The true story behind the famous “Sad Keanu” meme has been revealed. In the photo,Keanu Reevescan be seen seated on a bench looking a bit somber as he eats a sandwich. Memed, the image has been shared throughout social media for years with countless captions as a way to express great sadness by the sharer.
In a new interview with Stephen Colbert onThe Late Show, Reeves was questioned about the famous photo. For his part, Reeves seems rather surprised that the picture has generated such attention, as he doesn’t recall feeling so sad in the moment. In fact, theJohn Wickstar admits he had “some stuff” on his mind, but he was mostly just trying to satisfy his hunger with no idea that a photographer was waiting nearby to make meme history.
“I’m just eating a sandwich, man. Okay, I was thinking. I had some stuff going on. I was hungry.”
Even if it was unintentional, the “Sad Keanu” meme is here to stay. The moment was even spoofed inReeves' new comic book seriesBRZRKR, which featured the protagonist similarly seated on a bench in a manner very reminiscent of the meme. Reeves confirmed to Colbert that this was art imitating life, though theBRZRKRcharacter had a much better reason to look that way.
“So, life and art. Ron Garney is the amazing artist who is illustrating and drawing BRZRKR. I didn’t know he was going to do that. But, that’s what he did. So I think it’s kind of meta. He decided to take, and this is what I think, what I believe to be true, he took this moment. And the character is waiting for this moment to happen. Because he’s being studied by the American government, a black ops program to figure out why he’s immortal, why does he regenerate. I’m just trying to figure out why I exist.”
There’s alive-actionBRZRKRadaptation in the works at Netflixwith Keanu Reeves on board to star in the lead role, so we just might see that moment recreated on the small screen as well. Meanwhile, there’s plenty of other high-profile projects fans can expect to see the actor. This imminently includes a return to the role of Neo whenThe Matrix Resurrectionshits theaters this month. That’s not the only sequel soon to be coming with Reeves in the lead asJohn Wick: Chapter 4will arrive in 2022.
“We’re working on trying to set up a company with the animation and we’ve hired a writer for the film Mattson Tomlin,” Reeves previously toldCollider, noting that an anime sequel is also in development. “He’s been cool and just starting to put things together. That’s where we’re at.”
Teasing the anime series adaptation that’s also happening, Reeves added, “There are some rules to the story, but I also want other creators to do their version of it. So I’m hoping to do a different version of a metaverse where in the sense having different storytellers with one set of rules but go other places with it.”
It’s unclear when we can see the live-actionBRZRKR, but you may catch Keanu Reeves on the big screen whenThe Matrix Resurrectionspremieres in movie theaters on Dec. 22.
