DARK PRINCE: Keanu Reeves, 75th Annual Academy
Awards, 2003 Hawaiian, Chinese and English, Keanu (means "cool breeze over
the mountains") often sounds like a Valley boy or surfer dude and has managed to
turn inscrutability into a viable acting style. Reeves' exotic opaqueness
... more can be
a real come-on, but as an actor he can be unusually inert and even asexual. He
calls himself "a meathead" -- "You've got smart people and you've got dumb
people. I just happen to be dumb" -- and that persona stood him in good stead in
the megahit "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure." Still, watching his smart
work in "Point Break," "My Own Private Idaho" and "Little Buddha," you have to wonder
whether the actor's an undercover operative. At the 2003 Oscars, Reeves
personified elegance in his traditional tux, bowtie and wing collar. The guy has
taste -- and he looks born to wear haute couture evening ensembles. Makes you
wonder what Cool Breeze means when he wisecracks, "I'm Mickey Mouse. They don't
know who's inside the suit." (Frank Trapper/Corbis)Close
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