How Speed's Keanu Reeves Really Felt About Sandra Bullock
Long before Keanu Reeves was dodging bullets in "The Matrix" or shooting them with deadly accuracy in the "John Wick" franchise, he was getting his sweat on chasing down buses and begging them not to stop in the 1994 action classic "Speed."
Starring as LAPD hotshot Jack Traven, Reeves' participation in the action thriller about a time bomb on wheels was a significant moment in the actor's career, with his character squaring off against an unhinged bad guy played by the legendary Dennis Hopper. Was it "Die Hard" on a bus? To an extent, certainly. However, "Speed" goes up a gear thanks to the fantastic chemistry between Reeves and his supporting star at the wheel, Sandra Bullock.
Introducing Bullock as an innocent bystander who caught the wrong bus is a brilliant addition to the film and makes the idea of the original casting choice of Halle Berry almost unthinkable. Both Bullock and Reeves bounce off one another effortlessly on the iconic bus ride, begging the question of if there was more going on between them when the cameras weren't rolling.
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock both had secret crushes on each other
In an interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" in 2018, Sandra Bullock recalled what it was like working with someone whom many feel is one of the most excellent guys in Hollywood. "I think about how sweet Keanu Reeves was, and how handsome he was. It was hard for me to really be serious. He would look at me and I'd be like ...," Bullock giggled. "Never dated him. There was just something about me that I guess he didn't like."
As it turned out, though, Bullock wasn't the only one who had a thing for her co-star, as revealed by Reeves himself on "Ellen" just months later. "She obviously didn't know I had a crush on her either," revealed Reeves. "It was nice to go to work. She's such a wonderful person, a wonderful actress." It's really a shame to look back and see that this fantastic screen pair wasn't thrown back into action with "Speed 2: Cruise Control." Instead, Jason Patric replaced Reeves on the boat-set bore-fest that was nowhere near as successful as its predecessor. They did reunite in the 2006 romance "The Lake House," but which would you have preferred to see?