Matthew Perry sounds very mad that Keanu Reeves is still alive
"Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?" Perry asks in his new memoir
Aux News Matthew Perry
Former Friends star Matthew Perry is gearing up for the release of his new memoir Friends, Lovers, And The Big Terrible Thing next month, an apparently harrowing and honest look at Perry’s life, career, and his long history with, and battles against, addiction. And also, apparently, his intense loathing of Keanu Reeves.
This is per one of several excerpts that have been floating around from the book in the weeks leading up to its November 1 publication, this one highlighted by Variety. In it, Perry is mourning his former A Night In The Life Of Jimmy Reardon co-star, River Phoenix, writing that, “The list of geniuses who were ahead of their time is too long to detail here—suffice to say, near the top of any such list should be…River Phoenix.” All well and good, until Perry goes on, bizarrely, to detail at least one person he wishes had died instead of Phoenix, who died of a drug overdose in 1993.
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out,” Perry writes. “Too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down. Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” Later in the book, Perry repeats the line, describe his misery at the death of his friend, Saturday Night Live star Chris Farley: “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us.”
Now, in an effort to extend the maximum amount of the benefit of the doubt possible here to Perry, we do feel like it’s worth noting that there was a long period, pre- his current career renaissance, when Reeves’ name was a shorthand for a certain kind of easy-going doofishness—powered in part by early roles like Bill And Ted, and ignoring the fact that Reeves is extremely funny in those movies because he’s so familiar with the affable slacker type he’s playing. “Keanu Reeves seems like a dope” was not necessarily a controversial stance to take in, say, 1998, even if it was, ultimately, an unfair one.
Even so: There’s something extremely crass about citing Reeves—who was both Phoenix’s friend, and his My Own Private Idaho co-star—as part of some misguided effort to elevate the late actor. The most generous interpretation suggests that Perry is wildly out of step with his reference pool, and modern perceptions of Reeves’ performances and career; just as easy, though, to read the whole thing as needlessly cruel. Either way, it’s shocking that all of Perry’s editors at Macmillan signed off on it for release.
147 Comments
Is it like a running/inside joke or something?
yah I feel there’s some sarcasm we’re missing. I doubt he wishes him dead lol. But if he does, then I guess tell your truth Perry!
Never mind, it’s been done already.
Either way, it’s shocking that all of Perry’s editors at Macmillan signed off on it for release.It so wild that he apparently had no editor, friend, agent, or beleaguered housekeeper to read that and go “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t, out of fucking nowhere, take a shot at a guy by saying he should be dead in place of others you deem more talented — one of whom was his very good friend — and especially don’t do this twice.”Keanu Reeves has also endured the loss of a child and later the child’s mother, so “It’s an affront that you’re walking around while other people are dead” seems especially cruel. Hate to see this Canadian on Canadian violence.
Keanu also lost his dog. The aftermath was insane.
Canada would be happy to disavow Mr. Perry if it would help…
A better question for MP to ask, if he has his heart set on comparing living actors to untimely-dead ones, would be: “Why is so-and-so excellent actor dead, while i, hack actor Matthew Perry specifically, still walk among us?”
Also, Keanu is a legit nice guy. I was out somewhere with a friend and she was so excited to see him and ran up to him to get a picture and he was super gracious to her. This town is full of shitheads, but I don’t think Keanu is one of them.
He is well-known for being extremely kind and generous. Stories abound of him doing things like taking a pay cut so crew members could be paid more. Just, like, quiet, not-seeking-recognition kindness. This was a shitty thing for Perry to say about anyone, but he chose especially poorly in targeting Keanu Reeves. I guess he thought he was being funny? Ugh.
Keanu is American.
You know, the very same internet that you’re using to be confidently incorrect could also be used to verify things you’re going to claim.Keanu Reeves is not American, and you can fact check me by using google.com to search “Keanu Reeves Canadian”; hope this helps!
You’ll have to excuse him. Keanu is adept at playing dumb characters and also characters that own lots of guns and shoot everything that moves, so it just seems he’s as American as it gets. Lol
Could this be any more inappropriate?
David Crosby is on hold. He has some thoughts.
Come children, pull up a chair and let us all listen to Mr Sunshine in between his relapses about who should be dead or alive.
Could Matthew Perry be anymore of an asshole?
You’ll have to read the book to find out.
That’s the joke I came for.
