Read more from Author Brent Dubin here: https://globelivemedia.com/author/brent-dubin/
Keanu Reeves is the face of Johnny Silverhand, the rock legend of Night City. Since the actor came on board in 2018, he has been an integral part of trailers and presentations on Cyberpunk 2077, “Breathtaking” has become a popular meme. But Silverhand would have performed without Reeves – an artist from CDPR published Concept Arts that show what the character should actually look like.
Johnny, straight out of the 80s
These are the pictures that Senior Concept Artist Lea Leonowicz shared on her Artstation account (published with the consent of CD Projekt Red):
What is different? Johnny was clearly inspired by rock stars of the 80s – including a headband that he could have stolen from Axl Rose. Actually, this is hardly surprising, after all, the pen & paper basis Cyberpunk was created in 1988, accordingly the fictional world is strongly influenced by the style of the era. Without Keanu Reeves, Johnny would – logically – also have had a different face. And he would have been clean-shaven.
What has stayed the same? The eponymous cybernetic arm, the tattoos, the leather jackets, the cartridge belt, the samurai shirts – Johnny would have had all of these in his luggage even without Keanu. He also wears the dog tag pendant that he shows V in Cyberpunk 2077 around his neck in the concept pictures. His style and demeanor are obviously very close to what we see in the game.