Regardless of the project that Keanu Reeves takes on, there’s always an accompanying anecdotal story about how selfless, down-to-earth, and humble the 60-year-old Sonic the Hedgehog 3 actor is. Whether it is tales of him buying his entire stunt crew $10,000 engraved Rolexes for dying at the hands of John Wick in the franchise’s fourth film, his refreshingly level-headed meditation on the pervasive rise of AI in the Hollywood, or simply not grandstanding on his blockbuster movie star acclaim in small yet significant ways throughout his daily life, Reeves consistently demonstrates that he is merely too good for this world. Reeves’ latest motion-captured performance in Prime Video’s video game anthology series, Secret Level, is another example of the actor’s dedication to delivering an exceptional performance.
Speaking with Collider, Secret Level creators Dave Wilson and Tim Miller shared their experience working with Reeves on the Armored Core-centric episode “Asset Management.” In this episode, Reeves portrays a rugged mech pilot isolated on a frozen planet, assigned a mission that could conclude the endless war between him and the monstrous entities that have tormented him for years. Looking back, Wilson and Miller recounted their shared disbelief at Reeves sending a video over saying, “Junkie mech pilot. I’m in.”
“I’ll tell this little story because you hear this all the time around town about how wonderful he is and how prepared and kind and generous he is. He lives up to all that hype. I thought, ‘At some point, the facade is going to fall, and the truth to never meet your heroes is going to come out.’ So, two weeks before filming, we get this email, and it’s like, ‘Dave, Tim, I got some bad news. I’ve fractured my kneecap,’ and, and, blah, blah, blah. I’m skimming to the bottom of the email where he’s going to tell me he can’t do it, and he’s like, ‘But I’ve learned all my lines. I’m off book. I can take the brace off, and I can shoot for five minutes at a time,” Wilson recounted. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God, he’s still going to do it.’ And so I’m like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Keep the brace on. We’ll give your character a limp and a brace.’”
He continued: “And he shows up, and about two hours in, I can tell it’s hurting, man. It’s very recent, and his knee’s about the size of Tim’s head. About two hours in, he’s like, ‘Dave.’ And I’m like, ‘Do you want to come back tomorrow?’ He’s like, ‘Let’s just shoot it all now.’ And I’m like, ‘What?’ And he shot for 13 hours straight with that brace, and he doesn’t leave set. He just nips out, has a cigarette, comes back in, and he’s like, ‘Let’s go again!’ Amazing, amazing human being. I mean, you should be so lucky in your career that someone will show up at the upper echelons of the town and just do it because they love doing it.”
As if all the aforementioned aspects of Reeves’ work ethic were not sufficient, Wilson also mentioned that Reeves filmed his scenes while ill.
“You could tell he had a cold, so a lot of the runny nose and cough and everything—all the same thing,” Wilson said. “It’s not acting. He shot through it all. It was great.”
As evidenced by his thorough research for his role as Shadow the Hedgehog in Paramount Pictures’ recently released Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it is clear that regardless of the perceived significance of his roles, Reeves fully dedicates himself to embodying the character and honoring his commitments, even to his own detriment. There is little more to add except to continue admiring the man and hope all of his pain is alleviated and transferred to another.
All episodes of Secret Level are now available on Prime Video, and the anthology series has been renewed for a second season.
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