Joss Whedon on Speed.

Film Joss hasn't talked about Speed much across the years. Here's probably about as definitive an interview as we'll get in the Huff Post. As you might expect, some of the best things about the film came from him:

What were some of the biggest changes you saw in reworking those other drafts that weren't great?

The biggest change for me came for me came from Keanu. The whole "Pop quiz, hot shot," was not me. There was this idea of Jack as this cop on the edge, who plays by his own rules, you know, "He's a maverick! He's out of control!" Apart from “Die Hard,” which really made room for a thoughtful action hero, everybody had been that sort of thing. So, when we sat down with Keanu, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald and Jan, I think, they said, “Keanu, these guys are not mavericks. They’re whole thing is diffusing the situation, and they’re unfailingly polite, and they always say sir or ma’am.” And I was like, “I know exactly what to do! That’s it, that’s the whole meeting, we’re there.”

Note on release dates. It might be 20 years old in the US, but it didn't turn up in the UK until October of that year. I know because it was the film I saw at the Lounge Cinema in Leeds on my 20th birthday [via].