In Netflix's Always Be My Maybe, the only person easier to fall in love with than leads Randall Park and Ali Wong is the Keanu Reeves, delivering an iconic (and horrifying) self-parodying cameo suited only for the nicest guy(opens in a new tab) in Hollywood.
"You know, when you do your first ideal version and you’re like, 'Oh, this will probably never happen, but I’m just gonna do like my dream version, the pie in the sky version'?," ABMM director Nahnatchka Khan tells Mashable of Reeves' casting.
"Well, he was written into the script, we sent it to his agent, and then we got word back that he’d responded to it and he wanted to sit down and meet with us."
Appearing in just two scenes, Reeves plays "himself" in Khan's film. Still one of America's most beloved action heroes — but also a deranged, douchey flex of a human being, intent on shooting down others' confidence faster than the bus in Speed can jump a gap — this Reeves is far from his real-life reputation.
"It’s super hard to find the right person for that role," notes Khan, who pulled off a similar trick with James Van Der Beek(opens in a new tab) in her sitcom series Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23.
"They’re playing heightened versions of themselves. They have to be in on the joke. They have to be willing to make fun of certain aspects of what people think they are and their public persona. There’s a lot of trust that goes into it."
"We were super lucky. We got him right in his little John Wick window."
From consuming venison while listening to a deer being slaughtered to breaking a vase over his own head, cameo Reeves is all testosterone and arrogance. At one point, completely deadpan, he asks a waiter, "May I ask, do you have any dishes that play with time? The concept of time?" Gag.
Convincing Reeves to take on the role he was born to play, a not at all flattering farce of himself, presented a considerable and daunting challenge for the film's creators. According to Khan, the idea that they might succeed in casting him seemed totally out of the question.
It wasn't until Reeves — who, as it turns out, is a huge fan of Wong's stand-up special Baby Cobra, per a conversation with Wong and Park via (opens in a new tab)Extra(opens in a new tab) — expressed interest in workshopping that "pie in the sky" script that Khan and the rest of the ABMM crew thought it would actually happen.
"He got the jokes instantly," recalls Khan to Mashable. "And we’re such uber-fans of his that he knew the tone we were going for was in service of the bigger story of the movie, which is Ali and Randall’s relationship. [Reeves] is this kind of grenade that gets thrown into the middle of the movie and he knew that's what he was servicing."
When Reeves met with producers, he expressed his enthusiasm for what ABMM was doing, and began pitching his own jokes for the character — including the idea that he should be wearing glasses (without lenses) "for a part."
In an interview(opens in a new tab) with Rolling Stone, Wong said that Reeves also came up with the moment when he lists numerous Chinese dignitaries during the film's game night scene, and later petulantly says, "I don’t have a problem, Sasha. What’s your problem?" just moments after attempting to fight Park's character.
After minimal back-and-forth, Reeves agreed to do the cameo, squeezing his five-day ABMM shoot in-between John Wick: Chapter 3 -- Parabellum scheduling.
"We were super lucky," Khan tells Mashable. "We got him right in his little John Wick window. He had just wrapped New York and was going to go shoot in Morocco. He had like five days, and that’s when we grabbed him. It’s a testament to him. I mean, I would have been sleeping for five days and he’s like, 'Oh, let me go do this other movie.'"
Still fresh off of his John Wick publicity tour, Reeves hasn't said much about his time on the rom-com set, although he did make an appearance at the film's Los Angeles red carpet premiere in late May — effectively cementing his role as the face of killer celeb cameos.
Wracking up viral moments and critical accolades, the Reeves of the ABMM-verse may still be a star on the rise. But the Reeves of this universe? Well, he can't get any cooler.
Always Be My Maybe is now streaming on Netflix(opens in a new tab).
