Follow us on Google News
Get the latest updates directly in your Google News feed
Keanu Reeves, the acclaimed and versatile actor, has consistently showcased his talent and charisma in various film genres. With his striking presence and versatile performances, Reeves has become a household name and an icon of the silver screen. One of his notable breakthroughs was in the action movieSpeed, released in 1994, where he solidified his status as an action hero.
The thrilling vehicular action in the film captivated audiences. But little did anyone know that the original idea for its ending would have taken the bus to Dodger Stadium. However, the team owners of the stadium disapproved of the film’s subject matter, leading to the alternate ending at the airport.
Also Read:“Why doesn’t he just shoot out the tires?”: Keanu Reeves’ ‘Speed’ Plot Hole That Bothered Fans For Years Finally Has a Befitting Answer
Graham Yost’s Vision ForSpeed’s Dodger Stadium Ending
Graham Yost, the screenwriter ofSpeed, initially envisioned the film ending with the bus at Dodger Stadium. Yost came up with the idea after considering a map of Los Angeles and identifying Dodger Stadium’s road that encircles the stadium through its parking lots. This location seemed perfect to him for the thrilling conclusion of the film.
“The original ending was just them getting off the bus and it just was a shorter script. I don’t know how well you know L.A., but I just looked at a map where could they drive around in a circle and I saw Dodger Stadium has this big road all the way around the stadium through all the parking lots. I thought that’s perfect.”
However, the idea would not come to fruition due to the disapproval from the owners of the stadium. TheBand of Brotherswriterrevealed that the subject matter ofSpeed, which involved a terrorist plot, did not align with the Dodger Stadium owners.
“That was scripted and then the people who owned the Dodgers at the time owned the stadium and the parking lots. They said, ‘Yeah, no. We’re not going to have a terrorist film shot at Dodger Stadium.”
Also Read:$601M Franchise Wanted Keanu Reeves Back in a Sequel With Joss Whedon: “Had one on a plane called ‘High Speed’”
Graham Yost On The Airport Ending Scene Of Keanu Reeves StarrerSpeed
As an alternative to the stadium ending, the film’s creators settled on an airport scene for the final climax. However, even Yost admitted that the airport ending lacked logical coherence. In this scene, the protagonist, Jack Traven, played byKeanu Reeves, sets up closed-circuit cameras to distract the antagonist and rescue the passengers from the bus. As the bus crashes into a plane and the antagonist proceeds to the subway with ransom money, Yost questions the big explosion and the lack of narrative consistency.
“So they scouted other ideas and they came up with the idea of the airport. That then allowed [director] Jan [de Bont] to have a big explosion which makes no f**king sense but it’s fun. It’s cool. You want to see something blow up. It’s this weird thing of, well, we’ve been waiting the whole time for this bus to blow up. But now it hits a plane and is it the plane blowing up? The audience doesn’t care. They don’t even care that you may see the tow cables rattling around on the pavement because we didn’t have enough money to paint them out.”
Also Read:“We can’t afford it”: Filmmaker Had No Choice But to Delete $5 Million Scene From Keanu Reeves’ Action Movie
Keanu Reeves’ performance inSpeedsolidified his position as a renowned action movie hero. And though the original idea of concluding the film at Dodger Stadium was rejected, the actual ending scene was still able to impress fans, despite lacking a bit of logic.
Speedis available for streaming on Hulu.
Source:Script Apart
Vivek Kumar
Articles Published :399
Vivek Kumar is a young, enthusiastic writer with a natural talent for expressing his thoughts through writing. Currently pursuing a major in Psychology, he is dedicated to sharing his critical writing with the rest of the world. Having honed his craft as a content writer at FandomWire, Vivek has written 400 articles here. Along with his passion for writing, Vivek is also an avid anime fan. His ceaseless ardor for writing, coupled with an innate aptitude, enables him to produce quality content consistently.
