomi Watts introduces Dolly Parton, who will sing Oscar nominated song "Traveling Through" from "Transamerica," she calls her "a woman I've admired all my life." It's so clear. I can see how a hip, Australian actress known for her indie fare would grow up to admire a 60-year-old country western singer who has an amusement park named after her. I'm sure Watts grew up with a poster of Parton gleaming above her bed. If we were going to get a pretty actress to lie about her affection for Dolly, couldn't we have at least gotten Ashley Judd? By the way, when Dolly passes, those things belong in the Smithsonian ? they're an American institution. You know what I'm talking about.

8:45: Seriously, these awards are dragging more than RuPaul's garment bag. On top of that, we just had the night's biggest disappoint: in a montage of movie bio-epics, there was not one shot of "Porn Star: The Legend of Ron Jeremy." That's like making a sandwich without bacon.

8:52: As if there aren't enough boring awards tonight (all of which seemingly go to "King Kong" and "Memoirs of a Geisha"), there was another satellite ceremony just for scientific awards. Rachel McAdams hosted the night, making her the first real, live woman most of the recipients have ever seen.

8:54: Rachel Weisz wins the Best Supporting Actress awards for "The Constant Gardner." Her "Mummy" co-star Brendan Fraser couldn't be happier for her. He's currently parking cars outside the theater while he holds out for a sequel to "Monkeybone."

9:15: The Best Documentary category just doesn't feel right without Michael Moore. Without him making a speech, Rush Limbaugh lost three days worth of show material. The award instead goes to those French guys who made "March of the Penguins." They walk up to the stage each carrying giant plush penguins. Don't tell me that wouldn't have been awkward if they didn't win ? hitting up all the post-parties with sad reminders of their defeat. In other news, they're going to meet up with those big bow tie guys for a few cocktails and laughs.

9:32: Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock present the Art Direction Oscar. OK, so are you telling me that one of the Oscar show's producers said to himself, "We need to recreate that heat and energy that only the movie 'Speed' could muster. Get me Keanu and Sandra's agents on the phone, pronto.'" By the way….there's a bomb on the bus!!!

...46 minutes later…. (If we don't skip ahead, Lindsey Lohan will be getting a life time achievement award soon…)

10:18: I don't know what's the strangest part of the following sequence: "Hustle & Flow" song "It's Hard out Here to be a Pimp" was nominated for the Best Song Oscar, a group called Three Six Mafia actually performed at the Oscars or that both won. No, the strangest thing actually is that presenter Queen Latifah is on stage acting like she's a groupie or something. Hey Queen, you lost any street cred you had when you did your 22nd Pizza Hut commercial. Now stop trying to act all slick and go film a "Taxi" sequel with Jimmy Fallon. I'm trying to think of what would be more improbable than Three Six Mafia winning an Oscar and I think I've got something ? Screech from "Saved by the Bell" winning a Heisman.

10:30: Clooney is back on stage again. God, he's smooth. This time he's opening the annual "In Memoriam" montage of actors, directors and other moviemakers who've passed away this year. It's always awkward for the audience here ? do you clap or not? Also, in an utterly disgraceful move, both Don Knotts and Darren McGavin (the Old Man from "A Christmas Story) were omitted. I blame Clooney.

10:44: Here's Hillary "Just a Poor Girl from a Trailer Park" Swank to announce the Best Actor Oscar…and it goes to Philip Seymour Hoffman for "Capote." No surprise here. Hoffman is likeable and the fact that he didn't prepare a speech even though he was a shoo-in is cool. Although, it's obvious Hoffman doesn't like dressing up. He kind of has a mattress salesman look about him, where he only owns one shirt and tie and he keeps them in the back seat of his uninsured Dodge Neon.

11:01: Clearly, the Oscars are going to run over by about 20 or 30 minutes. And you can see that the presenters are told to speak as if they're that dude who used to do the Micro Machines commercials ? all auctioneer-like. They manage to squeeze the final five big awards into a short amount of time: Reese Witherspoon takes Best Actress, "Brokeback Mountain" takes adapted screenplay, "Crash" wins Original screenplay, which leads us to my favorite moment of the night…

11:18 p.m. As we reach the Best Director Oscar announcement, let's flash back to the Golden Globes, when "Brokeback Mountain" Director Ang Lee gave an excruciating 20-minute speech in which he thanked everyone from his exterminator to his wife's Ob-Gyn. That's why I'm crossing my fingers that anyone else takes the trophy tonight. And the winner is…(#^&%!!!)…Ang Lee! I can't even make up what he says right off the bat: "First of all, I want to thank two people who don't even exist." Oh god no. I give him an hour before he starts thanking people who actually exist. To top it off, Lee also says the creepiest thing of the night, when talking about his family's support: "On Brokeback, I felt you were with me every night."

11:22: And now it's time to anoint "Brokeback Mountain" best picture. They could have made this announcement three months ago. And the winner is…"Crash?" WHA? I hate the show "Everybody Loves Raymond," but never has a "holy crap" moment been more appropriate. "Crash" was a great movie. I wanted it to win. But I also wanted a house made out of cotton candy when I was 8 years old. This shocker is up there with the ending of "The Crying Game," minus that whole woman having a phallus thing.

So we've learned a few things tonight. Nothing is set in stone, besides a mandatory shot of Mickey Rourke shrinking in front of our very eyes. Also, a down-to-earth host who tells topical jokes may not light a fire under the Hollywood elite, but it's good for the average movie fan who watches the Oscars to see Jack Nicholson's smug grin and gratuitous cleavage shots. It's late, I'm tired and one of our sponsors ? Natural Light ? has left for the evening. I'm off to go beat up those French guys and steal their penguins.

6. Why were Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves holding hands on the red carpet?

One word: publicity. The Speed costars have a new movie coming out in June called The Lake House. Not to mention that they're friends, having kept in touch all these years. Additionally, Sandra and her husband, Jesse James, aren't big on the red carpet PDA photo ops. So Sandy walked the carpet with Keanu, then met Jesse later at the Vanity Fair party.