Keanu Reeves Admits He Was ‘Maybe Deservedly’ Criticized for 1 Movie Performance
Movie star Keanu Reeves is now both beloved and respected, but that wasn’t always the case. Early in his career, Reeves got typecast by Bill and Ted and struggled to get taken seriously in dramas. Action movies like Speed and The Matrix helped, but it’s only recently that Reeves has gotten the respect in the industry he deserves. Even Reeves can be a little self-critical about some of his early roles.
Reeves was a guest on the Smartless podcast on March 27 after John Wick: Chapter 4 dominated the box office. Reflecting on one of his ‘90s roles, Reeves acknowledged some of his criticism was deserved.
The Keanu Reeves movie he thinks he might have deserved criticism for
Give Reeves credit. He never coasted on movie star roles. While he starred in blockbusters, he also did indie films like My Own Private Idaho and The Last Time I Committed Suicide. He did Shakespeare in Much Ado About Nothing, which also put him in crosshairs. But the role Reeves mentioned was playing Jonathan Harker in 1992’s Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
“I think Dracula, I got kicked in the teeth and maybe deservedly so for my English accent,” Reeves said on Smartless.
The reviews for Keanu Reeves in ‘Dracula’
Dracula reviews in 1992 were not kind to Reeves. The Brits especially took issue with his accent. The Independent’s Adam Mars-Jones called Reeves “plain bad,” adding that Reeves was “speaking as if English vowels had been injected into his gums during a painful session at the dentist’s.” Empire’s Tom Hibbert was less blunt, simply saying Reeves “struggles with his Anglo-toff accent.”
Reeves didn’t get much more love stateside. Variety’s Todd McCarthy lumped all the younger male costars of Dracula together as “a bit stiff.” Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Glieberman said Reeves “gives such a lightweight performance that it’s hard to tell if he’s pleased or horrified” by the vampire brides. Newsweek’s David Ansen said Reeves “looks bereft without a skateboard,” in a rather lazy Bill and Ted typecast.
Although some gave Reeves the benefit of the double, like Washington Post’s Desson Thompson calling him “a perfectly innocent, 19th-century goofball.”
For the love of ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula’
Reeves takes the criticism of his own performance in stride. He still loves the film and the filmmakers, as well as the lead actor who played Count Dracula.
“Anyway, but I think my English accent aside, I think that’s a wonderful film,” Reeves said. “I think Francis Ford Coppola made a work of art that was maybe ahead of its time. The performance, Gary Oldman, so good.”
The reviews certainly didn’t hurt Reeves’ career. He continued working in vehicles like Speed and Johnny Mnemonic, as well as stretching in films like The Devil’s Advocate and The Gift. To this day, he still takes risks like playing himself in Always Be My Maybe and the mystical tumbleweed in The SpongeBob Squarepants Movie: Sponge on the Run.
“For me, personally, it’s always been how can we have a variety?” Reeves said. “What’s the filmmaker? Where’s it being made? Again, what’s the script? What’s the story? What’s the role?”
