Secret Level creators reveal the impossible circumstances under which Keanu Reeves shot his episode for the Prime Video series

All the episodes of Secret Level season one are now streaming on Prime Video. Secret Level is an anthology series that pays tribute to legendary video game IPs such as Pac-Man, Dungeons & Dragons, Mega-Man, Unreal Tournament, and Warhammer 40,000.

Each of the fifteen episodes of Secret Level season one is set against the backdrops of the worlds created by these games. Among the other episodes, the particular Armored Core episode has been widely praised, with Keanu Reeves' character of a junkie mech pilot being met with positive reviews.

Armored Core from Secret Level season one runs up to fifteen minutes in duration. However, this isn't an issue as the episode delivers a powerful performance from Keanu Reeves as a junkie mech pilot with dubious motivations. According to Secret Level creators Tim Miller and Dave Wilson, the casting for Keanu Reeves was finalized when work on the show was almost over.

Despite being a late addition to the show, Keanu Reeves showed commendable commitment, often shooting for thirteen hours straight and disregarding personal comfort, all because he was dedicated to the idea of giving his best performance. Here's everything that we know.

What did Secret Level creators say about Keanu Reeves' contribution to the Prime Video show?

Secret Level creators Tim Miller and Dave Wilson spoke exclusively with Collider's Steve Weintraub about their decision to cast the John Wick star on Armored Core. Speaking about their initial disbelief at Reeves being interested in the role, Miller stated:

"I have very fat fingers," so the message he sent originally corrected to "Do we have anything for piano?” when Wilson read it. "And I'm like, 'What does that mean?' And then I'm like, 'Oh, it's Keanu's there today.'"

He then went on to mention that most of the episodes of Secret Level had already been cast when Reeves met them:

"We'd cast most of the episodes. There wasn't actually a lot left. He was meeting Tim for another project, and all the artwork is up on the walls, and he was like, 'What’s this?' And so there were only a handful left, and the one that we’d just actually got the story in for was Armored Core. So I texted back, 'What about a junkie mech pilot?' And then didn't hear anything for like an hour. And I was like, 'Well, I guess not.' And then Tim texts back and is like, 'He’s in!' And I'm like, 'Bullshit, he's not in.' And then the next thing is a video of Keanu Reeves just going… What did he say?"

Speaking about the dedication that Reeves had for the character of a junkie mech pilot, Wilson commented:

"Yeah, and then I'll tell this little story because you hear this all the time around town about how wonderful he is and how prepared and kind and generous he is. He lives up to all that hype. I thought, 'At some point, the facade is going to fall, and the truth to never meet your heroes is going to come out.' So, two weeks before filming, we get this email, and it's like, 'Dave, Tim, I got some bad news. I've fractured my kneecap,' and, and, blah, blah, blah. I'm skimming to the bottom of the email where he's going to tell me he can't do it, and he's like, 'But I've learned all my lines. I'm off book. I can take the brace off and I can shoot for five minutes at a time…' And I was like, 'Oh my God, he's still going to do it.' And so I'm like, 'Don't worry about it. Keep the brace on. We'll give your character a limp and a brace.'"

Miller and Wilson speak about the genesis of Secret Level

Miller and Wilson spoke about the genesis of the idea that eventually led them to make the show. Wilson commented in an interview with The Wrap:

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"We wanted to represent the broad spectrum of gaming, from indie, nostalgia titles to Triple A blockbusters, but also past, present and future games, horror games, science fiction, fantasy. So we wanted that diversification of something for everybody."

Secret Level is now streaming on Prime Video.

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