Keanu: childhood, youth and the moments of glory. Book #1. Yevgeniya Sikhimbayeva
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the book will be released in 1997). «I used to want to become a race car driver, but when I got to be production assistant at one of my stepfather’s films, I knew that that was where my future was.»
Paul also often took Keanu with him on various television movie screenings. As a teenager, Reeves spent a lot of time in the repertoire cinema of the University of Toronto, where he watched everything, from comedies such as Ross Meyer’s «Super-Masters,» to films that made a really strong impression on him, «Clockwork Orange» by Stanley Kubrick and «Solaris» by Andrei Tarkovsky.
«My stepfather, Paul Aaron, was a director – he did Broadway, off-Broadway and film – and the people in his world seemed incredibly exotic to me. One time when I was in elementary school, people from a nearby high school came to teach a drama class, and I remember looking at them and thinking who are these people? They seemed like Gypsies and had a completely different vibe.7»
Illustration: it shows the imaginary room where the picture on the wall really exists. It was painted by Larissa Tyan. The artist from Kazakhstan. The art technic she used was ancient japanese art technic called «sume – e». And young bamboo symbolizes young Mr. Reeves who also had been suppressed by many unfriendly circumstances from the very young age but stayed strong under the pressure as the young bamboo did not give up under the blows of the wind of the destiny…
It all started when Keanu was trying to study at a non-government experimental high school in North York – this is the northern part of the city of Toronto. (It is interesting that this category includes not only schools with diverse and non-traditional forms of education, but also schools whose goal is to keep children from the bad influence of the street [the so-called storefront school]). There, he also preferred to play squash for the most part than to pore over books until one of his girlfriends, Sharon Switzer, (who later became a sculptor in Toronto), invited him to join her in the classes of the theater school at the Leah Posluns Theater. (Leah Posluns Theater School (4588 Bathurst).
Later, answering the question, where did she get this idea, Sharon will say: «I had a hunch he might be interested in acting. But I had no idea how he’d do. What I remember best about him was his magnetic personality. He had tremendous energy, combined with a sort of laid-back manner. Very popular with the girls8».
This school was created in the image of the legendary Graduate School of Performing Arts in New York, on the Upper West Side. (It was in this area of New York that the Keanu family used to live).
Keanu was 15 years old when he came to audition and was very enthusiastic, although he did not look tidy, for the auditions he showed up in an outfit that was clearly picked up in the garbage, because even homeless people disdained ripped jeans, an old dirty jacket and worn sneakers. «That kid came in and just blew us away»: this is how Rose Dubin, the principal of the school, will describe his first impression. – «Normally we would not allow students into the school after classes had started, but sometimes a young actor makes you sit up and take notice – and we said ’yes.» Tremendous stage presence, commitment, confidence and talent. You just knew he was going to be a star». Maybe it was, but then … 26 students will start studying with him… of whom 13 will remain in a year. Keanu will also be expelled from this school with a murderous characterization: «Not enough concentration. Too flighty. Always questioning authority». As you like, but the atmosphere of Komsomol meetings of the USSR of the stagnation era blew me away … (It was actually 1980. … No, humanity is all the same. Especially in stupidity. Okay.) But, I believe that this characteristic was accurate – according to the Keanu’s mother’s stories, the first word he said was «No» and the second «Why» (My mom told me that after «No,» the second thing I spoke was «How come? «So I guess it’s in my nature. It drove her crazy.)
However, in that single year Keanu accomplished a lot. For example – played Mercutio in «Romeo and Juliet» – and he was successful in this role – «He was a live wire, he couldn’t sit still, yet he was not nervous. There was too much life coursing through his body. His was the most fully realized Mercutio that I – and all who saw that production – have ever seen" – Director Lewis Baumander will say so about him (although, perhaps, he would be better in the role of Tybalt – «More than prince of cats, I can tell you»). Also – from this moment on, Keanu will forever and irrevocably fall in love with the poetry of the great Bard. His acquaintance with Lewis Baumander will have far-reaching consequences… in general, all the diverging paths that determine his life and career come from here in Toronto. It is a pity that there was no soothsayer who could predict the future for them, as by the lines on a palm… but okay. One way or another, for Keanu «It was a fun year, but I got kicked out and I failed. I was rude and stuff – talking too much. Well, that taught me a lesson when they kicked me out!9»
This sign is the working bee of the zodiac. They diligently carry out their tasks. Talent, hard work and discipline make them successful in their careers. With their careful approach, clarity and concentration, they never lose heart, and they will continue to work on their goals. Work is very important for Virgins, and they are the best employees in the world.
(TOP 10 REASONS WHY VIRGO IS THE BEST ZODIAC SIGN; JANUARY 10, 2017 ASTROLOGY & LIFE)
The matter, however, was done – the poison had already penetrated the blood. Keanu’s stepdad – Paul Aaron – gave him a recommendation at the summer camp at the Hedgerow Theater, in Pennsylvania. Keanu received a free room and boarding, and in exchange for working as a janitor attended as many acting classes as he could. Summer camp workers later recalled him as «this happy, pimply faced teen who went everywhere on his skateboard».
Returning to Toronto, Keanu decided that he would become a professional actor and immediately announced this to his mother. She didn’t mind, «Actually, I asked, but if my mother had said no, I think I would have become an actor anyway. But she said, «Do it.»
but set a condition – if the son does not study – he must work.
Keanu began to work. He sharpened skates at the rink in the mall. He worked in a landscape design bureau, which meant that he climbed trees, wrapped in a safety rope and sawed off dry branches. He worked as a peddler of newspapers. In the end, he got a job as a salesman at the Pastissima restaurant, where he made one hundred pounds of pasta a day, although he was not particularly exemplary. However, he tried. Perhaps he perceived it as an acting game. His friend Alan Powell, now an entrepreneur living in Caledon, north of Toronto, often watched Keanu do this: «You’d think he was some kind of connoisseur, the way he’d go on about all these pasta dishes, and what kind of wine they should serve. He was one of those guys who could talk to anyone about anything. He had confidence, charisma». Perhaps, for charisma, he received a raise – ironically – on the day his eighteenth birthday, when he finally decided to become a professional actor.
All his free (and sometimes working) time, Keanu devoted to the theater and attempts to somehow get into the cinema.
For him, it was, among other things, also an opportunity to somehow coexist with himself. He said so plain tongue: It’s about investigating life. I can explore who I am and how I feel. Hopefully, I’ll get to continue acting till I die.10
He played mostly someone like himself. (One of the first series on local television, where he got the role, was called «Hangin «In» (Tenacity, went on TV from 1981 – 1987) was just about the everyday life of the center for free social and medical assistance for working with difficult teenagers and informal youth.)
It
Keanu’s Eccentric Adventure» by Kristine McKenna; Los Angeles Times (US), June 5, 1994
Pizzazz pays off big for teenaged ’slob’” by George Gamester; The Toronto Star (Ca), October 10, 1991
«Keanu Reeves (say it Key-ah-noo). It means «Cool Breeze from the Mountains» by Karen Krizanovich; Sky (UK), December 1989
Seventeen Questions – Keanu Reeves» by Cindy Pearlman; Seventeen (UK), December 1994