Pop quiz, hotshot. Which co-stars just reunited in honor of their blockbuster hit?
Keanu Reeves joined Sandra Bullock to lead a 30th anniversary screening of their 1994 action thriller “Speed” at the historic Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood on Tuesday.
The screening united the stars in a Q&A with “Speed” director Jan de Bont as part of Beyond Fest 2024. The event ends this week after a two-week spree of screenings and guest appearances, among them Al Pacino, Kyle MacLachlan, Sarah Paulson and Ron Perlman.
At the sold-out Egyptian, delighted “Speed” fans and industry types cheered as Reeves, playing an LAPD SWAT officer Jack Traven, and Bullock as “wildcat” Annie, foil a psychotic extortionist, played by a brilliantly deranged Dennis Hopper, who holds the city to ransom with bomb plants. In particular, one is located on a Santa Monica city bus: if the bus slows below 50 miles per hour it’ll explode.
When asked if they knew what they had in this much-loved film back then, Reeves replied: “We knew we were doing something wacky.”
Bullock, a relative unknown at the time, chimed in, “I was just happy to be a long. I was new to the game.” She later added: “I knew it was real when we were smashing into things.”
Bullock, who drives the bomb-rigged bus in the film, quipped, “You needed a woman behind the wheel to make it successful.”
She also self-effacingly deferred to Reeves’ then greater star power, saying that if an accident occurred during the action scenes the news headlines would have read, “Actor dies during stunt in Keanu Reeves movie.”
As for the prop the “Gravity” actress remembers most? “A folding chair and a paper plate,” Bullock, 60, mused, which was used for the steering wheel.
Reeves, 60, took a while to fully join in on the chat on Tuesday, causing Bullock to joke, “This is what it was like working with Keanu. He just wouldn’t shut up!”
Reeves eventually revved up, recalling how de Bont used a lot of cameras. “There was one for Sandra’s hands, one for when I turn; cameras here and cameras down there.”
“There were no cameras down there,” laughed Bullock, revealing that Annie’s mini dress would blow up over her head in action scenes.
She quipped: “Keanu wasn’t just doing stunts, he was also keeping my integrity, and keeping things that don’t need to be seen hidden.”
As for the late Reeves called him “brilliant, charming” and “committed.”
“And a little nuts, too,” added de Bont.
“Yeah, yeah man. But a total f—ing pro,” retorted Reeves.
Before the Q&A wrapped, Reeves insisted, “Wait, we gotta talk about Jeff Daniels.”
“I was 30, a whippersnapper. Jeff, it was just so cool to see his approach. His sense of humor.”
“Speed” was a big career boost for all. For Reeves, it laid the groundwork for his on-going action adventure franchise “John Wick” and Bullock went on to win an Oscar for “The Blind Side” in 2010.
But Kris Tapley, host of the “Speed” podcast “50 Miles Per hour,” summed up the “Speed” effect best in his earlier introduction. Simply, the movie “turned Reeves into an action hero and Bullock transformed into a movie star, right there in this film.”
