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This Speed movie trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and covers the 1994 action classic from the elevator to the subway crash: how Graham Yost got the idea from his father's misremembering of Runaway Train, why the film was almost called Minimum Speed, the studio that passed because nobody would watch a film set on a bus, the week Joss Whedon spent rewriting the dialogue and inventing 'Pop quiz, hotshot', and the parade of stars who turned down Jack Traven and Annie before Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock got the parts. It also covers the production: the eleven GM buses, the unfinished freeway interchange that inspired the jump, the first attempt that wrecked a bus, the airport that stood in for LAX, the 1/8-scale subway model, the Oscar for Best Sound, the $350 million gross, and the sequel that scored 4% on Rotten Tomatoes. Early questions are for anyone who has watched it on a rainy Sunday; the last third is for people who know what a MythBusters episode concluded about the bus jump. Every answer was checked against a reference source and each question shows its citation once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Below what speed will the bomb on the bus in Speed detonate?
50 mph
Screenwriter Graham Yost first imagined 20 mph until a friend suggested raising it. The bomb arms once the bus first passes the threshold.
Q 02Speed was the directorial debut of which Die Hard cinematographer?
Jan de Bont
John McTiernan turned the script down as too close to Die Hard and recommended his old cameraman instead. Michael Bay had also shown interest.
Q 03What is the name of the ex-cop bomber played by Dennis Hopper?
Howard Payne
He is a former Atlanta bomb-squad officer forcibly retired after an accident, bitter about being paid off with 'a cheap gold watch'. Hopper had starred with Reeves in River's Edge in 1986.
Q 04How much ransom does the bomber demand in Speed?
$3.7 million
He collects it through a hole under a trash can that leads into the subway. A dye pack in the duffel bag later explodes in his face.
Q 05How many people are trapped in the rigged elevator in Speed's opening sequence?
13
De Bont suggested the elevator opening after being stuck in one himself while working on Die Hard. An 80-foot model of a 50-storey shaft was built for it.
Q 06Which 1985 film, misremembered by Graham Yost's father as involving a bomb, inspired Speed?
Runaway Train
His father was Canadian TV host Elwy Yost. Graham thought the idea would work better on a bus. The 1975 Japanese film The Bullet Train uses the same 50 mph device.
Q 07What was the film's working title before Yost changed it?
Minimum Speed
He dropped it to avoid the negative connotations of the word 'minimum'. His first draft never left the bus, ending with a crash into the Hollywood Sign.
Q 08Which studio passed on Speed, believing audiences would not watch a film set almost entirely on a bus?
Paramount
Fox picked it up but asked for action beyond the bus, which is how the elevator and subway sequences were added.
Q 09Which writer reworked the dialogue a week before filming and came up with 'Pop quiz, hotshot'?
Joss Whedon
He also turned Jack from a maverick hotshot into a polite, earnest officer and rewrote Alan Ruck's character from an unpleasant lawyer into a hapless tourist.
Q 10Which character was originally intended to be Speed's villain before Dennis Hopper was cast?
Harry Temple
Jeff Daniels' bomb-squad partner instead stays loyal and dies in a booby-trapped house. Jack shoots him in the leg in the opening to end a hostage stand-off.
Q 11Which actor was attached to star in Speed at the first studio, before being dropped when Fox took over?
Jeff Speakman
Baldwin then declined, finding the role too close to John McClane, and Grieco turned it down and later regretted it. Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson were also considered.
Q 12Which 1991 film convinced Jan de Bont to cast Keanu Reeves as Jack Traven?
Point Break
De Bont saw a balance of vulnerability and strength. Reeves cut his hair short for the part, which worried the studio.
Q 13How was Annie's character originally written, to explain why she could drive a bus?
As an African American paramedic
Q 21What went wrong on the first attempt at the bus jump, according to de Bont's DVD commentary?
The stunt driver missed the ramp and wrecked the bus
A second bus was prepared and the successful jump two days later flew further than expected, destroying one camera; another camera 90 feet away caught it.
