Speed’s Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock reflect with its ‘mad genius’ director 30 years on

Humour, actors doing their own stunts and director Jan de Bont’s passion contributed to Speed’s success, trio say at anniversary screening

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Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in a still from 1994’s Speed. At a recent 30th anniversary screening, they and director Jan de Bont reflected on what made the film, which sparked the careers of all three, a US$350 million mega hit. Photo: TNS

Published: 4:15am, 12 Oct 2024Updated: 4:46pm, 12 Oct 2024

A folding chair and a paper plate for a steering wheel.

That is what Sandra Bullock remembered from her audition for 1994’s Speed, which had a 30th-anniversary screening this week in Los Angeles, in the US state of California, as one of the final events of this year’s Beyond Fest film festival.

After the screening, during which the sold-out audience burst into cheers throughout, Bullock was joined onstage for a 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 talked about the film together in front of a live audience.

Speed, which earned more than US$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.”