Keanu Reeveswas game for twoJohn Wicksequels, but there’s one franchise he wasn’t so keen on continuing:Speed.The actor toldGQin a recent interview that his decision to bow out of the 1994 thriller’s sequel prompted the movie’s studio, Fox, to place him in “movie jail” for 10 years.“I didn’t work with [Fox] again until [2008’s]The Day the Earth Stood Still,” Reeves said.At the time of theSpeedsequel, Reeves left Hollywood altogether, opting instead to tackle the title role in a regional production of Shakespeare’sHamletin Winnipeg, Canada.Speed, starring Reeves as an LAPD cop attempting to save the lives of passengers on a bomb-outfitted bus that risks explosion should it drop below 50 miles per hours, was a box office hit, pulling in more than $121 million at the box office and earning a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.Lionel Hahn/Sipa USAIts success prompted discussion of a sequel, and while Fox senior executive vice president Tom Sherak toldEntertainment Weeklyin 1994 that the studio was negotiating with Reeves to return, that didn’t pan out.RELATED VIDEO: Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves Reveal How They First Met — and More Secrets of Their 30-Year FriendshipInstead, Fox cast Jason Patric opposite Sandra Bullock, who reprised her role as Annie, in 1997’sSpeed 2: Cruise Control.Despite the studio’s faith in the film — “There’s lots of movies here we lose a lot of sleep over, and this isn’t one of them,” Fox production president Tom Rothman told theLos Angeles Timesin 1997 —Speed 2earned just $48.6 million at the box office and a 4 percent fresh rating.Richard Foreman/20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/ShutterstockReeves latertold Jimmy Kimmel in 2015that he chose not to participate because he didn’t like the script.“I didn’t get to be in that. Well, I decided not to be in that,” he said. “I loved working with [director] Jan de Bont and Sandra, of course. It was just a situation in life where I got the script and I read the script and I was like, ‘Ugh.’ It was about a cruise ship and I was thinking, ‘A bus, a cruise ship… Speed, bus, but then a cruise ship is even slower than a bus and I was like, ‘I love you guys, but I just can’t do it.’”John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellumhits theaters May 17.
Keanu Reeveswas game for twoJohn Wicksequels, but there’s one franchise he wasn’t so keen on continuing:Speed.
The actor toldGQin a recent interview that his decision to bow out of the 1994 thriller’s sequel prompted the movie’s studio, Fox, to place him in “movie jail” for 10 years.
“I didn’t work with [Fox] again until [2008’s]The Day the Earth Stood Still,” Reeves said.
At the time of theSpeedsequel, Reeves left Hollywood altogether, opting instead to tackle the title role in a regional production of Shakespeare’sHamletin Winnipeg, Canada.
Speed, starring Reeves as an LAPD cop attempting to save the lives of passengers on a bomb-outfitted bus that risks explosion should it drop below 50 miles per hours, was a box office hit, pulling in more than $121 million at the box office and earning a 93 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Lionel Hahn/Sipa USA
Its success prompted discussion of a sequel, and while Fox senior executive vice president Tom Sherak toldEntertainment Weeklyin 1994 that the studio was negotiating with Reeves to return, that didn’t pan out.
RELATED VIDEO: Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves Reveal How They First Met — and More Secrets of Their 30-Year Friendship
Instead, Fox cast Jason Patric opposite Sandra Bullock, who reprised her role as Annie, in 1997’sSpeed 2: Cruise Control.
Despite the studio’s faith in the film — “There’s lots of movies here we lose a lot of sleep over, and this isn’t one of them,” Fox production president Tom Rothman told theLos Angeles Timesin 1997 —Speed 2earned just $48.6 million at the box office and a 4 percent fresh rating.
Richard Foreman/20th Century Fox/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock
Reeves latertold Jimmy Kimmel in 2015that he chose not to participate because he didn’t like the script.
“I didn’t get to be in that. Well, I decided not to be in that,” he said. “I loved working with [director] Jan de Bont and Sandra, of course. It was just a situation in life where I got the script and I read the script and I was like, ‘Ugh.’ It was about a cruise ship and I was thinking, ‘A bus, a cruise ship… Speed, bus, but then a cruise ship is even slower than a bus and I was like, ‘I love you guys, but I just can’t do it.’”
John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellumhits theaters May 17.
source: people.com
