When Speed hit theaters in ‘94, it became a summer sensation. The heart-pounding premise of a bus that’d explode if it dropped below 50 mph had audiences go GAGA, making $121M at the box office.
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock were catapulted into stardom, but what if another Hollywood star had taken the ride instead? Entered Halle Berry, who turned down the iconic role of Annie Porter. She passed on a film that’d become a legendary ’90s action blockbuster.
Berry alluded in a candid interview, admitting, “I don’t know if you know this, but I was offered Speed before Sandra Bullock. I stupidly said no.” While Berry was already a well-known name when Speed came around, she didn’t see how the movie would benefit her career, especially after reading an early script draft.
So, why did she walk away from the role? Simple: she didn’t get it. The script she read didn’t exactly promise an action-packed thrill ride. It felt a bit… underwhelming. “I turned down Speed because I thought, ‘I don’t want to drive that bus.’ There wasn’t a whole lot of dialogue,” Berry revealed. She couldn’t imagine how the film would launch her into superstardom. Not precisely the high-octane action scenes that made the final cut, right?
However, the film’s unique casting approach caught Berry’s attention when reading the script. “What did feel good when I read it, though, was thinking, ‘Okay, this is not my Academy Award-winning role, but here I’m being offered something that wasn’t written for a Black woman,’” she reflected. So, despite the lackluster script, Berry recognized the opportunity to break barriers—something that would later be much more meaningful than she initially realized.
Fast forward to the movie’s release, and Berry could hardly believe her eyes. When she finally saw the finished product, Speed was a hit. “I was like no, no, no, no. Then I see the movie, and I’m like, argh,” she said, showing how much she regretted her decision.
Still, as Berry pointed out, she couldn’t have known how the film would turn out. “There are no regrets. I couldn’t see it at the time,” she alluded. In hindsight, though, it’s hard not to wonder how different Speed might’ve been with Berry in the driver’s seat alongside Reeves. But, as fate would have it, Bullock took the role and brought her magic to the screen.
While Berry’s decision may have felt like a miss at the time, her career quickly took off in other directions, and let’s be honest—she didn’t need Speed to launch into superstardom. Still, it’s fun to imagine what could have been if Berry had hopped on that bus!
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