Breaking new ground
Actor Keanu Reeves and author China Miévelle are mutual fans — but could that survive writing a novel together?
Albert L. Ortega/Getty Images
- Morgan Jeffery
The Book of Elsewhere is out now. To buy it for less than its RRP, click here.
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No shiny memoir of awards won and audiences wowed for this movie star. No, when Keanu Reeves writes a book it’s a novel exploring loneliness, immortality and the quest to reconnect with humanity, told through the story of an immortal antihero called B.
You may have encountered B before: Reeves’s new novel, The Book of Elsewhere is the latest twist on his hit comic series BRZRKR. But now moving beyond that graphic novel’s action-packed panels, Reeves and his co-author China Miéville dive into the heart of a character who’s lived for centuries, yearning for meaning. As Keanu puts it, “I wanted a character who’s not like, ‘Oh, I’m so bored,’ but it’s like, ‘F**k, this is going to end badly again.’”
How did this collaboration come about? How does Hollywood’s Keanu Reeves end up writing with China Miéville from Norwich?
Keanu The first work I read of China’s was Three Moments of an Explosion, which is a collection of short stories. And I was, no pun intended, blown away. The varieties of tone, the emotions I felt for the characters and in the stories, the pleasure of these fantastical circumstances. It was a delight to read. So when the opportunity came to do a novel based on a comic book I was involved with, called BRZRKR, I was asked who could write the novel – and immediately I thought of China.
China Keanu approached me, and I was incredibly moved and excited. His work has been very important to me: it’s not just that it’s fun, exciting entertainment, but also that – especially some of the science-fiction works – it’s focused on deeper questions. Keanu’s work for me has always bridged that gap between entertainment and thoughtfulness in a way that the best pulp can do.
China Mieville. Barney Cokeliss
Does inventing something with someone else — especially when one of you has already kind of invented it once — create friction?
China I was pleasantly surprised by how unrestrictive it was; that was one of the key takeaways for me of our first conversation. In terms of the nuts and bolts of the storyline, that was all pretty much open for play.
Keanu I always wanted them to have an independence, so you could read the novel and enjoy it without reading the comic, and you could read the comic without reading the novel.
China We’re always keen to say this is a novel inspired by the comic book, it’s not a novel set in the same universe. It’s a different take on the characters, so it was a question of establishing boundaries: what was up for discussion and debate.
How else is The Book of Elsewhere different to the BRZRKR graphic novel?
Keanu In the comic book, you’re with the character, but it’s about how other people react to him. Do they want something from him? Do they want to use him? Do they want to kill him?
China Whereas you have more space for interiority with a novel. Comics are also very good at displaying violence, because you’re seeing these almost balletic images, which becomes very farcical if you do it in prose. I rewrote some of the early drafts of the fight scenes because it didn’t work as prose.
The book tackles life, death and immortality. Are they big themes for you, Keanu?
Keanu I would say this is quite a personal work for me. The loneliness of the character is more of a linchpin in the novel, more explored than
it is in the comic book. That yearning for company, someone who feels so alone for 80,000 years… that emotion is very much amplified and explored in the novel. I wanted a character that’s looking to regain their humanity. I didn’t want them to be bored with life, and I thought that China played a nice tonal level with… not exhaustion, but a weariness born from experience and outcomes.
Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Reloaded. © Warner Brothers
Netflix has a live-action film based on the comic in the works, as well as an anime series. So what’s next?
Keanu My hope is that other artists and other mediums can tell stories from this source material. China has a wonderful idea of doing an epic poem. That’s all we got so far!
Is this book the beginning of something? Do you have plans to collaborate again?
Keanu I wouldn’t say no! But China’s very busy.
China I wouldn’t say no, either!
Keanu Let’s do a comic book…
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China I’m in. OK, done!
Authors
Morgan Jeffery
Morgan Jeffery is as a TV and Film expert and has appeared on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
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