The Matrix star Keanu Reeves is now a part of the Spongebob Squarepants universe after lending his voice in the latest Spongebob feature film on Paramount+. His extended cameo led to the burning question: How did he land the role?
According to Yahoo News, writer Tim Hill always had Reeves in mind for one particular role in the film based on the beloved Nickelodeon animated series: that of a spirit guide named Sage.
“Never have a back-up plan — that’s my motto. We would have found some way to do it. But [the role] was so him that we would have had to totally rewrite it!” Hill said.
Hill also shared that he always had Reeves in mind while writing the character of Sage. “We wanted a spirit guide character who was a little bit of a sensei and it just kept coming up Keanu in my head,” he explained and owing to some personal connections, he was able to get the script through to Reeves.
“One of our producers knew him and reached out. When he saw some of the stuff we were contemplating for his role, he was like ‘Yup, I’ll do it!’ We lucked out, honestly.”
With this role, Reeves joins a list of other Hollywood stars who have guest-starred in Spongebob films: the list includes David Hasselhoff, Betty White and, David Bowie.
