‘Speed’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey
August 18, 2026 · Speed (1994) · Action · Adventure · Thriller · 2:17:09 · ▶ Listen on Spotify
Categories
Casting What-Ifs
Bill Simmons▶ 1:31:20Runs the what-ifs: Jeff Speakman originally attached as Jack at Paramount; Stephen Baldwin and Richard Grieco up for Jack (Grieco turned it down off 21 Jump Street and calls it his biggest regret); Halle Berry turned down Annie ('stupidly said no' but the bus never left the parking lot in the script she read); the Ellen DeGeneres comic-relief version is an urban legend; Craig T. Nelson was offered the Joe Morton role but was filming Coach; Ed Harris was going to play Harry back when the character was evil; directors McTiernan, Renny Harlin, and Tarantino (finishing Pulp Fiction) all said no; Michael Bay wanted to direct and was rejected.
Chris Ryan▶ 28:19Noted the casting (Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves) seemed like a low-confidence, non-star-driven choice at the time ('I guess we'll try Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves like nobody knows who she is'), but didn't propose an alternate actor.
Chris Ryan▶ 1:34:15Engaged with the what-ifs without a pick of his own: recalled the original script had the bus driving around Dodger Stadium and crashing into the Hollywood sign, sorted the Last Action Hero / Die Hard with a Vengeance timeline for the McTiernan what-if, and joked it's best Michael Bay didn't get it because LA wouldn't still exist.
Sean Fennessey▶ 28:24Discussed that the director Jan de Bont could have 'just not been him' and it could have been any number of other filmmakers, but didn't name a specific alternate.
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:33:46On the director what-if: as the world's number one Last Action Hero fan, he thinks putting McTiernan in the chair takes Speed from a 10 out of 10 to a 10.5 out of 10; notes McTiernan has regrets and that 13th Warrior-era flops capped his career.
Probably Unanswerable Questions
Bill Simmons▶ 58:29Raises the bus escape logistics (only Jack and Annie inside, exiting via bottom hatch) as a low-stakes plot hole; also questions why Annie doesn't smoke earlier in the film, like during the LA walk break
Chris Ryan▶ 59:15Confirms the plane explosion implication is that it's a freight/refueling plane being serviced, with the truck driver shown running away, so casualties are minimal
Sean Fennessey▶ 58:14Questions why Hopper's bomb has a visible light and timer instead of just detonating remotely, noting it's clearly just for the audience's benefit
Sean Fennessey▶ 59:23Compares the plane explosion to Die Hard 2's controversial mass-casualty plane explosion, noting Speed does something similar just a few years later
Most Rewatchable Scene
Bill Simmons▶ 1:01:44Keanu getting on the bus initially and the whole chase scene, especially when the car drives into the water/hits the water jugs
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:01:25Getting Sam off the bus and Beth Grant's character getting blown up (though in theater it was the bus jump with Joe Morton's fist pump)
Is There a Better Title?
Bill Simmons▶ 1:18:50Notes the movie was originally called 'Minimum Speed'; doesn't propose a better title for Speed itself but praises Die Hard as the greatest action movie title ever
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:18:56Jack Traven, positioning it as the first in a franchise of Jack Traven movies
Butch's Girlfriend Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:20:41The bus jump scene - specifically the physics of it not going upward when the bus jumps the gap
Chris Ryan▶ 1:20:57The final ~20-25 minutes of the movie, particularly the contrived need to bring Annie downtown to deal with Howard, likely a holdover from an earlier draft where Harry was the villain
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:21:43Howard's speech near the end ('bombs need to go off, this is what bombs do') - felt forced
Picking Nits
Bill Simmons▶ 1:22:11Dennis Hopper's running age has aged the worst; also nitpicks: Hopper watching college football on a weekday morning makes no timeline sense; Halle Berry almost played Annie because the role was originally written as an African-American paramedic 'to justify her ability to drive the bus,' which he found nonsensical; notes continuity errors like Jack's leg limp changing/disappearing; recommends Janeane Garofalo's bit about the stereotypical bus passengers in Speed
Chris Ryan▶ 1:22:34Nitpicks the timeline/season of the movie (shot late summer-December but seems to take place in fall) and questions whether Howard is watching live games or delayed tape while gambling; also criticizes the breakup backstory between Annie and Jack ('being in the bomb squad is why you're fucking here baby') as illogical
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:23:54Nitpicks that Jack always holds the phone on the same side despite supposedly being deaf/injured on the other side from his hand injury — calls it an unanswerable inconsistency; also gives 'best line reading' shoutout to Dennis Hopper's 'cheap gold watch' line as an aside
Stephen A. Smith Hottest Take Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:30:01They should have just let the bus blow up — 18 lives lost is a better trade-off than $7 billion in damage caused by trying to save it.
