Why Sandra Bullock is so wrong about Speed ​​3

Sandra Bullock made one of the most baffling shots of the year so far, claiming Hollywood isn’t ‘brave enough’ to make Speed ​​3.

The actress, 60, recently appeared alongside Keanu Reeves, 60, and director Jan de Bont, 80, during a question-and-answer session at an anniversary screening of Speed ​​– and dismissed the idea of ​​a third film, much to the dismay of fans.

The beloved 1994 action classic follows a city bus equipped with bombs that will explode if the bus’s speed drops below 50 mph, forcing an LAPD officer (Keanu Reeves) and a passenger (Bullock) to work together to save the day.

It is remembered as one of the best of the taut action thrillers that took over the box office in the ’90s and helped launch Bullock’s career. And yet she seems certain that a third part is simply not in the plans.

A remake of a successful action film from the 90s, directed by two big stars? Actually Sandy, that’s about the only thing Hollywood is good at right now.

Bullock joked during the Q&A (a rare appearance for the star, who has largely disappeared from the public eye since her partner Bryan Randall died in 2023) that Speed ​​3 would be “the geriatric version.” It won’t be soon.’

She continued, “All these things happened because of the crazy man (de Bont) in the greenish jacket over there. He’s so soft and gentle today and I think, “That’s not the man I remember.” But he’s the guy 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 suggest that De Bont was a demanding and harsh director that people today would no longer tolerate, but even more striking was that Hollywood would not embrace an action film with older actors like her and Reeves.

She continued, “So what would be that movie that would make Jan’s brain and genius happy? It would take a lot from everyone. I don’t know if we are in an industry anymore that is willing to tolerate this and has the courage to do it.

‘Maybe I could be wrong… If he can’t make (what’s in his head) for the audience, then he failed, that’s what 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 you have to wonder if she’s experienced a very different Hollywood than the rest of us.

Powered by hugely successful 80s and 90s remakes such as Top Gun: Maverick, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice and Roadhouse, audiences have proven that there is a huge appetite for nostalgic films with a proven cast of big names.

So much so that it would be far more accurate for Bullock to decry the impossibility of an original idea now being made in Hollywood, rather than a proven idea with an already established fan base.

Furthermore, there is very little evidence to support her claim that she and Reeves are too old for audiences to want to see them in an action movie.

With Tom Cruise continuing to do his own stunts at age 62 in Top Gun: Maverick and Brad Pitt and George Clooney appearing at ages 60 and 63 as two mafia-style fixers in the action-packed Wolfs, the obvious big names are pulling still a lot of audience, regardless of their ages.

In fact, there’s a certain charm in seeing older stars in action films, and Hollywood has tapped into 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 the age of 83, a whopping 23 years older than Bullock and Reeves, proving once and for all that action heroes have no 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 the seat for remakes of popular films — and Hollywood likes that safe bet.

It was this curiosity about how the years between 1986 and 2023 had treated Tom Cruise’s iconic Maverick that finally made Top Gun: Maverick one of the highest-grossing films of all time.

The remake of the ’80s classic earned a whopping $1,464,400,233 (£1,119,607,198) worldwide and set the stage for a wave of ’80s and ’90s remakes, or as Steven Spielberg told Tom Cruise: ‘You saved Hollywood.”

The success of the formula 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 expected earnings, grossing a total of $370.9 million (£283,571,595) at the worldwide box office.

All this said, it’s understandable that Bullock is hesitant to take the Speed ​​franchise one step further.

Speed ​​2: Cruise Control, released in 1997, was received much less warmly than the original.

Inexplicably set on an ocean liner instead of a speeding bus, Reeves skipped the script altogether, leaving Bullock to go it alone.

She later admitted that she regretted appearing in what is widely remembered as one of the worst sequels of all time. In a 2022 interview with TooFab, Bullock said, “I have one (a movie) that no one came to see and I’m still ashamed that I was in it. It’s called Speed ​​2. I’ve talked about it a lot. There’s no point. Slow boat. Slowly towards an island. That’s one I wish I hadn’t done and no fans came over, as far as I know.”

But with a better script and Keanu Reeves on board? There’s no reason why Speed ​​3 can’t help redeem the franchise and recapture the magic of the original. Of course, a big part of the first film’s appeal was its brutal, fast-paced action, but it was also the undeniable electricity between Bullock and Reeves that made the film so memorable. And that is timeless.

During a joint interview on the 50 MPH podcast, Reeves said of the possibility of Speed ​​3, “I mean, you know – we would knock it out of the park.”

Bullock continued, referring to her much-discussed chemistry with Reeves, “There is no formula. It’s just that way. Before I die, before I leave this planet, I think Keanu and I should do something on camera.”

Reeves interjected, “It feels like there’s a siren in there, like there’s something that hasn’t been done. I would like to work with you again before our eyes close.”

While there is a lot of negativity among fans and critics alike about the endless remakes and sequels that all that Hollywood seems to have to offer, the profit margins and box office numbers are undeniable. There is a huge appetite for 80s and 90s remakes with great actors.

We have to admit that in this particular case we would be happy to embrace the industry’s lack of creativity, without grumbling too much about the lack of funding for original ideas.

To get another chance to see Keanu Reeves staring adoringly into Sandra Bullock’s eyes (this time with a few smile lines around them) after saving a city from a horrific fate? And knowing that this is 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’?

Yes, we can all agree to put aside our cinephile snobbery for that.

Even if Sandra Bullock isn’t ready for a Speed ​​3 remake just yet, we can guarantee her audiences are, and considering it would be a surefire success for Hollywood, we bet she’ll be there too be ready for.

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