'Speed'
HBO and The Ringer's Bill Simmons is joined by Jason Concepcion, Shea Serrano, and Donnie Kwak to relive the 1994 nonstop thrill ride 'Speed' starring Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. They consider the perfect formula for 'Die Hard' remakes, expose the improbability of driving fast through L.A. traffic, and break down the film's critical bus jump.
Cast
Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven
Sandra Bullock as Annie
Dennis Hopper as Howard Payne
Jeff Daniels as Harry Temple
Joe Morton as Lt. Herb 'Mac' McMahon
Alan Ruck as Stephens
Glenn Plummer as Jaguar Owner
Directed by: Jan de Bont
Written by: Graham Yost
Notes
- The episode was recorded around the same time as the OJ Simpson chase anniversary – they discuss how the OJ white Bronco chase and Speed both happened in the summer of 1994, the greatest LA freeway summer ever.
- Speed produced two breakout movie stars simultaneously: Keanu Reeves went from 'that Bill & Ted guy' to legit action star, and Sandra Bullock became America's sweetheart overnight.
- Jan de Bont was the cinematographer on 'Die Hard' before directing Speed – so he essentially took lessons from shooting one of the greatest action movies ever and applied them to his directorial debut.
- Keanu turned down Speed 2 and took a massive pay cut to tour with his band Dogstar instead, which turned out to be a brilliant career move since Speed 2 was terrible.
- The script was written by Graham Yost, but his dad was the one who came up with the core concept of a bomb on a bus that can't slow down.
- Joss Whedon did uncredited script doctoring on Speed, reportedly punching up a lot of the dialogue, especially the banter between Jack and Annie.
- The famous bus jump over the gap in the freeway was not in the original script – it was added during production, and in reality the bus would have just nose-dived into the gap.
- Sandra Bullock actually learned to drive the bus for the movie, and some of her genuine nervousness behind the wheel made it into the final cut.
- The original working title was 'Minimum Speed' before someone wisely shortened it to just 'Speed' – one of the great action movie titles ever.
- Shea Serrano's dad was a bus driver, which gave the episode a personal connection to the bus-driving scenes.
Categories
Quote from Rog's review:
“'Speed' is like an ingenious machine. The screenplay has been assembled like clockwork. Not a moment is wasted on anything extraneous to the plot. It's wall-to-wall with action sequences.”
Roger Ebert gave it 4 stars out of 4. Called it 'a movie that's wall-to-wall with action sequences'.
The bus jump over the gap in the unfinished freeway. Completely impossible physics but it doesn't matter – it's the ultimate 'holy shit' action movie moment.
- Young Sandra Bullock – she is luminous in this movie and the chemistry with Keanu is off the charts.
- Young crew-cut Keanu – peak physical specimen Keanu doing his own stunts.
- The pacing – the movie is relentless from start to finish, no wasted scenes.
- The 'Die Hard on a bus' concept – high-concept action done perfectly.
- The stereotypical bus passengers who are all quirky characters – feels very '90s.
- The idea that an LA freeway would ever allow a bus to go over 50 mph.
- No cell phones – so much of the plot depends on pay phones and radio communication.
- The bus jump physics – the bus literally would have plummeted straight down.
- Stephen Baldwin was considered for Jack Traven.
- Jeff Bridges was offered the role but turned it down.
- Johnny Depp was in the mix for the lead.
- Ellen DeGeneres and Halle Berry were both considered for Annie.
- Quentin Tarantino was considered to direct before Jan de Bont got it.
- Speed won 2 Oscars: Best Sound and Best Sound Effects Editing.
- Keanu did many of his own stunts in the movie.
- River Phoenix's death in 1993 affected Keanu deeply and may have influenced his decision to take the action-hero role in Speed.
- Joss Whedon was an uncredited script doctor who worked on the dialogue.
- The bus jump was not in the original screenplay – it was added during production.
Joe Morton as Lt. McMahon. Classic 'that guy' performance – he's the steady hand running things on the ground and he's perfect in the role.
No consensus apex mountain picks in this episode – they discuss that Keanu and Sandra Bullock both arguably hit their apex mountains with this movie, but both went on to have such long careers that it's hard to pin it here.
- Howard Payne calls from a pay phone to make his demands – how did he know the number to call back?
- The gasoline situation on the bus is never properly addressed.
- Nobody bothers to check if Dennis Hopper is actually dead after the first explosion.
- There's no way anyone survives that bus jump in real life.
- Why didn't they just shoot out the tires to stop the bus safely?
- What would the Nicolas Cage version of Speed have looked like?
- Was the summer of 1994 the greatest LA freeway summer ever (Speed + OJ chase)?
- Is Speed the greatest action movie title of all time?
Sandra Bullock won 2-1 over Keanu. She went from unknown to the biggest female movie star in the world. Keanu solidified himself as an action star, but Sandy's career trajectory changed more dramatically.