Look, while we all have “fan casts” in our head of people we think would totally crush certain roles in various entertainment properties…it doesn’t always work that way. Just look at what NetherRealm Studios has done with Mortal Kombat characters in recent years…it’s a mixed bag at times. However, when Keanu Reeves was cast as Shadow The Hedgehog in the upcoming Sonic 3 film, which releases in December, people were pumped. First, Keanu is an established voice actor across multiple films, so he knows how to make things happen. Plus, as John Wick fans know, he is dedicated to the roles he does.
According to Sonic 3 director Jeff Fowler in a Twitch stream, that didn’t change here, as Keanu apparently went full-force into the Shadow The Hedgehog role to ensure that it was as good as it could be. Fowler talked about this on his YouTube channel:
“He would give us so many different versions of line readings and just want to keep going. It was not sort of showing up and reading the script into a microphone. He really wanted to create a very fan faithful version of the character. He did research. In our first meeting, he very clearly had gone and done his homework, which was awesome. I can’t say enough wonderful things about Keanu and what he brought to the character and the experience of making this movie. I think people are going to really, really love his version of Shadow.”
So, what does this prove? Well, it shows that Keanu Reeves is one of the best to ever do it, and we need more people in Hollywood like him. Pure and simple.