Keanu Reeves was originally going to be in Fast X
In a surprising twist of the kind fans expect from the Fast & Furious franchise, it seems that action movie legend Keanu Reeves has been circling the series for years. According to Chris Morgan, who has long served as a writer and producer on Fast & Furious movies, Reeves was initially pegged to play the enigmatic puppeteer of the Eteon organization in Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw.
Alan Ritchson, who appears in the newest Fast & Furious movie Fast X, shed more light on the situation while talking to Entertainment Weekly, saying that Reeves was also tapped to play a villainous role. Who would’ve thought Keanu Reeves as the baddie, right?
Ritchson plays Aimes, the traitorous head of The Agency who gives Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) grief by conspiring with the hot-headed Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa). “It was just a little stroke of luck and good timing,” Ritchson said of his role. “I was working on a movie with Hilary Swank up in Winnipeg in the freezing cold, and I got a call that things had shifted in the plans with Keanu Reeves.”
And just like that, Ritchson found himself stepping into shoes originally meant for Neo himself. No pressure, right?
Keanu Reeves was originally tapped to play Alan Ritchson part in Fast X
Even so, Ritchson came close to missing out on the role, first because of issues on the set of the movie he was shooting in Winnipeg, which was then experiencing its biggest blizzard in history. “All production shut down. It was disheartening,” Ritchson said. “I thought it was over before it began, but luckily we worked it out and they were able to push the dates a little more.” Now that’s what we call living life a quarter-mile at a time.
Just when he thought he was out of the woods, Ritchson had another curveball thrown at him: the actor was informed by producer Jeff Kirschenbaum that Fast X director Justin Lin was leaving the project. “I was like, ‘Okay … am I still in the movie?'” he remembered. Thankfully, it all worked out in the end.
Fast X is now in theaters. Check your local listings, grab your popcorn, and get ready for a wild ride.
Next. Fast & Furious: All 11 movies ranked worst to best. dark
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