Sty ing by Jeanne Yang/The Wa Group; Hair by Nina Paskowitz; Makeup By Geri Oppenheim
to have that back,” he says, “to look like if I grabbed you, you
were in my world now.”
Reeves isn’t slowing down his exercise regimen these days,
though he admits that the biggest difference between playing an
action hero at 52 versus 25 is the wear and tear on the knees. “I
can’t do stairs as fast,” he says. “But if you say ‘action,’ I’ll go.” His
recovery is a little slower, but his endurance is solid. His training
diet is still simple. “Low sodium, low fat, and the night before a big
fight sequence, I still eat a steak. It started onThe Matrix. I was like,
‘Gotta go eat a steak, Carrie-Anne [Moss, his co-star].’ It’s totally
psychological.” He prefers a nice New York cut, with a little fat on it.
With Wick behind him, Reeves says he has some “civilian living”
ahead of him before he chooses his next project. During these
periods, he takes it easy. “Steak. Red wine. A nice single malt
with a big ice cube. Ride a motorcycle.”
Reeves plans to keep the great action movies coming. “You
just gotta find the right one,” he says. “You can’t just do it to do it.
Unless you need the dough, which is a good enough reason.”Of course, Reeves, who took in millions for his work on
The Matrixmovies alone, doesn’t need the dough. “Well, I do,”
he insists, declining to elaborate too much. “It’s a long story
I don’t want to share with you.” Though later he offers a clue:
“When you’re friends with someone, you want to help them,
you sign something that turns into something else, and that comes
back to haunt you.” Still, he says, money is a bad way to make
career choices, and his résumé bears that out. (See: 1991’sMy
Own Private Idaho, 1993’sLittle Buddhaand 2012’sSide by Side,
a documentary he produced about Hollywood’s conversion
from traditional film to digital.) He’s also the guy who started
a motorbike company five years ago.
In fact, Reeves actually showed up today on one of his bikes,
a gorgeous Arch KRGT-1, what he calls a “performance cruiser”.
Arch is more than a vanity project, he says. He’s involved in every
facet of the company, from design and testing to administration.
The project fits perfectly into what Reeves sees as the guiding
philosophy of his life: “You’re gonna die — make stuff.” APRIL 2016 MEN’S FITNESS 59