Movies

Speed Director Wants Keanu Reeves Back in the Driver's Seat for Speed 3


There’s a bomb on a bus. Once the bus goes 50 miles an hour, the bomb is armed. If it drops below 50, it blows up. Such a beautifully simple premise for an action movie that led to director Jan de Bont crafting a formula that has been copied over and over but never bested. The 1994 hit movie, Speed, is one of de Bont’s best movies, as well as one of the best movies of superstar Keanu Reeves, but would the director ever return for a follow-up?

“It depends on how the story is, I think. Generally, I’m not a huge fan for sequels. I had in my contract that I would do a sequel. If you have to, you have to have the cast to want to come back, too, because, otherwise, you have to tell a whole new movie. Because some of the first one was so much centered around him and about him, the awkwardness a little bit in him being a hero. And that awkwardness of being in a position to be a hero is … that worked really well for him but it doesn’t work well for other actors. And it’s really hard to find that same kind of feeling back.”
RELATED: Watch Keanu Reeves Hilariously Pitch Speed 3 Reunion with Sandra Bullock

While Jan de Bont is somewhat vague about whether or not a sequel is being planned, the director does sound like he would absolutely court Keanu Reeves to return should Speed 3 ever come to fruition.

The first Speed follows Keanu Reeves as LAPD officer Jack Traven, who must stop a bus that has been rigged by a mad bomber (Dennis Hopper) from exploding. Here’s the hook, the bus bomb will arm itself once the bus reaches 50 miles per hour and will explode if the bus subsequently drops below 50 miles per hour, which leads to all kinds of high-octane action. Also starring Sandra Bullock, Joe Morton, and Jeff Daniels, Speed is now considered to be the epitime of popcorn action thriller.

A critically panned sequel, Speed 2: Cruise Control, was released on June 13, 1997, but the less said about that the better. No doubt that a third Speed movie with Keanu Reeves back in the driving seat would erase any bad memories of the ill-planned second movie.

Of course, Reeves has since gone from strength-to-strength as a silver screen action hero, with the beloved actor having crafted not one, but two major franchises in The Matrix and John Wick. With regards to the latter, Reeves recently stated that he would go “As far as my legs can take me. As far as the audience wants to go,” when asked how long he plans to play the role of the dog-loving assassin.

Now three John Wick movies in, Lionsgate has already confirmed that not only will we be getting John Wick 4, but that John Wick 5 has already been greenlit despite the fourth movie not even having begun principal photography.

As for The Matrix, while specific details regarding the plot of the upcoming fourth movie continue to remain a mystery, we do know that Reeves will reprise the role of Neo, despite the character seemingly being killed during the finale of 2003’s The Matrix Reloaded.

Until the news of Speed 3 arrives to put smiles on all our faces, audiences can see Reeves on the big screen in The Matrix 4 on December 22, 2021, with John Wick 4 due for release on May 27, 2022. This comes to us from Collider.

Jon Fuge at Movieweb



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