Keanu Reeves starred in some of the most successful and popular franchises in Hollywood, including The Matrix and John Wick. The fourth installment in the latter was released last week and has made a marvelous entry at the box office, with a $73.5 million collection in its opening weekend. However, the sequel to his 1994 action thriller, Speed, did not have the same fate as the first film.
Reeves refused to star in the sequel as he did not find it very promising. And his co-star, Sandra Bullock, starred in the sequel alongside Jason Isaacs. Unfortunately, the film failed at the box office and among critics as well. But according to the writer of the 1994 film, it could have been better if the makers followed his plans for the Speed sequels.
Speed 2 Director Wanted to Work With Keanu Reeves And Joss Whedon
Keanu Reeves refused to star in the Speed sequel as he thought that the story did not have the potential to be a good film. However, the writer of the 1994 film claimed that he had a story that would have brought the Speed star back in the sequel.
During his appearance on the podcast Script Apart, the writer of the film, Graham Yost, shared that he planned two films under the Speed franchise after the 1994 film became a huge hit. He shared that he planned to film the sequel on a boat and possibly a threequel on a plane. However, Jan de Bont wanted to involve a cruise ship.
Yost claimed that the director only wanted to do the film with Joss Whedon, who also wrote the film. However, things did not work out as de Bont planned, and the makers moved on without their original scriptwriters.
“So he got to call the shots, and he wanted to do it without me. He had a good experience with Joss [Whedon] but Joss didn’t work on it.”
Although the director wanted to establish a superhit franchise with Keanu Reeves and Joss Whedon, it turned out to be a disaster without these two. The film fell flat at the box office and among critics as it became one of the biggest box office bombs of all time.
Speed Writer’s Plans For Keanu Reeves’ Return in the Sequel
Graham Yost also shared the ideas he pitched for the sequel and a possible threequel of the 1994 film. He shared that the sequel, titled Full Speed, would have taken place in a boat, and then Speed 3, called High Speed, would have featured a plane. He even shared the synopsis of his scripts.
The sequel would have followed the transportation of “munitions leftover” from the Vietnam War on a boat in the Pacific Ocean, where they come across a storm. “But they find out it’s got phosphorus in it, and if water hits it, it’s going to blow up,” Yost added.
“High Speed was another bad guy and you can’t drop below 10,000 ft. You’re running out of fuel and you’re headed into the Andes. Now, what do you do?”
After getting off Speed 2, Yost continued working on action movies and once again wanted to work with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock. He shared that he considered them for his 1998 film Hard Rain, but he was unable to get them on board for the film.
Speed and Speed 2 are available to stream on Disney+.
Source: Script Apart
