I met with the Wachowskis and I loved the script, and they showed me pre-vis for bullet time which was extraordinary, and one of the things they talked about in the meeting was training in Hong Kong-style martial arts and asked if I was okay with that, and that it was over four months and I was like "yeah, that sounds okay". The only problem - I was dealing with a neck issue which was getting worse, I'd spent a couple of years fighting it off, I was getting tingling. I had done a film called Chain Reaction in Chicago and had a couple epidurals put in, shot up in the spine. I had a bulging disc and I had a fractured disc too, and I started losing feeling and balance.
And so I said yes to The Matrix and the four months of training, but it was pretty bad so I went to a neck doctor, and basically I had spinal stenosis too. My spinal column was being sausaged basically, so I had to have a two level fusion on my spine before training, and they put a plate in my neck. But I never actually told anyone because I didn't want to tell anyone I wouldn't be able to do the film. What was cool though was at the time the way to recover from spinal surgery was different. They put the plate in my neck and told me to start moving right away. I had to train for the Matrix in a neck brace.
https://collider.com/keanu-reeves-the-matrix-comments/
period.
get the cheque king
not playin games with his spine
That check clearly was nice
i mean, it sound like the docs gave him the OK
he just didn't want them to SNATCH that role back outta fear
I love him
Unproblematic and fine in every era