Keanu Reeves doesn't know why so many memes have sprouted in his likeness, but he wants audiences to know that on the fateful day the "Sad Keanu" meme was born, he was really just sitting on a bench eating a sandwich.
"I'm just eating a sandwich, man!" Reeves said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert when asked if he had actually been sad when the infamous photo was snapped. "I was thinking. I had some stuff going on. I was hungry."
The original photo, snapped by Splash News photographer Ron Asadorian in 2010, went viral on the internet as commenters regularly pointed out Reeves' seemingly forlorn expression. Speaking with host Stephen Colbert, Reeves pointed out that he had no idea why he was so "meme-able." "I have no clue, sir," he said. "Really."
The "Sad Keanu" meme even made its way into one of the actor's recent projects in the world of comic books -- the series BRZRKR, which Reeves co-created alongside writer Matt Kindt and artist Ron Garney for BOOM! Studios. The very first issue opens with the immortal main character, known only as Berzerker, sitting in the rain on a bench, looking amusingly like Reeves himself.
"So Ron Garney is the amazing artist who's illustrating and drawing BRZRKR," Reeves explained to Colbert. "I didn't know he was going to do that. But that's what he did, so I think it's kind of meta."
Reeves went on to explain that the Berzerker, who is drawn in his likeness, serves on a black ops program for the United States government but is more intent on figuring out the meaning behind his existence, as well as a means of ending his immortality. This is represented by his melancholy mood in the comic's opening sequence -- a mood ironically represented in the viral "Sad Keanu" photo. "So the artist, I think, took that meme...and then put it into the comic book," Reeves said. "So that's life and art."
Aside from discussing his own comic project, Reeves also told Colbert that he would love the chance to play John Constantine again, adding that he'd been pushing to step back into the role for quite some time. Reeves starred a DC's supernatural expert in a 2005 film that changed several bits of the Hellblazer mythos -- including making Constantine American instead of British.
Reeves is currently starring in The Matrix Resurrections, which is set to hit theaters Dec. 22.
Source: YouTube