A few seconds on screen… he’s unrecognizable and yet Keanu Reeves is in the Joker!

Todd Phillips’ Joker, released in 2019, left a mark with its dark setting and Joaquin Phoenix’s amazing performance. But did you know that a certain Keanu Reeves looks… totally discreet? And to top it all off, his presence creates a small delay in the film’s timeline.

We’re not talking about a role or a traditional cameo here, but an ad from 1987 in which Keanu Reeves figure. It cuts very briefly to a scene where we see several television screens broadcasting chaotic images. For a brief moment – at exactly 1 hour 46 minutes and 9 seconds – an ad for Kellogg’s Corn Flakes cereal, featuring a young Keanus, is broadcast at the top left of the screen. Advertising was quickly replaced by television newscasts. You really have to know this ad to make the connection because the image is blurry and very fast.

Here is the ad space in question:

An anachronistic wink among many others

However, this amusing detail raises a small paradox: Joker Set in 1981, 6 years before this ad aired. Thus, a chronological error, but compounded by several other temporal inconsistencies scattered throughout the film.

Indeed, if we look carefully, we can notice some elements that do not belong to the era represented in the film. For example, in the same scene on multiple screens, we can see the Energizer Bunny mascot – introduced in 1988, 7 years after the events of the film.

Another anachronism: the window displays the inscription “Mobile Phone Repair”, although the first commercial models appeared only in 1983, and it took much longer for this type of business to spread.

And that’s not all. In another sequence, the Citi Bike rack, a modern rental service typical of New York, makes a brief appearance. Even more surprisingly, the ambulance used in the film is a fourth-generation Ford Econoline model that was not produced until 1992.

Mistakes that don’t spoil the myth

These anachronistic details, while surprising, do not detract from the quality of the film. Some even see it as an intentionally quirky touch, giving Gotham and the Joker’s story a timeless feel.

Joker In any case, it remains an important work of modern cinema, awarded with two Oscars: for the best actor. Joaquin Phoenix and Best Original Score for Hildur Guðnadóttir. And now you can see it with new eyes… watching a surprise appearance Keanu Reeves !

The Joker can be seen on HBO Max, and its lesser-known sequel, Joker: Folie à DeuxAvailable on VOD.