‘John Wick 3’: Why It Took Keanu Reeves a Half Hour to Make a 3-Min Walk to the Gym
It’s almost impossible not to like Keanu Reeves as he’s adored by almost everyone. He comes off as quiet and unassuming in interviews. In his films, he puts in reliably solid performances across multiple genres.
Reeves’s current hit franchise is the John Wick series. One anecdote from the filming of the third film puts in perspective just how popular Reeves is. It involves him taking quite a long time to travel from his apartment to the gym.
Keanu Reeves’s career overview
It says a lot about Reeves’s career that Wick isn’t the only globally beloved franchise he’s been a part of. His most famous role may be as Neo in The Matrix trilogy. In those movies, he plays the savior of humanity, locked in battle with mind-controlling machines who are enslaving the human race. Those movies redefined special effects and the futuristic sci-fi genre.
Before that, Reeves starred in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its ensuing two sequels. These couldn’t be further from The Matrix or John Wick. This silly buddy comedy endeared audiences to Reeves as he played a dim-witted but lovable high schooler traveling through time. The role that launched Reeves to true superstardom was his part as the lead in Speed, the 1994 action film in which he costarred with Sandra Bullock.
Why the ‘John Wick’ films require Keanu Reeves to be in top shape
The John Wick series has revitalized Reeves’s already stellar career. The action films are fun and well done — a lethal combination in today’s box office environment.
Fans love the intense action sequences as well as Reeves’s quiet but consistently excellent performance in the role. The films are pretty simple: an assassin watches his wife pass away and gets a puppy from her as a gift.
When some thugs kill the dog, it sets off a war in which Wick refuses to leave any of them standing to get his vengeance. That one series of events spawned a popular trilogy with a fourth film on the way.
The gunfights and physical combat require a lot from Reeves. Because of this, it’s important to be in top shape. John Wick isn’t a character who says much — he does most of his talking with his actions. Because of this, the action scenes in these films become particularly important.
Whether he’s wrestling in close quarters with henchmen or riding a horse while shooting bad guys on a motorcycle, Reeves has to be insanely fit to make the film work. That’s why his training and physical fitness routine is so important.
Why it took Keanu Reeves 30 minutes to walk to a gym three minutes away
According to Esquire, when Reeves was preparing for his role in Wick, he undertook a rigorous training regimen. His trainer, Patrick Murphy, said that Reeves was the consummate professional, always doing whatever was asked of him and showing up for every workout.
One challenge he did have? Taking a half-hour to walk three minutes to the gym. This wasn’t because Reeves was out of shape, though, but because of his popularity:
“When we were filming John Wick 3 in New York City, it could take 30 minutes to cover a three-minute journey from his apartment to the gym because he couldn’t say no to fans asking for a photo. He’d even let fans walk with him, share their ideas, and talk about movies.”
This is a clear sign of just how beloved Reeves is. Combine that with the fact that he’s more than gracious with his fans, taking time to talk to them, and you have a heartwarming story that likely wreaked havoc on his daily schedule.
