It's a toss-up whether the bigger star of the Matrix movies is Reeves or the series' incredible special effects. To ensure the ongoing high quality of those effects and the participation of the staff behind them, Reeves gave up "points" that normally pay an actor hugely after release of the movie. According to The Wall Street Journal, his contract for The Matrix's two sequels, The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions, gave up part of his claim to a share of the profits of these movies so that more money would be available for the special effects and costume departments. Not an outright cash gift, this generous move made a huge amount of money available to the ensuing productions in the popular franchise.
An executive who spoke with The Wall Street Journal commented, "He felt that they were the ones who made the movie and that they should participate." The money put back into the productions allowed for great staffs and high level creative achievement. Though Reeves' payday was still significant, the compensation he passed up was in the millions.
cocoapuff1721 on January 16th, 2018 at 21:14 UTC »
Glad they got Pacino for Devils Advocate. He was amazing.
Bad-Brains on January 16th, 2018 at 21:12 UTC »
What a guy.
Working on his PR team has to be one of the easiest jobs ever.
"So what should we do today?"
"I don't know; what did Keanu do this weekend?"
"He gave up his seat on some public transport to a pregnant woman and someone filmed it."
"Oh cool; so that's lunch then?"
Everyone rides to lunch on their motorcycles Keanu had made for them
cobainbc15 on January 16th, 2018 at 21:01 UTC »
The fact that he did it for much more powerful actors (rather than bringing in new talent) shows that he either really wanted to work with them, or realized that having big talent would help make the movies that much better.
Or he's just genuinely a nice guy :)