Sure, Keanu Reeves might be listed as one of the action connoisseurs in Hollywood today but let’s not forget the time when he had us bawling in the sports drama, Hardball. The film contains probably one of the saddest and most tragic deaths in cinema history, giving viewers a reminder that life is unpredictable.
Hardball was released twenty-three years ago. While the critics might not have been kind to it, we can’t help but enlist it amongst the underrated gems of Hollywood. As the film celebrates its twenty-third anniversary, let’s take a moment to remember coach Conor whose life was changed by a bunch of little kids, and pay our respects to G-Baby.
Happy Twenty-third to Keanu Reeves’ Hardball
Hardball was released on September 10, 2001. While the audience fully expected to see Keanu Reeves struggle as a baseball coach of troubled fifth-graders, little did they know that they were also signing up for a heartbreaking tragedy.
The film is filled to the brim with heartwarming moments. While Reeves’ Conor only took up the job to pay his debts, he eventually ended up bonding with the kids. He even surprised them with pizza and tickets to a major league game.
However, the film takes a tragic turn when the youngest member on the team, G-Baby, is fatally shot after getting caught up in a gunfight between two rival gangs. Needless to say, the scene has stuck with the fans even after all these years.
Hardball was made on a budget of $32 million and it grossed $44 million at the box office. As fans celebrate the film inching closer to its silver jubilee, they couldn’t really understand why a film like this would have a budget of $32 million.
Well, to be fair, the film did have a cameo from former professional baseball right fielder Sammy Sosa who played in Major League Baseball for a whopping eighteen seasons. That sure must not have come cheap.
Here’s what fans have to say about Hardball:
The film was released in 2001 when Reeves was still riding the waves of the success of The Matrix. It was good to see him hop onto a completely different genre and absolutely nail it, putting his versatility on full display. In an era of blockbuster franchises and big-budget spectacles, Hardball serves as a reminder of the power of simple, heartfelt storytelling.
Keanu Reeves Had a Meeting with Some Bookies
In the film, Reeves’ character has to pay a huge sum of money back to the bookies. In order to get into the character, the actor took it upon himself to experience that side of the world first-hand.
He arranged a meeting with a few bookies to get in the zone. They met in the back room of a bar where they drank and had discussions about gambling.
During his appearance on The Tonight Show, Reeves stated,
I wanted to know my lifestyle. It takes place in Chicago and I wanted to know a bit about the lifestyle, what I might thinking, feeling, etc. I kind of had like a town hall meeting with a bunch of bookies and a bunch of guys. In the back room of a bar and we just kind of drank and talked about gambling.
Well, leave it to Reeves to get his character down to perfection, no matter what he takes. He even stated that the bookies were actually quite nice as opposed to what we may see on TV.
Hardball is available to watch on Prime Video.
