Speed is your classic boy-meets-girl romance with the added twist of a moving bus rigged to detonate. Not exactly your average first date, but the heady mix of adrenaline and the sizzling on-screen chemistry between stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock was enough to make the movie a box office smash in the summer of '94. Over two decades after its release, the film is considered to have stood the test of time and may be one of the best movies ever made.
Along with Reeves and Bullock, the movie further cemented Dennis Hopper's reputation as "America's favorite psychopath" with a chilling turn as the movie's villain, Howard Payne. This was not always the case, however. A lot changed throughout the movie's production, including the identity of the lead villain. There were major rewrites to make the film less of a Die Hard knockoff; in the process, actors were replaced or recast, major scenes were written at the last minute, and the most memorable stunt in the film almost ended in tragedy.
The making of Speed went as smoothly as a drive through Los Angeles in a bus that can't drop below 50 mph.