I had a few friends working special effects jobs on the Matrix movies, he bought all of them fucking HARLEYS for Christmas during the shoot for the second one.
One of those guys, Paul, said that Keanu was the most sincere, humble and lovely dude he'd ever met. Said he eschewed contact with the cast in favour of hanging out with the crew, was the only guy the martial arts coaches respected out of the whole cast, and was the bravest man he's ever met. That scene in the first Matrix film, the assault on the office tower lobby - Keanu turned down earplugs for all the charges blowing everywhere taking "bullet holes" out of pillars, walls etc, just for authenticity. When he turns and hides behind a pillar which explodes with bullets hitting it on both sides, Paul said "the entire crew was about 15 metres away, with ear protection, and all flinching anyway when the charges blew - Keanu just took it like a complete badass".
EDIT: I remembered, Paul also told me that Keanu once explained to him why he was getting so many action roles. He had injured himself at some point and had fused vertebrae in his upper back or neck, so when he turned his head, his shoulders and chest tended to follow, because of his limited flexibility. "It makes me look dynamic, rather than disabled" was his explanation."
- svunt
Makes you feel good, reading about it.
