MOVIE NEWS – Keanu Reeves is now firmly established as a box office guarantee and a pop culture icon, yet there are still a few titles in his filmography that fans – and the actor himself – would happily wipe from history. One of the most notorious is the 2000 serial killer thriller The Watcher, a project Reeves says he never really wanted to be part of in the first place. The irony is that, while the movie is now an easily accessible misstep you can stream for free, most of his career is defined by roles that turned him into a legend.

These days, no one seriously questions Keanu Reeves’ status as a successful movie star. Over the decades, the Canadian actor has become one of the key figures of modern pop culture, even stepping into the digital spotlight with a major role in the blockbuster video game Cyberpunk 2077. Of course, a career spanning almost forty years inevitably includes more than a few misfires alongside the hits.

Films like Constantine, The Matrix, Speed and, more recently, the John Wick series clearly show how well he anchors big, commercial action and genre movies. At the same time, he has appeared in smaller but artistically ambitious works such as A Scanner Darkly. His filmography is broad enough that you could spend a long time recommending highlights, but today the spotlight is on one of his most heavily criticized projects – a film he never really meant to sign up for.

It Even Earned Him A Worst Supporting Actor Nomination

Released in 2000, The Watcher is a serial killer thriller in which Keanu Reeves plays a dangerous psychopath, a performance that landed him a Razzie nomination for Worst Supporting Actor. That naturally raises the question of how a global star ended up as one of the main attractions in a relatively low-budget production that critics and audiences largely dismissed.

Reeves himself explained what happened around twenty years ago. According to his account, he never found the script particularly compelling, yet something happened behind the scenes that left him with little room to maneuver. A “friend” signed the deal on his behalf, forging his name on the contract and tying him to the project on paper.

“I never found the script interesting, but a friend of mine forged my signature on the agreement. I couldn’t prove it and I didn’t want to get sued, so I had no choice but to make the film.” – he told the Calgary Sun back in 2001.

Screen Rant dug deeper into this strange situation. Their report notes that Reeves had initially only given a verbal yes to a small role, mainly so the director and producers could use his name to attract investors. As development went on, however, his character was rewritten, given more screen time, and eventually ended up in much of the movie. By that point, the actor wanted to distance himself from the project, but the prospect of a long and costly legal battle convinced him to stay and play one of the most controversial characters of his career. He did, however, completely sit out the promotional campaign and kept his distance from the marketing push.

The Watcher ultimately failed to make a lasting impact at the box office, so if you put it on one lazy afternoon, it will likely be more out of curiosity than genuine excitement. The film is currently available for free on Pluto and can also be streamed via Prime Video. On paper, the cast looks surprisingly strong, with James Spader (of Stargate fame), Marisa Tomei (who appeared in Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Ernie Hudson (one of the iconic faces of Ghostbusters) all involved. Even that line-up, however, could not fully compensate for the weak execution, leaving the movie as an odd, slightly embarrassing footnote in Keanu Reeves’ otherwise impressive body of work.

Source: 3djuegos