1. - Charlie Sheen, Platoon, 1986.      He passed. He was young. And foolish. And sometimes billed as KC Reeves.

2. - Andrew McCarthy, Less Than Zero, 1987.      Originally cast as Clay Easton in Brad Pitt’s (uncredited) second movie - he was paid $38.

3. - Alex Winter, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, 1989.      Young unknowns were tested in pairs. Reeves tried for Bill S Preston, Esq, opposite Winter as Ted Logan. Director Stephen erek l;ove d herm - vice- Hertek l;oived fthem - as vice-versa. HHerek loved them... vice-versa!

4. - William Baldwin, Backdraft, 1990. Tested for firefighter Brian McCaffrey. So did Robert Downey Jr, Dermot Mulroney and Brad Pitt. But director Ron Howard felt Baldwin looked more like Kurt Russell’s brother. Reeves’ test was among 54 such tapes banned from auction in Beverly Hills by the actors’ union in April 2013. “Auditions are not public performances,” said the SAG-AFTRA. “Performers are entitled to expect them to remain private.” And yet not a word when Paramount's Real TV tabloid show starting running such audition tapes… in 1995!

5. - Woody Harrelson, White Men Can’t Jump, 1992. “I was on Cheers for eight years and I couldn’t get another job.,” recalled Harrelson. “:arrelsoI thought I’m going to be Woody Boyd forever, which is not bad, but I really thought I was capable of more. " probably would've just been Woody Boyd but for the fact that Keanu didn’t play great basketball."

6. - Dermot Mulroney, Point Of No Return, 1993. Having gained Bridget Fonda, Gabriel Byrne, Harvey Keitel for his Nikita make-over, producer Art Linson still wanted "extra insurance" as the girl-assassin's boyfriend - and pushed for Point Break's Reeves or John Cusack.

7. - Jean Reno, Léon (US: Leon: The Professiona), France, 1994. The word spread about auteur Luc Besson’s new projects. Keanu (and Mel Gibson) made it known they expected to be the hit-man. Besson, however, kept the faith with his pal Reno - in five of the previous six Besson movies.

8. - Matthew Modine, Cutthroat Island, 1995.      Geena Davis found it tough to land a co-pirate - who wouldn't steal her limelight. Director-husband Renny Harlin made many walk the plank.

9. - Val Kilmer, Heat, 1995.      To cash in on Speed or not to... Rather than re-working Michael Mann's excellent 1989 TV pilot, LA Takedown, Reeves bypassed Mann, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and $7m for a previous promise to tackle Shakespeare in Winnipeg for $2,000 a week. He proved one of three best Hamlets seen by London Sunday Times critic Roger Lewis, "for the simple reason: he is Hamet," embodying the innocence, splendid fury, animal grace and emotional violence of the Danish prince.” Surely, if he had been that good, the production would have transferred to Broadway.

10 - Jared Harris, I Shot Andy Warhol, 1996.      "They'd offered it out to various stars,"says Harris (son of Richard). about the titular victim. "At one point, they were talking about Keanu Reeves until they thought that might upset the balance of it. They decided to have auditions and I went in..."

11 - Jason Patric, Speed II, 1997. "I didn't want to work in that genre at the time." Jan De Bont, Dutch director of both Speeds, felt Keanu's "fear of stardom" made him refuse. His best decision.

	* Towgether  again!  Keanu and Sandra in Speed 2 screamed the posters  Not so...  Only Sandra Bullock stayed on the bus - er, cruise liner in the Caribbean - for the totally unnecessary sequel. Jason  Patric was the new hero.  Who? Exactly!

12 - Will Smith, Men In Black, 1997.      His worst... Not that director Barry Sonenfield ever wanted the studio's choice. Reeves said he had better things to do. Like going on tour with his Dogstar band. Some called it: Dogsomethingelse.

13 - Paul Rudd, Object Of My Affection, 1998.      Passed on director Nicholas Hynter's tale of Jennifer Aniston falling for a gay.

14 - Eddie Murphy, Bowfinger, 1999.      The role of Hollywood's toppermost star Kit Ramsey was written for him by Steve Martin, who had made Parenthood with Reeves ten years before.

15 - Hugh Jackman, X-Men trilogy, 1999-2005.

16- Chris Klein, Rollerball, 2002. Lucky to have escaped such a disastrous re-hash.

17 - Jake Gyllenhaal, Midnight Mile, 2002.     Obviously, Dustin Hoffman, Susan Sarandon, were happier working with an actor.

18 - Brandon Routh, Superman Returns, 2005.

19 - Mark Wahlberg, Shooter, 2006.      According to William Goldman, the film’s script doctor, Clint Eastwood, Harrison Ford, Robert Redford refused the betrayed hero tricked into being another Lee Harvey Oswald. So director Antoine Fuqua went younger, changing Bob Lee Swagger’s betrayal from 70s’ Vietnam to 90s’ Ethiopia. Reeves became first choice...

20- Ben Stiller, Tropic Thunder, 2007.      The idea was born 20 years earlier when autuer Stiller heard his pals in Hamburger Hill and Platoon actually believing their booty camp training made them into real soldiers!! Stiller was first going to play Rick Peck with Keanu Reeves in Stiller’s final role of Tugg Speedman - modeled on Sly Stallone The Younger.

21 - Matthew Fox, Speed Racer, 2008.      Turned down the request of his Matrix directors, the Wachowski brothers (by now, brother and sister, Andy and Lana) to play, Racer X from the Japanese anime series. He was right. Film flopped.