Joey Pants Award
Bill Simmons▶ 1:35:21Joe Morton (also notes Glenn Plummer, and shouts out Hawthorne James as the bus driver 'Sam')
Chris Ryan▶ 1:34:51David Kriegel, the guy on the bus with slightly longer hair ('that's your plan'), who was also in Alive
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:34:37Hawthorne James, who plays Sam and is also the security guard in Se7en who turns up the music in the library
Apex Mountain
Bill Simmons▶ 1:44:48For Sandra Bullock, Speed is apex mountain; also floats 1994 as apex mountain year for Keanu Reeves (leading into Dumb and Dumber)
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:46:39Suggests Jeff Daniels' Newsroom could be argued as his apex mountain (won an Emmy, big HBO show), even if the show wasn't great
Sequel/Prequel/Limited Series/Remake
Bill Simmons▶ 1:58:04Pitches a fictional 'Speed 3' as a domestic drama/EV thriller: Keanu and Sandra Bullock, now married and in their 'dotage', driving an EV to their daughter's wedding (daughter played by Ariana Greenblatt/'Indian Everett'), on a ferry from Boston to Martha's Vineyard, tied to a Howard Payne Jr. revenge plot
Chris Ryan▶ 1:56:52Wanted a Bomb Squad spin-off/prequel focused on Howard Payne in Atlanta, starring Joe Morton training two new bomb squad recruits, instead of the actual Speed 2 sequel
Sean Fennessey▶ 1:59:40Riffs on the Speed 3 bit that the best person to play the villain/killer would be Julia Litman (or Wesley) since no one would see it coming
Is This Movie Better With
Bill Simmons▶ 2:00:56Riffs on Barney being on the bus in Speed, imagining him as a passenger interacting with Jack (Keanu Reeves' character), then jokes about doing a 'movie character draft' for who'd be on the Speed bus
Chris Ryan▶ 2:00:29Frank Booth from Blue Velvet, imagining him bartending at the bomb squad's celebration drinks, mocking Heineken in favor of Pabst Blue Ribbon
Sean Fennessey▶ 2:00:51Agrees Frank Booth could go on the utility player list, then pivots to suggesting Barney be considered
Just One Oscar
Bill Simmons▶ 2:01:29Agrees Best Supporting Actor was flawed that year (Martin Landau won); implies it should have gone to Samuel L. Jackson instead, though that's for Pulp Fiction not Speed
Sean Fennessey▶ 2:01:24Best Director for Jan de Bont, over Tarantino, giving him love since he never won a competitive Oscar
Coach Finstock Life Lesson
Bill Simmons▶ 2:05:34"Luck runs out sooner or later, guts only get you so far, little cousin" - the line about luck being the biggest thing in the movie
Best Double Feature
Sean Fennessey▶ 2:06:22Transformers (mentioned by Bill as Sean's pick, not confirmed in his own words)
Who Won the Movie
Bill Simmons▶ 2:06:31Keanu Reeves - felt he benefited most, though notes Keanu was already a star; considers him possibly his favorite action star ever
Chris Ryan▶ 2:06:40Sandra Bullock - picks her as the winner, citing her ability to convincingly convey emotion and stress, making the movie work
Sean Fennessey▶ 2:07:16Did not clearly state a pick for who won the movie; engaged in comparing Keanu to other action stars (Stallone, Cruise) but no definitive personal pick given
Movies Referenced (87)
Directors Referenced (4)
John McTiernan
2 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Die Hard, Last Action Hero▶ 33:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Michael Bay
2 mentions · Sean Fennessey · Known for Armageddon▶ 1:29:24IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Christopher Nolan
1 mentions · Sean Fennessey · Known for Tenet, Interstellar, Inception▶ 6:05IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Chuck Russell
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Scorpion King, The Mask▶ 42:44IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Actors Referenced (26)
Joe Morton
10 mentions · Chris Ryan, Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey · Known for Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Zack Snyder's Justice League▶ 35:22IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Jeff Daniels
5 mentions · Bill Simmons, Sean Fennessey · Known for The Squid and the Whale, The Purple Rose of Cairo▶ 32:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Sandra Bullock
5 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Proposal, Miss Congeniality, Speed▶ 20:09IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Dennis Hopper
3 mentions · Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan · Known for Easy Rider, Blue Velvet, Speed▶ 14:51IMDb ↗Lb ↗
LeBron James
3 mentions · Chris Ryan, Sean Fennessey, Bill Simmons · Known for Hustle▶ 20:38IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Jerry Seinfeld
2 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Bee Movie▶ 2:05:00IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Andrew Scott
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for All of Us Strangers, Spectre▶ 38:41IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Anthony Hopkins
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for The Silence of the Lambs, Nixon▶ 14:57IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Beth Grant
1 mentions · Sean Fennessey · Known for Donnie Darko, No Country for Old Men, Speed▶ 1:01:39IMDb ↗Lb ↗
Writers Referenced (3)
Cinematographers Referenced (1)
Lotfi El Gorda
1 mentions · Bill Simmons · Known for Aquaman, Noah▶ 1:16:44IMDb ↗Lb ↗