Watching Keanu Reeves Excitedly Talk About CONSTANTINE in Comic-Con's 15th Anniversary Panel is The Best!
One of the best and most enjoyable virtual panels that I watched from Comic-Con@Home was the Constantine 15th Anniversary Reunion. The best part about it was watching Keanu Reeves excitedly talk about and reminisce on the fan favorite film, which was based on the ground-breaking DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer.
Reeves played John Constantine in the film, a modern-day mystic on a personal quest to send demons hiding on Earth back to Hell. The character of John Constantine was introduced the world of DC by writer and creator Alan Moore while writing the Swamp Thing, and he made his first appearance in June 1985.
This past weekend, Reeves joined the pnael along with director Francis Lawrence, and producer Akiva Goldsman. One of the things they discussed was the rating for the film and how they were shooting for a PG-13 rating, but ended up getting an R rating due to the dark tone. Lawrence said if they knew they were going to get an R-rating they would have shot an R-rated film!
They also discussed the unused sequel plans, with Lawrence saying:
“We’ve talked about it and we’ve had ideas, and I would love that, what if he woke up in a cell, he has to identify the prisoner? It was [screenwriter Frank Cabello’s] idea that [the prisoner] was Jesus. He comes up and he’s in New York. Yeah, we’ve talked about a sequel.
“We talked about sequels more than the studio… It wasn’t a knockout success or critically acclaimed at the time. Religion is a polarizing element in storytelling. I remember being at a Q&A after a screening, and somebody, I don’t remember what religion he was, he was so confused by heaven and hell and trying to get me to explain. Because, in his world view, there was no heaven and hell. So, how was he supposed to enter this world appropriately, right? And that was one of the big takeaways. The subject matter of the story was just putting people off.”
Francis also showed off the holy shotgun prop that Keanu gave to him as a gift after the film. They also talk about shooting in Los Angeles, the great cast, which included Shia LaBeouf, Tilda Swinton, Rachel Weisz, Djimon Hounsou and Peter Stormare, as well as their love of the film, and more.
You can check out the panel below and I hope you enjoy watching Reeves. It seems like it would be a blast to hand out with this guy!