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Tonight Keanu Reeves heads a brilliant cast in the action thriller Point Break, which airs at 10.40pm on BBC One. The 1991 flick follows novice FBI agent Johnny Utah, who along with his new partner Angelo Pappas, are tasked with hunting down four bank robbers, who carried out a raid wearing the mask of ex-US presidents. Following his instinct, Utah goes undercover with a group of surfers as he attempts to find out who was responsible for the raid.
After its release, the film was described by the Daily Telegraph as a one that “certainly qualified as a cult favourite”.
In its review, Rolling Stone said it was “the greatest female-gaze action movie ever”, hailing it a “wet Western” and praising the performances of Reeves, and fellow lead Patrick Swayze.
The film was highly influential for Reeves’ career, and helped him land other huge roles in his later years including in franchises such as The Matrix.
But Reeves was not completely unknown: two years before its release, his popularity soared after he and Alex Winter were the leads in the comedy Bill & Ted.
Keanu Reeves’ blunt outburst mid-interview after Bill & Ted blunder: ‘Lost your cred!’ (Image: GETTY)
Keanu Reeves’ mother was originally born in England (Image: GETTY)
The franchise spawned three films that Reeves and Winter starred in, including 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, which was hailed as a huge box office, and critical, success.
Such was its popularity that it spawned two sequels in 1991 and 2020.
Prior to the third instalment, speculation was rife as to whether another film would be made, and Reeves was regularly questioned about it during interviews.
This included in 2013, when MTV reporter Josh Horowitz was left humiliated after he got Reeves’ character’s name wrong, despite clearly being a massive fan of the films.
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Keanu Reeves was born in Lebanon (Image: GETTY)
Horowitz, who had spent the past eight years campaigning for a new Bill & Ted film, was talking to Reeves at the Toronto International Film Festival when he made the gaffe.
He asked: “Is Bill’s voice going to come back naturally? Is it hard to get back into the actual voice, the cadence of Bill?”
Reeves quickly snapped back, “I play Ted,” leaving Horowitz to reply quickly: “Oh my God!”
So frustrated with himself, Horowitz hilariously walked off camera, as Reeves continued to tease the journalist.
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Point Break airs tonight (Image: GETTY)
Reeves continued: “You just lost all of your cred, dude.
“That’s right. That’s what you should do right now because you just lost all of your Bill & Ted cred.”
When he returned, the pair did discuss the prospect of further Bill & Ted films, with Horowitz noting: “Do you regret now mentioning to me casually one day on an Oscar red carpet that Bill & Ted 3 was going to happen?
“Because now, it follows you everywhere, it follows Alex everywhere. Maybe you should have done it in secret…”
Filming locations in UK (Image: EXPRESS)
Reeves replied: “It’s a long story. There’s lots of subterfuge and conspiracy theories. There’s a whole thing…
“I might have to do one of those independent press, conspiracy, other-name kind of explaining why it hasn’t happened yet, because it’s pretty dark out there.”
While Bill & Ted remains a cult classic across the globe, Reeves once discussed how his upbringing had a huge influence on his career.
Speaking to the Mail on Sunday in 2008, he recalled how his mother Patricia’s English roots had a profound effect on him.
He said: “I haven’t gone back to Hampshire (where his mother was born). My mother left home when she was very young, 14 or 15. But she is a very independent woman and passed that on.
“She gave me British manners – which side of the plate the fork goes on, but also the two fingers (he gives me the V-sign). That was an attitude I inherited.
“I do feel English. I was raised on The Two Ronnies, Monty Python… I always loved the irreverence.”
Point Break airs from 10.40pm on BBC One.