In the 1990s, Sandra Bullock was a movie star that guaranteed box office gold. Her films generated huge success and she was every casting director's dream. Whether delighting fans in romantic comedies or moving them with gripping dramas, Bullock's talent knew no bounds.
Bullock's career took off when she starred in the 1994 film Speed with Keanu Reeves. From his starring role in the Bill & Ted series to his iconic appearance in The Matrix, Reeves is a very successful actor in his own right. He has been a fixture on the big screen for decades.
While Reeves didn't return for the Speed sequel, fans have long yearned for the two to reunite for another film. During a recent podcast appearance, Bullock revealed that she still wants to work with Reeves again on screen. In fact, she said it was one of the items on her bucket list.
Sandra Bullock Revealed She Needs To Act With Keanu Reeves Again Before She Dies
In 2024, Sandra Bullock appeared on an episode of the 50 MPH podcast and spoke about her Speed co-star Keanu Reeves, who also made an appearance.
"Before I die, before I leave this planet, I do think that Keanu and I need to do something in front of the camera," she said.
Bullock then joked that it didn't matter how old the two were at the time of the reunion, it still needed to happen.
"Are we, you know, in wheelchairs or with walkers? Maybe," Bullock joked. "Are we on little scooters at Disneyland?"
Bullock seemed to like the idea of a film where the two actors take their grandchildren to Disneyland. However, on a more serious note, she said that they would both be up for it if the right project came along.
"If someone writes something brilliant and it puts us in the right place at the right time," Bullock said.
Reeves agreed, "You can't force it."
Reeves then spoke about Bullock and shared her desire to work together again.
"It does feel like there is a siren call to it, like there’s something that wasn’t done," he said. "I would love to work with you again before our eyes close."
This would have to be a completely different film, however, as Reeves shut down the idea of making another Speed film.
"I mean, you know — we’d freakin’ knock it out of the park," Reeves said.
It makes sense that Bullock would look back on her experience with Reeves fondly, as the film was her breakout role. Speed was the movie that helped Bullock become an A-list, superstar actress.
"I was looking for nothing, I was just grateful to be there," Bullock said of her experience working on the film. "I was excited to be who I was with. I just adore and still adore Keanu."
Speed turned out to be a huge success. So much so that a sequel was being prepared almost immediately following the release of the original. However, Reeves turned down the role in the sequel. Bullock's love interest would instead be played by Jason Patric.
Reeves revealed he turned down the role because he wasn't happy with the screenplay. This revelation came during a 2021 appearance on The Graham Norton Show.
"At the time, I didn’t respond to the script. I really wanted to work with Sandra Bullock, I loved playing Jack Traven, and I loved Speed , but an ocean liner?" he said. "I had nothing against the artists involved, but at that time I had the feeling it just wasn’t right."
Still, Reeves and Bullock did reunite on screen in 2006 for the romantic drama The Lake House.
Keanu Reeves Isn't The Only Actor Sandra Bullock Almost Worked With More Than Once
While Bullock clearly still has a deep affection for Reeves, he isn't the only actor she has considered working with more than once.
In 2013, Bullock starred with George Clooney in the film Gravity. She told Yahoo Movies that had things panned out differently, the two would've shared the screen long before that.
"I don't think we ever said, 'Oh, we have to work [together]," Bullock said.
Bullock then revealed she met with Clooney and director Steven Soderbergh for the lead role in Out of Sight. The role would've seen Bullock starring opposite Clooney.
"I went years ago — I had a meeting with them for Out of Sight," she recalled.
- According to the article, Bullock read for the part with Clooney. Soderbergh said they had "great chemistry," but decided it was wrong for the film.
- At the time, Bullock thought this meant the end of her friendship with Clooney. "They didn't want me for the film and I was all, 'Oh, our friendship is so over,'" Bullock said. "It obviously wasn't over."
- The role would end up going to Jennifer Lopez, who shared her own account of how things panned out with Bullock.
"Universal was pushing for Sandra Bullock because they said she’d put people in seats," Lopez said in a past interview. "George and the director met with her, but they were like, ‘If Sandra really wants it, she’s gonna have to test for it.’ She wouldn’t test, and her agent, who is also my agent, supported that."
