Actor Sandra Bullock has starred in several hit movies in her long and notable career. But not all of her films have been home-runs, including and especially the critically panned Speed 2.
But the film, which was considered one of Bullock’s worst, may have had a surprisingly positive impact on the actor’s career.
How Sandra Bullock was cast in the first ‘Speed’
Speed was one of the most important movies in Bullock’s filmography. Similarly to what it did for Keanu Reeves, Speed did wonders for Bullock’s celebrity profile. Although she was already a fairly known actor before, Speed gave her an exposure she would’ve never seen coming.
“I don’t think anyone had any idea what was going to happen with that film,” Bullock said in a 2014 interview with Uproxx. “If someone says they did, they’re lying – unless in the editing process they felt something come together. But I certainly didn’t feel it. I think we were sort of ridiculed a bit for being the ‘low budget bomb-on-the-bus movie.’ Not that I cared. I was just so happy to have a job and that I got to work with Keanu. I was grateful no matter what it was.”
It was a role she won after the film’s director, Jan de Bont, vouched for her. The studio behind Speed saw bigger names in Bullock’s future role. But fortunately for Bullock, de Bont couldn’t see anyone but the actor in the part.
“Initially every studio wants bigger stars for lead roles, and I understand that,” de Bont said. “But I could not see Julia Roberts driving this bus. I could not see several other actresses. I would never believe they would ever even be on a bus. I felt I needed an actress who you could believe would have taken the bus, and Sandra had this kind of every day look – I mean that in a good way – in the way she dresses, the way she behaves, very casual.”
Sandra Bullock once felt ‘Speed 2: Cruise Control’ changed her career for the better
The movie’s sequel, Speed 2, wouldn’t achieve the same level of success or status as its predecessor. Bullock saw herself reprising her role in the second film. But with Reeves declining Speed 2 due to its script, the movie rested squarely on Bullock’s shoulders. Initially, it wasn’t Bullock’s finest moment as an actor, as the movie under-performed both critically and financially.
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But in hindsight, Bullock felt the movie offered invaluable insight to her career that only improved it later on.
“The best learning experience I ever had was Speed 2. If not for it, I wouldn’t have changed the direction of my career. I wouldn’t have known what not to do,” she said in a 2010 interview with MTV News.
In a resurfaced interview with the Tampa Bay Times many years prior, Bullock confided that Speed 2’s failure gave her a degree of much-needed freedom.
“I just didn’t know when to step out of a project if I felt the script wasn’t being developed properly. I went into it with the best intentions, but its failure was the best thing for me on a lot of levels,” she said. “It proved a lot of things that I felt to be true to begin with, and it placed me in a situation that I was more comfortable with because nobody cared about me after it was done. . . . I failed and was on the outs and I was able to go back and concentrate on things I loved.”
Sandra Bullock is still embarrassed by ‘Speed 2’
Speed 2’s mistakes may have helped Bullock in a lot of ways. But if the Oscar-winner had it her way, she still would choose not to do the film if she could rewrite history. Even decades after it hit theaters, Bullock’s sore spot for Speed 2 remained intact.
“I have one that no one came around to, and I’m still embarrassed that I was in, it’s called Speed 2, and I’m very vocal about it. Makes no sense: slow boat, slowly going towards an island,” Bullock remembered according to Entertainment Weekly.