Honestly I wouldn’t be surprised if he hates Keanu because he was being an asshole to somebody and Keanu heroed in
I love Keanu as much as the next guy, but this just seems like a joke to me. The Between Two Ferns Movie also joked a lot about Keanu being dumb.
Or, alternatively, River AND Keanu could still be alive and Perry have died instead. Everyone knows that guy ain’t getting no in memorium at the Oscars.
There’s really nothing he could say that would make me think that Keanu Reeves is anything but a darling darling man. And not for nothing but POINT BREAK, MOTHERFUCKERS!! Keanu AND Swayze I mean COME ON!! This coming from a dummy who shelled out $$ to “The Whole Nine Yards” in the theater! Give me Keanu over that shit ANY DAY.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but he started it, so… Reeves has easily the highest grossing and arguably the best filmography of anyone mentioned here. Ledger’s debateable and Phoenix has the excuse of dying young, but if I had to pick one guy’s body of work to never watch again, it’s Perry’s.
It was fucking sarcasm, you fucking retard.
Maybe we’ll find out differently, but this seems more like a reference to how Keanu Reeves would have been viewed 10-15 years ago, as a fairly wooden leading man without a lot of substance.Also: No one here knows Keanu Reeves.
I have it on good authority that Alex Winters has three or four different Kinja burner accounts he uses on different devices, since he can’t remember any of the damned passwords.
Maybe we all know Keanu except for you, Perry.
You got me. Now back to pitching my game show “Guess Which Season of Friends This Clip Is From By My Alarming Weight Fluctuations”
I play the same game with Oprah.
To this day he seems like kind of an affable slacker doof who’s a bit blank and wooden as an actor, albeit one who’s also good at spinning kicks and hip throws.
I have nothing against him, it just feels like knee-jerk hostility to anything that doesn’t fit the narrative for people to get angry at Matthew Perry for a throwaway crack about Keanu Reeves.
He made two cracks about Keanu at different parts in the book. So it wasnt a random one time thing unless the book was made in one day. The most generous interpretation of this is that he had horrible experiences with Keanu that runs contrary to anything publicly known about that man. Knowing hollywood thats possible but I doubt it due to the fact that most of Keanu’s draw is not is acting but people loving him because he is so nice in person
I can kind of squint and see it as a deliberate joke, like, he doesn’t hate Keanu, he just thought it would be funny to paint Keanu (who is known far and wide as incredibly nice and generous) as this sort of monstrous symbol of something bad. Like pretending that Betty White or Mr. Rogers were horrible.
Didn’t land it, oof.
Even if that were the case, it still seems unnecessarily cruel to use Reeves for this joke given how Reeves was good friends with Phoenix.
so throwaway that he used it twice, as if it’s something that bugs him repeatedly.
He wished him dead. It’s gross.
It wasn’t a throw away crack. He wrote it twice in his book, presumably reread what he wrote before sending to the publisher, went through edits and was okay putting it out there. It was nasty and unnecessary.
“it just feels like knee-jerk hostility to anything that doesn’t fit the narrative”That doesn’t fit what narrative? That you shouldn’t wish death on people just because you don’t like their acting skills? That’s the narrative you feel we should be questioning?
Agree. He found a brand that worked for him and he makes a good product. Very few actors can afford to stretch themselves and experiment. The corporate Dons want their money and they know what consumers want and how to deliver.I hate to sound so cold but it’s a business. Studio and streaming execs don’t GAF about art.
He certainly didn’t disappoint anybody by not following the “pretty man in questionable schlock to honored Hollywood hyphenate” trajectory of a Clint or a Clooney, whereas with Phoenix and Ledger it really seemed like that could be in their future.So I guess I see how someone could make a “John Lennon died yet Milli Vanilli walks the earth” crack about Keanu of any era. It would just be really unnecessary and mean
One half of Milli Vanilli did die (likely by suicide) so really not the best example.
Didn’t one of the Milli’s Vanilli die? I think it was suicide.
That sounds like a lot of actors. Well, not Matthew Perry tho, I doubt his throws are good.
It’s a shitty thing to say, but he put it in his memoir. That’s extra shitty.
When did Perry do spinning kicks?
When he was convulsing?
He might seem like an affable slacker doof, but by all accounts he’s also genuinely a kind and deeply good person, so it’s just weird that we’re wishing death on good people just because they are not the best actors in the world.
I’ll have you know I’ve been good friends with Keanu Reeves ever since we first met in a bar back in 1582 and– oh no I’ve said too much.
