Part Two- [To Hollywood]
At the age of 21, Keanu packed his bags and left Toronto Canada and headed for a shot at Hollywood, relocating himself to LA.
Stardom is a hard thing to obtain in Hollywood and for Keanu the struggle was no different. Moving to LA, meant leaving family and having to support himself as he moved from casting call to casting call. Actors hoping to make it "big" had to have something special, be unique. They needed something to set them apart from the rest and they needed contacts. Keanu qualified.
Thanks to his ventures into stage and screen Keanu had some useful contacts, to his name and luckily enough he almost immediately landed a role in the chilling movie "Rivers Edge" an account of a group of teenagers response to a friends senseless murder of his girlfriend. "Rivers Edge" is based on a true story which details a 1981 murder case. Reeves plays a rebellious teen named Matt with a troubled life, and a friend of the murderer. But he is the only one with a conscience and eventually contacts the police.
Rivers Edge earned Keanu rave reviews such as "The film boasts the best cast of unknowns for years and Reeves in particular is superb as the moral center of the film" and "A pathetic and allienated Reeves is excellent". River's edge got Keanu noticed, his talent shone brightly.
Keanu then played a school nerd in The Night Before (1988) and an offbeat spirit is Prince of Pennsylvania (1988) before he moved on to do Permanent Record.
Permanent Record revolves around Keanu's best friend falling to his death from a cliff's edge on the night of a party, later Keanu's character discovers that it was in fact suicide. His world tumbles around him. Though Keanu recieved great reviews the movies was met with a mixed reception.
Not long after River's Edge, Keanu encountered an accident of his own. The actor an avid lover of motorcycles and a self confessed "Speed Freak" careered off the road on his Norton at 100mph into an embankment near his home.
Keanu was hospitalised with a ruptured spleen and two broken ribs, still suffers from an 18 inch scar on his torso from a scaple incision.