Keanu Reeves' Friend Forged His Signature Forcing Him to Star in The Watcher
The Watcher is a rare movie where Keanu Reeves plays the bad guy but it's also unique in a different way: Keanu was literally forced to play in it.
Keanu Reeves is the internet's sweetheart and one of the most beloved actors of our times.
Apart from a great personality, he's got an outstanding talent: the number of movies starring him that became classics is phenomenal. But apparently, he was not always deciding to take part in a project or skip it.
The Watcher is a crime thriller that tells a story about a former FBI agent and a police detective trying to catch a serial strangler.
The criminal is playing with the ex-fed, sending him pictures of his next victims to see if he'll be able to find and save them in the next 24 hours.
As you may have guessed, the serial killer is played by Keanu Reeves.
This role goes completely against the type Keanu tends to play. In the absolute majority of his films, he's the good guy or, at the very least, someone who fights the bad guys.
This is why his fans were surprised by his performance in Cyberpunk 2077 — and also why a serial killer is so out-of-character for Reeves.
Keanu wasn't thrilled with this idea, too: in fact, he straight-up refused to play in The Watcher. But a friend of his really wanted him to and was ready to do anything to make it happen — regardless of Keanu's obvious lack of desire to participate.
That friend of his forged the actor's signature on the contract — and on the gag order, too, hence preventing Reeves from speaking about what happened publicly.
"I never found the script interesting, but a friend of mine forged my signature on the agreement. I couldn't prove he did and I didn't want to get sued, so I had no other choice but to do the film," claims Keanu.
He was outraged with such a setup but had to keep quiet because of having his signature on the gag order as well.
Apart from being forced to play a role in the movie he hated, Keanu was also paid much less than his co-star which only added fuel to the flames. Since he couldn't speak, the actor did what he could: he refused to promote the movie.
This didn't prevent The Watcher from hitting the bank big, but the film still got mostly negative reviews: most people found seeing Keanu Reeves as the bad guy just as wrong as he did. It's not a matter of the ratings, though; it's about dignity.
It's unbelievable that something like this happened in the first place — the absurdity of the situation only escalates as you realize it happened in the 21st century to one of the most well-established actors in the industry.
If a man's signature was forged to make him place bricks, it would've been a slavery scandal; but it happened to a famous actor forced to shoot a movie, so everyone just… Rolled with it?
We can't stress enough how wrong this entire situation is and honestly surprised the forger got away so easily.
Source: The Guardian