Keanu Reeves Explains Meaning Of New ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’

The remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still was due to hit a big hurdle in that the message that the alien astronaut Klaatu imparts on Earth at the end of the original is a bit outdated, and would badly need updating.

No more are we facing impending doom at the hands of a nuclear war fought by the opponents in the cold war, as faced the writers of the sci-fi classic in 1951.

Luckily, there are a whole host of other things which are equally posing a threat to the future of mankind, the biggest of which is the environmental disaster that scientists are predicting could hit us hard.

As Keanu Reeves, who is playing Klaatu in the new version of the movie tells the MTV Movies Blog, that is the new threat which has to be starkly explained to the people of Earth:

“The first one was borne out of the cold war and nuclear détente. Klaatu came and was saying cease and desist with your violence. If you can’t do it yourselves we’re going to do it. That was the film of that day,”

“The version I was just working on, instead of being man against man, it’s more about man against nature. My Klaatu says that if the Earth dies, you die. If you die, the earth survives. I’m a friend to the earth.”

That makes sense, but I don’t know if it quite holds the weight of an impending nuclear holocaust.

I’m not doubting the fears that we are abusing nature, but that train of thought isn’t as compelling as nations bombing each other out of existence.