People.com Entertainment Movies Keanu Reeves Bought an Ice Cream He Didn't Eat Just to Autograph the Receipt for a Young Fan "I'm just going to go ahead and cry about the sweetness of this," one fan said when reacting to writer James Dator's Keanu Reeves story By Dave Quinn Dave Quinn Instagram Twitter Dave Quinn is an Editor for PEOPLE, working across a number of verticals including the Entertainment, Lifestyle and News teams. He joined in 2006 as a Writer/Reporter where he became known for his Bravo and Broadway exclusives across print and digital. Dave is the author of the No. 1 New York Times best-selling book, Not All Diamonds and Rosé: The Inside Story of the Real Housewives from the People Who Lived It. He's appeared on many broadcasts including ABC's Good Morning America, Bravo's Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, E!'s Daily Pop, NBC's New York Live and PEOPLE's own Reality Check, as well as a number of podcasts like Bitch Sesh, Everything Iconic, Watch What Crappens, Hot Off the Mess, Mention It All, and PEOPLE Every Day. Prior to working at PEOPLE, Dave was the chief Theater Reporter for NBC New York and co-host of Entertainment Weekly's acclaimed TV Recaps series. People Editorial Guidelines Published on May 21, 2019 02:47 PM Share Tweet Pin Email A fan encounter with Keanu Reeves led to one of the sweetest stories ever. In a series of tweets on Friday, SBNation writer James Dator recalled an experience he had with the actor — a story that the Internet quickly jumped on as proof that “Keanu is the best human alive.” All went down back in 2001 at a movie theater in Sydney, Australia, Dator explained. Reeves was in town working on the Matrix series at the the time, and had apparently stopped into the movie theater on a Wednesday morning to see From Hell, the Johnny Depp film. Working at the box office was a “bored as hell” 16-year-old Dator. “…Suddenly this dude walks up in jeans, a leather jacket and a horse riding helmet. A full ass, weird equestrian looking helmet. It takes me a solid 30 seconds to ignore the helmet and realize it’s Keanu Reeves,” Dator recalled. Keanu Reeves Channeled Speed as He Advised Fellow Airplane Passengers After Emergency Landing Dator was instantly “star struck” and wanted Reeves’ John Hancock. So he came up with a quick scheme to get it. “I do what any sensible 16-year-old does and tell him I’d like to give him my employee discount. This means he needs to sign my sheet and therefore I have his autograph,” Dator said. Sadly, Reeves wasn’t biting. “‘I don’t work here,’ ” Keanu says, seemingly confused by my offer,” Dator remembered. Flustered, Dator charged Reeves the normal price and kicked himself “for not getting his autograph.” Luckily, Reeves saved the day. “Two minutes later there’s a knock on the door behind me that leads into the box office,” Dator said. “I assume it’s my manager. It’s Keanu. ‘I realized you probably wanted my autograph,’ he says. ‘So I signed this.’ He hands me a receipt from the concessions stand that he signed on the back. He then casually throws an ice cream cone in the trash can and sees his movie.” Only later did it click with Dator: Reeves “bought an ice cream cone he didn’t want, just to get receipt paper so he could scribble his autograph for a 16-year-old idiot.” Keanu Reeves Reveals He Had a Crush on Sandra Bullock During Speed — and She Felt the Same Way! Of course, fans were trilled with Dator’s story. “Everything I’ve ever heard about that guy is legit,” a tweeter wrote. “I’m just going to go ahead and cry about the sweetness of this,” another said. One joked: “Keanu is a genuinely nice guy — and you literally have the receipts.” The only downside to it all? Dator doesn’t seem to know where the autographed receipt is nowadays. “Honestly, it’s either somewhere in the attic of my mom’s house or lost in the move,” he lamented. Keanu Reeves. Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images Keanu Reeves Marvels Over His John Wick 3 Costar Halle Berry: There’s a ‘Mystery’ to Her Reeves, 54, is currently back on screen in John Wick: Chapter 3—Parabellum. He’ll next begin working on third installment of the Bill and Ted franchise alongside Alex Winter, whom he starred with in 1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and its 1991 sequel Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey. The long-awaited film will be written by franchise scribes Chris Matheson and Ed Solomon and will go into production this summer, with a release date scheduled for Aug. 21, 2020, according to the The New York Times. “We want to say thank you to the fans,” Reeves said alongside Winter, 53, in a video shot from the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. “It’s all because of you guys,” added Winter. “We owe you a huge debt of gratitude so we wanted to say thank you.”