Keanu Reeves was paid one of highest ever salaries for a movie role after genius contract negotiation
Keanu Reeves reportedly made over $200 million for his work as Neo in The Matrix, thanks to some pretty genius contract negotiations.
After his breakout role in 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Reeves cemented his place in Hollywood with roles in Bram Stoker's Dracula, Point Break and, more recently, the John Wick franchise.
With over four decades in the industry, Reeves has also enjoyed a pretty lucrative career, with an estimated net worth between $300 and $400 million – the majority of which is due to his savvy negotiations when being cast in the Wachowski siblings' films.
How much Keanu Reeves earned from The Matrix series (1999-2022)
As reported by ScreenRant, Reeves was paid the following salary for each film:
• $10 million (£7.3 million) for The Matrix
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• $15 million (£11 million) for The Matrix Reloaded
• $15 million (£11 million) for The Matrix Revolutions
• $12-14 million (£8.8-10.3 million) for The Matrix Resurrections
However, the salary alone barely scratched the surface on how much he made in total from the franchise.
Reeves has made over $200 million (£148 million) from continued negotiated backend fees, according to the outlet.
This means he got a share of the $1.7 billion the franchise earned by all four Matrix films at the box office.
And another clause, which is mentioned in all of his contracts, is that he won't allow studios to digitally alter his face.
"I don’t mind if someone takes a blink out during an edit," Reeves explained to Variety in 2023.
"But early on, in the early 2000s, or it might have been the ’90s, I had a performance changed."
He continued: "They added a tear to my face, and I was just like, ‘Huh?!’ It was like, I don’t even have to be here."
On the whole, Reeves isn't a fan of digital alterations.
"What’s frustrating about that is you lose your agency," the actor said.
"When you give a performance in a film, you know you’re going to be edited, but you’re participating in that. If you go into deepfake-land, it has none of your points of view."
He went on to say how he is scared of 'deepfake' cinema and how younger people 'don't care' if it's not real.
"People are growing up with these tools: We’re listening to music already that’s made by AI in the style of Nirvana, there’s NFT digital art," the film star continued.
"It’s cool, like, 'Look what the cute machines can make', but there’s a corporatocracy behind it that’s looking to control those things. Culturally, socially, we’re gonna be confronted by the value of real, or the non-value.
"And then what’s going to be pushed on us? What’s going to be presented to us?
"It's a spectacle. And it’s a system of control and manipulation.
"We’re on our knees looking at cave walls and seeing the projections, and we’re not having the chance to look behind us."
Topics: Keanu Reeves, The Matrix, Celebrity, Film
Anish Vij