During an interview with Den of Geek for Passengers and Prometheus, Jon Spaihts was asked what Keanu brought to the Passengers during the early stages of development. He said:
He’s got a wonderful head for story, and if I may say a great bullshit detector. With his producing partner Stephen Hamel they were also driving towards honesty and a spare cinematic language. They were great at tapping me on the shoulder and reminding me to keep the thing grounded and to avoid low hanging fruit, the easy laughs and easy sentimental plays.
To follow up on that, every actor brings a different sensibility to a role, but when you have an actor like Chris Pratt who can bring an amazing comedic presence and everyman quality to scenes, it’s a lot different than Keanu’s method as an actor.