Q 22What did a 2009 episode of MythBusters conclude about Speed's bus jump?
It was impossible under real-world conditions
The film's own version needed a ramp, a rigged bus and CGI to remove it. The rest of the movie's freeway driving was done for real on the unfinished 105.
Q 23Which airfield stood in for LAX in Speed's final bus scenes?
Halle Berry was offered that version and declined. As the part became comic relief, Ellen DeGeneres was considered, before it became a love interest and went to Sandra Bullock.
Q 14Which of these actresses was offered or considered for Annie and declined?
Meryl Streep
Kim Basinger and Anne Heche were also in the mix. Bullock auditioned alongside Reeves, performing physically demanding scenes to test their chemistry.
Q 15Whose death during production led Jan de Bont to give Keanu Reeves less demanding scenes for a while?
River Phoenix
Reeves' close friend died in October 1993, midway through the shoot. De Bont said the loss left Reeves quieter and withdrawn.
Q 16Which stunt did Keanu Reeves secretly rehearse and then perform himself, against de Bont's wishes?
The Jaguar-to-bus jump
He had told de Bont 'I'm not an action hero. I don't like it', which the director thought suited a character thrust into an extraordinary situation.
Q 17How many GM New Look buses did the production use, alongside three Grumman 870s?
Eleven
Two were destroyed in explosions and others were adapted for high-speed, interior and under-bus shots. One sold at auction for $102,000 in 2018.
Q 18The film's fictional route '33 Downtown' was modelled on which real bus service?
Santa Monica's Big Blue Bus
Two of the production's buses were blown up for real; the interior and 'under bus' shots used specially adapted vehicles.
Q 19The freeway scenes were shot at a junction that was still under construction. Which one?
The Judge Harry Pregerson Interchange
De Bont saw the unfinished sections on a location scout and suggested adding a bus jump. It links Interstate 105 and Interstate 110.
Q 20How was the gap in the freeway that the bus jumps created?
With computer-generated imagery
Sony Pictures Imageworks helped add the gap; the real jump was off a ramp on a rigged bus, filmed in one take with the driver in a shock-absorbing harness.
Mojave
The bus finally crashes into a cargo plane there and explodes after the passengers escape via a looped video feed trick.
Q 24How were most shots of the Metro Red Line subway in the climax created?
Using a 1/8 scale model
Only the train's derailment jump was done differently. The train ends up crashing out onto Hollywood Boulevard in front of a tour van.
Q 25How does the bomber die in Speed?
Decapitated by a signal on the train roof
Jack pushes him up into the tunnel roof during their fight. Jack then accelerates the runaway train so it derails onto Hollywood Boulevard.
Q 26How does Jack save himself and Annie when the subway train cannot be stopped?
He accelerates it so it derails
The train bursts onto Hollywood Boulevard and stops in front of a tour van, and the pair share a kiss as onlookers stare. The ending was inspired by 1976's Silver Streak.
Q 27Which composer scored Speed after de Bont chose him over Michael Kamen?
Mark Mancina
He had been working within Hans Zimmer's team on Days of Thunder and True Romance. An expanded 32-track release of the score came out in 2012, including Billy Idol's song 'Speed'.
Q 28Which rock singer recorded a song called 'Speed' for the film's soundtrack?
Billy Idol
The 'songs from and inspired by' album came out in June 1994 and went gold in Japan. Mark Mancina's score got its own separate release in August.
Q 29Which Academy Award did Speed win at the 67th Oscars?
Best Sound
It also won Best Sound and Best Editing at the BAFTAs. The AFI later ranked it 99th on its list of 100 Thrills.
Q 30Roughly how much did Speed gross worldwide against a budget of about $30-37M?
$350 million
$121.3 million came from the US and Canada and $229.2 million from overseas, making it the fifth-biggest film of 1994. It stayed No. 1 for ten weeks in Japan.