Celebrity Parade With Jeanne Wolf

Apr. 11, 2008 — -- Dennis Quaid

Dennis Quaid wears a fat suit to play a paunchy professor in "Smart People." But, he still looks pretty handsome. Off-screen Dennis is working hard to make sure that the mix-up of medicines which threatened the life of his twins at a hospital doesn't happen again. Dennis told Parade, "Three other babies died from a similar mistake but there was no publicity." So Dennis is using his celebrity to draw attention to the problem.

"Our kids are doing great," he adds. "And something good is really going to come out of it. But we really appreciate people's thoughts and prayers while this is going on. And we really felt them, too."

Now, Quaid is hoping to get back on the road with his rock band. "I haven't played with a band since July," he says. "I'm going to again, but it's just that I took a break for a while. I've been at work for an entire year. And, then we were pregnant and having the babies and things. I just wanted to take a little time off and do nothing."

Keanu Reeves

Keanu Reeves is a tough L.A. cop who kills bad guys in "Street Kings." Playing the role gave him new respect for police firepower. He told Parade, "I got trained shooting real bullets at fake human targets. Then I understood what a loaded weapon can do." Keanu can also hold his own in martial arts after the "Matrix" movies, but he's not out to prove it. He says, "I've learned there's always someone badder than you."

Reeves spent time with real L.A. cops and he has mixed feelings about whether, like the man in blue he plays, they sometimes act as their own judge and jury when facing low-down criminals. "Maybe," he says. "I'm sure they have that impulse when they're looking at a guy who has done heinous stuff. They might just think, 'He doesn't need to leave this room and go back on the street again.' I'm sure it happens once in a while."

"I'm an actor and it's all make-believe," he adds. "But this world steeped in violence can be intoxicating. Violence is an elemental force and acting it out has a weird illusion of control. The cop I play is lashing out and using violence to get to the truth, but as someone says in the film, 'Blood doesn't wash away blood.' In the end, violence doesn't change anything."