Comic-Con: Keanu Reeves gets his alien on in 'The Day the Earth Stood Still'

Keanu Reeves is playing an alien in December tentpole "The Day the Earth Stood Still," and he couldn't be more thrilled.

The actor bounded on to the main stage all smiles, kicking off the first Hall H presentation by welcoming the crowd. One guy in the audience was extra affectionate: "I love you, Keanu!" Reeves eyed him in the crowd and yelled back, "I love you too, man!"

In "Day," a remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, Reeves plays Klaatu, an alien sent to take in the human condition. "The original Klaatu was warm and fuzzy, more human than humans. I’m not that guy," Reeves explained. That's for sure. Preview footage demonstrated Klaatu 2.0's painful- looking mind control capabilities. (Think electric shock therapy).

But if you've already seen the trailer, be warned: "The Day the Earth Stood Still" isn't all aliens and special effects. In the original "Day," Klaatu was sent to warn civilization that it would destroy itself if humans didn't change their ways -- a not-so-subtle commentary about the Cold War and nuclear threat.

The new "Day" will again assess the current state of humanity and the environment through the eyes of Klaatu. It's a message movie, to be sure, but it also arrives on the heels of the critically acclaimed "Wall-E," Pixar's story of a lovable but lonely trash compactor set against the future of a used-and-abused Earth.

Co-star Jennifer Connelly said the movie is actually rather tender. "The idea of an alien that comes to Earth to learn about humanity and Earth from an outsider perspective, it's just such a good story," she said. Connelly plays the mom of a boy who bonds with Klaatu.

Director Scott Derrickson added that it felt like the right time for a remake. "The original was so a product of its time, and commented so well on that early Cold War era," he said. "The idea of updating it made sense since the times have changed and we now have different issues."

-- Denise Martin

Photo: Keanu Reeves stars as Klaatu, an alien whose arrival on our planet triggers a global upheaval in "The Day the Earth Stood Still."  Credit: Fox / Doane Gregory

Comments

[Brent Fox]

I can only hope that the pinheads in Hollywood did not make a political movie about the environment. Pushing the left wing agenda of an environmental collapse of planet earth. But, I am afraid that is actually what they did. True Sci-Fi lovers should protest anything like this by staying home if the remake of a great classic film is turned into a political statement by the far left in Hollywood.