Keanu Reeves Talks Environmental Message, Gort In The Day The Earth Stood Still
Due in December, nothing substantial or even trivial has leaked from 20th Century Fox’s big budget remake of sci-fi classicThe Day the Earth Stood StillstarringKeanu Reeves, John Cleese, Jennifer Connelly and Kathy Bates. Reeves, who will next be seen in Aprils’s LAPD actionerStreet Kingsand plays the alien Klaatu in the holiday tent pole, talked toMTVabout the enigmatic project and how it will differ from the 1951 original. While the movie’s premise will still revolve around aliens telling Earthlings to figure out world peace (and pronto!), director Scott Derrickson’s (Exorcism of Emily Rose) take will be updated for the Prius and metal water bottle set…
“The first one was borne out of the cold war and nuclear détente. Klaatu came and was saying cease and desist with your violence. If you can’t do it yourselves we’re going to do it. That was the film of that day,” Reeves explained. “The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth. …what we are doing and who we are as a species. We’re trying to reach beyond the idea of [just] environmentalism.”
Yeah, that’s cool Keanu, but what about the film’s signature robotGort? Will it still look like a trophy statuette for “Greatest Rave Act 2002”?
“Hey man, don’t put that tin man down! That was iconoclastic!” Reeves protested. “[But] yes, we have another version of the [robot].”
Discuss: Can a sci-fi film doubling as an After School Special connect big in 2008?
