Keanu Reeves’s one of the most popular movies is Speed. It was a highly exhilarating action film, which was full of thrilling stunts. The film was directed by Jan de Bont and it became one of the best films of the year. The movie brought Keanu Reeves into the main league and changed his reputation from a romantic teen star to an action hero. The pairing of Reeves and Sandra Bullock was a hit among the viewers.
The film had the perfect formula for a hit, with great action sequences, amazing stunts, and a riveting storyline. However, there was one jaw-dropping action sequence, which was rejected from the movie.
Graham Yost revealed a deleted blockbuster action scene in Keanu Reeves’ Speed
Graham Yost, the writer of the superhit film, talked about the dropped scene on The Script Apart podcast in 2021. In the film, Reeves plays Jack Traven, the SWAT team officer, who jumps on the bus to prevent its explosion. However, the deleted action sequence would have introduced a new SWAT team member. Yost said,
“We called it The Baker Sequence because it was this character named Baker. [Director] Jan [de Bont] was so heartbroken when we couldn’t do this because we came up with this all together. Keanu, Jack, gets a cell phone, calls in this is the situation and they send a helicopter. They drop a guy on a line and he hooks onto the bus and he’s climbing in. Then they see oh sh** there’s a bridge coming up.”
The Baker Sequence also included a classic near miss, but the end sequence was not favorable for Officer Baker.
“He can’t get the line unhooked and now it’s going to pull down the helicopter. He’s hustling and he gets the line and goes up in the air and he just clears the railing on a bridge. But just then there’s a truck with plate glass on it and he gets shredded by the glass.”
The scene did not include movie lead Keanu Reeves in any capacity.
The real reason for cutting The Baker Sequence from Keanu Reeves’ film Speed
Yost shared that there were some financial and narrative reasons to remove it, hence it didn’t matter even if it was amazing. He shared,
“It was a big sequence but it was like I don’t know, $2 million, $5 million to do that and it was like no, we can’t afford it. We’ve got to cut The Baker Sequence. It’s interesting because it would’ve been spectacular but it’s not about Jack. It’s about another character. We were just going to introduce him.”
The scene was also kind of morbid as only a few survive Speed. The character, Bomber Howard Payne, had blown up a passenger while trying to escape. Some of the SWAT teams died in explosions.
The 1994 film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $350.4 million worldwide. It became the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year and won two Academy Awards.
Speed is available for streaming on Apple TV.
Source-Showbiz Cheat Sheet
