Keanu Reeves is the Shadow the Hedgehog none of us saw coming, but it turns out that Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s director felt John Wick was a perfect “audition” for the character.
Ever since that post-credits tease in Sonic the Hedgehog 2, fans have been desperate to know who would be playing fan favourite Shadow. Some rumours suggested it would be Star Wars’ Hayden Christensen, others hoped it might be That Batman’s Robert Pattinson, but in the end it actually turned out to be Keanu Reeves, a choice so strong it quickly had everyone convinced. And now, speaking to SFX Magazine (via GamesRadar), director Jeff Fowler shared that Reeves’ stint as modern action icon John Wick actually worked as a perfect “audition” for voicing Shadow. “I’d be lying if I didn’t say there was just an obvious corollary between his performance in the John Wick films and the vibe we’re trying to channel for Shadow,” Fowler said.
“Because Shadow, from a tonal standpoint, is an anti-hero, he’s got a little edginess to him. It felt like the perfect fit for Keanu. He gave such a great performance. He knew what we were after, and was excited about playing the character and coming into our world.” It really does sound like Reeves put in the work when it came to taking on the role of Shadow, as back in October Fowler also shared that the actor had apparently “gone and done his homework” in terms of research, so we can hopefully look forward to a pretty faithful version of the character.
Reeves won’t just be appearing as Shadow in the film either, as the movie version of the character is getting his own bit of DLC in Sonic X Shadow Generations. That’s currently due out December 12, a little over a week ahead of the film itself, which is out in cinemas December 20.
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