KING KEANU

There are a few Toms, multiple Richards and even a couple of Harrys, but there’s only one Keanu…

Keanu Reeves’ latest part, as a burnt-out alcoholic law enforcer in writer James Ellroy (LA Confidential) and director David Ayer’s Street Kings, could be the finest performance of his career. We spoke with the man himself about the experience.

Did you identify with the character of Tom Ludlow?

No, it was exciting though. It was a great reach, a great role. It was a good journey to get to him.

Did you enjoy the weapons training?

Yeah, I enjoyed that very much; it was really good getting so much instruction. David Ayer, the director, really set up some good situations for me where I could learn as much as I could with the weapons and tactics. I also got to meet some police officers who told me what it was like not just to do the job, but to live with the job. Then I got some fight instructions – getting used to getting hit. There’s some violence in the film, so they wanted me to look capable. I think we achieved that.

Did that involve working out as well?

Yeah, I not only wanted to have some soulful padding, but some physical padding too – I wanted Tom to look like a guy you could hit with a board and it probably wouldn’t even matter to him… it wouldn’t hurt. I just wanted him to be able to keep on coming.

It sounds like a pretty physically demanding movie?

It was, with long days and not many weeks to shoot the movie. But everyone had a really strong enthusiasm for the project - I like the intensity.

Did you bring David Ayer onto the film?

I don’t know if I brought him onto the film as such. I had just seen his Harsh Times and wanted to meet him, as you do - you go and meet other directors and producers. So he was a guy that I met, and he was an impressive man, he really related to the project. He grew up in South Central, East LA and he was also in the military, so he kind of knew the streets we were filming on, and he also knew the culture - the police/military culture.