20th Century Studios isn’t moving forward with Speed 3 yet, but they’ll involve Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the development if they do
The action classic Speed celebrated its 30th anniversary this year – and this might also be the year when a Speed 3 finally starts to get rolling toward production. Directed by Jan de Bont, the original film starred Keanu Reeves as LAPD SWAT officer Jack Traven and Sandra Bullock as Annie Porter, an LA resident unlucky enough to be a passenger that a terrorist has planted a bomb on. Jack and Annie fell in love while dealing with that situation… but when Speed 2: Cruise Control came along three years later, Reeves did not return to the action alongside Bullock and de Bont. Instead, when Annie gets mixed up in another terrorist situation while on a cruise ship, she had a different man by her side: LAPD officer Alex Shaw, played by Jason Patric. Reeves skipped Speed 2: Cruise Control because he wasn’t satisfied with the script; which turned out to be a good call, because Speed 2 is often referred to as one of the worst sequels ever made. Despite this, Reeves has long expressed a willingness to come back for a Speed 3 if it has the right script – and during an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, 20th Century Studios president Steve Asbell said that if/and when the sequel enters the development process, he’ll make sure Reeves and Bullock will be involved every step of the way.
During a recent joint interview on the 50 MPH podcast, Reeves and Bullock both said they’d want to come back for Speed 3, with Reeves saying, “I mean, you know — we’d freakin’ knock it out of the park.” They’re eager to work with each other again, and Bullock said, “Before I die, before I leave this planet, I do think that Keanu and I need to do something in front of the camera. Are we, you know, in wheelchairs or with walkers? Maybe. Are we on little scooters at Disneyland?” Reeves added, “It does feel like there is a siren call to it, like there’s something that wasn’t done. I would love to work with you again before our eyes close.“
Reeves, Bullock, and de Bont then attended a screening of Speed, where the subject came up again. Bullock told the audience, “(Jan de Bont is) 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.” It should be noted that de Bont is now in his 80s and hasn’t directed anything since Lara Croft: Tomb Raider – The Cradle of Life, so it’s not clear if he would actually want to come back and direct Speed 3.
During his interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Asbell was asked about Bullock’s feeling that Hollywood isn’t brave enough to make a proper Speed 3. He replied, “Hollywood is brave enough. We are brave enough. We are sitting by the phone. (Laughs) Speed is one of those last movies that we haven’t remade. And to really be a reason to come back, it’s got to be a great idea and an idea that excites (Bullock and Reeves). Because that’d be the reason to see it. It’s obviously a really important title for us, but it’s not something we would handle lightly or just try to press them into service. They’d have to be a part of the development of that idea.“
Would you like to see 20th Century Studios move forward with Speed 3 and get Reeves, Bullock, and de Bont involved in the development process? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
