Vents MagaZine Music and Entertainment Magazine
Related Articles
“Pop quiz, hot-shot: You have a hair trigger aimed at your head, what do you do? WHAT DO YOU DO?”
So intoned master thespian Dennis Hopper during a tense moment of confrontation with Keanu Reeves in the hit 1994 action movie Speed. And though Reeves’ good natured police officer Jack Traven might have been momentarily stumped by Hopper’s ominously phrased question, the moviegoing audiences of the day sure weren’t: Speed, the movie about a bus with a bomb in it which will go off and kill all of its passengers should it fall under 50 MPH, went on to rake in over $350 million greenbacks in North America alone. What’s more, it gave its two lead actors, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock, a very comfortable place at the vaunted A-List table, ensuring both a long and storied career in Hollywood (the less said about the Keanu-less Speed 2, the better). Not bad for a fledgling director named Jan de Bont, nor for the home studio of the film, 20th Century Fox.
Sandra Bullock, Keanu Reeves and Jan de Bont reunited for a special 30th anniversary screening of their hit movie Speed, according to our action mavens over at The Hollywood Reporter.
The eagerly-anticipated reunion of the talented trio took place during the Beyond Fest as part and parcel of the American Cinematheque at Egyptian Theatre series of movie programming where the 1994 film was shown. Judging by the standing room only crowd of Speed aficionados, as well as the continuous roar of excitement from the audience, the evening was a real hit.
Following the screening of Speed, Reeves, Bullock and de Bont all gathered on stage to take questions from the audience. To no surprise at all, the big subject of the evening was the possibility of a Speed 3. Could it still happen, after thirty years? And what would such a creature look like?
“The geriatric version. It won’t be fast,” Bullock joked before directing her praise for the original film towards Jan de Bont himself. “All these things happened because the crazy man in the greenish jacket over there. He’s so soft and gentle today and I’m like, that’s not the man I remember. But he’s the man who put the energy and the idea together, knew what the audience wanted and demanded it from everyone and everyone stepped up to play it. So, what would that movie be that would make Jan’s brain and brilliance happy? It would require a lot from everybody. 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. … If he can’t make [what’s in his brain] for the audience, then he’s failed it felt like. I don’t know what we could do that would be good enough for the audience.”
If Speed 3 does receive a coveted green light from 20th Century Fox, it would not be without precedent: Top Gun: Maverick which was a huge hit during the height of COVID was a direct sequel to 1986’s Top Gun and, even sans a much-missed Kelly McGillis, and 30+ years after the first film’s release, it’s sophomore follow-up was an unmitigated success. So, though rare, lightning has been known to strike more than once even in a land as odd and surreal as Hollywood.
As for one of the men who helped bring the original Speed to life, Jan de Bont has no doubt a sequel could work, providing its Reeves and Bullock topping the marquee. During the Q&A session for the 30th anniversary of his movie, de Bont recalled the chemistry between the two leads:
“I knew we had something very early on, and at the moment I saw Keanu and Sandra working as a team and doing most of the stunts themselves, which was so great. The reactions they have are based on real reactions because they had to respond to what they were doing, and that makes it so great and so relatable. Also, the fact that there are a lot of fun lines in the movie and that it’s basically nonstop. This is real action. There’s no CGI, nothing. It’s all real.”
We’ll keep an ear open for any more chatter about a Speed 3 and, in the meantime, get ye down to that mythical Blockbuster Video and check out a copy of the original film tonight; Happy 30th Anniversary, Speed!
