Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves and director Jan de Bont revisit ‘Speed’ 30 years later
A folding chair and a paper plate for a steering wheel.
That’s what Sandra Bullock remembered from her audition for 1994’s blockbuster “Speed,” which had a 30th anniversary screening Tuesday evening at the Egyptian Theatre as one of the final events of this year’s Beyond Fest at American Cinematheque.
After the screening, during which the sold-out audience burst into cheers throughout, Bullock was joined onstage for an affectionate 50-minute Q&A with her co-star Keanu Reeves and the movie’s director, Jan de Bont. It was the first time the trio had ever talked about the film together in front of a live audience.
“Speed,” which earned more than $350 million around the world and won two Oscars for its sound work, made international stars of Bullock and Reeves. It was the debut for De Bont as a director following a successful career as a cinematographer on films such as “Die Hard” and “Basic Instinct.”
“I knew we had something very early on,” De Bont said about whether he knew the film would be a hit. “The moment I saw Keanu and Sandra working as a team and doing most of the stunts themselves, which is so great. The reactions are based on real reactions because they had to respond to what they were doing. That makes it so great and so relatable. And also the fact that there’s a lot of fun lines in the movie and that it’s basically nonstop and there’s real action. There’s no CGI, nothing artificial. It’s all real.”
The conversation was skillfully moderated by journalist Jim Hemphill after an introduction by Kris Tapley, host of the “50 MPH” podcast dedicated to “Speed” and credited as a driving force behind Tuesday’s event.
“Here’s the thing, they don’t make ’em like they used to,” said Tapley. “And it’s never been more true than with a film like ‘Speed.’”
Bullock said she recalled many of the details from her fateful audition — the car she drove, the door she walked through — before getting the part that would make her a star.
“I didn’t think I’d be getting the job, but the only reason I got this job was because I was fought for,” said Bullock. With movie-star timing, she added, “Well, other people turned it down.”
When De Bont began to protest whether anyone else was up for the part, Bullock insisted, “There were other people ahead of me — I’ve met them.”
“The moment I saw you, I knew,” said De Bont.
“But you saw me after one, two and three couldn’t do it,” Bullock said to laughs from the audience.
Bullock then turned to Reeves, who had largely been quiet up to that point, and noted, “Poor Keanu. This is what it was like working with Keanu. [He] was just like, ‘Who’s going to shut up first?’”
In the film, Reeves plays a Los Angeles SWAT officer who successfully spoils a ransom bombing plot planned by a disgruntled former cop (Dennis Hopper). This leads the bomber to ensnare Reeves’ character in another scheme that involves a bomb placed on a city bus that will detonate if the vehicle‘s speed drops below 50 mph. Bullock plays a passenger enlisted by Reeves to drive the bus.
For his part, Reeves acknowledged that he wasn’t initially sold on the project. It was only after meeting De Bont, whom he referred to as a “mad genius,” that he decided to join the film, saying: “Seeing what [he] was going after, which was this kind of action, which was the humor, which was this kind of heightened reality — when I met Jan and his passion for ‘It’s real and I want to shoot it,’ I was like, f— yeah.”
Other topics included Reeves’ haircut, which went from initially being too long to too short and then growing back in, the professional cool of co-star Jeff Daniels, the number of buses used in the production (11) and the many cameras destroyed during shooting.
Bullock noted that while she did not actually drive the bus during shooting, she said she did get a Santa Monica bus driver’s license.
“I was at the helm of the bus,” recalled Bullock, “but in the back there was someone driving, or on the roof someone was driving, and I was being careened into whatever Jan felt I needed to smash into that day.”
Remembering the film’s stunt coordinator, Gary Hymes, Reeves said, “My take on it is if I can be there, I want to be there because it’s a connection in the storytelling to have a character there. You don’t have to cut away in a different way. And Gary Hymes, he was like full: ‘Go, be safe, but let’s do it.’ And I really appreciate that.”
Reeves remembered shooting one stunt where, as he put it, “We were a little under-informed.”
As the bus started actually hitting other cars, Reeves described how “everyone on the bus lost their minds” as he began to mimic the screaming of his fellow actors.
“The reactions were great,” director De Bont deadpanned.
A few moments later, Reeves added, “I love Jan de Bont.” Mimicking the Dutch-born director’s accent, Reeves said, as De Bont, “‘It might be bad for you — maybe we don’t tell them to get reaction.’”
De Bont noted that the film was made for the relatively small budget of $31 million, adding, “Right now, you could not make it for $150 million.”
Of their notoriously unpredictable co-star Hopper — so memorable as the film’s villain — Reeves said, “He’s brilliant and so charismatic and he’s so committed.”
De Bont interjected, “And he’s also a little nuts.”
“Yeah,” Reeves said with an excited drawl. “And we say that he’s a little nuts, but he’s a total f— pro. A total pro. We had some ridiculous dialogue, and it was just awesome.”
After Reeves turned to Bullock to ask about her experiences working with “The Hopper,” she said, “I was surprised at how — I don’t like this word — but normal he was. I mean, he might have been weird to you guys, but he was very sweet to me.”
Bullock added, “He was a man that just couldn’t get enough. Life was happening too fast, and he just wanted more and more and more from it.”
Casting back on their memories of first seeing the film, Bullock recalled a viewing during postproduction and being struck by the use of storyboard drawings to stand in for unfinished shots — and did not realize that that was not how it would actually look in the final movie.
“I went, ‘Oh, that’s interesting,’” Bullock said. “Maybe it’ll be a cartoon and then it’s back to real life. And I thought I was dumb and didn’t understand the premise of the movie. And then later on, I realized it was storyboards. I never asked. I never questioned it. And then when I saw it again I was like, Oh, OK.”
Bullock playfully added, “You did a good job, Jan de Bont.”
Asked about the possibility of the trio reuniting for a “Speed 3,” Bullock addressed De Bont, saying: “He’s so soft and gentle today. And I’m like, that’s not the man I remember.”
Bullock added, “But he’s the man who put the energy and the idea together and knew what the audience wanted and demanded it from everyone. And everyone stepped up to plate. So what would that movie be that would make Jan’s brain and brilliance happy? It would require a lot from everybody. And I don’t know if we’re in an industry anymore that’s willing to tolerate it and be brave enough to do it. Maybe. I could be wrong.”
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