Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, June 10, 1994 TAG: 9406170019
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: EXTRA1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: |By CINDY PEARLMAN| Cindy Pearlman is a Chicago-based free-lance
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
To do a complicated stunt for the action film ``Speed,'' which opens nationwide today, Reeves had to lie flat on his back underneath a speeding bus, on a little platform attached by a wire cable to a truck.
``I was a little wired, but I wasn't whining,'' he says.
Was he nervous?
Reeves, 29, just smiles and shrugs. ``I'm afraid of the dark - I don't have claustrophobia,'' he says.
But wasn't he just a little uncomfortable with his legs so close to those huge, spinnning bus tires?
``Actually, this was pretty cool,'' Reeves says. ``I didn't exactly have to put myself in the moment acting-wise. I was there.
``Yeah, there were a few moments I felt like saying `Whoa,' but mostly it was just a cool ride.''
The concept behind ``Speed'' has been described as ```Die Hard' on a bus.''
The action thriller revolves around a Los Angeles city bus, which has been rigged by a madman played by Dennis Hopper, to explode if the driver slows to 50 mph. And there is rush hour to contend with.
Enter primo SWAT cop (Reeves) who will come to learn the real problems with public transportation.
``You know, I never even take the bus,'' Reeves says, ``And now I probably never will.''
There was a time when it seemed as though Reeves would never do an action flick. Arnold Schwarzenegger he's not. But when asked if he's the new action hero, Reeves downplays the prospect.
``Next action hero? I have no idea,'' he says, rolling his eyes. ``I did one action movie. I don't know if it will be my thing now.''
After all, Reeves, who pegs himself as a serious introspective young actor, has an eclectic resume that includes ``Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989) and Kenneth Branagh's ``Much Ado About Nothing'' (1993).
In interviews Reeves has been known to alternate between quoting lines from ``Hamlet'' to talking about yin and yang.
Getting Reeves to sign on to do ``Speed'' was no easy task. First, he demanded a little script control.
``I didn't want my character Jack to be a typical action guy who just spits out one-liners. I wanted him to be a little deeper,'' says Reeves, whose influence developed the original script into something a little leaner and meaner.
Reeves, who had to slim down for his recent role in ``Little Buddha,'' in which he plays Prince Siddhartha, had to toughen up for ``Speed'' in more ways than one.
``I was afraid that Keanu wouldn't enjoy the special effects and the stunts,'' says Jan De Bont, who makes his directorial debut with ``Speed.''
It turned out that Reeves loved it.
``Then I was really worried,'' De Bont says.
One scene called for his character to jump from a racing Jaguar onto the moving bus, which was clocking in at about 55 mph.
``Yeah, I insisted on doing my own stunts. It didn't look dangerous or anything,'' Reeves says, adding, ``It was a rush. I didn't even think I would like the stunts and then your adrenalin gets pumping.''
Part Hawaiian (his first name means ``cool breezes over the mountains''), Reeves grew up in Toronto where he attended four high schools in five years before dropping out.
``I worked at a hockey rink,'' he says of early jobs. Then he was employed at an Italian food store.
Soon afterward, he started to take acting lessons and found his calling. Work in a community theater and a few Canadian TV spots led to commercials.
At 19, he moved to Los Angeles where he did a TV movie before breaking out in the 1986 critically acclaimed ``River's Edge.''
Reeves then became a favorite teen idol with ``Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure'' and its 1991 sequel.
``People ask if I'm sorry I did `Bill and Ted' and that is not the case. Those movies are funny and people enjoy them. Isn't that a good thing?''
It was for Reeves, who went on to play parts in ``Parenthood'' (1989), ``I Love You to Death'' (1990), ``My Own Private Idaho'' (1991) and ``Bram Stoker's Dracula'' (1992).
The fame that went with those acting jobs is what has Reeves disconcerted this afternoon.
``I'm just a very private person,'' he says, flipping through a magazine that recently published an article on him.
``Look, I would just like to do my work. I want to be an artist. I can be conflicted and confused about Hollywood and all the stuff that goes with it. Sometimes I feel like, `What am I doing here? Is it for the attention?'
``I just don't want that much.''
He would like some time to ride his motorcycle.
Does he have any other pastimes?
``No, I don't have any hobbies. I just live my life,'' says Reeves, who has an apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and keeps a room at a Hollywood hotel.
``I'm reading `Hamlet' right now for fun,'' he says and adds that he hopes to play the melancholy Dane onstage in Canada soon.
``I want to act until I die someday.''
Why act?
``I don't know,'' he says. ``I guess I'm looking for the truth. I want to learn about who I am and how I feel.''
by CNB