Keanu Reeves saved one of the biggest hits of his career with a single suggestion that changed the script of the film in question!
Aside from the Matrix and John Wick sagas, one of Keanu Reeves’ best-known and most beloved films is undoubtedly Speed, a sure-fire cult film that got a little helping hand from the actor to become so successful.
When it was released in 1994, Speed immediately triumphed, receiving three Oscar nominations (and picking up two awards: Best Sound and Best Sound Editing) and grossing over $350 million (against a budget of just $30 million). And you may not know it but Keanu Reeves in person played an important role in writing his character.
Interviewed as part of the “50 MPH” podcast (via The Hollywood Reporter and AdoroCinema) about the making of the film, Joss Whedon opened up about his uncredited contribution to the script. Hired at the last minute as screenwriter, rumor has it that he wrote around 90% of the film’s final dialogue but lost to the WGA to receive credit. Thus, the screenwriter behind the project, Graham Yost, having worked on it for years and being responsible for the concept, the characters and the main rhythms of the story, was the only one credited.
Joss Whedon thus declared that a simple suggestion made by Keanu Reeves helped him tremendously in figuring out how to write the actor’s heroic persona – a SWAT officer struggling to save a bus full of passengers being targeted by a crazed bomber.
[Keanu Reeves] talked about [faire des recherches pour le rôle en traînant] with the SWAT guys and how utterly polite they were. [Il a dit que] they only aim to defuse the situation, they call everyone ‘sir’ or ‘madam’. It just clicked – that was it. I understand this character now. My take was this: He wasn’t a sniper, he was a lateral thinker. He was going to do what felt right and have a weird approach, but generally speaking it would work.
He adds : “This ‘mister or madam’ brought me so much, because bragging [des héros de films d’action] was on the agenda and there, it was the opposite. [Keanu Reeves] also said, ‘I don’t want to pull out my gun.’ And I said to him, ‘I don’t want you to do it either but you kind of have to do it… [Le studio] won’t let you not draw your weapon.’”
20th Century Fox
In Speed, psychopath Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper) places a bomb under a bus that will explode if the vehicle’s speed is less than 80 km per hour. Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves), a SWAT officer from Los Angeles, does everything to integrate the vehicle in motion. After a misunderstanding, an accidental shot is fired: the driver is injured and passenger Annie Porter (Sandra Bullock) has to take the wheel, while Jack does everything to try to defuse the bomb.
Speed is to be rediscovered in streaming on Disney+.