PHOENIX & REEVES: AN EXCELLENT ADVENTURE

This month in 1997 Brian J. Robb, the New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling biographer of Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, and Brad Pitt; published An Excellent Adventure, a biography of Keanu Reeves.⁣
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Robb explores Reeves on- and offscreen, including his rock ’n roll career with the band Dog Star, and the twin tragedies that took the lives of his unborn daughter and his former partner Jennifer Syme.⁣
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“River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves took their research seriously, hanging out with real street hustlers to tune into the lifestyle of the roles they were to play. It was research that nearly got the pair caught up in a potentially nasty incident in Los Angeles when they were confronted by groups of knife-wielding gang members,” explains Robb in his book.⁣

“We’d accidentally wandered into the no man’s land between two street gangs. They thought we were invading their territory. It suddenly got very heavy. Both gangs thought we were trying to work their territory,” recalled Keanu of the confrontation. “It was terrifying—and there was no way we could tell them we were actors, they’d have cut us to pieces. We pretended we were ordinary guys—and then ran like hell!”⁣

Cover photo via An Excellent Adventure. ⁣⁣
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