Crave Online: They gave the journalists some basic police training and we all got hurt. Did you get any injuries during the film?
Keanu Reeves: When we were going in that car there was a lot of kicking, wasn't there. The hard rubber gun, and ripping his face off for a couple of days.
Crave Online: The N-word is still a big debate in the media. Since the criminals in Street Kings call you the N-word, how did it feel to be in a situation that black people find themselves in?
Keanu Reeves: I don't think that I was. I don't think that's true. That doesn't really count because my character has no respect for that guy. So to me I don't think I was. They just had their mouths moving and I was just thinking about seeing them later. I don't think that I can speak to that because I don't think that I was.
Crave Online: Can you talk about working with Forest Whitaker?
Keanu Reeves: Yes. The guy is amazing. He's absolutely amazing. When you're working with him there's such a non-actor type of thing. He's just really present and real and it's just action and you're in there. You don't see his craft at all. It's a different kind of pretend with him because he's not really pretending. It's pretty intense.
Crave Online: Did you ever think about Johnny Utah from Point Break while you were playing this cop?
Keanu Reeves: Not that I was conscious of.
Crave Online: Have you had the chance to reconnect with your former costar Patrick Swayze and offer him any support right now?
Keanu Reeves: No, I have not. No. That's something to do.
Crave Online: Did you see Hot Fuzz with their Point Break worship?
Keanu Reeves: No. I wanted to, but missed it.
Crave Online: Some of your Street Kings costars said they were even intimidated to stand up to you in an audition. How did you get to that place?
Keanu Reeves: I doubt it was that. I think it was just probably because I was the older guy, if that's true. I don't know if that's true or not but maybe they were just working with an actor that they'd seen before.
Crave Online: Do you have a favorite among all the things that you've done?
Keanu Reeves: I've got so many favorites.
Crave Online: What was the attraction to such a dark, corrupt character?
Keanu Reeves: It was a great role and I really liked the story and I guess it was kind of fun. It was fun to be pushed to a place that I don't normally live in. I guess [director] David [Ayer] called me a hippie. The director's calling me a hippie and I get to kill eight people. So that's a good role to play.
Crave Online: Is Tom Ludlow ultimately a good guy?
Keanu Reeves: Yeah, he's a good guy. Good sense of humor. Just don't get on his wrong side, I guess.
Crave Online: Ludlow breaks the rules to save people. Do you think the end can ever justify the means?
Keanu Reeves: I don't think you can say that, depending on the context. The story of the movie is that if you do what Ludlow does, then that allows something else to happen. As a law enforcement officer, if you can control a crime scene and if you can make a crime scene not a crime, even if you're justifying your means to have your version of what's wrong so that it's okay to kill these people who have kidnapped and hijacked these young girls. But if I'm allowed to go do that, if I can fix a crime scene and kill these people who I don't deem to have the right to justice because they don't deserve it in my eyes, then what else can I do? It can get so corrupted. In the specific case of Ludlow, no I don't think you can justify them.
Crave Online: I don’t know, I'm glad he saved those girls.
Keanu Reeves: That's part of what the story is to me, it's almost the extension of that. It doesn't matter what it is, it doesn't matter what happens. It's what it looks like. So if I can control what it looks like, if I can get away with what it looks like and not what it is then you can have a lot of problems. I think that can happen in the police force. That can happen in business. That can happen, I think, in any organized entity. In the end, does it justify the means? I think there are certain situations where that might be, but again like what one of the characters, Naomi Harris, says, "Blood doesn't wash away blood." A violent act against a violent act, I don't know if that puts out the fire violence or what that is. There's a place for it obviously and I think that's another part of the line in this film, that there is a place where you need violent people and you need violence. But it's a tenuous box.
Crave Online: How do you measure success in your career, whether it's money or box office and are you on pins and needles about the opening of this movie?
Keanu Reeves: Yeah, we hope that people like it. I like it. To enter any project that you work on, you hope to realize the role, to realize the film and at the end of the day you have your personal journey and you have the work that you were a part of . I'm nervous about the film opening because you want people to like it and you want to see what it's going to be. That's what you hope for. In terms of measuring success, I don't know if that's a real thing other than I think that we all hope to have a career. So maybe that's one of the things that you measure success with. It's just one of those things that I guess you could look at from the money side too and the artistic side of it. I think that it's as complicated as life is. I guess it's also one of those things that you can measure if you don't have it. It's easier not to measure. If you don't get to do the work, if you don't get the chance, if you don't achieve what you hoped to achieve then you weren't successful I guess, but I don't know. That's a tough one.
Crave Online: People are still debating the Matrix films. Do you feel like your sci-fi career is on a separate level from the rest of your career?
Keanu Reeves: I guess, hopefully. Maybe, yeah. I'm the ambassador for The Matrix trilogy. My operating hours are…
Crave Online: Can you tell us bout The Day The Earth Stood Still? Was the original important to you and what were your thoughts on updating it?
Keanu Reeves: It's a classic film. Hopefully we have a shot at making it a good film. I just finished it last week and they're still filming. It's got Kathy Bates, Jennifer Connelly, John Cleese, Jaden Smith. It's got a great cast. Scott Derrickson directed it. Hopefully we'll do the original right. It's more of a reinvention, a kind of extension of that and sort of appropriated to our time just as that felt right for then.
Crave Online: Do you have a wish list of projects you want to do, like maybe another comedy?
Keanu Reeves: Not today. I'm just kind of getting to work with Rebecca Miller in May and so I'm really excited about that.
Crave Online: Do you have a favorite among all the things that you've done?
Keanu Reeves: I've got so many favorites.
