22-year old Keanu Reeves discusses acting in unearthed interview: “I’m pretty bad”

Today marks the release of Bill & Ted Face The Music, a perfectly fine sequel to that recalls the early days of Keanu Reeves’ career, when people loved to argue about whether or not he was a “good” actor. Now, thank god, we can simply accept him as the amiable, charismatic, and badass screen presence that he is (though, if we’re being honest, that might have something to do with him steering clear of Shakespeare in middle age). That question of talent, however, was clearly on the mind of a young Reeves, who, as a baby-faced 22-year old, pontificated on the art form in an unearthed interview pegged to Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure published by TheWrap.

“Well… I don’t know if I’m acting now,” he said after being asked how long he’s been performing. “I’m pretty bad.” Adorably, he goes on to clarify that he’s “OK, but I hate acting most of the time that I do it.” He adds, “I have other interests, but none as all-consuming as this godawful job.” (Those interests, we imagine, include comic books, martial arts, and walking in slow motion.)

That sense of self-deprecation resounds throughout the interview—“If I’m really boring, just print anything you want,” he says as a means of introduction—but he’s more generous when discussing the film’s Ted “Theodore” Logan. “I’m playing, like, a child of the universe. A babe in the woods. An insouciant young man,” he says, echoing his co-star Alex Winter’s thoughts regarding Bill and Ted having transcended the “stoner” archetype.

The interview’s got some other gems as well, including a deadpan Reeves describing the seven-hour Bill & Ted audition process as “sort of sexual” and “like an orgy.” After your glasses have de-fogged, you can give it a read it here.

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