Keanu Reeves recalls “Speed” bus hitting real cars during filming: 'People were screaming'
The action star reunited with director Jan de Bont and costar Sandra Bullock for a special 30th anniversary screening and Q&A.
Keanu Reeves and the rest of his Speed costars' nerves hit overdrive during one particular day of filming the action thriller.
Sharing the stage with director Jan de Bont and costar Sandra Bullock at a special 30th anniversary screening and Q&A in Hollywood on Tuesday night as part of Beyond Fest, Reeves recalled the time the cast was "under-informed" over what the schedule entailed that day.
Related: Sandra Bullock 'embarrassed' that she filmed Speed 2 movie: It 'makes no sense'
"Don't you remember that day on the bus, though?" Reeves asked Bullock. "When we were crashing through all the cars on the street. I remember we were a little under-informed. We were all on the bus and then we were driving down by San Diego or something. We were set by the ocean and all of a sudden, we're actually hitting cars. Boom! Boom!"
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"Everyone on their bus lost their mind. People were screaming," Reeves added, doing his best impression of the screams and leaving the audience in stitches.
Reeves' reunion with de Bont and Bullock mark the first time the trio have ever shared the stage together to discuss the 1994 blockbuster hit, centered on Reeves' Los Angeles police officer Jack Traven as he tries to prevent a city bus full of passengers, including Bullock's feisty Annie, from blowing up after it's rigged with a bomb by vengeful extortionist Howard Payne (the late Dennis Hopper).
Among the cast of fellow passengers were Hawthorne James as injured bus driver Sam, Beth Grant as frightened Helen, and a pre-Succession Alan Ruck as chatty tourist Doug Stephens. "We had different walks of life, but they all needed to be in that place to make the story believable," Bullock said of her fellow passengers, adding that the "amazing" Grant took getting run over by the bus "like a champ." She also shouted out Ruck and his HBO hit Succession, adding, "everyone was so kind."
Related: Sandra Bullock had a crush on Speed costar Keanu Reeves: 'It was hard for me to be serious!'
De Bont marveled at the enduring chemistry between Reeves and Bullock, quipping that it was even better than he had remembered it.
"When I saw the movie here [tonight], I’ve never been so proud of those two actors," said the director. "What they did for me — quite often unnatural to them what they had to do — is just unbelievable. The relationship that these two created together is absolutely amazing. Seeing them back on the screen tonight, it was so realistic. They were absolutely perfect. All the emotions were right, all the laughing was right, all the smiling, the little smooching. It was really, really cool. I had to tell them how great they both were.”
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