"I punched Neo / He could duck bullets but he couldn’t duck me"
Randall Park has discussed ‘punching’ Keanu Reeves in Always Be My Maybe
Montreal Gazette reports that Randall Park has talked about punching Keanu Reeves in the recently released Netflix film Always Be My Maybe.
In the film, Reeves plays himself and dares Marcus (Park) to punch him. Marcus takes up the offer and delivers his strongest punch.
During the credits, Park raps a song titled ‘I Punched Keanu Reeves’. The lyrics include “I’m tellin’ you, for real / I punched Neo / He could duck bullets but he couldn’t duck me,” And: “What an excellent adventure / I wouldn’t be surprised if Keanu’s wearing dentures.”
When asked about the song, Park said a Netflix executive came up with the idea.
“It kind of came in the last hour because we’d already had a cut of the film and an executive from Netflix came up with the idea of actually recording that song and playing it over the end credits,” says Park.
Reeves was completely on board, as long as it was clear that the song was about the characters.
“We all thought it was a great idea, but we felt it would only be right to ask his permission so I reached out to him,” Park added.“From the beginning when he got on board, he totally understood what were going for and was totally game. But he did have a suggestion, that being to make it clear that this song is about Marcus and Sasha, and not just about Keanu Reeves.”
Park went on to say that Hello Peril, the band in Always Be My Maybe was based on his band in college.
“We were big fans of The Roots and that ’90s-era hip hop, and we formed this live band with instruments — very much like the band you see in the movie,” Park said.
“Back then we were doing it for fun, and Ali would come to those shows. While we were writing the script, we were trying to figure out what Marcus’s thing was. It just made sense to incorporate this band in the movie and answer the question, what if the real-life band just kept playing into our adulthood?”
Sadly Park has no interest in reuniting the band again.
“Not at all. I’m too old, and I don’t have the energy!” he said. “But it was really fun doing it for the movie. It did feel like I was reliving my youthful years. It was thrilling, but I have no plans to get back into that world.”
Always Be My Maybe is now streaming on Netflix.