Constantine (2005)

Cast as the anti-hero John Constantine, Keanu Reeves played a part in developing the screen character, as Goldsman relates. “He just became Constantine so fully during the development process and rehearsals that a lot of the lines that ended up in the film just emerged from him. He obviously loved the role.” Director Lawrence notes the depth of darkness that “Keanu was able to pull up from deep within and bring to the forefront to play this role. The sarcasm is natural and believable, and indicative of how Constantine views the world. You really see how this man is haunted inside and out.”

With Constantine, attitude is paramount, a concept Reeves fully embraced. “Attitude defines Constantine,” says di Bonaventura. “Call it irreverence, fatalism, irony, bravado; it’s unmistakable.” Adds Reeves, “Constantine literally knows how the world works and he doesn’t like it.”

Clearly, what he does best is not a job he ever wanted, though it garners him a fair amount of pride, and that contradiction laid upon all the rest just adds to his trademark cynicism. Although, as Stoff remarks, “it’s often true that the most hard-boiled cynics are people who were once incredibly romantic and idealistic and have had their hopes and ideals crushed.”

Constantine is also abidingly rude and anti-social, which is part of the pleasure of portraying him, Reeves reveals. Describing the scene in which he turns Angela away when she comes for help, he says, “He’s just not in the talking mood. Plus, he doesn’t like people getting close to him because they tend to die so he’s more comfortable keeping his distance.” The fact that Constantine later catches sight of a demon pursuing the departing detective and rushes to her aid Reeves finds questionable and typical of his character’s enigmatic nature. “Is his help self-serving, in whole or in part? Because it turns out, as Constantine suspects, this woman is somehow intricately involved in the recent escalation in demon activity and the larger plot behind it all that he’s trying to figure out. Is he helping Angela, as any of us would, simply because she’s in trouble, or is it just part of his big plan to save himself?”

Overall, “John Constantine is the most reluctant hero I’d ever come across,” states Brodbin. “He’s not doing things to be a nice guy or to be a hero. He doesn’t want to care about people because all it does is bring him pain. If he could cut that part of him out he would.” 

“He definitely has an heroic arc,” says Goldsman. “But he goes kicking and screaming about it.” 

In the catalytic role of Detective Angela Dodson, the filmmakers cast Rachel Weisz (Enemy at the Gates, Runaway Jury, The Mummy). Addressing the duality of her character, Lawrence explains, “we needed someone believable as a competent police officer who turns out to be also a very powerful psychic. She needed to be tough, smart and also embody a quality that could make people believe there might be something else going on below the surface, something she’s not even fully aware of herself.”

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