Sandra Bullock offered one of the most perplexing takes of the year so far, claiming that Hollywood isn’t ‘brave enough’ to make Speed 3.
The actress, 60, recently appeared alongside Keanu Reeves, 60, and director Jan de Bont, 80, at a Q&A during an anniversary screening of Speed – and dismissed the idea of a third film, to the dismay of fans.
The beloved 1994 action classic follows a city bus that’s been rigged with bombs set to explode if the bus’s speed drops below 50mph, forcing an LAPD officer (Keanu Reeves) and a passenger (Bullock) to work together to save the day.
It’s remembered as among the best of the taut action thrillers that took over box offices in the 90s and helped launch Bullock’s career. And yet she seems certain that a third installment is simply off the cards.
A remake of a hit 90s action film helmed by two massive stars? Actually, Sandy, that’s just about all Hollywood is good at right now.
Bullock joked during the Q&A (a rare appearance for the star, who has been largely out of the public eye since her partner Bryan Randall died in 2023) that Speed 3 would be, ‘The geriatric version. It won’t be fast.’
She went on to say: ‘All these things happened because the crazy man [de Bont] in the greenish jacket over there. He’s so soft and gentle today and I’m like, “That’s not the man I remember.” But he’s 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.’
She seemed to be implying that De Bont was an exacting and harsh director that people wouldn’t put up with today, but more strikingly, that Hollywood wouldn’t embrace an action movie starring older actors like her and Reeves.
She continued: ‘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.’
Bullocks’ comments are so bizarrely disconnected from the current cultural landscape that one is forced to wonder if she’s been experiencing a wholly different Hollywood than the rest of us.
Primed by hugely successful 80s and 90s remakes like Top Gun: Maverick, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, and Roadhouse, audiences have proven there’s a massive appetite for nostalgic films with a proven big-name cast.
So much so, that it would be far more accurate for Bullock to decry the impossibility of getting an original idea made in Hollywood right now than a proven one with an already established legacy fanbase.
Additionally, there’s very little evidence to support her implication that she and Reeves are too old for audiences to want to see them in an action film.
With Tom Cruise continuing to do his own stunts at 62 in Top Gun: Maverick and Brad Pitt and George Clooney appearing as two mafia-style fixers in the action packed Wolfs at 60 and 63, its clear big names still draw crowds, no matter their ages.
In fact, there’s a certain charm to seeing older stars in action movies, and Hollywood has been capitalising on that charm heavily in recent years.
Reeves himself is proof of this, as audiences flocked to see the then 59-year-old in John Wick 4 in 2023.
Harrison Ford starred in his last Indiana Jones film in 2023 at 83-years-old, a full 23 years older then Bullock and Reeves, surely proving once and for all that action heroes don’t have an age limit.
In many cases, the curiosity about the contrast between an actor’s original performance and an updated version is enough to get bums in seats for hit film remakes – and Hollywood loves that safe bet.
It was this curiosity about how the years between 1986 and 2023 had treated Tom Cruise’s iconic Maverick that helped make Top Gun: Maverick one of the highest-grossing films of all time, after all.
Earning a mindblowing $1,464,400,233 worldwide (£1,119,607,198), the remake of the 80s classic set the stage for a wave of 80s and 90s remakes, or as Steven Spielberg said to Tom Cruise, ‘You saved Hollywood’s ass.’
The formula’s success was further proven by Twisters – starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones – the 2024 remake of 1996’s Twister. The natural disaster film far exceeded its projected earnings, totaling $370.9million (£283,571,595) at the worldwide box office.
All of this being said, it’s understandable that Bullock would hesitant to take another swing at the Speed franchise.
Speed 2: Cruise Control, which came out in 1997, was far less warmly received than the original.
Inexplicably set on an ocean liner instead of a speeding bus, Reeves turned down the script altogether, leaving Bullock to go it alone.
She later admitted she regretted appearing in what is widely remembered as one of the worst sequels of all time. In an interview with TooFab in 2022, Bullock said: ‘I have one [a film] no one came around to and I’m still embarrassed I was in. It’s called Speed 2. I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island. That’s one I wished I hadn’t done and no fans came around, that I know of.’
But with a better script and Keanu Reeves on board? There’s no reason that Speed 3 couldn’t help redeem the franchise and recapture the magic of the original. So much of the first film’s appeal was the relentless, fast-paced action, sure, but it was also the undeniable electricity between Bullock and Reeves that made it so memorable. And that’s ageless.
During a joint interview on the 50 MPH podcast, Reeves said of the possibility of Speed 3: ‘I mean, you know – we’d freakin’ knock it out of the park.’
Bullock followed up, referring to her much-discussed chemistry with Reeves: ‘There’s no formula. It just is. Before I die, before I leave this planet, I do think that Keanu and I need to do something in front of the camera.’
Reeves chimed in: ‘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.’
While there’s been plenty of negativity from fans and critics alike about the endless remakes and sequels that seem all Hollywood has to offer anymore, the profit margins and box office numbers are undeniable. There is a massive appetite for 80s and 90s remakes with big-name actors.
We must admit that we’d be more than willing to embrace the industry’s lack of creativity in this specific instance without grumbling too much about the lack of funding for original ideas.
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To get another chance to see Keanu Reeves gaze adoringly into Sandra Bullock’s eyes (this time with a few smile lines around them) after rescuing a city from a grisly fate? And knowing that it’s also the end result of two of the most iconic actors of their generation fulfilling the ‘siren song’ of working together again ‘before their eyes close’?
Yeah, we can all agree to put aside our cinephile snobbery for that.
Book your ticket to see Wicked now!
Even if Sandra Bullock isn’t ready for a Speed 3 remake, we can guarantee her that audiences are, and given that it would be a surefire success for Hollywood, we’d bet they’re ready too.
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