Keanu Reeves has explained how he hid a serious neck and spinal injury in order to land the role of Neo in The Matrix.
In 1999, the action movie landscape changed with the release of The Matrix, which tells the story of a hacker named Thomas Anderson who is saved from a human simulation by a mysterious man named Morpheus, who reveals a post-apocalyptic 'real world' where survivors must battle against machines who have taken over the Earth.
The action sequences in the movie are some of the most legendary and influential in history. The Wachowskis are credited with perfecting the 'bullet time' method of filming in slow-motion.
Numerous actors were considered for the role of Neo before Reeves, including Will Smith, David Duchovny and Brad Pitt, but now it is difficult to imagine anyone other than Reeves as the character.
But, if Warner Bros. had discovered his health issues earlier, he might have been passed for the part.
"I met with the Wachowskis and I loved the script, and they showed me pre-vis for bullet time which was extraordinary, and one of the things they talked about in the meeting was training in Hong Kong-style martial arts and asked if I was okay with that, and that it was over four months and I was like, 'Yeah, that sounds okay.'" he said on the Art of Action podcast.
"The only problem – I was dealing with a neck issue which was getting worse, I'd spent a couple of years fighting it off, I was getting tingling.
"I had done a film called 'Chain Reaction' in Chicago and had a couple of epidurals put in, shot up in the spine. I had a bulging disc and I had a fractured disc too, and I started losing feeling and balance."
Reeves trained for The Matrix in a neck brace
Reeves would eventually go under the knife to repair his neck and spine, and he says he had to begin his martial arts training for The Matrix while wearing a neck brace.
"My spinal column was being sausaged basically, so I had to have a two level fusion on my spine before training, and they put a plate in my neck," the John Wick star continued.
"But I never actually told anyone because I didn't want to tell anyone I wouldn't be able to do the film. What was cool though was at the time the way to recover from spinal surgery was different.
"They put the plate in my neck and told me to start moving right away. I had to train for The Matrix in a neck brace."
Reeves reprised the role of Neo in The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections.
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