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On August 13, 2012 at 6:00 AM
The GQ+A With Keanu Reeves: On Making Documentaries, Directing for the First Time and That Bill & Ted Sequel
BY Chris Heath
keanu-reeves.jpg

Keanu Reeves—now, there's someone who seems to have slipped our attention for a while—is on the telephone. When he said in an interview a couple of years ago that the second chapter of his career was about to begin, no one took much notice. But now the evidence is mounting—and as ever with Reeves, it is a curious mix of fascinating, tantalizing, and perplexing. He is directing a movie. He has published a poetry book. (Well, one long poem.1) And this month there is Side by Side, a diligent and thoughtful documentary in which Reeves interviews a roll call of cinema's most famous directors (Scorsese, Soderbergh, Lynch, Nolan, Lucas, Fincher, Cameron, etc., etc.) about the transition from photochemical to digital filmmaking. Bill and Ted suddenly seem a very, very long time ago. (And yet...)

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GQ: Where are you?
Keanu Reeves: I'm in Beijing. I've been here for six or seven months. Working on the kung fu movie.2

GQ: Is directing harder than you expected?
Keanu Reeves: It was a mountain that I was looking forward to climb.

GQ: You've chosen a movie that's largely in Mandarin, a language you don't speak—that's quite a mountain.
Keanu Reeves: It looks, and it has been, beautiful. We've just finished day 76.

GQ: Why did you think the change in film technology was an important enough subject to make a documentary about?
Keanu Reeves: Well, I love cinema, and I thought that this was a pretty big deal. This moment in time when over a hundred years of photochemical filmmaking is going to be phased out. I wanted to look at that.

GQ: Do you think most moviegoers care that this change is happening?
Keanu Reeves: Um, I don't know. I mean, if I had to guess, probably not.

GQ: And should they?
Keanu Reeves: I don't know. Maybe the film will enrich watching films. Maybe it will help promote some reflection.

GQ: Were you nervous to speak with any of these directors?
Keanu Reeves: When we went to go meet George Lucas, that was something. And Martin Scorsese. I mean, I'm sure you feel this once in a while—you know: "I don't want to be an asshole." You're going to go and talk to George Lucas: Get your shit together!

GQ: People may be unable to believe that you are approaching 50.3 Do you feel the same?
Keanu Reeves: Absolutely not. My knees are well aware of it. Mortality is very different when you're 20 to when you're 50.

GQ: You think about that stuff a lot?
Keanu Reeves: It creeps in here and there, doesn't it? You look out the fucking window and then you think about your eyes closing.

GQ: It seems the least likely thing for you to do is another Bill-and-Ted movie. And yet it seems you are.
Keanu Reeves: We have a nice story. We'll see if anyone else wants to make it.

GQ: Is it easy to imagine those characters middle-aged?
Keanu Reeves: I don't know. It's one thing to think about it, but to perform it... One of the plot points is that these two people have been crushed by the responsibility of having to write the greatest song ever written and to change the world. And they haven't done it. So everybody is kind of like: "Where is the song?" The guys have just drifted off into esoterica and lost their rock. And we go on this expedition, go into the future to find out if we wrote the song, and one future "us" refuses to tell us, and another future "us" blames us for their lives because we didn't write the song, so they're living this terrible life. In one version we're in jail; in another we're at some kind of highway motel and they hate us.

Read More http://www.gq.com/entertainment/tv/blogs/the-stream/2012/08/keanu-reeves-interview-chris-heath-gq-august-2012.html#ixzz23S2a0acc

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GQ: People may be unable to believe that you are approaching 50. Do you feel the same?
Keanu Reeves: Absolutely not. My knees are well aware of it.

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I mean, it sure doesn't look like that to us! What an awesome human being :)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/14/keanu-reeves-side-by-side_n_1770528.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/08/09/keanu-reeves-schools-audiences-in-digital-filmmaking/

You guys are awesome in how thorough all news about Keanu is collected here btw!

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I like the answer about mortality...

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pinch me, I'm dreaming :D

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/side_by_side_2012/

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Were there people you couldn't get that you really wanted?
Yes, of course! But let's not dwell on the past and the heartache!

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and this is quite an amusing review...for certain reasons:
http://badassdigest.com/2012/08/16/movie-review-side-by-side-is-an-interesting-lie

For the first time since we compiled Criticwire’s mid-year, Best Films of 2012 breakdown almost two months ago, there’s a weekend with a pair of films from those lists hitting theaters. Both have enjoyed 2012 festival runs and have had multiple opportunities for feedback since their first-quarter debuts. But in one more case of narrative vs. documentary, “Side by Side” enters this weekend with a higher B+ average, good enough to garner this week’s title as Criticwire Pick of the Week.

Chris Kenneally’s new documentary is yet another example of how the film vs. digital debate is rippling through the industry, while permeating the public consciousness as well. "Side by Side" uses actor Keanu Reeves as a narrator and interviewer, guiding the audience through the technical, philosophical and cultural ramifications of the steady shift from celluloid to digital capture of imagery. Some critics argue that the value of the film comes from the educational nature of including a wide array of filmmaking professionals in the discussion. In her Flick Feast review, Kezia Tooby writes that "the documentary gives plenty of screen time to the lesser known but equally as talented people such as cinematographers, editors and colour correctors who are highly prolific in the industry." Jessica Kiang describes in her Playlist review from the Berlin Film Festival (where "Side by Side" debuted), that the collaboration between Kenneally and Reeves grounds the film in a sincerity toward the subject matter. "Reeves can sound a little weak and stilted in voiceover, but we soon forgive him for it as his genuine interest in the subject reveals itself, as does his sensitivity as an interviewer, neither overly deferential nor overly chummy," she writes.

http://www.shockya.com/news/2012/08/18/side-by-side-movie-review/

KEANU REEVES DISCUSSES HIS DOCUMENTARY SIDE BY SIDE IN LOS ANGELES.

Tribeca Film’s Keanu Reeves-produced doc Side By Side opened in one theater, grossing $7,200. The distribution label under the Tribeca Film Festival umbrella said “The weekend featured sold-out evening shows and rave reviews hailing it as one of the best documentaries of the year,” noted a Tribeca spokesperson. The doc, directed by Chris Kenneally and featuring Keanu Reeves interviewing a veritable Who’s Who of Hollywood figures discussing the transition from film to digital will hit VOD this week and next open wider in New York on August 31 before rolling out to an additional 10 markets throughout September.

When most people think of Keanu Reeves, "inquisitive cinephile" may not be the first description that comes to mind. With roles in films from the action flick Point Break to cult-fave fantasy franchise,The Matrix, the mild-mannered actor is known more for his signature, low-key line delivery than his dedication to plumbing the depths of film history and a searing interview style.

"most people", eh?
*snorts*
may all gods forgive me, but boy it feels good to have the last laugh...