SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2026: Keanu Reeves Q & A

Like a CBS Saturday morning, you said you're comparing analogous feelings of motorcycle riding and acting, present and focused, that both of them require that. And I thought that was just so insightful. I read your book and it was just so right on the money in terms of like acting with somebody that you have the only way that comes out well is if you are right with somebody every second. Yes, I mean, yeah, I mean, you hope so, you know, I mean, yeah, yeah. Well, have you been with somebody where you didn't feel that way, that they're like, that they are preaching, like, this is what they're going to do, no matter what you do, they are just going to give you this? Yes. And how do you, how do you react to that? Yeah. Sometimes, um... The folks that did I did that with were really good at it. Yeah. So you didn't feel like that. They were still present in the moment with their choices and with how they were with you. But what you did did not necessarily inform the choices that they made. But they were so good that you still felt like you were alive and present with them. Well, that's good. Yeah. I guess. No, man, it's a different style. I don't know how you guys do it, but, you know, there's some time, you know, you want to have a perspective, a point of view on what you're doing and who you're playing. Right. And, yeah, sometimes, yeah, you know, there's some artists that just have it, you know, down to like, okay, I'm going to say this line and then I'm going to cough. You know, I'm just like, okay. I'm going to say this line and then I'm going to cough. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm pretty honest with you. And they'll do that on tape, too, every time, right? And you'll be like, wow, I just believe that you coughed for the first time again. Thank you. You're really good at pretending, right? Right. Because that's what we're doing, right? It's as if it's, or be in the moment, or lose oneself. And then there are the moments where, you know, you do lose yourself. For me, when I get it, like when I really love it, Is when I feel like I'm not looking out of my own eyes. I feel like I'm looking out of my character's eyes. I feel like those eyes aren't mine. Whatever this is, whatever I am, or whoever I am, it's not, I'm not, it's, that's something else. And that's really, really fun. I mean, let's not get into it, you know, therapeutically, why I enjoy that so much. But it's good for the job, I think. Thank you. Yeah, so in terms of that, it's okay, man. It's okay if you've got what you want to do down and that's what you want to do and they don't feel like you're, you know, acting with someone who's dead or ignoring you, like that their choices still involve you in a way. That's another way to go, right? I mean, the cough thing makes sense, but if it's like somebody, you know, if you go one way loud with the seat, but the person is all of a sudden going low, it's like, how do you, you know what I mean? You want to react in a believable way as if it's two of you. In a dance, you know, sometimes, yeah, I mean, it's weird, it's interesting, I've had a couple of times, I don't want to name names, but there have been times, yes, right, like, but then you get those games and sometimes, you know, like, when you're doing the close-up and it's like, would you like to go first or would you like to go first? Oh, why don't you go first? And you do your thing, and then, you know, maybe on my side, I don't do what you were doing on your side. Does that happen? I remember when Tyler was doing this scene. And it was in an outdoors, I think it was a cemetery, right? So I'm like, I'm talking to a guy. He's like, you're there, I'm talking to you. And I've got a line. But we're, you know, it's outdoors, it's a wind, it's like. So, I mean, is that really what you're saying? Is that really why you're here? Is that really the truth? Is that really why you're here? Yes, no, quiet. laughter Yes, quieter. Thank you. Look at me, he's going, really quiet. Yes, no, quiet. And I literally was like, I wanted to say, what? What? What? The camper here. He wasn't talking to me. Right. And they use that tape? A hat. Good. And he's just like, that's all you needed to do, but it was just tough. Who was it? No way. Come on. But that was like, oh. So to your, that was like a point of like, I'm interacting with someone in the environment, the circumstances, and the other cat wasn't. But But like. I had an interview with William Shatner once, oddly enough, that's a weird thing, but he was like we did the master at one point, I thought, and he didn't know his lines, and I was like, you know, so when somebody's struggling, you're like, and then when it came to acting, I was like, oh, everything I did won't make any sense now. I look terrible. Yeah, do you still love acting? Do you? No, it's fine. Is it? What do you mean? We've had some fun here because, you know, it's... There can be so much to it, you know, the actual acting part sometimes is like, oh, I want more time with that as opposed to, you know, everything else that kind of is around. Or do you like all of that part as well? What are you talking about? Well, he said it would make this easy for him. Thank you. You cannot just draw a cross with your tongue out. You gotta get up early in the morning. You have to do this. You have to rehearse. You have to look at your lines. There's a lot of stuff that can easily be annoying unless it's still something that you find exciting to do and every part of it has some helpful point for you, but there are a lot of actors who find that it's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, you know what I mean? They don't even learn their lines until they're on set and it seems to me they've lost the joy of acting that they think. Yeah, I know I haven't worked with, uh, I can't really say if I've worked with an artist that was in that place with their craft or in their life, you know. You know, a lot of people say, you know, they work with artists who, like, they're not coming out of the trailer, or, you know, they're not there for off-camera, and I'm like, really? I've never worked with an artist who did any of that, you know, so I can't speak to that. I will imagine they do that because they want to do well with you. How are you, you know, I've been at this game for a while, and, you know, you know, in 19... 