Keanu Reeves on football training, celebrity challenges and the zen of acting (2000)

Nice job in this film. Oh, thank you very much. I guess in life's experiences I would have no idea, even though I played some football, I would have no idea what it is to play on that level. Do you have an idea now what it is to play on that level? I have a lot of, I've seen a lot of, I worked with a man named Bob Galliano and a man named T.J. Rubli, who were the two men who coached me, they were the quarterback coaches. One was a 14 year vet and I think T.J. played, I think, 8 years. And in spending, you know, 3 months with them, 2 months with Bob and 3 and a half months with T.J., I got a lot of stories. And I got to, by them teaching me football and about relating what they were teaching me to their experiences, and then to be in the milieu with all these guys who played college ball, who played in Europe, who had their, you know, legs broken, who had ACL snapped, who had done all of this. I learned a lot about the sacrifice of the game, you know, physically, and then I learned a lot about the strategies of the game, and I don't know what it's like to play a real football game, but I know what it's like to, you know, call a play, go to the line, watch a play evolve, and to execute, and to lead a team. And to throw a pass. Yeah. Yeah, which is, you know, my favorite part. I can't throw a spiral. Oh yeah? I can't to save my life. Yeah? I don't let you follow through. Yeah, it is. It's all follow through. Yeah. I think my fingers are not long enough. Yeah? I don't know. Or whatever it is. But it's kind of a thrill when you actually hit one. Oh man. Because when you feel it, it's like that zen moment of ease. And the ball just goes. They always said that to me. Don't, you know, don't grab the ball so hard, don't be tight, just relax, breathe. It's kind of true about acting sometimes. Yes, it is. Very much so. Let go. Yeah. Just be it. Yeah. The accoutrements of, I guess I want to say celebrityism that goes with sports and football is very similar to acting in kind of an odd way in that it's another whole part of thing to deal with, I think, for a lot of these guys. Oh, you mean in terms of endorsements, advertisement, or the kind of publicity aspect of it? Yeah, just going anywhere, having dinner sometimes. Oh, in that aspect, yeah. Yeah. Sure. Certainly. Yeah. And it's kind of peculiar. I just noticed, you know, in Troy Aikman, where I live, you can barely go anywhere anymore. Yeah, that's tough. It's tough. Yeah. I don't have, I can still go in the world, so it's nice. It's a good thing. Yeah, it is a good thing. It's a really good thing. Yeah. A lot of people that do what you do cannot do that. And I don't want to beat this with a stick, but I guess sometimes it's just the attitude. It's the attitude that you carry yourself with. Yeah. Perhaps. I don't know. Let me ask you a question, a little more philosophical about acting, but if you took away all the accoutrements with it, and what I'm talking really about is income and publicity and notoriety, and it just gets down to doing it, at this point in your life, what do you really love about acting? Love about acting. I guess I can't just say acting. Can I? I think you can say whatever is on it. Yeah. I mean, yeah. I mean, what entails, but what is it about acting? Is it? I guess it's the abandonment, the expression, the communion, kind of like a sense of self, but a loss of self, a kind of, that can occur when a scene is going really well, you know? Is there a sense of accomplishment, too? Yeah. I mean, if there's a certain scene that has certain stakes to it, depending on your perspective of the scene, if you feel it's challenging, or if it's daunting emotionally, or if you're trying to find a scene, it's not working, so you have to find a scene, and then if you find it, or if you hit it, or if you experience it, or if you share it, or if it's alive, if it's the real thing, if that happens, and then in that moment, there is a sense of, yeah, I mean, I know sometimes when I, if I hit Hamlet, if I felt like, okay, I told a story, that was it. That there was a sense there of like, okay, that was an accomplishment. The other times, if you hit a scene that you, you know, you're looking for, if you realize a scene, then there's a state of happiness, and there you are. And there you are. That's tough.