Keanu Reeves
Stretching the definition of both "meeting" and "hero" but sometimes that's better
Meeting my Heroes is an occasional essay series from Matt Carmichael.
When I was in college, I would sometimes — not often enough — come into Chicago to hang out. As I set off to Northwestern, I imagined I’d spend my weekends in jazz bars, hanging out and listening to great live music. That rarely happened. The big reason was a combination of laziness and the Howard El platform. The Evanston purple line ended at Howard unless it was rush hour. You’d have to transfer to the red line. But the Purple line didn’t run very often late at night so you’d stand out on the Howard platform waiting. And waiting. And waiting.
The Howard El platform is officially the coldest place on Earth. Except in summer, when it is sweltering. It was a very physical barrier. The stop that separated the city from the suburbs.
But one night some friends and I ventured into the area around North Avenue on the border of Lincoln Park and Old Town. There were a lot of theaters along that stretch and somehow we wound up at a bar across from the famed Steppenwolf.
We’re there for a little while and in walk two very famous actors: John Malkovich and Keanu Reeves. Malkovich was performing at Steppenwolf, so it wasn’t totally shocking, but still these were some big names in this little bar.
I was actually trying to land an interview with Keanu at the time, which wasn’t all that exciting because with the notable exception of “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” I really really really didn’t like Keanu’s acting. He wasn’t just bad on his own, he was so bad that he ruined otherwise great films like “Bram Stoker’s Dracula” because his performances sucked that much. He has since redeemed himself with the Matrix and John Wick movies and also apparently being an incredibly good human.
I considered approaching him to ask for that interview, not to put him on the spot then and there, but to see if he’d agree so that I could tell that to his not helpful public relations team.
I considered approaching him and telling him he sucked and ruined good movies with his suckitude. He’s a famous guy, and rather good looking, so I’m guessing not many people heckled him in bars. Might do him so good.
In the end, however, I just left him alone. Not out of any sort of shyness or fear. Meeting my Heroes is full of stories of me wandering up to people and asking them questions or for favors.
No, I left him alone because it was the right thing to do. But at the time, I leaned on that old saying, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything.”
More importantly, just leave a poor guy alone with his drink, unless you at least plan to buy it for him.
Well, alone with his drink and John Malkovich.
-==-
In many of these stories I include the article that relates to why/how I meet these folks. But you’ll notice that I don’t here. Never did get that interview. Looking back, not bothering him was likely the right choice at the time. Today me would have worked the “get him to say yes so I could tell the publicist” angle. That’s worked well for me as you’ll read elsewhere.
So, really. Seize your moments when you can, and don’t be afraid to make the big asks in person.