SET VISIT: Keanu Reeves Talks Constantine!

Superhero Hype! correspondent Brian Carroll visited the set of Warner Bros.’ upcoming Constantine, directed by Francis Lawrence and starring Keanu Reeves, Rachel Weisz, Tilda Swinton, Gavin Rossdale, Djimon Hounsou, Shia LaBeouf and Jesse Ramirez. Based on the DC/Vertigo comic book Hellblazer, the film tells the story of irreverent supernatural detective John Constantine (Reeves), who has literally been to hell and back. When Constantine teams up with skeptical policewoman Angela Dodson (Weisz) to solve the mysterious suicide of her twin sister (also played by Weisz), their investigation takes them through the world of demons and angels that exists just beneath the landscape of contemporary Los Angeles. Caught in a catastrophic series of otherworldy events, the two become inextricably involved and seek to find their own peace at whatever cost. Brian reports…

We took the limo down to Compton south of L.A. and parked in a vacant lot filled with trucks and trailers. We then walked a block to Angeles Abbey Memorial Park, built in 1928. The architecture was modeled after Moorish middle eastern architecture with domed roofs and columns. Inside one of three buildings sitting around a courtyard was the set for Midnite’s reliquary, a long hallway with plenty of intricate stonework on the walls. The hall (see pictures) was filled with religious icons and other objects, including a huge wooden cross, religious statuary, a dusty jukebox, a vintage machine gun, brains in jars, vases and more.

We watched Keanu (dressed in a black coat, pants and tie and white shirt and holding a strange golden gun, known in the film as the Holy Shotgun) and Djimon (pimped out in a red hat and velour coat) walk down the hall six times for the scene in which they walk to Midnite’s electric chair. When we first came in, Keanu must have sensed us looking down from the floor above because he looked up and gave us a little wave.

And now a little background on John Constantine: John first showed up in DC’s “The Saga of the Swamp Thing” # 37, as a mysterious fellow (modeled after the rock star Sting in appearance), who uses a worldwide network of contacts and operatives to keep up with what’s going on in the supernatural world. He leads Swamp Thing through a number of adventures to prepare him to avert a supernatural disaster. The character’s popularity got him his own book, called “Hellblazer,” which debuted in 1987 and continues to this day. Hellblazer has attracted some of comicdom’s most successful writers, sometimes for just one issue (Neil Gaiman, Grant Morrison) or for a more extended stay, like Warren Ellis, Brian Azzarello, and Garth Ennis, who was responsible for the storyline, “Dangerous Habits,” that the movie is based on.

Brian got a chance to talk to Keanu Reeves on the set and here is the interview which does contain some story spoilers, so proceed with caution.