Keanu Reeves reveals that he always wanted to play Wolverine in the X-Men movies. Thanks in large part to his performance as Ted in the original Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its sequel Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey, Reeves in the early 1990s ascended to unlikely A-list star status. Of course, Reeves would soon cross over from comedic slacker roles to become a legit action star in movies like Point Break, Speed and The Matrix.
After the Matrix sequels bombed however, it seemed that Reeves’ run as a star of action movies had come to an end and indeed his entire career hit a lull. But Reeves eventually defied the odds and enjoyed an action comeback thanks to his performance as the indestructible dog-loving assassin John Wick, a role that led to Reeves being brought back as Neo for The Matrix 4. In addition to revisiting the role of Neo, Reeves is also getting to come full circle in another sense by once again playing the rocker Ted “Theodore” Logan in the long-awaited sequel Bill & Ted Face the Music.
Though Reeves has definitely gotten to play a lot of amazing and even iconic roles in his career, there’s one part the actor wishes he got to play that he never landed. Speaking to SiriusXM (via CinemaBlend), Reeves said he always wanted to play X-Men hero Wolverine, the role made famous on screen by Hugh Jackman. Reeves’ Bill & Ted co-star Alex Winter, appearing on the show with him, reminded him that it’s not too late for him to play Wolverine, but Reeves seemed to slam the door on the idea forever, saying “It is too late. It was filled really well. I’m all good with it now.” Reeves then went on to clarify that it's Frank Miller's version of Wolverine that he always wanted to play.
Of course, Jackman not only played the iconic Wolverine on film, he made the character his own to the extent that when the X-Men franchise was rebooted, producers didn’t even bother trying to find another actor to play the character. In 2017, Jackman’s time as Wolverine came to a definitive end with the movie Logan, though speculation continues to persist that somehow, someway Jackman might be coaxed back to play Wolverine again.
Unfortunately, the X-Men franchise as a whole seems to be as dead as Logan after the failure of Dark Phoenix. If X-Men were to ever be resurrected later on, it seems likely that a young actor would be found to play Wolverine, which would disqualify Reeves. Then again, Reeves is known for seeming perpetually youthful, so perhaps with a little CGI help he could still embody a younger Wolverine in a future X-Men movie. Anyone who takes on the character of Wolverine will obviously have a tough time making audiences forget about Jackman’s portrayal, which still stands as one of the most popular of all comic book movie performances, but Reeves presumably would have less trouble than an unknown actor given his own status as a beloved star.
Source: SiriusXM (via CinemaBlend)
