European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                20th Century port Keanu Reeves says of Bis Speed stunts a if you re not linked up with the bus going 45 Mph done to jump new ook Reeves Muscles his Way to where the action Isby Sara Voorhees Albuquerque  j Tribune a Keanu Reeves is a new Man. After carrying the Crown for five years As the most incomprehensible interview in show business he is now thoughtful and coherent. Where once he appeared for interviews covered a a dressed is too elegant a word in a dirty to shirt. And torn Levis unshaven and hair Greasy he is now handsomely turned out in a Loose fitting euro trash suit. He a thin and lanky from his movie Little Buddha and his rambling jittery answers have been replaced by an intriguing body language. Its easy to understand what it is about hint that fascinates directors. His hands Are clasped casually. In his Lap but his face is expressive and his shout Ders move excitedly As he talks about Speed the movie no 1 at the Box office and playing on the cafes circuits destined to make him the hot new romantic action property. Reeves plays an Ace swat cop who leaps on Board a speeding City bus when a psychotic sex cop rigs a bomb to explode if the bus drops below 50 Mph. His character Jack Traven performs a Hundred acts of amazing derring do and then Falls in love wih one of the passengers Annie played by Sandra Bullock. In the movie he a muscular and pumped up and he insisted on doing a lot of his own stunts including a jump onto a moving bus from a racing Jaguar an excruciating moment a a in a a bulldog i lifted weights for eight weeks took gymnastics and spent time with my stunt coordinator Gary Hymes who had just finished doing Jui As sic Park where the actors were very much involved. I liked that. What was Cool was the Clement of having to be aware. If the stunts were too dangerous if you re not linked up with the bus going 45 Mph done to jump Quot Reeves is reunited with Dennis Hopper who also. Starred in River s Edge at the beginning of Reeves career. In Speed sequences says Reeves a i had to Trade punches with Hopper who a a Man i love and he was much better at it than i was. My fake punches missed him by a country mile. Director Jon de Bont was always Yelling at me closer to his face closer to his face finally i got about an Inch away but it was t  Reeves said that first time director de Bont changed the original script dramatically and made it More appealing. A i like his Dean aesthetic and yeah his taste. There Isnit  of blood and Gore. The  a Hodgepodge. Annie and Jack weren to interesting there was no emotional curve to the piece. It said things like a bad Guy with one Eye sits in the shadows in a bar eating a boiled  what but the title Speed made me laugh. They called it Speed incredible a incredible As it seems Speed has critics hailing Reeves As the new action hero. A that s something that is fiction a he says. A a it a not my ambition to be an action hero. I done to see myself As an Arnold Schwarzenegger. To me its an in Seible piece not a hero piece. The protagonist Isnit   1. Quot it s a generous statement but Reeves is definitely the hero and its about time. He has made the most oddly disparate series of movies of just about any actor in Hollywood from bilt and teds excellent adventure to the Young Prince Siddhartha in Little Buddha. The critics have not always been kind to him no matter what he has tried a toasted Quot he says. A a in be been toasted and now on Little Bur flu and i guess on Speed they re All saying a does no to it seem like a lifetime ago since you did Bill and tech a and Alt i can say is a no a it seems like Only yesterday because every body keeps reminding  he says the Range of his roles was an Accident rather than a deliberate Effort not to be pigeonholed. A really in be Only had a few mainstream films. In be done mostly Independent films. My ambition was to act. In any genre i was shocked when Bernardo Bertolucci said he wanted me to play Siddhartha. I asked him Why and he said a your innocence a and he shaped a Mountain with his hands and put my innocence at the top. He did no to realize that my whole Mountain was innocence. He was just amazed that someone could be that  Reeves experiences working on Little Buddha he says were some of the Best Days of his life. A it was a filling experience in the sense that it had something to it that the connection to the audience was profound. In a a very simple Guy but it sensitized me to what i am and what a around me and to suffering. When i got Back my friends All said a gosh you re Skinny but you Haven to  a i have changed i think. I Haven to put Down my Holliness to help the starving and the sick but in be changed. I did no to grow up with any particular Faith. I mean i know about the ten commandments and the Virgin Mary. But Halfway through the film started thinking a am i Here to act or am i on a spiritual quest?�?T1 definitely am Here to act. A i started acting when i was 16 years old. My. Mother was a theatrical costumer and my Stepfather was a director i was surrounded by actors and i remember looking up at them the Way Young boys look up at firemen and saying i want to be that when i grow  a regardless of the respect he has finally found in movies Reeves is going Back to theater. In january he will play Hamlet on stage in Winnipeg Canada and he can to wait. A part of me is thirsty for Challenge. Its a great part a really Good  he stops himself having realized How insipid he must sound. Quot i can just hear it a he says with a British accent. A someone telling Shakespeare a or. Keanu Reeves mentioned that he Felt your play Hamlet was a great play a a How very kind of him a said the  a a Scripps Howard news service