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KEANU REEVES:
“I wasn’t familiar with the character before I read the script, and when the script came to me, the aspect of the character being based in London and being English had already changed. So I wasn’t aware of that. When I familiarized myself with the work, I saw that what was important was really the essence of Constantine, and we worked really hard to keep that aspect of it. That kind of hard-boiled, world-weary, cynical, fatalistic, nihilistic, self-interested – with a heart! And I think we did. I hope that fans of the comic books don’t feel that we sabotaged something that is so well loved.”
RACHEL WEISZ:
“I had never heard of the comic books, so I’m representative of the audience who doesn’t know anything about them. But I get to play two great characters within a world that I think is incredibly interesting. I have always been drawn to tales of the supernatural, and I thought she was a very real and grounded girl who enters into this fantastical world.”
FRANCIS LAWRENCE:
“We thought about having Keanu dye his hair blond [so he’d look more like the comic book character], but what was always important to me was just keeping who the heart of the character is. I didn’t know the comic before I read the script, so when I was attracted to the [project], it was because of the character, not because he had blond hair and had an English accent.”
REEVES:
“I fell in love with Francis. I had one of the best times I’ve ever had working on a film, working on this particular project. I would love to play Constantine again as long as I worked with the same people.”
WEISZ:
“I’m not practicing any religion. I just have my own superstitions that are not theologically based, like never walking under a ladder. For me Heaven and Hell and demons and angels are within us. I’m interested in the idea of free will, and that we have the capacity to be good and evil and that Heaven and Hell are places on Earth that we make. The movie is old testament Christian mythology.”
LAWRENCE:
“We were always aware of any Matrix similarities in this, because we knew people would have those issues. To me, Constatine is such a different character. But because it was Keanu, and it was a year-and-a-half ago when the last one came out, it was in the universal consciousness that he was Neo. So we were aware of that, but we didn’t hold back on anything.”
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THE CONCEPT:
