As it celebrates its 30th anniversary, Hasitha Fernando looks at the story behind the 90s classic action blockbuster Speed…
Often touted as one of the greatest action flicks of the 1990s, Speed was responsible for cementing Keanu Reeves’ reputation as a bona fide action star and launching Sandra Bullock career into the proverbial stratosphere. And so, on its 30th anniversary we take a sneak peak into what went down all those years ago, during the making of this action masterpiece.
The movie was Jan de Bont’s feature directorial debut
Jan de Bont’s career in the film industry commenced as a cinematographer in his home country of Netherlands. The first movie de Bont lensed was the controversial German/Dutch effort Blue Movie (1971). Afterwards he collaborated with auteur filmmaker Paul Verhoeven on multiple occasions before getting involved with Hollywood projects in the early 80s where he received critical acclaim for his contributions to such classics as Die Hard (1988), Hunt for Red October (1990) and Basic Instinct (1992). Upon finishing the script, Yost took his idea to Paramount Pictures which expressed interest and wanted veteran action helmer John McTiernan to direct it. The filmmaker declined the offer, as the story felt too much like a Die Hard retread but recommended his DOP Jan de Bont whom he’d worked with on Die Hard and Hunt for Red October for the director’s chair. After some convincing de Bont conceded and took on the project.
An 80s Jon Voight action thriller inspired the story
Screenwriter Graham Yost started out in the television industry before making his transition to feature films with 1994’s Speed. The idea for the pulse pounding actioner first took root when Yost’s father told him about a 1985 movie called Runaway Train starring Jon Voight. The flick based on a 1963 concept by Japanese filmmaking legend Akira Kurosawa centered around an out-of-control train. However, the story of Runaway Train as narrated by Yost’s father included a bomb on board, which wasn’t part of the movie’s story! After watching Voight’s film Yost decided to write a story involving a bus with a bomb onboard which is forced to travel at 20 mph to prevent it from exploding. A friend of Yost suggested the speed to be increased to 50 mph. The script was initially titled “Minimum Speed”, however, the screenwriter realized that using the word “minimum” in the title wasn’t the best idea and simply renamed it to… Speed.
SEE ALSO: Runaway Train: From Russian Arthouse to The Cannon Group
20th Century Fox wasn’t convinced of Keanu Reeves’ star power
Directors fighting with producers and the studios to retain their actors is a commonly seen occurrence in Hollywood, and the situation wasn’t so different with Speed either. Stephen Baldwin was the studio’s first choice for the role of Officer Jack Traven, but the actor turned down the offer since he felt the character, as written in an earlier draft of the script, felt too much like Die Hard’s John McClane. The producers also considered Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Woody Harrelson and Wesley Snipes at various points of the casting process. Ultimately director Jan de Bont handpicked Keanu Reeves for the role after seeing his scene-stealing performance in Point Break (1991). The filmmaker felt that Reeves was “vulnerable on the screen. He’s not threatening to men because he’s not that bulky, and he looks great to women”. 20th Century Fox, however, wasn’t pleased with de Bont’s choice, convinced that Reeves lacked the star power to headline a summer blockbuster like Speed. But when de Bont refused to budge, the studio had to play ball.
Halle Berry turned down the role which made Sandra Bullock a star
The character of Annie Porter was initially written as an African American and as a paramedic in the original screenplay conceived by Yost. This would have justified her prowess in evasive driving but this element was dropped from the script later on. Former Miss USA contestant Halle Berry was the one of the actors who were first offered the female lead of the movie early on. Due to reasons unknown Berry didn’t accept the offer but had she taken on the role her trajectory in Hollywood would have taken a much different picture. Annie Porter’s character underwent multiple changes during script revisions and at one point was changed to a driver’s education teacher who was akin to the comic-relief sidekick to Jack. Fortunately, this iteration wasn’t the final version we saw on film. By the time Sandra Bullock came on board the character had been changed to Jack’s sidekick-cum-love interest so it was imperative that Bullock had the right chemistry with Reeves. Bullock recalled that they had to do “all these really physical scenes together, rolling around on the floor and stuff.” The actress even learned to drive a bus for the actioner, acing the driving test on her first attempt.
Joss Whedon was brought in to rewrite much of the script’s dialogue
Over the years writer-director Joss Whedon has created some of the most cult TV shows that the small screen has had to offer. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly and Dollhouse are some of the efforts that make up his impressive resume but it was with the MCU’s The Avengers (2012) that he got his much needed breakthrough and greater recognition. However, in the 90s the creative was one of the most sought-after “script doctors” in Hollywood doing uncredited rewrites on movies like The Getaway (1994), Waterworld (1995) and Twister (1996). The Oscar nomination he received for co-writing the screenplay of Pixar’s Toy Story (1995) certainly bolstered his position further during this period. Whedon was brought in at the last minute to revamp the script of Speed and many admit that roughly 90 percent of the film’s dialogue was penned by him. Ultimately, despite his creative contribution it was Yost who received sole credit since the original concept, story beats and characters were his.
Parallels between the film’s chase sequence and an infamous true crime incident are uncanny
Even though Speed had been filmed at the end of 1993, the uncanny parallels between some elements of the movie and the infamous O.J Simpson car chase, which took place a week after the film’s release, are truly uncanny. For the uninitiated the whole fiasco involved the former star-turned-actor O.J. Simpson escaping a supposed crime-scene with his friend Al Cowlings in his White Ford Bronco. The slow-speed chase from Orange County to Simpson’s home in Brentwood was televised live and watched by over 95 million people. The aerial shots of the Simpson’s Bronco speeding down the LA freeway bears eerie similarity to Reeves’ high-speed chase in Speed. In addition, the car used by Reeves’ character in the flick was also, you guessed it, a Ford Bronco.
The death of River Phoenix affected Keanu Reeves deeply
Keanu Reeves and the late River Phoenix were more like brothers in real life and this kinship blossomed on the set of Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho (1991), which was a coming-of-age drama featuring the duo as lovers. When news reached Reeves that his close friend and confidante had tragically passed away from a drug overdose it took a major emotional toll on him. To give Reeves some time to grieve de Bont scheduled the shoot to work around the actor deciding to give him scenes that were easier and less taxing to do. “It got to him emotionally. He became very quiet, and it took him quite a while to work it out himself and calm down. It scared the hell out of him,” de Bont recalled during an interview.
The bus jump sequence was conceived at the spur-of-the-moment
The climactic bus jump scene featured in the movie wasn’t part of the original script. Director Jan de Bont came up with the audacious idea one day while he was driving around LA and noticed a section of the freeway missing. At that very moment de Bont was struck with the brilliant idea to use a similar set piece and feature a bus jump scene for the film. Since its nigh impossible for a bus to achieve a massive jump of that manner a ramp was utilized to give the bus the necessary lift-off, so that it could clear the full fifty feet. Miraculously the stunt was pulled off from the very first attempt successfully.
The film literally ran out of money before it was completed
When the film was first previewed for an audience, the subway scenes were just a composite of animated storyboards with nothing being in it being shot due to lack of funding. However, the audience loved the storyboard sequences so much, the studio came up with the money to shoot the scenes properly. Their faith in the movie was rewarded with the positive response the effort received during test screenings. A 20th Century Fox producer realized they might have a hit movie on their hands when he noticed that, during test screenings, audience members would walk backwards when they needed to go to the bathroom, so they would miss as little as possible.
Box-office success, rave reviews & a lackluster sequel
Made on a modest production budget of $30 million, the electrifying action thriller went on to make a whopping $350.4 million at the worldwide box-office. Despite the fierce competition it had from movies such as The Lion King, True Lies, Dumb and Dumber and Interview with the Vampire the flick went on to become the 5th highest grossing film of 1994. But its success didn’t stop there. The movie proved to be a major hit with film critics and as of writing Speed holds an approval rating of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, with the site’s critics consensus reading: “A terrific popcorn thriller, Speed is taut, tense, and energetic, with outstanding performances from Keanu Reeves, Dennis Hopper, and Sandra Bullock.”
Renowned film critic Roger Ebert gave the film four out of four stars writing, “Films like Speed belong to the genre I call Bruised Forearm Movies, because you’re always grabbing the arm of the person sitting next to you. Done wrong, they seem like tired replays of old chase cliches. Done well, they’re fun. Done as well as Speed, they generate a kind of manic exhilaration”. In his review for Rolling Stone magazine, Peter Travers wrote, “Action flicks are usually written off as a debased genre, unless, of course, they work. And Speed works like a charm. It’s a reminder of how much movie escapism can still stir us when it’s dished out with this kind of dazzle”.
The movie even shone during awards season walking away with multiple Academy Award nominations and winning the golden nudies for Best Sound Editing and Best Sound. Speed made it into multiple “Year-end Top 10 Movie Lists” that year and is now regarded as one of the best action flicks of the 1990s. The film’s success, however, couldn’t be duplicated for its sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control (1997) which saw Sandra Bullock return minus Keanu Reeves. A half-baked script replete with ill-conceived characters and lukewarm action sequences made it an unmitigated critical and commercial disaster, eventually making it go down as one of the worst sequels ever made.
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Hasitha Fernando is a part-time medical practitioner and full-time cinephile. Follow him on Twitter via @DoctorCinephile for regular updates on the world of entertainment.