"If I was Sandy, I’d say, ‘Well, I’m gonna show them that I can do it. I’ll read with them, make them offer me the part, then make them pay out the ass."
Out of Sight ended up doing very well with critics and even scored two nominations at the Academy Awards.
As it turns out, this wasn't the only role Bullock was meant to have that ended up going to Lopez.
In 2002, Lopez starred in the drama Enough. In the film, Lopez plays a victim of domestic violence who escapes her abusive husband.
The role was initially set to go to Bullock. However, Variety reported that she dropped out due to scheduling conflicts with another film she was working on.
Despite Sandra Bullock's Plead, Keanu Reeves Is Stepping Outside The Acting Realm For Future Projects
Although there are many, Bullock included, who want to see Reeves continue doing films, it seems the actor is preoccupied with other projects.
Reeves and Gard Hollinger are friends, longtime collaborators as well as Arch Motorcycle co-founders. The two are also headlining and executive producing a brand-new series, tentatively titled The Arch Project. The show will attempt to discover the origins of creativity in humans.
Hollinger and Reeves have reportedly been driven by a strong curiosity, which is said to have inspired the series. The show will explore stories of people who Reeves and Hollinger admire due to their ideas as well as their achievements. These will include mavericks who have played a role in changing and shaping the world.
“Our goal in creating this show is to explore the answers to the question, ‘where does human creativity and ingenuity come from’?” Reeves and Hollinger told Deadline. “We’ve sought out artists, innovators, and creators, whose stories we hope will inspire viewers to find answers that help unlock their own creativity.”
Reeves and Hollinger's docuseries is being produced by Venture 10 Studio Group. Hollinger’s wife, reality television director Sharon Trojan Hollinger, will join several others as a consulting executive producer. Sean Boyle of Roku Originals is overseeing the project.
This isn't the first time Reeves has been involved in a docuseries. The actor previously headlined and executive produced the Disney+ docuseries Brawn: The Impossible Formula 1 Story. Reeves interviewed Jensen Button, Ross Brawn, and more for the series.
During a 2021 interview with The Guardian, Reeves spoke about his way of communicating.
"I think there’s an English formality my mom carries, and that’s become a part of me, too," Reeves told the outlet.
According to the article, friends of Reeves described him as "a listener first, a talker second." Reeves was then asked what qualities possess a good listener.
"I think it’s interest and care. I’m interested in whoever I’m speaking to," Reeves said. "I care."
One can't help but wonder if this is the kind of attitude Reeves will possess when interviewing his subjects on the new docuseries. Investigating is another common theme of the new series. This is also something that comes naturally to Reeves, because it is a major part of being an actor.
"The job is about investigating," Reeves explained. "‘Why?’, investigating ‘How come?’ You enter into a collaboration with a director to get those answers. When you don’t have an agreement, when you have conflict – and, yeah, there have been situations where my relationship with the director has been at odds, I might have been emotionally immature sometimes, I might have shouted a few ‘F****!’ – then it becomes a battle in the editing room. Luckily I’ve only had a couple of those instances. I’m not gonna say the names of those films, by the way."
In the same interview, Reeves also seemed to hint about starting to explore different creative fields outside the acting realm he's become famous for.
"I’ve wanted to get as much done as I can before that turning tape runs out… How old am I now," Reeves said. "57? Around the time I hit 40, there was this idea of creating more from my artistic loins."
Reeves wasn't kidding about the "investigating" aspect of his job, either. When speaking to Vanity Fair in 2020, the actor spelled out his process of playing former terrorist and punk guitarist named Johnny Silverhand in the video game Cyberpunk 2077.
"I did a brief amount of motion capture to get a library of some behaviors," Reeves said. "Like, how does he walk? How does he sit? Does he slouch? How does he play guitar? How does he move? Then I was just really working on trying to bring the character to life vocally."
According to Reeves, he felt like recording his voiceover for the project was akin to a "radio play, in the sense that you don’t have a physical body."
One can be sure that Reeves' open-minded attitude will no doubt serve his upcoming venture very well.
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves burst onto the scene with the energetic and hilarious hit comedy Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, playing a teenager who found the ultimate loophole to slacking in history class: a time machine. From there, he’d go on to build a reputation, not only as a talented and capable actor, but as a genuine nice guy.
