Keanu
Short description
Rell is a man whose life has fallen apart, until a stray kitten turns up at his door and gives him something to care about again. He names the cat Keanu and begins to rebuild himself around it. When Keanu disappears, Rell turns to his cousin Clarence, a mild-mannered family man, for help. The two of them are about as far from streetwise as it gets, but the search leads them toward a drug gang and its dangerous boss, Cheddar, and the cousins end up pretending to be hardened criminals to get the cat back. Keanu is directed by Peter Atencio, his second feature after The Rig, and was written by Jordan Peele with Alex Rubens. Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, the comedy duo behind the sketch series Key & Peele, star as Rell and Clarence, playing each man alongside a tougher alter ego; Keanu Reeves provides the cat's voice, and Tiffany Haddish, Method Man and Darrell Britt-Gibson appear in supporting roles. Produced by Jordan Peele, Keegan-Michael Key and Peter Principato, the film was made for about 15 million dollars and took roughly 21 million worldwide, a modest return. On IMDb it holds a 6.4 out of 10 from 182 reviews, with a similar 6 out of 10 on TMDB from 1,168 votes, suggesting critics and audiences responded in comparable terms.
What's left behind the scenes
- According to Jordan Peele, seven cats and kittens played the role of the main character.
- This is the first feature film in the careers of Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele, and also the first major project after the cancellation of the sketch series "Key & Peele" (2012-2015) on the "Comedy Central" channel.
- Method Man (real name Clifford Smith) plays a character named Cheddar. In the series "The Wire" (2002-2008), he played a character nicknamed Cheese.
- In an interview with the "Los Angeles Times", director Peter Atencio confirmed that the kitten in the film will be voiced by the actor it is named after – Keanu Reeves.
- Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele play both the main characters (Clarence Gubbins and Rell Williams) and the main villains (the so-called brothers from Allentown).
- Luis Guzman played a drug lord named Diaz. He also voiced Ricardo Diaz in the console and computer game «Grand Theft Auto: Vice City» (2002). Diaz's mansion in the film is very reminiscent of the mansion from the game.
- During the car chase, a bench from the Judge Jesse sketch, which Keegan-Michael Key played in the series «Key & Peele» (2012-2015), briefly appears in the frame on the side of the road.
- A poster for the historical science fiction film «Cloud Atlas» (2012) by Tom Tykwer and Lana and Lilly Wachowski is visible on the wall. The Wachowskis directed the «Matrix» trilogy, starring Keanu Reeves, whose voice is provided by a feline doppelganger in the film «Keanu» and whose name is included in the film's title.
- Posters for the thriller «New Jack City» (1990) by Mario Van Peebles and «21 Jump Street» (2013) by Phil Lord and Christopher Miller hang on the wall.
- The film features a scene where the main characters leave a theater where Liam Neeson is performing and marvel at his acting. In one of the sketches of the series "Key & Peele" (2012-2015), they portray parking attendants admiring the same actor's performance.
- As the main characters exit the theater, they listen to a track by the hip-hop group NWA. Jason Mitchell plays Eazy-E, whom he also portrayed in F. Gary Gray's 2015 film "Straight Outta Compton" about the rise and fall of NWA.
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