Keanu Reeves' Only Misfire Was Bizarre Paula Abdul's Rebel Without a Cause Remake
Keanu Reeves was a sensation in 1991, starring in three iconic movies and redefining onscreen masculinity for the new decade. It was a year that saw him transcend movie stardom and become an icon in his own right.
So, it's easy to forget that it was also the year that saw him feature in the music video for Rush Rush, the first single off Paula Abdul's album Spellbound.
In many ways, Reeves was the ideal fit for the video which was something of a throwback to James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Dean, of course, tragically died before that movie hit the cinema. But, even at the age of 24, he had already cemented his place as a cultural icon, legend of the big screen, and teen idol.
In 1991, Reeves was no stranger to arriving for interviews carrying a motorbike helmet and giving off a James Deanesque aura. Maybe he didn't quite have the same raw energy displayed by Dean, but he was pretty damn close.
Abdul's video was a meticulous re-creation of Nicholas Ray's 1955 teen drama that featured Reeves in the James Dean, while the singer took the part of Natalie Wood. This was far more than a nod to the movie – it was a deliberate attempt to 'be' a shortened version of the movie.
Many of the key moments were there – and Reeves was very much 'playing' James Dean throughout – including cooling himself with a milk bottle and walking with his hands in his pockets when meeting Natalie (Paula Abdul) on the first day at school.
And yet, that visceral rebelliousness that made James Dean a genuine rebel without a cause was just not there in Reeves' performance. That's not a criticism of Keanu Reeves – just an acknowledgment that James Dean was one of a kind.
The problem with casting Reeves in the role was that it indicated a kind of similarity between the two that was, at best, skin deep.
There were some parallels when it came to each of them as an icon in their own time. But that was never going to be enough. Keanu Reeves was just what the nineties needed in much the same way that James Dean was what the fifties were crying out for.
But there the similarity pretty much ends. Teenage lives, adulthood, and the entire world were so very different for each of the two stars in their era, and no true comparison can be drawn between the two. But by starring in the video for Rush Rush, Keanu Reeves invited comparisons between him and James Dean – comparisons he could never live up to because he simply wasn't the rebel that Dean was.