You haven’t said enough.
You haven’t said enough.
You haven’t said enough.
How many accounts do you have? :O
I know that, 20 years ago, Keanu was smart enough to take a percentage of the gross for the Matrix sequels, which made him rich enough to set his own work schedule for life. And if he chooses projects that help Alex Winter or Lana Wachowski over, say, joining the MCU, I’m not going to think less of him.
I know someone who drove for Keanu in the Bogus Journey days. It was just a few times, but she said he was an absolute sweetheart, like an angel from Heaven
Great to hear; everyone should be nice to everyone.In related news, our long national nightmare is over:https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/matthew-perry-apologizes-keanu-reeves-1235249663/
Oh good, calming down then?
LOL that was quick.
Well to be honest, Reeves is STILL a pretty wooden actor, but he found a niche he IS really good at, action star. Also he is one a small few people in Hollywood that there is pretty much NO bad stories about, like none, EVER.
I am a HUGE Keanu fan (I met him at a party with River and Rain Phoenix when filming My Own Private Idaho, and I’ve been fangirling ever since), but that’s despite his acting, not because of it.I enjoy the John Wick movies (I just had to look up the title, that’s how much I’m into it), saw the first Matrix (not into it), and loved him in Thumbsucker and Idaho – probably because they were both local (to me). I know there are a few other movies I’ve seen him in, but his acting is not a stand out.
Yeah he is not, nor has he ever been a GOOD actor. He works well in roles that focus on his other talents. But everyone, and I mean EVERYONE says he is a genuinely good dude in every way imaginable.
BUThe’s sexy.
Indeed. And the older I get, the sexier kindness becomes.
And I wish I had had that lesson earlier. My ex-husband was a dick to pretty much everyone but me, and I took that to mean I was extra special. Turns out he was just waiting to be a dick to me later, after we got married. lol Now we’re looking for kindness allllll the way.
Even Tom Hanks has a bad story: Chet Haze.
LOL, but are there any bad stories about Tom himself? I think not.
HE MADE CHET HAZE.
But even if you do see it that way… that’s still no reason he should have been dead?
Um, the article totally alluded to that.
Thank you. At least someone hasn’t had their memory mysteriously wiped about public perception of Keanu Reeves during the 00’s. He was always a decent actor in my book, but boy did people love to shit on him.
It strikes me as especially funny that he’d lament how the good ones always die and the bad ones always live in the memoir that details his multiple close brushes with death.
“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Matthew Perry still walks among us?”
Leslie Jordan is dead, BUT MATTHEW PERRY STILL WALKS AMONG US?BTW, have you seen the Young Leslie Jordan pics?https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11356873/Pictures-late-actor-Leslie-Jordan-80s-viral-days-passed-away-age-67.html
Today, he would be waxed within an inch of his life, and the world would be poorer for it.
Or he’d be party of the muscle bear community.
It’s-a me, Gay Mario!
Whoa, what’s he doing with that mushroom?!
what isnt he?
man was a smoke show. the gay secrets he must have had of closeted hollywood.
Holy hell, what a snack.
I thought that was Robin Williams in the top picture.
Dear god, man! You gotta put a warning on that!
Wha Wha Wha What!!?!?! No wonder he came off like a relentless flirt!
Right? There are some people where you see a picture of them when they were young, and it’s like “Oh, you were a baddie; everything makes sense now.”
Keanu gave a few wooden performances in the mid 90s and became kind of a punch line, but I think that was mostly from bad casting. You don’t put a guy like him in a period movie. Once he got put in the right kind of material he made the most of his limited range.
What a horrible thing to say about, from many reports, a very nice man…..
No, it wouldn’t even be excusable if it was an out of touch reference. The only way it would be acceptable is if it followed a personal experience with not Keanu the artist, but Keanu the person, and him turning out to be a not so good person, or at least not a good person for a time. Sounds hard to believe, though.
It’s a joke, you ignorant fucking cunt.
It’s because the other two were drug addicts.
What I’m reading between the lines is Keanu could party really hard, back in day, but never suffered real consequences. There must be a jealousy that one is able to walkaway before reaching the bottom.
It’s A. Fucking. Joke.
Sounds like a totally jelly, one-note B-lister trying to sell books to me.This dumb article is literally the only reason I know that lame memoir exists.
Then it did its job!
