Keanu Reeves' poker face is one of the things that makes the character of Neo in 'The Matrix' so cool. You never know what he's thinking or feeling - he just beats people up and gets on with his day, and looks great while he's doing it. If Will Smith played the part, and was cracking jokes and dropping one-liners to Agent Smith every time he defeated a version of him, the film might lose some of that invaluable cool factor. It nearly happened, though - Smith was the guy that the Wachowski brothers came looking for first.
Nobody knew how 'The Matrix' would turn out when it was in pre-production. The team making it had no track record of success, and the script was a little weird. Smith - perhaps conscious that he was developing a reputation as a 'science fiction guy' after making 'Men in Black' and 'Independence Day,' didn't want to get involved. Three billion dollars in revenue later, we think it's safe to say he'd play that one a little differently if he got the chance again.
When we think of inventors, the image that comes to mind is usually that of a frazzled scientist toiling away in a lab, not celebrities pulled from the pages of Us Weekly. However, a number of well-known public figures hold patents for various innovations. Some are related to the work that made them famous, while others are offshoots of hobbies or just a single great idea.
Part of guitar wizard Eddie Van Halen's signature sound was his two-handed tapping technique, but letting all ten fingers fly while simultaneously holding up the guitar's neck could get a bit tricky. Van Halen came up with a novel way to get around this problem, though; he invented a support (top) that could flip out of the back of his axe's body to raise and stabilize the fretboard so he could tap out searing songs like "Eruption." While Van Halen was obviously interested in improving his guitar work, the patent application he filed in 1985 notes that the device would work with any stringed instrument. Want to tap out a scorching mandolin solo? Find someone selling Eddie's device.
It’s probably not surprising that James Cameron—who designed a submersible to take him to the deepest known part of the ocean—will often invent technology to make his films if what he needs doesn’t exist. He holds a number of patents, including US Patent No. 4996938, “apparatus for propelling a user in an underwater environment,” that he and his brother, Michael, created to film The Abyss and patented in 1989. The device is basically an underwater dolly equipped with propellers that makes it easy for a camera operator to maneuver in the water—and allowed Cameron to capture the shots he wanted for the 1989 film, part of which was filmed in an abandoned nuclear reactor.
In 1987 Jamie Lee Curtis designed and patented a disposable diaper that included a waterproof pocket that held baby wipes. She hasn't profited from her idea yet, though, since she refuses to license the patent until diaper companies make biodegradable products.
You know him as a rock legend, but Neil Young also loves trains—so much that he owns a stake in a model train manufacturing company and has an extensive collection. He also holds seven patents related to model trains, including Patent No. US5441223, "Model train controller using electromagnetic field between track and ground."