Everyone’s familiar with the photo of the New York construction workers sitting on a steel beam located a terrifying height above the city. It’s just a bunch of guys being dudes in the 1930s, smoking cigs and enjoying a spot of lunch, separated from certain death only by a single rod of metal. You know the photograph well? Think again, because among those workers sits none other than everyone’s favourite spoonbender and John Wick star Keanu Reeves.
At least, that’s what a certain Ukranian textbook of world history would have you believe, after someone spotted Reeves perched on the end of the line of workers – next to the guy swigging a bottle of whiskey – printed in their copy of the book.
Reeves can be seen on page 58 in a section about the US between the first and second world wars. He pops up in the photograph, “Lunch atop a Skyscraper”, eating a sandwich, chilling with the lads after a hard day’s graft on the Rockefeller Center in Manhattan. The image used to paste him into the image appears to be the ‘Sad Keanu’ meme – a candid shot of the actor eating alone on a park bench that’s already been placed in a myriad of different locations.
The textbook, written by Ihor Shchupak, a candidate of historical sciences, has an annotation that reads: “The textbook has a special structure of teaching material and basic definitions. Fragments of historical documents, background and additional information, illustrative material, maps, questions, and tasks are aimed at building students’ interest in history and improving learning efficiency.” But what it’s truly illustrative of is Reeves’ ability to transcend time and space to find himself among one of the most instantly recognisable images in history.
The actor is set to reprise his role as Ted in Bill and Ted Face the Music, the third film of the franchise slated for release this summer – a new poster for the film was released this week.