Speed Director on Film’s Impact: “Who Wants to See a Movie About a Bus?” (Exclusive)

There are a lot of movies from the ’90s that might have had absurd premises that have been completely forgotten, though director Jan de Bont’s Speed has managed to stand the test of time. Not only is the core premise of a bus not being able to slow down below 50 mph or exploding a staple of pop culture, but the film’s stars, stunts, and narrative momentum are all things that still impress contemporary audiences. While recently speaking with ComicBook about whether a revival of the film could happen, de Bont detailed all of the things that made that original film so unique. De Bont’s Twister lands on 4k Ultra HD on July 9th.

“It is important that the concept of Speed was so unique, and who the hell would want to make a bus movie in Los Angeles? An actor sitting in the bus, but you cannot move — they cannot get out, cannot get in?” de Bont detailed of the film. “But I thought, because I know Los Angeles, I knew how difficult it would be for an actual bus to make that same trip. It would be absolutely impossible. So I saw all those difficulties and thought, ‘Wow, this could be really, really exciting.’ And Paramount, who had the project early on before this, they said no to me and said, ‘Well, who wants to see a movie about a bus?’”  

He continued, “So they could not really see it, and then I talked to Peter Chernin at Fox, and I offered, I really acted out some of the scenes, and he got it. I said, ‘Oh, wow,’ and in that room, in that one meeting, he said, ‘Yeah, go ahead. Go ahead.’ For a budget, of course — that was the difference, it’s always for a budget.”

While Speed helped launch the careers of stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock to new heights, de Bont detailed how important it was that the performers and characters felt grounded.

“Then the combination of the actors, that was perfect. Sandra Bullock was absolutely somebody you could believe was riding a bus,” the director explained. “That’s ironic, really was. If somebody did not have that experience, I made sure that weeks before that they actually made many bus trips, where they saw how boring it could be sitting on the bus, and know what to do and how to respond, what people do on a bus. Because you cannot make it up, you have to experience that. So it’s all those things combined, and with all the elements that are in the way of the bus to really keep the speed, I could totally see that as a really amazing movie.”

Twister is described, “Don’t breathe! Don’t look back! Just run for your life when a destructive force of nature comes howling straight toward you, destroying everything in its path — when you’re running from a Twister. Academy Award winner Helen Hunt stars as Dr. Jo Thornton-Harding, who as a small girl watched her father sucked to his death from her family’s storm cellar by a massive tornado. Now a storm chaser, a scientist who risks her life to study the dark side of nature by taking her data-transmitting instruments directly into the path of a deadly storm, Jo chases the largest tornado ever to strike Oklahoma as her marriage implodes and rival scientists will stop at nothing to steal her breakthrough.”

Stay tuned for updates on the possible future of Speed. Twister lands on 4K Ultra HD on July 9th.

What do you think of the filmmaker’s remarks? Contact Patrick Cavanaugh directly on Twitter or on Instagram to talk all things Star Wars and horror!