Be More Keanu

The last few years have marked a "Keanaissance." Keanu has inspired countless memes from as far back as 2010 when the internet shed a tear about "Sad Keanu" sitting alone on a park bench eating a sandwich, and pronounced June 15th official "Cheer Up Keanu" day. 2019 brought even more joy with a video of Keanu with puppies alongside other uplifting sightings. This black and white illustrated gift book shows us what makes Keanu so special. Alongside quotes, jokes and illustrations, each chapter looks at different iterations of Keanu, for example, The Friend, The Pioneer, The Rockstar and The Guru. We get inside Keanu’s questing spirit: what friendship means in Bill and Ted; communing with nature in Point Break; and, in The Matrix, tearing through dimensionality itself. And IRL Keanu’s a free spirit too. He travels without minders, he’s always doing random acts of kindness, he takes pay cuts to support his crew, and he actually respects women in Hollywood. Plus he’s never happier than when riding his motorbike through the desert thinking deep thoughts. We would all do well to #BeMoreKeanu.

James King is a writer, broadcaster and film critic. He is the author of Fast Times & Excellent Adventures: The Surprising History of the '80s Teen Movie and the resident movie reviewer on BBC Radio 2, having spent many years in the same position at Radio 1 (where he made documentaries on, among other things, The Matrix). He has met and interviewed Keanu Reeves on several occasions: twice in London, once in Berlin and once at the Cannes Film Festival.