89, I don't think actors are like, I'm not gonna get out of my, I better get out of my trailer because I've got a scene with Keane. I'm starting to speak now. Or 92. It's kind of you to say that. You know, it's kind of you to say that. Hi. Um— You know, being 62, if someone did that to me now, there might be a knock on someone's door. laughter Ah! I kind of wish that would happen to me, so I get to try that. Yeah. I'm starting to speak now. Don't wait for come in. I'm starting to speak now. What's up? Thank you. You gonna come out and play? All right. You wanna put that video game controller down? Thank you. Wanna get off that phone? Thank you. Maybe not. I'm starting to speak now. We've had Colman Domingo visit us a couple of times, and he's remarkable, but I heard him, right? He's so good. I heard him say, though, that he, it takes him three or four takes to warm up, which, how about for you? Do you, do you feel like there's, which take, how many takes do you enjoy taking? Do you like, do you think you're going to be, the first take is like usually the best for you? What's your, what's your take on takes? Six. It depends on the role. Sometimes I've had actors say to me, directors say to me, you're like a three take guy. I've worked with other directors who do a lot of takes and other directors who don't do a lot of takes. I can't hear you guys. So I kind of go, and hopefully you trust the director, so I'm fine with it. Once in a while they'll ask you, would you like another, or is there anything else you want to try? Which is really nice to get that once in a while. Wow. And so sometimes you've got to just let it be, and then sometimes you might want to try something else. Does that happen to you? I didn't feel like you got it, and the director said, no, we got it. Yes, that's happened a lot. And what do you do? Do you, like... Depends on the director Yeah. That's how I feel, like, in a scene, and if I had a preconceived idea of what I hoped to do, and I wasn't getting it, or if I feel like I'm missing something... Um... I don't watch a lot, I don't really watch video playback of scenes. I don't know, do you guys teach that? How to do that? Watch games or... No, no, I don't watch those dailies anymore. I don't know. Do you, like after a scene, do you guys teach like video playback? Right, in some ways they do because they're auditioning so much and it's all on tape. So they are watching themselves constantly do, you know, but not in the scene per se. But do you guys teach that? We teach them audition techniques, and auditioning is so important, so we have two kinds of students. That when they're making short films or any content, do they stop and like watch it back and like huddle over and go, okay, okay, can I do that again? I don't know, do you? Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Do you let the actors watch what they just did? Yeah, I've had some. So for me, like, that's something that, you know, I've worked with actors who, and to be fair, it is generally younger actors who do that. But younger for me is like 35. Because I'm 62. But yeah, so, but I'm not really, I'll watch stuff back in action. Just to see what the shapes like and I'll sometimes watch back the first take depending on the complexity of the shot Just to see my expression and see what the camera is doing You know, like, what's the lens, where are they framing, what's actually, what's it doing. Sometimes I'll look at it, you know, I might watch that, I might, generally I don't get cans, like, I don't listen to it. I just see what I'm getting, I just see what it is, but, but often times I don't watch, you know, I'll be here, you know, and, ah, just, yeah. Thank you. I'm starting Yeah. I mean, that's cool, back in the day, that's fine, I mean, I know, like, it's not like, to I'm completely unconscious and I'm a pure artist, speak but, live, I thought this isn't pretend, now. And... there isn't a camera here. Thank you very much. But, to your point earlier, can they handle it? Can they do it? Can they do that? And that's why I asked about the training, right? So audition, because then you have to speak about it. When you're self-taping for an audition, what's your criticism? What do you actually, why would you do it again? It didn't look good? You didn't feel like you came across? You didn't, where did you come across? You weren't authentic to that? You're talking to someone off camera? What are you actually critiquing, you know, and then why not make that part of your scene or what you're doing in the piece? Yeah, it's about being believable and I don't know that an individual is fully capable of deciding, yes, I was believable there. I always think it sometimes takes somebody else watching to help. I will disagree but it's I mean obviously there is that aspect perhaps and I'm riffing here but But, um... you