Ana de Armas reflects on 'friendship' with Keanu Reeves

Ana de Armas and Keanu Reeves share a strong friendship bond. She sheds light on this friendly closeness during her talk at Saudi Arabia's Red Sea International Film Festival.

Over a decade ago, the actress revealed that when she landed in Los Angeles and bagged her first role in Eli Roth's Knock Knock, there she first met the John Wick star.  

"I barely spoke English at the time, the star recalls during an In Conversation session at the festival, adding, “It was kind of a frustrating journey not being able to fully communicate, but we still had a great time. We bonded really well, and we have a beautiful friendship.”

Ana echoes what many in the industry describe as Keanu being "kind and generous," as she says it was a "full circle moment" reuniting with him for Ballernia, a spinoff in the John Wick universe.

“It felt full circle. Keanu and Chad [Stahelski] have built such a beautiful world with those films, and having him there, supporting me ten years later, meant a lot," she gushes.

Regarding the action thriller movie, Ana says the role in the film demanded intense physical training. “The training was brutal. It went on for months before shooting and continued during filming. There’s no time to rehearse everything, so you’re learning and adapting on the spot. It was exhausting — but I enjoyed it. I learned so much.”

The star, who was born in Cuba, placed her role in Ballerina into a wider context of her career trajectory.

“I never thought of myself as athletic or imagined I’d do action movies. It started with No Time to Die, then The Gray Man and Ghosted, and Ballerina was another level — very challenging, very demanding. But it was also an exciting character to play, and I really loved expanding that universe," Ana concludes.