Cinema is a visual medium, but actors are often cast for their verbal proficiency as well. Dialogue is an important part of performance, and more often than not, the lead stars get the bulk of the lines. That was not the case, however, for this one particular star.
He landed a role that had him speaking only 638 words in the entire movie, yet he was the highest-paid star for it. ( Also read: John Wick director reveals how Keanu Reeves ‘stood up’ for puppy death scene that crew thought was the ‘worst idea’ ) The actor who earned $1 million per line The Wachowskis' ground-breaking two-part sequel to The Matrix (Reloaded and Revolutions) saw Keanu Reeves reprise his role as Neo. The first film's success meant that the actor's star power had increased, and he could command a higher salary.
As per Ranker, Keanu took home $100 million for the joint production of the two films. Given that he had less than a hundred lines of dialogue in the two films, he earned a solid million dollars per line or about $159,000 per word. No other actor has been paid as much in the history of cinema.
During his time in The Matrix films, Keanu also impressed fans with philanthropic gestures. For the first film, he earned over $45 million, and reports stated that he donated 70% of it later on. Keanu also gave away gifts worth millions of dollars to the VFX team of Matrix 2 and 3.
He gave similar gifts of expensive watches to the stunt team of his most recent hit, John Wick 4. The actor is consid.
