The Lord of the Rings: Keanu Reeves absolutely wanted this role but Peter Jackson refused

The saga The Lord of the Rings, crowned with success and awards, has made countless people work, both in front and behind the camera. If many actors participated in the filming of the trilogy, perhaps even more are those who would have liked to be part of it…

A true dream for Keanu Reeves

When Peter Jackson begins the imposing project of his desire to adapt Tolkien’s work, Keanu Reeves is anything but a stranger. The Canadian, who began filming in the 1980s, already has great films to his credit. We can thus cite its secondary score in Dangerous relationshipspublished in 1988, in which he gives the reply to Glenn Close, John Malkovich or Uma Thurman. point break, Dracula, A lot of noise for nothing, The Devil’s Advocate… The successes follow each other and are not alike for the actor!

In 1999, he distinguished himself in the franchise which allowed his notoriety to explode internationally: Matrix. However, if it were up to him, Reeves would also have appeared in another saga much loved by the general public, namely The Lord of the Rings. At the time the first film entered development, the actor told the Australian magazine Rip it up his desire to be part of the adventure.

A bottle in the sea

During the interview, Keanu Reeves slips being aware of the new and very ambitious New Zealand director.

Maybe I should go begging for the role.

The star adds that he has sent members of his team, lead agent of course, to contact the filmmaker. Uncertain about the success of his business, the interpreter of Neo assures that he “would really like” to collaborate with Jackson, but admits to having no idea of ​​the probability of the thing. Unfortunately, the professional meeting did not take place between the two men. Especially since Reeves did not only want to participate in the project from near or far, he had a very specific role in mind !

An iconic character

So, who did the Canadian so want to play on screen? It is about a protagonist sharing a certain resemblance with him, namely Aragorn, heir of Gondor and oh so important character in the trilogy. With his current beard and long hair, Keanu Reeves is physically not very far from the image of the hero known as Viggo Mortensen.

I petition to play Grand-Pas […] Hopefully he’ll think I’m the right person for the role.

As you know, the star’s dream of Matrix ultimately did not come true. But beware, if Viggo Mortensen portrays the Ranger with talent, he was not Peter Jackson’s first choice! The filmmaker originally offered the score to Daniel Day-Lewis, who declined. Ultimately, he chose to cast Stuart Townsend. Only once on the set, the youth of the latter (27 years old) got the better of him… Jackson then called several actors, including Viggo Mortensen, in disaster. If we know the rest of the story, Cronenberg’s favorite actor could therefore well have not distinguished himself in this role as demanding as it is coveted !