Keanu Reeves has made some bold career decisions. Perhaps his wisest, was passing on $12 million in order to make a Speed sequel. Instead, the actor opted for a passion project that made less than $50,000. Somehow, Keanu ended up making the right call, as Speed 2 tanked at the box office while receiving worse reviews.

In the following, we’ll take a look back at Keanu’s time in the Speed film alongside Sandra Bullock. Turns out, the actor needed some convincing to take on the role. In addition, Stephen Baldwin was initially offered the role instead. Let’s look back at how it all unfolded in Keanu’s favor.

Keanu Reeves Needed Some Convincing To Work Speed

According to Speed director Jan de Bont, getting Keanu Reeves onboard was no easy task. Alongside Yahoo Life, the director revealed Keanu had a different vision for his career.

“He didn’t want to be that movie, he wanted to be seen as a serious stage actor.”

Not only that but at the time, Reeves wasn’t into stunts either. Jan de Bont revealed this was another uphill battle with Keanu, getting him to embrace the physical side of things.

“He hated stunts, and he hated action! He was afraid of it. He was more like a happy-go-lucky guy at the time, with high aspirations of dramatic theater. Let me tell you this, it took me a lot of effort to get him to do the things I wanted him to do,” de Bont said alongside Vulture.

Keanu finally embraced the action towards the end of the film and clearly, he wasn’t opposed to stunts for the rest of his career, given all the success that followed with, The Matrix.

However, Keanu’s experience with Speed almost didn’t take place at all, because of another actor who was considered instead.

Stephen Baldwin Was Initially Considered For The Role In Speed Instead Of Keanu Reeves

In 1994, Speed turned into a powerhouse at the box office, bringing in $350 million. The reviews are also still kind to the ’90s classic. Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 94%, while IMDb gave the film 7.3 stars on 10.

We assume the approval ratings and box office numbers would have been altered had Stephen Baldwin taken the role instead of Keanu Reeves… That’s right, according to AV Club, Stephen was initially offered the role instead.

Clearly, Baldwin made the wrong decision, as he worked several forgettable projects in the same year, including Threesome, 8 Seconds, Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle, A Simple Twist of Fate, and the TV movie New Eden. Yea, projects most of us do not remember.

Although Keanu took advantage of the opportunity, the actor felt differently once the sequel came around…

Keanu Reeves Did Not Hesitate In Turning Down The Speed Sequel

We can’t blame Jason Patric for the failure of Speed 2. In truth, everything about the film was bad. Off a massive budget of $110 million, the film only managed to make $164 million at the box office. Ratings were awful to the film, Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 4% approval rating while IMDb rated the film with 3.9 stars on 10.

Sandra Bullock calls the film her biggest regret. Keanu Reeves was wise enough to back out from the start after reading the lackluster plot.

“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? I had nothing against the artists involved, but at that time I had the feeling it just wasn’t right,” he said.

Keanu shared the same thought alongside Jimmy Kimmel speaking about the sequel in 2015.

“I didn’t get to be in that. Well, I decided not to be in that.”

“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.”

Good call Keanu, good call.