The internet started buzzing last week when Hollywood’s favorite actor, Keanu Reeves, stepped out on the red carpet with his rumored girlfriend, the artist Alexandra Grant. While most people fixated on her age and her gray hair (ugh), others pointed out that she looks a lot like Oscar winner Helen Mirren. On Wednesday, November 6, at the premiere of her new film The Good Liar, Mirren weighed in on Reeves’s dating her doppelgänger, saying she finds the comparison “flattering.”
Mirren shared her thoughts after Entertainment Tonight asked her if she’d caught wind of all the people noting how much she and Grant look alike. “I saw that,” she replied. “That was very flattering on me, you know, because she’s obviously lovely.”
Mirren shared some more sweet thoughts about the couple, who haven’t officially confirmed that they’re dating. “I do know Keanu very well,” she said. “He did a film with my husband, and he is just the most adorable, lovely person. So she’s a lucky girl and I’m sure that he’s a lucky boy.”
Those words are high praise coming from a woman who literally had men carry her into a recent premiere on a throne, like the royalty she is. Online, people are freaking out over photos of Mirren and Grant and commenting about how much they look alike. “I wasn’t wearing my glasses at first and I legit thought he was dating Helen Mirren which I also would have been here for,” one person wrote on Twitter. Another person added, “Saw the photos and legit thought Keanu Reeves was dating Helen Mirren. Which I also would have supported.”
“Hands up if you thought Keanu Reeves was actually dating Helen Mirren for a second ? I’m not usually bothered about celebrity dating stuff but genuinely happy for him,” a third person wrote.
In a recent interview, Keanu Reeves reportedly revealed he’s a “lonely guy.” “I don’t have anyone in my life,” he adds, “but if it does occur, I would respect and love the other person. Hopefully it’ll happen for me.”
The story quickly went viral because, duh. Keanu Reeves, a national and cinematic treasure, is lonely? If that’s true I volunteer as tribute to keep him company. I’d cook Alison Roman’s spicy chickpea stew while we heart-to-heart about, like, where our souls go when we die. We’d have a really nice time, I think.
Others on social media feel the same way:
It’s heartbreaking to think Reeves is lonely because, like Tom Hanks and Chris Evans, he’s on a very short list of universally beloved men. There are multiple articles with the headline “Proof That Keanu Reeves Is the Nicest Guy in Hollywood” which is enough proof for me that he’s the nicest guy in Hollywood. His work is so iconic that a hip NYC theater is hosting a retrospective on his films this summer; in April, Glasgow, Scotland threw a KeanuCon festival. Even Sandy Bullock, literally Miss Congeniality, has a crush on him.
Let me love you.Emma McIntyre/Getty Images
The good news: His rep told Huffington Post the interview was “fabricated.” Thank God Reeves is doing just fine, but the moment did lead to a discussion on social media—and among the Glamour team—about his allure. When I dropped the article into Slack, a conversation about our favorite things about Reeves quickly took off.
Khaliha Hawkins pointed to a lesser-known Reeves film, 1995’s A Walk in the Clouds, as proof of his versatility as an actor. “Keanu is known for his action roles, but he’s always been a rom-com star in my mind,” she explained. “A Walk in the Clouds is full of drama and rom-com tropes, so, this movie has it all.”
Samantha Leach said she keeps seeing nostalgic photos of Reeves in her Instagram feed, to her delight. “If you’re deep down the rabbit hole of ’90s nostalgia Instagram like I am, photos of Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix around the time of My Own Private Idaho pop up a lot,” she told me. “The smolder that guy gives off as a ’90s indie star is unreal, like, c’mon. More important, whenever he’s pictured with River Phoenix he looks so protective of him. River was struggling with addiction by that point and with every pose Keanu looks like he’s trying to convey, “Let me save you, River” through his eyes. It’s how much he cares that truly makes him sexy.”
For Kim Fusaro, the love for Reeves started early and hasn’t wavered. “I saw Keanu in Point Break in the theater because my friend’s mom escorted us, two pre-teens, to the counter and cleared us for tickets. It was my first in-the-theater rated R movie,” she said. “A decade later I went with the same friend to see Keanu’s band, Dogstar, at a shitty Providence, R.I., bar, another venue that we definitely weren’t old enough to be in. He was worth bending the rules and breaking the law for.”
I didn’t know Reeves has a band, but that only adds to my love for him. That surprising side of Reeves is what Christopher Rosa likes, too. “He’s a great actor—and so, so hot—but my love for him is rooted in something else entirely: conspiracy theories,” Rosa said. “There are so many wild rumors about Reeves on the Internet, and they’re either all true or all complete B.S. Like this one about how he paid for a stranger’s kidney transplant. Or when everyone was convinced he saved dozens of cats from euthanasia. And there’s the old folklore that he drives a Honda and lives in a normal apartment despite having millions. We do know he takes the subway, so perhaps that last one is true. Regardless, the Internet is out here posting theories about him like he’s a Game of Thrones character, and I’m here for it.”
