Back in 1999, getting a Keanu Reeves-led sci-fi film off the ground would have been a piece of cake. Now it appears that we might never launch Keanu into the atmosphere, with his long-postponed vehicle Passengers hitting yet another snag, as co-star Rachel McAdams exits the film.
McAdams had been attached to replace Reese Witherspoon in Passengers since the latter left the film last year. This means that the release date will be postponed (again) and has resulted in The Weinstein Company dropping the film as distributor. With McAdams out, it also means that shooting will be delayed as producers search for another leading lady.
If it ever gets made, Passengers will feature Keanu Reeves as a passenger on a spacecraft on a journey to a distant planet. Placed in hypersleep to facilitate the journey (which will take centuries), Reeves is accidentally awakened ninety years ahead of schedule. Realizing that he’s going to live and die on the spaceship alone, he decides to wake up a fellow passenger (whoever will replace McAdams) to keep him company.
The plot has a lot of potential and it’s a shame that Passengers has had such difficulty actually getting made. It featured on the 2007 Black List, was revitalized last year with the participation of the Weinsteins and Brian Kirk  (Game of Thrones), and looked like it was actually going to begin shooting with Reeves and McAdams in the lead roles. Now we’re faced with an indefinite postponement, though the producers hope that it will not be pushed back by more than a few weeks. The setback will still probably change the April 2015 release date – and that’s assuming that it does not wind up killing the film altogether.
We will, however, keep an eye on cast and production developments for Passengers and let you know when (and if) Keanu Reeves starts that long journey to a distant planet.
