Keanu Reeves is in talks to join Universal’s upcoming live-action hybrid LEGO movie, which will reunite him with director Josh Cooley following the pair’s work on 2019’s Toy Story 4.
As reported by Deadline, Cooley is set to direct the movie, with Jill Wilfert and Ryan Christians producing for Universal. If talks go through, this will mark Reeves’ reunion with Cooley, as the 61-year-old actor previously voiced Duke Ka-Boom in Toy Story 4.
While plot details of the new LEGO movie remain under wraps, Deadline’s sources say that the film will be a hybrid of live-action and animation elements, similar to what was seen in the 1996 sports comedy Space Jam, which starred former professional basketball player Michael Jordan as himself, starring alongside animated characters like Bugs Bunny (Billy West), Daffy Duck (Dee Bradley Baker), and Lola Bunny (Kath Soucie).
The studio landed the rights to the new LEGO movie in 2020 and has since been crafting numerous scripts to get the project greenlit. This latest iteration was reportedly developed around Reeves’ character, with sources stating that the studio brought in the Toy Story 4 director to pitch his vision, which eventually led to Reeves giving his approval. Insiders also stated that having Reeves on board came at an especially good time, as the LEGO rights would have lapsed and head back to the market if Universal didn’t have a film close to pre-production in the next six months.
It’s also currently unknown if the project will have any links to the two currently released Warner Bros LEGO movies, which came out in 2014 and 2019. The films starred Chris Pratt as Emmet Brickowski, a construction worker and Master Builder, and were praised for their realistic depiction of LEGO studs and characters brought to life. Having Reeves on board a LEGO movie as its leading protagonist would certainly shake things up, as the actor is known for his more serious roles, so it will be interesting to see how this upcoming movie shapes up.
Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise “duds” like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3. He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying.
Si Jia
