An internet meme was born after Keanu Reeves was caught on a park bench looking sad while eating a sandwich. Afterward, more sad pictures of Keanu sitting alone and eating surfaced. Vulture caught up with Keanu and asked him about the photoshopping of his sadness. The internet then imploded.
You’re taking over the Internet. Have you seen all the “Sad Keanu” stuff out there?
My publicist showed me the photo, but no.There’s not one photo. There are millions. You’re Photoshopped next to kittens and into Pulp Fiction and next to the cast of The Breakfast Club, and in a million different ways. Have you seen those?
Oh, that’s funny! No, no, I haven’t seen them.There are millions, really. Google “Sad Keanu.” You haven’t?
[Laughs.] No.Seriously, though, this is one of the reasons I think one of the big appeals of you as an actor is that people are always straining to figure out what’s on your mind, what you’re thinking, why you’re sad … There’s thousands of people doing this.
Wow. So, what, now they’re putting me next to other objects?Yes! For instance, right now I’m looking at you in some Banksy graffiti, you next to a panda.
That’s so funny.You with a cheerleader, but you don’t notice her …
Oh, that’s funny. So they like take paparazzi pictures and re-contextualize them? Funny.Exactly.
Well, it sounds like harmless, good clean fun.What do you make of how your fandom is changing?
I don’t know, I haven’t seen it. That one, well, I guess, though, when you think of how bad that stuff can go, that sounds like a pretty good clean fun one to have happening.Given the options …
Yeah, I haven’t seen them. But given the scope and scale of what can happen out there, that sounds like an all right one. It sounds conceptually funny. [Laughs.]
Then Keanu looked down, frowned, and finished his cupcake. But alas, there isn’t enough cupcakes in the world to cure his sadness. He’s like a modern day Charlie Brown. Good grief!