Keanu Reeves' Cyberpunk 2077 character, Johnny Silverhand, was apparently so fun for the actor to portray that he actually pushed CD Projekt Red to have the character's scree time doubled, according to industry veteran Italian dubber Luca Ward. Cyberpunk 2077 was already one of the most heavily-anticipated games currently in development prior to the reveal that Keanu Reeves was involved with the project at all, but once the Canadian actor took the stage at E3 2019 and showed off his starring role, hype for the next title from CD Projekt Red skyrocketed - and generated some of the most wholesome memes of summer 2019 as a side effect.
Cyberpunk 2077 hasn't been immune to controversy, however, as the game came under heavy fire from critics for its portrayal of both race and gender. CD Projekt Red immediately moved to address these concerns, first suggesting that it would tweak the character creation in the game to make gender more fluid, which culminated in a process that will no longer ask players to assign a gender to their character at all. Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith also leapt to the studio's defense, suggesting he believed the developer was handling portrayal of race as deftly as he would in his own writing. With much of the game's early critiques deflected, fans began to double down on their love for Keanu Reeves' involvement in the game.
According to Wccftech, which got its information from TGCOM 24 journalist Gian Luca Rocco, Keanu Reeves' Cyberpunk 2077 character wasn't always going to be as prominent a character on-screen. Luca Ward, Keanu Reeves' long-time Italian dubber, told Rocco that Reeves enjoyed his character so much that the actor asked CD Projekt Red to include him on-screen more, effectively doubling his screen time - which, as a by-product, also meant Ward needed to take double the time dubbing Silverhand's lines in Italian.
Johnny Silverhand was already confirmed to be the NPC with the most dialogue in Cyberpunk 2077, and now fans know why. Keanu Reeves was such a big fan of the Cyberpunk 2077 character that he effectively doubled his presence in the game, a move that, in retrospect, couldn't have worked out better for CD Projekt Red. The character is essentially the biggest marketing material for the game thus far, and always generates discussion when new footage of Silverhand is unveiled.
Thankfully, Keanu Reeves immediately understood just how exciting Johnny Silverhand was. Now, thanks to the actor himself, fans can all enjoy double the Keanu Reeves in Cyberpunk 2077 - which, hopefully, when the game releases in 2020, results in double the wholesome memes once more.
Cyberpunk 2077 releases on April 16, 2020 for PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Google Stadia.
Source: Gian Luca Rocco (via Wccftech)