Reeves plays rogue cop out for revenge in new drama

By Matthew B. Zeidman

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 4/11/08 – Keanu Reeves rocketed onto Hollywood’s A list by playing an LAPD officer in the 1994 blockbuster “Speed,” so it’s not hard to envision the actor putting on a badge for his latest film, “Street Kings.” Don’t be fooled by his characters’ similar occupations, however. While “Speed’s” Jack Traven was the classic straight-laced hero, “Street Kings’” Tom Ludlow is the morally ambiguous anti-hero, struggling to reconcile his duty to uphold the law with his personal desire for justice.

“I didn’t just become a cop or a man in a uniform or whatever that was,” Reeves told “Hollywood Today” of his latest performance. “I just had a different sense of the person in the uniform…a deeper appreciation. It’s not only the life in the job; it’s the life outside of the job, and I think with the experience of this film, I got more knowledge of what it is to live outside of the job. It’s not an easy job to ‘live with.’ It comes home.”

In the film, Ludlow is framed for the murder of a fellow officer, which starts him on his violent journey, but it’s the recent death of his wife that truly hardens the character.

“He’s got a lot of things. He’s got grief. He’s got a question of why,” said Reeves. “There’s a scene where they’re at Wander’s [Forest Whitaker’s] house for a kind of get-together, and Tom Ludlow looks like he doesn’t know how to talk to people. He doesn’t know how to be. These guys all have this kind of connection and ease about them, but then when you look at Ludlow, when he’s in his job fighting, killing and punching, he’s his most alive and comfortable. I think he knows that about himself, but he’s in a dilemma, and the job he’s deciding to do has some living consequences for him. Because he’s all soft and vulnerable on the inside, he’s got to be something else outside.”

“It was a great role,” Reeves added. “I guess it was fun to kind of be pushed to a place I don’t normally live in.”

In addition to Reeves and Whitaker, “Street Kings” also stars “House’s” Hugh Laurie, comedians Cedric the Entertainer and Jay Mohr, hip-hop artist Common and rapper The Game. The film opens nationwide today.