Sometimes when it rains, it pours. One day you’re minding your own business when everything just falls apart and goes from bad to worse. For Octavia Spencer, that meant having her bird poop-covered car break down in the middle of Beverly Hills, clogging up traffic. Thankfully, Keanu Reeves came around the corner to save the day and help her move her car.
No one wants their car to break down on the street, much less a dirty car in the heart of a wealthy neighborhood. But that’s exactly what happened to Octavia Spencer back when she was in the early days of her acting career. While on The Graham Norton Show, she explained that she was headed to pick up a script when her car broke down:
It was about 25 years ago, The Matrix had just come out. I was on my way to pick up a script to read for an audition. So I wasn’t really wearing any underwear, I was wearing sweats and my favorite college football t-shirt. It was worn, it was see-through, no underwear. And my car hadn’t been washed because I always parked underneath the trees, and there was bird crap all over the back of it. And it broke down in this posh area of Beverly Hills, and there was a cafe and all of these people are sitting out there and the cars were honking. Nobody would help me.
Yikes, this sounds like a nightmare scenario that you can’t wake up from. From the clothing (or lack thereof) to the dirty broken down car in the middle of a rich neighborhood, I can only imagine how Octavia Spencer felt at the time, and it likely wasn’t good. Thankfully, someone actually decided to help out. Lo and behold, it was Keanu Reeves himself, as she continued:
Then all of a sudden, this guy comes up with his sunglasses and motorcycle helmet, and I knew immediately it was Keanu Reeves. And I, of course, was freaking out. He, you know, ‘You need some help?’ And I’m like, ‘Sure.’ So I thought he was going to get into the car, I got behind the car to push. He said, ‘No, I’m going to push you out of the street, you get in.’ So he pushed me out of the street, and then of course, when people saw it was Keanu Reeves helping me, everybody came down to help.
Leave it to Keanu Reeves to save the day and be a good Samaritan when someone is in need. Of course, at that time, Keanu Reeves was a huge movie star, riding high on the success of The Matrix. Octavia Spencer, on the other hand, was just getting started, primarily taking small roles on TV shows like ER and The X-Files.
Since then, Octavia Spencer has built herself a powerhouse career, winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress,and playing a variety of roles in inspiring movies like Hidden Figures and horror flicks like Ma.
For his part, Keanu Reeves is back at it with The Matrix 4. He’s been busy filming the sequel in Berlin with director Lana Wachowski and co-star Carrie-Anne Moss. In addition, he's recently been seen with a totally new haircut, which could mean a few things for The Matrix 4.
Since these two serendipitously ran into each other so many years ago, it would be pretty cool if they ended up doing a movie together. It’s probably too late for this casting, but Octavia Spencer as a new Oracle would be pretty awesome.
