Keanu Reeves Once Went Out of His Way to Give a Fan His Autograph
Stories about Keanu Reeves’ kind nature continue to reinforce his reputation as an all-around nice guy. One fan’s tale about the actor going above and beyond to give him an autograph highlights a classic Reeves move.
A fan recalled an amazing encounter with Keanu Reeves
In a 2019 series of tweets, SBNation.com writer James Dator recalled how he worked in a theater in Sydney, Australia when Reeves came in to see a Johnny Depp movie.
Dator was 16 at the time of his 2001 Reeves encounter and hoped to get the actor’s autograph by offering him his employee discount so the actor would sign a paper. Reeves declined the discount but ultimately found a way to get Dator the autograph.
Dator shared the story on May 17, 2019, kicking it off with a tweet that read: “In honor of John Wick 3 I have a Keanu Reeves story. Keanu came to the movie theater I worked at in Sydney in 2001. He was working on the Matrix series at the time. It’s a quiet, Wednesday morning — almost nobody is seeing movies.”
“I’m working the box office, bored as hell and suddenly this dude walks up in jeans, a leather jacket and a horse riding helmet,” he continued. “A full a*s, weird equestrian looking helmet. It takes me a solid 30 seconds to ignore the helmet and realize it’s Keanu Reeves.”
Dator, who was just a teenager at the time, wanted Reeves’ autograph. “He wants to buy a ticket for From Hell, the Johnny Depp movie. I’m so f**king star struck I do what any sensible 16-year-old does and tell him I’d like to give him my employee discount. This means he needs to sign my sheet and therefore I have his autograph,” he tweeted.
Reeves didn’t quite understand why he would use an employee discount since he wasn’t an employee and politely declined Dator’s offer. “’I don’t work here,’ Keanu says. Seemingly confused by my offer. I’m flustered and just charge him the normal price. Kicking myself after for not getting his autograph,” Dator noted.
Keanu Reeves bought ice cream just to give the fan his autograph
Reeves figured out that Dator wanted his autograph and found a way to get it to him. “2 minutes later there’s a knock on the door behind me that leads into the box office. I assume it’s my manager. It’s Keanu,” Dator tweeted.
“’I realized you probably wanted my autograph,’ he says. ‘So I signed this.’ He hands me a receipt from the concessions stand that he signed on the back. He then casually throws an ice cream cone in the trash can and sees his movie,” Dator continued.
“I realize later that he bought an ice cream cone he didn’t want, just to get receipt paper so he could scribble his autograph for a 16-year-old idiot,” he added.
