Monday September 17 07:17 AM EDT

THE LONE STRANGER

TORONTO - Keanu Reeves joked with his child co-stars in a Toronto hotel hallway about their experiences making "Hardball," a heart-tugging baseball movie that opened Friday and was No. 1 at the weekend box office.The group had gathered for a press day at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Reeves finished the reunion by saying, "Thanks for watching my back."

But when he faced the prospect of an interview, his joy deflated. The 37-year-old actor does not like talking to strangers about himself or his movies.

Reeves, his dark Eurasian good looks set off by a black sports jacket and T-shirt, answered questions brusquely.

Asked about a recent report that he had donated his profit points for the two "Matrix" sequels - a sum that could reach millions of dollars - to the movies' special-effects and costume-design crews, Reeves said he preferred not to answer.

"I'd rather people didn't know that," he said. "It's just a private event."

He lives in hotels most of the time. He has said he likes to stare at the walls. And he often travels solo, except when he plays bass with his band, Dogstar.

Reeves' first name means "breeze over the mountains" in Hawaiian, but those who know him say he is not at ease.

Brian Robbins, the director of "Hardball," was surprised that Reeves wanted the part of a gambler who finds meaning in guiding a ragtag baseball team of kids from the projects. But when Robbins met the actor, it made sense.

"Keanu Reeves the person has a sort of void," Robbins said. "He's a guy sort of needing something, looking for something, like the character in the movie. I thought it was a good fit."

During filming in Chicago, Robbins and his wife sometimes would find Reeves on Sunday mornings, sipping coffee alone at a cafe. They'd invite Reeves to join them, but he didn't always accept.

The itinerant actor will spend the next nine months in Sydney, working on the "Matrix" sequels, which will be shot one after the other. ("The Matrix Reloaded" is scheduled to premiere in 2003.) The stint in Australia does not faze Reeves.

"I'm so grateful to be there and so grateful to be working on something I love," he said. "Its demands are what's so great about it."

Reeves first earned attention as an easygoing dude in "Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989), then became a bankable action star with turns in "Point Break" (1991) and "Speed" (1994).

Then "The Matrix" catapulted him into the stratosphere on a wave of box-office grosses and four Academy Award nominations (though none for his acting).

Toronto is perhaps the one place Reeves could call home. He spent his adolescence here with his mother, Patricia. She was a showgirl in Beirut when she met Reeves' father, Samuel, a geologist, and the two divorced shortly after Reeves was born.

Reeves dropped out of four high schools here, clinging to his dream of becoming an actor. He does not visit old haunts when he returns, but he says, "There's a certain nostalgia to it, a certain reflection."

Reeves got his break when he was cast in a bit part in "Youngblood," a 1986 hockey movie that was shot in the area. The film's lead, Rob Lowe, encouraged Reeves to move to Los Angeles.

"Hardball" shows Reeves at his most down to earth. He says he did not feel the need to reveal a warmer side, only that he liked the redemption of his character, Conor O'Neill, who must coach a corporate-sponsored baseball team to pay off a gambling debt. Naturally, the players aren't any good.

The neighborhood in which the movie was filmed was not exactly upscale.

"When we had to go home early from work because people were shooting at each other close by, it just kind of intensified the feeling of how hard these places can be and how unfortunate it is," says Reeves.

Although Reeves is perceived as a loner, his young co-stars found him approachable. Reeves entertained them by re-enacting "Matrix" scenes. "I expected him to be stuck-up," said Bryan Hearne, one of the kids.

Reeves' detractors can be harsh, though. Two recent efforts, the football comedy "The Replacements" and the romance "Sweet November," renewed criticism that his acting was wooden.

Reeves began acting at 15 because it made him happy. It still does. "I know that I want to have truthful acting," he says, "and so maybe that's something I'm searching for. Maybe that can turn into a truthful life."