Good Fortune" Teaser: Keanu Reeves Stars as a Well-Meaning Guardian Angel in Aziz Ansari’s Directorial Debut with Seth Rogen and Sandra Oh
Keanu Reeves takes on a lighter, comedic role as Gabriel, a guardian angel guiding lost souls, in this life-affirming comedy from comedian Aziz Ansari.
One of the greatest acts of kindness from a major Hollywood star comes from a lesser-known behind-the-scenes story about Keanu Reeves. Already known as one of the nicest and most dedicated actors in the industry, Reeves reportedly arranged for his salary bonus from The Matrix sequels (reportedly worth millions) to go directly to the film’s stunt team and visual-effects department.
Why? Because Reeves believed they were the true heroes of the franchise. In his eyes, the jaw-dropping action sequences and groundbreaking visual effects were what made The Matrix so iconic, and those responsible deserved the recognition—and the money—more than he did. During a time when stunt performers and visual-effects artists were often considered replaceable laborers (sadly, not much has changed since then), the gesture was immense.
Reeves has a reputation for simply being a good guy in a business filled with self-serving narcissists. Some might even go as far as to call him a guardian angel. So it makes perfect sense that his latest film role sees the Matrix and John Wick star shift from duking it out with bad guys to spreading kindness and laughs in this new comedy where he takes on the role of a guardian angel.
In Good Fortune, Reeves plays Gabriel, an angel who’s been searching for a greater purpose. He requests to be sent to Earth to guide humans through life’s ups and downs in the hope of truly changing their lives for the better. One of those “lost souls” is comedian Aziz Ansari, who also wrote and directed the upcoming comedy.
Ansari plays a financially struggling delivery driver, stuck in the grind of gig work that’s gotten him nowhere, until a celestial intervention turns everything upside down.
Meanwhile, Seth Rogen (fresh from his stint as an inept movie studio head in the Hollywood satire series The Studio, which just wrapped its first season on Apple TV+) also stars in the upcoming comedy, playing a wealthy venture capitalist who receives a surprise visit from Reeves’s Gabriel as well.
Guardian angels are nothing new to movies. We’ve seen them before in classics like It’s a Wonderful Life, Angels in the Outfield, Always, Heaven Can Wait, and others. But this one feels like a throwback blend of a couple of '90s entries in the guardian angel subgenre: City of Angels and Michael. In particular, Nora Ephron’s film, where John Travolta’s angel character is sent to Earth and ends up meddling in people’s lives to comedic effect, seems to echo some of what Keanu Reeves might be doing here.
And from the looks of this newly released teaser trailer, Reeves looks like he’s having a ball as the well-intentioned yet somewhat socially awkward Gabriel. After spending nearly a decade playing the hard-to-kill assassin John Wick—bruised, bloodied, and brooding most of the time—it’s easy to imagine that this lighter, more comedic role was a refreshing change of pace for Reeves.
The film will mark Aziz Ansari's feature directorial debut, after having directed several acclaimed episodes of his semi-biographical Netflix series Master of None. Back in 2018, Ansari faced controversy over a widely discussed article alleging sexual misconduct during a date with a woman. The piece—and its author—received significant pushback from readers and critics who argued it sensationalized a consensual encounter, potentially undermining the core message of the MeToo movement. In the aftermath, Ansari stepped back from acting to focus on his stand-up career.
Good Fortune appears to mark his return to filmmaking, though it's not his first attempt at directing a feature. In 2022, Ansari was set to helm his first feature film titled Being Mortal, which would have starred comedy legend Bill Murray. However, production was halted, and ultimately shelved, after a complaint about Murray's inappropriate behavior toward a crew member surfaced during filming. The cast of that film also included Seth Rogen and Keke Palmer, both of whom are back to work with Ansari on Good Fortune.
In addition to Reeves, Ansari, Rogen, and Palmer, Good Fortune also co-stars Sandra Oh as an angel named Martha who becomes Reeves's mentor as he tries his hand at becoming a guardian angel for the first time. Others in the cast include Sherry Cola and Stephen McKinley Henderson.
Good Fortune is set to open in theaters everywhere on October 17th. Watch the film's first official teaser trailer, above.