I’m trying to think of a more current person to throw under the bus in St. Keanu’s stead… Machine Gun Kelly? He seems like a drag. I don’t know.Ultimately the correct stance to take here is probably an earnest “I don’t know why geniuses like River Phoenix die young while doofuses like me get to walk free”
Here’s a great question – who the hell cares about what Matthew Perry has to say about anything? I honestly couldn’t give a shit to hear about his addiction, his days on Friends, his opinions on Dolph Lundgren or anything else. Why is this washed up addict relevant? Dude has NO jawline.
because he’s generating clickbait that gets people angry?
No no, it goes like this “Could he have less of a jawline?”
Fair and accurate.
I hated Friends, I’m sick to death of the cast being milked for every tiny detail of their lives for decades, I DGAF about this chinless wonder, but yet I somehow know way too much about him.
This. Friends wasn’t funny when it was on and it hasn’t magically gotten funny in the ensuing decades.
“Friends” also had the most annoying theme song of any TV show not named “Mr. Ed” or “It’s About Time”.
Perry was also very clearly the least talented of the main cast by a significant margin. Hence why they mostly still have careers* while he’s writing trashy memoirs to gin up sympathy and remind people he still exists.*For the record, Perry’s last TV role outside the Friends reunion was in 2017, and his last film was in 2009 (!)
If you’d stop clicking on articles about him you’d probably know a lot less.
Thank you! I thought I was the only one who felt this way. I think people are confusing Chandler with Matthew. Chandler was likeable, Perry is not!
You could probably make a similar argument for 90% of what appears on this site.
i mean, you commented on it, so…everyone here is acting like the AV club has gone to shit (which, yes, but people have been saying that for the past ten years) but be real – actual reviews get zero engagement, while gossip nonsense like this gets hundreds of comments – most of them from people like you who somehow couldn’t…care…less?
“Original thinkers?”
Actors say stupid things, like everyone else. Why do we expect otherwise? Clickety click.
And Matthew Perry…. now there’s a name I associate with tortured, passionate, original artistic thought. A true artiste! Please, Matthew, tell us more! Trading dick jokes with Matt Leblanc every week for two mil an episode. GTFO
This is why Cameo exists, so the likes of Matthew Perry, who hasn’t acted for the last five years, can still be seen on screens. Phone screens, but still….
He still makes like 50 (or is it 100?) million a year from “Friends” without doing a thing-he doesnt need Cameo.
I’m sure he makes enough money from residuals to never have to work again, but there’s absolutely no chance that number is anywhere near the range you described PER YEAR. That would make him almost a billionaire since Friends has been in syndication for almost 20 years.
The often reported number is $20MM per year in residuals per cast member (2% of the $1B the show still earns for WB every year). So no, he hasn’t earned $1B yet, but he’s closing in on $400MM just since filming wrapped.
True but considering this whole book about his drug addiction I’m willing to bet he has a whole lot less money than that.
Sure, but if you’re still guaranteed a low 8 figure yearly income you don’t need cameo or even new work.
Yes, that is how income works. You earn some money, spend some on expenses and keep the rest.Also, he probably has more because he was earning a minimum of $1MM per episode for the bulk of the series before it ended, and was taking in syndication money as soon as they hit 100 episodes, and did a few other shitty movies and shows
And the rider explicitly says “NO brown MM’s in Mr. Perry’s dressing room”!
I think I read 20 million.
It’s 20 million.
And his health has been the only thing holding him back from acting. It’s not like no one wants to hire him.
Most people don’t need more money, but they don’t say no to it. Matthew Perry certainly didn’t need more Vicodin, but he didn’t say no to it.
So weird. If I tried i could probably think of like 10,000 people id wish dead before Keanu Reeves.
10,000 Maniacs, I’m sure.
You think big. I’d be fine with 4 Non Blondes.
I just want to remind folks that I know this article is riddled with obvious (and frankly alarming) errors, but I never itemize William Hughes pieces because A) it would be too much work to do for free, and B) it’s not worth having to read the godawful thing itself and try to suss out whatever half-assed point or joke he’s trying to make with each tortuous fragment. Also, I’m pretty sure he’s being outrageously lazy on purpose in these celeb gossip pieces because he only wants to write about video games and he’s sore about being assigned other things. Which is a real dick move, as the readers are the ones who ultimately suffer
need a hug?
The fuck?
