"Come here," his voice is gentle again.
She gives in, placing her small hand in his. Lifting the cloth, he sees her blood spill out from her palm. He inhales sharply through his teeth and presses the rag back down. They sit there like that for abo...
Inside bus 2525 there is tension in the air. Sandra twists away from the steering wheel to face Jan and Keanu, standing behind the yellow line. In Jack Traven's uniform of cargo pants, white tee, and blue, button-down shirt, Keanu's hands are clasped in front of him as he listens to his director speak. He is cool as ice, very rarely letting anyone know what is brewing inside. Most would not notice the tightness of his jaw or the white of his knuckles as he alternates between squeeze and release of his fingers. Sandra's eyes find his fists, then his jaw, then his fists again as she observes the conversation. He is a team player, through and through, but he is also passionate about his roles and will fight when his instinct tells him an action is out of place.
"It's really kinda ludicrous,"* Keanu starts.
"Yeah..."
"That I leave a man with a bullet hole in his chest, kind of reclining...on a bench." He motions towards 'Sam', who is sitting on the bench with a red corn syrup mixture splattered all over his shirt.
Keanu fought for his role of Jack to be the opposite of the typical action hero, beefed up and unfazed by violence and loss of innocence. His Officer Traven performed his job because he wanted to do right. He wanted to protect and serve. He was tenacious because of his empathy, yet he must now just go about his business while this man lies bleeding out on a seat. He laughs at the absurdity. Behind them, a low hum of casual chatter from the rest of the bus cast can be heard.
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"Yeah, I'm sorry." Jan empathizes, but is unmoved. Officer Traven wouldn't win this battle.
Sandra is drawn to his integrity. Before meeting and working with Keanu, she expected he would be like all the others: actors often either didn't care enough about a project to bother to fight for a direction or they would throw huge tantrums over minor things like the color of a shirt.
The assistant director, Dallas, directs the set designer to lay several duct-taped letter T's throughout the bus. Each character on the bus is assigned a different color of T to mark their places. Light screens are checked, makeup touched up, and cast members find their spots.
"Okay, everyone in their place?" Dallas calls out. When satisfied they are ready, he turns to Jan and gives him a thumbs up. The bus takes off and gains speed on the abandoned freeway.
"Action!" Jan's voice booms through the megaphone.
Keanu is holding a cell phone as Jeff Daniels walks his character through the next movement.
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