Recently I saw this meme of Keanu Reeves:
Keanu Reeves throughout history?
Why has he aged so well? Perhaps he's been altering the code of the Matrix, or maybe it's because of his gracefully-ageing face shape. While it has recently become popular to find celebrity look-alikes in old photos and paintings, I don't think anyone has attracted as much attention as Reeves. The "Keanu is immortal" meme largely revolves around Reeves' resemblance to 19th century French actor Paul Mounet, but I do not think his face is nearly as narrow as Reeves'.
Paul Mounet.
Although I must admit the other painting looks nearly identical to him.
16th century Italian man, or Keanu Reeves in disguise?
His 500-year-old Oval face is even more stunning when contrasted side by side with Square-faced people. Here he is training jiu jitsu for his role in John Wick:
(Click to see full size).
Look at how much narrower his face is compared to these Square-faced men! He also looks thinner than them. I don't just think it's his slimming white outfit; his body type is much more ectomorphic than theirs.
This contrast is skillfully used in films such as The Matrix, when Neo fights against the Round-faced Agent Smith and the other wide-faced Agents.
Agent Smith (played by Hugo Weaving).
The Square-faced and wide-shouldered mesomorphic Upgraded Agents Jackson, Johnson, and Thompson.
Even in the profile view Neo contrasts noticeably with Agent Smith (who is not just his primary enemy, but complete spiritual opposite). Smith has a heavily-receding hairline and sloping profile, while Neo has a straight/vertical profile and minimally-receding hairline.
This scene wouldn't have been convincing if Neo faced someone who looked identical. It was an intentional choice to cast actors who looked like polar opposites.
To tie back to the beginning of this post, the secret behind convincing look-alike photo comparisons is that both individuals must have the same face shape! Identical photo angles, lighting, and hairstyles can only get you so far. The Face Shape galleries provide some interesting faces to compare side-by-side.