know the idea of how being seen changes an event right just quantum dancing Yes. yeah you know what I mean like how just it affects life right it's energy so if you're doing that if you're the watcher watching and performing what does that do to you You know, and then how can you, but I know, I know, again, I mean, I'm not naming names who are very believable with walking back from what they've learned and made adjustments to their feeling about what they're doing and have been very, you know, you're sitting across from them or something and you're like, damn, you're really good. I saw what you did there, but it's, you know, it's craft, right? It's absolute craft. So. What is your hook? Do you have a hook that you repeat in terms of finding a character or like where it lives in you or how you think about it? Do you have a Any steps, or is it just that you find it in the story of what kind of person this is, and you gravitate towards it just subconsciously? Is there anything that sticks out? Olivier, I was told, always found it in some facial feature, that it was like, that's where he had to see it. And this character's in my cheek. Thank you. That's why I'm in my cheek. Thank you. It was almost like that. Thank you. Yeah, but it might have been a metaphorical idea, like, do you, but metaphor is real, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what we're doing here, yeah, storytelling. You tell me. Yes, so, yeah, I mean, I try, you know, that whole thing about what are the shoes, how do you walk, how do you feel, especially in the beginning of a role, you know, that transition from text, you know, you start to inhabit it, feel it, you know, and the more time you sit in it, the more you can take it off before you put it on. For me, I grew up in that kind of, I mean, I was, we were speaking on stage a little bit, you know, we were saying you guys are doing some Meisner and some Adler. A little bit of hogging, you know, not so much an actor prepares, right? You guys touch on a little bit of that. All right. So you're kind of doing like European-American acting tools. Right. Different methodologies. Mix and match, take what's good for you. Yes. Are you going to condemn it? No, I think that's great because everybody's unique. Hmm. So, you're going to cook the way you, it's your kitchen, this is your kitchen, right? And we can all make a tomato sauce, but your tomato sauce is going to be different than mine. All right. But you go to school, you go to learn because you're going to, you know, what's out there, what are the tools, how do you relate? And just by, like, doing and playing with stuff, you're going to, you know, do your own thing. And the more time you spend with it, the more, the less it becomes just checklists and, you know, like. You know, but I'll still think about, you know, how do I enter, what do I sense, but in my early days, you know, I was a little more, I was still, I was moved a little bit more with like, you know, it's kind of like American method, go live it, you know, Daniel Day-Lewis is doing some English version of that, right, you know, I've heard great, wonderful stories about that, I guess, yeah, okay, I just dropped the name. Thank you. No, Cameron Diaz, another name, told me one time, she was working, she was there, they were doing, he was playing Bill the Butcher, and she was walking down the street on the Upper West Side, and she saw this guy in the corner, and it was like, oh my God, it's Daniel, and he was like, hi, and she said, hi, I'm Cameron, but he was totally Bill the Butcher, totally like, and then she like met the guy at the end after the last thing, and he was just like, oh, hello, nice to meet you, this is Cameron. It's beautiful. You know, you can cook that way, you know, and there's like, you know, like, I know like if I'm doing accents, I'll be that guy picking up the phone, hello, what you want? I'll do that for a minute, then get older and get embarrassed, but, you know, I'll do that. You know, because you want to wear, you don't want, you want to feel authentic to what you're doing, right? So it's all about steps. feel for me just you know discover what the character is but also to wear it to feel it like to make the clothes right right how about this is a weird question because i just i'm thinking of it now um because so many young actors are dealing with i'll say feelings because emotions are they're just there those come we can't stop those those are part of our survival thing in terms of uh evolution, that we just get them, we can't stop them, and our feelings are interpretations of those emotions. So it's so fascinating to me how we work with young actors as they work with feelings for their character, and the pitfalls they get in the way of feeling too much, feeling too little, not hiding enough. Did you struggle, or did you feel like you had a good grasp of how to... To navigate the emotional journey of the characters. So when that happens, what would be, um, so they're not getting in touch with their anger, they can't do a vulnerability. For the most part, some of that and sometimes the willingness to show it all and embrace the emotion of that feeling so much. Is that in an exercise or is that in character? In character, like in a scene. In a scene. So how do you, how do you, so, so they're doing a scene and you're, do you guys do like, okay, there's a scene, the artists sit down and then you like, the teacher gives a review and says like, okay, put it back on its feet and let's take about, let's talk about this moment or what's Yeah. And talk about the honesty of the emotions or the feelings. Is this appropriate