Keanu Reeves will voice the titular kitten in upcoming action comedy 'Keanu'.
Keanu Reeves
Reeves will lend his vocals to the titular cat in the motion picture - that unintentionally shares his name - which centres around comedy duo Jordan Peele, 37, and Keegan-Michael Key, 45, as cousins who go after the thief who steels the beloved pet from a heartbroken Rell (Jordan).
The movie was, in fact, wrapped before Keanu got involved and the actor's team had even previously declined an offer of him to star in the film during the early days of the project.
But he happened to watch the movie's trailer and loved what he saw and couldn't resist making enquiries about a potential role.
Director Peter Atencio explained: "(Keanu's agent) politely declined. Who knows if he ever even heard about the offer. But then we got a call after the trailer came out. Apparently, his sister showed him the trailer and said, 'Hey, you gotta see this. You're gonna love this!. He flipped out and got in touch with us directly to say 'If there's anything I can do, let's make this work.' "
The writers were then able to slot Keanu into a scene which sees Rell take drugs and hallucinate that the kitten is talking to him.
However, the 'Bill & Ted' star needed to be convinced that the part wouldn't make him look silly.
Peter told the Los Angeles Times newspaper: "He wanted to talk to me before he agreed to make sure that wasn't the case. So I told him about the movie and talked him through the story. His personality has just transcended life, in a lot of ways. You wouldn't have ever guessed that the guy from 'Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure' would turn out to be this thoughtful, kind man."
'Keanu' comes out in cinemas later this month.
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