Why does no one ever talk about Keys (the Peter Coyote character)?
I found him particularly interesting. In a role that could have been nothing but a nameless, faceless, heartless, soulless government functionary, Coyote and screenwriter Mathison created a very human character. The scene where he tells Elliot that meeting an extra-terrestrial was something he had been wishing for since he was 10 years old still moves me (moved me far more than the high-pitched histrionics that were taking place in that same scene). One could see that that wide-eyed child was still inside him.