for what's going on? And in some ways, I think what makes great actors are having to understand and be unselfconscious about utilizing their emotions. I think that's how they're different than other people in other... You know works of art that this is like they deal with emotions. They deal with those feelings and and that's their you know That's the office work So how are they going to deal with that and sort of sculpt it use it play with it tease it out? You know all of that or are you just subject to feeling it and getting helping your lines go with what what those feelings? Take over take over. Are you doing that as a primacy or? And when you say that, are you talking, when you guys do scene work, is it from plays or from films? Both. Oh, screenplays. Wow, I want to hang out and just see if you guys feel a difference. They're the best. Do you guys feel a difference when you act between, say, a classic play from the 70s, 90s, to like when you do a modern screenplay? Yeah. Thank you. It's trippy, right? Yes! So, when you hear Mark speaking about emotion, do you feel like that question is probing something different in your interpretation between a screenplay and a play text? Or is it the same? In the past. In the past. Okay. And then, do you feel like it's different or the same? Because you guys are playing characters that are older than you most of the time. I mean, sometimes. And then some you're at age. So you're interpreting. You might not have the same life experience that your character will have. So you're doing metaphor. You're personalizing your interpretation of what that emotion could be. And so then you're entering a consensual environment of interpretation of your emotional state and interpretation of your character by an objective point of view. Say yes to that objective point of view potential. So what is, so then you get into, and I don't know if this happens, because... When does, and I didn't do a lot of Meisner, I did like really basic, your jacket's blue, your jacket's blue. Okay, so that's like, I never got into scene with Meisner, where it really can start to go. But, when does training border on craft and acting and therapy? You would answer, the same, it doesn't matter, it happens, it happens. I don't know, it's just a thing, it's part of the process, isn't it? You've got to go home and think about, like, why am I having these feelings? Why can't I do that? Or how do I do it? Or what the **** am I doing here? It's self-examination. Yes, absolutely. But you said the problem is that they can't get there, they're not, they're not revealed, they're not revealed, they're not revealed, they don't have access to it. That's the challenge. The challenge. The challenge is to be as believable as possible with their, the emotional life of a character and how it fits in the way culture is at the moment, the way society is, is our... Are emotions appropriate here? What's less appropriate? That sometimes because they're so powerful, it becomes like something that can sweep you away and learning how to control them. Because they are. Where am I? Again, I come back to this question. Is that in dedicated dialogue or is that in an acting exercise? Both. I think both. Okay. Well, that's good. Because there's a difference, right? Yeah. There's in the ring and there's outside the ring. There's before action, and there's after action. Not the same game. Not the same game. But the question was, do you... No, no, no, no, no. That's kind of something... Is there a role that you still want to play? Is there something that you are like, just jazzed to play? Or a story? Oh man, I want to do a musical and dance. I can't sing. And I'm not a very good dancer. That's the reason to do it. That's the reason to do it. Except no one wants me to hide in front of the teachers. I'm starting to speak now. We have singing teachers here that will disagree with you and say they can get you to sing. Great! And we will gladly put you on stage right here in the music room. You are So truly beloved by every fan, they just think so much of you. I think it's because you are the most incredibly honest. actor I've seen in like almost forever every every single time that You play these every man that are just thrown into world changing circumstances, and there's nothing, but just straight sort of honest Honest reaction to what is going on that that I think that's from parenthood to to every you know John Wick like I love You know it's just like what is happening and that is just what? how do you do that i mean how do you how do you quiet everything to where it's just so perfect i mean it's a terrible question i'm so sorry it's very kind and generous of you to say um okay i'm gonna drop another name so uh i was i was doing you guys showed a clip from it uh much ado about nothing and uh and i got a call that um Bernardo Bertolucci, who's an Italian director, wanted to meet, and we were filming in the Chianti region, and I went, oh, and he's like, he's doing a film, amazing, what, what does he, he wants to meet you because he's doing a film about Buddha, and I was like, who does he, what, man, what am I playing, the questioning began. But he said, and I said, because I asked him, why? Why are you in Italy meeting me to play Siddhartha, or Gautama? He went, because you have an impossible innocence. I take that. I was like, impossibly innocent. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. But anyway, that's what he said. And so I guess, when I think about that personally, like, what is that? It's that thing of try not to judge, try not to pre-think, try to be open, try to be present. I love that.