Keanu Reeves couldn’t be more thankful for the sci-fi mind-bender that made him an icon.
The pensive action star was visibly emotional when, during an appearance Tuesday on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” he was asked to share his fondest memory from various productions — and Colbert inquired about “The Matrix” on its 25th anniversary.
After an earnest pause that Colbert joked could be a commercial break, Reeves opened up.
“The Matrix changed my life,” the actor confessed. “And then, over these years, it’s changed so many other people’s lives in really positive and great ways. As an artist, you hope for that when you get to do a film or tell a story.”
“And so when you say these years and the amount of people that I have met who have said to me they have been touched by ‘The Matrix’ in such a positive way,” Reeves continued before another reflective pause, “it’s the best.”
The actor has certainly touched millions more with a few other standouts from his career, including “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” (1989), “Point Break” (1991) and “Speed” (1994), which are currently celebrating their 35th, 33rd and 30th anniversaries, respectively.
While those films successfully scratched an itch for comedy fans and action crowds, none has had quite the impact of Lilly and Lana Wachowski’s “The Matrix” — which blended philosophical questions about free will with visual effects the world had never seen before.
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The fusion of action, science-fiction and kung-fu genres became a global phenomenon and grossed more than $460 million worldwide at the box office in 1999. It spawned two direct sequels and a fourth entry in 2021, with the franchise earning about $1.8 billion to date.
While mere mention of “The Matrix” provoked genuine reflection in him, Reeves excitedly shared that “Bill & Ted” yielded a priceless friendship with former co-star Alex Winter, while “Point Break” made him appreciate “the beauty” of the late and “awesome Patrick Swayze.”
When it came to his fondest memory from the set of “Speed,” the audience couldn’t help but laugh — as Reeves immediately recalled “Sandra Bullock and Jan de Bont, the director, saying, ‘Give me the fucking camera!’”