John Wick: Chapter 4 premiered in the UK two days ago, so you know what that means—Keanu Reeves is officially on the road again, making the press rounds. He kicked off the press tour with a Reddit AMA which is getting extra hyped because he mentioned superhero stuff. When asked if he regretted turning down a role, he said no, but he “did always want to play Wolverine”.
I can kinda-sorta see it, a sort of coiled tension Keanu could bring to Wolverine, but he is best, as an actor, in roles in which he can imprint as a kind of blank slate for the audience, like Neo, like Jack Traven, like Johnny Utah, and to a lesser extent, John Wick (who provides a particular kind of macho wish fulfillment, but who also has more personality than a run of the mill Keanu character). So while I understand the desire to play Wolverine, that’s one case of Hollywood Sliding Doors that went the right way (at least the first time, we have yet to see who eventually replaces Hugh Jackman). Elsewhere in superhero stuff, Keanu confirmed he has spoken to James Gunn about Constantine 2, which isn’t a promise of anything, but is at least a positive indication that movie might happen someday.
Of course, we know Keanu already cut ties with the long-gestating Devil in the White City adaptation Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese refuse to make. Now, though, Hulu officially dropped the project, so we are now at square negative-zero. We’ll see Keanu Reeves as Wolverine before we see any kind of White City adaptation. It’s never happening.