Not a guy to fall victim to typecasting, Reeves has leapt into roles from romantic leads to action heroes, as well as becoming a successful director and producer.
Reeves is known as one of the most humble, friendly, likable stars in Hollywood, and everyone seems to have a story of a time they were on the receiving end of his kindness or generosity. His own experience, however, hasn’t been all smooth and easy.
Reeves lost a child to stillbirth, only a month before he and her mother expected to welcome the baby into the world, and lost his partner, the child’s mother, to a car accident less than a year and a half later.
Among other things, he’s known as inspirationally resilient, and fans see his strength as inspirational.
Keanu Reeves was born on September 2, 1964, in Beirut, Lebanon, to Patricia (née Taylor) and Samuel Nowlin Reeves Jr. His mother was British, and his father’s heritage was f Native Hawaiian, Chinese, English, Irish, and Portuguese.
The name Keanu is Hawaiian, and means ‘cool breeze over the mountains.'
Keanu’s parents divorced a few years later, after which the toddler and his mother moved around, first to Sydney, then to New York City. His father, meanwhile, became a significantly less present force in his life. Patricia had a subsequent marriage, also short-lived, to director Paul Aaron, with whom Keanu stayed close after the divorce. She would remarry twice more during his childhood.
At age 9, Reeves got his first taste of acting, in a stage production of ‘Damn Yankees’ in Toronto, and his (former) stepfather helped him make connections for further theater work.
Reeves’ education was through several different schools, in part due to frequent moves, though he described being expelled from the Etobicoke School of the Arts because he was “too rambunctious” and sassy.
At one point he considered a career in ice hockey, but at 15, decided to focus on acting, and at 17, he dropped out of high school, in part due to struggles with dyslexia, according to Medium.
Career
1980s
Reeves appeared in commercials, including one for Coca-Cola, and began to make appearances in television series, such as Hangin’ In, Night Heat, and Comedy Factory. He had roles in some movies, including Teenage Dream and Babes In Toyland.
Then in 1989, he starred as Ted Logan in ‘Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ – the movie was a hit, and so was he.
1990s
Through the 90s, Reeves appeared in dozens of roles, including a Bill & Ted sequel and a cartoon series based on the characters.
A few of these would also be massive hits, even becoming cult classics.
He played Jonathan Harker in ‘Bram Stoker’s Dracula,’ alongside Gary Oldman, Wynona Ryder, and Anthony Hopkins, and starred in ‘Speed,’ an action flick in which his character had to deal with a bus that would explode if it slowed below 50 miles per hour.
Perhaps the most notable role in this period, though, was as Neo, the star of The Matrix, an intense sci-fi film experimenting with the notions of reality and computer simulation.
2000s
This decade started in struggle for Reeves. His child had been stillborn in December of 1999, and in 2001, his partner, Jennifer Syme, with whom he had just reunited after a split, died in a wreck.
Still, he kept filming, appearing in additional movies in the Matrix series (as well as providing the voice-over for a video game based on the concept).
He starred in sports comedies, including ‘The Replacements’ and ‘Hardball,’ romantic dramas including ‘Sweet November’ and ‘The Lake House,’ and thrillers and supernatural dramas, including ‘The Watcher’ and ‘Constantine.’
2010s
Here, Reeves tries his hand at directing, in 2013 with the martial arts film ‘Man of Tai Chi.’
In 2014, he had his next super hit with ‘John Wick.’
2016 marked a busy year – he appeared in 5 new films, including the comedy ‘Keanu,’ in which he voices a cat of the same name.
2020s
By now, Keanu is the star of several major film franchises – he starred in another John Wick movie in 2019, and a 4th in 2023; a Bill & Ted reprisal in 2021. In the same year, he appeared in yet another Matrix movie, and provided the voice for another game in the series.
Business Ventures
Along with Stephen Hamel Reeves founded a production company called Company Films.
He also started Arch Motorcycle Company, building and customizing motorcycles.
He is one of three founders of X Artists' Books, a publishing company.
In 1998, Reeves was dating Jennifer Syme. She was 8 months pregnant with their daughter in December of 1999 when she suffered a miscarriage. In April of 2001, she died in a vehicle wreck.
In 2019, Reeves went public with his relationship with Alexandra Grant, with whom he has co-authored two books, and who is one of the co-owners of his publishing company.
