Keanu Reeves was tricked to star in failed 2000's thriller film 'The Watcher'?

The Watcher is a thriller film released in 2000. It stars James Spader, Marisa Tomei, and Keanu Reeves. Set in Chicago, the plot is about a retired FBI agent (Spader) who is stalked and taunted by a serial killer (Reeves). Directed by Joe Charbanic, the movie was bashed by the viewers and failed to perform at the Box Office. There were questions on why a popular actor like Reeves boarded the project and it was later revealed that he was tricked in doing so.

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Keanu Reeves was misled to star in 'The Watcher'

According to a report in Fortress, Keanu Reeves was tricked to star in The Watcher. He was absent from the red carpet and press events designed to promote the movie. When the film hit the theatres, it earned criticism from the audiences. People wondered why Reeves was missing from the promotional events and eventually its failure.

Months later, it was revealed that Keanu Reeves got tricked. The incident happened as director Joe Charbanic and Reeves were playing hockey and the latter verbally agreed to play a small role in The Watcher so that the filmmaker could use his star power to obtain financing. The project’s budget rose to around $30 million and it is when things went haywire. Without his knowledge his character was rewritten, making him one of the lead actors in the movie. 

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As it was not part of the original arrangement, Keanu Reeves considered backing out. But his legal team warned of a prior case in which an actor broke a verbal agreement and ended up in a protracted legal battle. In the end, Reeves decided to make the film, but upon discovering that his co-stars were paid a million dollars each while he earned less, he was furious.

Universal Studios tried to do some damage control as they decided to exclude Keanu Reeves from press and marketing tours, as long as he agreed to wait one year to publicly reveal his issues with the project. A year later, the actor told the whole story to the Calgary Sun newspaper. He said that he never found the script interesting, but a friend of his forged his signature on the agreement. Reeves mentioned that he did not want to get sued, so he had no other choice but to do the movie.

Image Source: A Still from The Watcher

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The Watcher cast also includes Ernie Hudson, Chris Ellis, Rober Cicchini, Yvonne Niami and Rebekah Louise Smith. The story was written by Christopher Eberts, Elliott Lewitt, Jeff Rice and Clark Peterson. The film has an IMDb rating of 5.3/ 10 and 11% score on Rotten Tomatoes.