This is a difficult kind of joke to tell well. Chris Rock did a variation of it in 2004:“The government hates rap. That’s why they don’t arrest anybody that kills rappers! Only the good ones are dead, man! Only the good ones: Biggie dead, Tupac dead, Vanilla Ice still alive!”This was a safe joke because nobody cared about Vanilla Ice in 2004 (including Robert Van Winkle, who was Vanilla Ice). It got the cheap laughs, but it’s weak. If he uses Eminem instead, or Chingy, or Lil Jon*, or any other relevant rapper at that time, the joke has some teeth to it.* Elsewhere in the same routine (Never Scared), Chris Rock does make some fun of Lil Jon, but in a “we should be ashamed for singing along to this” way.
This is just an incredibly insensitive and stupid comment by a has-been from an old lame tv show who couldn’t make it as a movie star and wrote a book about how he could barely make it as a person. Keanu Reeves is not Ted. He was bad in some movies, but he shone in others ie., Constantine, The Devil’s Advocate, Hardball…
River Phoenix: Speedball overdose Chris Farley: Speedball overdose Heath Ledger: pain-killer, xanax, and sleeping pill overdose Keanu: Probably smokes weed. Still alive.
Is this a rhetorical device? Don’t fuck with downers/opioids.
That’s what went through my mind. River Phoenix was on the hard stuff. Far as I know, Keanu isn’t.
I kinda wish Gram Parsons and Danny Whitten and Brian Cole and Blind Owl Wilson and Jimi Hendrix and Andrew Wood had made it, but that’s what that stuff’ll do to you.
I gave my kids a similar lecture when they were teens.
Matthew Perry: opiods, _______, _________, _________, _______.
Mama Cass:
Keanu brings a lot of pleasure to people and River Phoenix died of a drug overdose. Perry identifies with one of these actors more than the other.
I get that he’s an actor and therefore the craft of acting is the most important thing in the world (not tennis!) but it’s a fucking weird thing to write. Why pick someone so universally liked? So many evil figures in modern America to choose from. So many crappy actors.
“Why pick someone so universally liked?”
BECAUSE HE’S BEING SARCASTIC, YOU THICK RETARD.Why the fuck are people talking about comments from someone they are apparently completely and utterly unfamiliar with, because if you’ve E-V-E-R seen Matthew Perry in an interview, you might understand that THIS IS WHAT HE DOES. His entire career has dealt with sarcasm. Jesus fucking Christ.
It’s a tin-eared iteration of a nearly ubiquitous bit. As has been pointed out below, Chris Rock used it to bemoan the death of a lot of legendary rappers, while Vanilla Ice lives. It’s a writing room bit to establish as misanthropic archetype who is both in pain over the loss of heroes and resentful of nice people who don’t deserve their ire because they seem to live charmed lives. It’s likely been used of hundreds of times in fiction [often using real world references]. Matthew just used it clumsily and with the wrong tone, and the wrong target, this particular time.
“Matthew just used it clumsily and with the wrong tone, and the wrong target, this particular time.”
Nah used it COMPLETELY properly and appropriately, but most people are too stupid to understand it.
It’s sarcasm, you fucking dickheads.
Is literally *NOBODY* familiar with Matthew Perry?
It only took a day for Perry to lose the goodwill and sympathy he had received after the NYT interview and for everyone to remember the guy just sucks.
“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
Massive drug abuse may have something to do with it.
“I think I’ll try some of that heroin” isn’t exactly an original thought.
It must be pretty frustrating to see so many die before you: Your friends, your admired contemporaries, your career.lol he did Studio 60.
This is super dumb, Matthew Perry. But a River/Keanu conversation is always a good excuse to post this wonderfully visually-dense Gus van Sant shot.
Ah yes noted genius River Phoenix
What in the world? What did Keanu Reeves ever do to anybody? Especially Matthew Perry? That was really mean, and it’s extra mean because Reeves is widely regarded to be one of the nicest men in existence. I could almost see it if he were a huge douchebag, but even then it would be mean.
opps is opps.he clearly had a problem with the guy.
He’s right to ask the question, it’s one that many addicts and “tortured artists” ask themselves. Example – why is Robin Williams dead and Ricky Gervais still alive? I don’t think it’s particularly hateful, it’s just a genuine question – what conditions forge great talent and why does it often seem to be balanced out by a tragic death? Keanu Reeves, while a lovely sounding guy, does not hold a candle to any of those other guys and would likely not make many best actor lists. After everything Perry has gone through (read the book) I’m pretty convinced this isn’t some horrible vendetta, just his example of what a pretty mid actor looks like (and Keanu ain’t great tbh).