Keanu Reeves Explains Why BRZRKR Is Getting Live-Action Movie & Anime Show

At SDCC's BRZRKR panel, Keanu Reeves spoke about his comic's planned anime adaptation and explains why it is getting a movie and a series.

Keanu Reeves Explains Why BRZRKR Is Getting Live-Action Movie & Anime Show

At San Diego Comic-Con, Keanu Reeves spoke about the decision to adapt his BRZRKR comic book into an anime series in addition to a live-action movie. The 12-issue comic series was created by Reeves in collaboration with comic book writer Matt Kindt and is drawn by Ron Garney. Published by Boom! Studios, the story follows a cursed immortal warrior known only as B who agrees to work for the US Government in exchange for learning the truth behind his bloody and long-lived existence. The debut issue subsequently became one of the highest-selling comics of the last decade.

In March last year, Netflix announced that they were adapting the property into both a live-action film starring Reeves in the leading role and a follow-up anime series. In October last year, screenwriter Mattson Tomlin, who assisted Matt Reeves with writing The Batman, was officially announced to be providing the script for the hyper-violent live-action feature. When Reeves first revealed Tomlin’s involvement in the project, he also suggested that the film would be an R-rated feature that would not be a direct copy of the comic book material.

Up until recently, however, further details have been few and far between until the BRZRKR panel at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con. Confirming that the follow-up animated series is currently being produced by Production I.G, the same Japanese anime studio behind Ghost in the Shell, Reeves spoke about his love for the animated medium. Admitting that he originally watched anime as a kid and didn’t understand what it was, he would later be introduced to films like Akira and Ghost in the Shell by the Wachowskis while working on The Matrix. Calling anime “some of the coolest shit I’ve seen as a human being,” he applauded the medium’s ability to portray not only action but also to expound upon morality tales about who we are and what we’re about.

With BRZRKR doing so well in the comic sphere, there’s no doubt fans will be more eager than ever to see Keanu not only appear as B in the live-action film but also lend his vocal talents to the upcoming anime. No stranger to high-action properties, Reeves’ previous work on films like The Matrix and John Wick franchises will put him in good stead for Netflix’s plans for his comic book property. Moreover, the choice to pursue an anime style of animation for the follow-up series fits perfectly with the comic’s violent nature, and it will likely serve to translate the action well.

While no official release dates for either the BRZRKR film or anime series have been revealed as of yet, Reeves still has his plate full with his return to the role of John Wick slated for March next year. With San Diego Comic-Con currently in full swing, Lionsgate took the opportunity to tease Reeve’s return in a first-look image and even a John Wick 4 teaser trailer. Now with BRZRKR also on the horizon in multiple formats, it would seem that Reeves certainly has his plate full for the very near future.