Why Keanu's Career Wasn't The Same After Turning Down This Role

If there's one thing that movie fans everywhere seem to be able to agree on, it's that Keanu Reeves is a pretty awesome guy. But although his career is going great nowadays, Reeves once spent over a decade blacklisted by one of Hollywood's biggest studios. So just why was he thrown into "movie jail" for 11 long years?

Before you can really understand why Keanu Reeves spent so long out in the wilderness, you've first got to understand the events leading up to his exile. And for that, you've got to start at the beginning of his career. After featuring opposite Rob Lowe in a forgettable yet strangely successful hockey movie called Youngblood, Reeves caught the world's attention with River's Edge, a controversial movie about apathetic teens and the killing of a young girl. Soon, Reeves was showing up in way bigger films — such as Dangerous Liaisons, which starred the likes of John Malkovich, Glenn Close, Uma Thurman, and Michelle Pfieffer. Then, of course, he was cast as one of his most iconic characters: the laid-back, time-traveling wannabe rock star, Theodore Logan of Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure.

From there, he went on to prove his action skills by catching waves and busting bank robbers in Point Break. Granted, Reeves also made a couple of missteps early in his career — for example, he proved to the world he's incapable of doing an English accent with back-to-back performances in Bram Stoker's Dracula and Much Ado About Nothing. But by this point, Reeves' career was speeding forward nonetheless... and the actor was about to make a huge leap from up-and-comer to blockbuster king.

Watch the video to see why Keanu's career wasn't the same after turning down this role!

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Killing it | 0:19
The need for Speed | 1:29
Cruising for trouble | 2:35
Time out | 3:39
The devil's in the details | 4:52
Script problems | 5:50
Shipwrecked | 6:30
Movie jail | 7:32
Life behind bars | 8:48