The decades-old movie Sandra Bullock is “still embarrassed” by: “Makes no sense”
Sandra Bullock has long been hailed as an actor who can do no wrong. Throughout her supremely impressive career, Bullock has starred in her fair share of classics, including the likes of Speed, Miss Congeniality, and Gravity.
However, for every one of these hits, Bullock, like the majority of Hollywood actors, has also worked on a handful of more forgettable pictures, including Murder by Numbers and The Lake House.
It’s not unusual for a true star to have some misfires. Bullock might not be considered one of the finest actors of her generation but she has a watchable charisma that makes her feel differently from other stars. This kind of likable affability means she is given a wide range of job offers. With more offers comes more opportunities to both succeed and fail. Both being something she has done with some regularity.
Regardless of the oscillating quality of her oeuvre, Bullock is still loved by her fans. Following her recent turns in pictures such as The Unforgivable and The Lost City, her popularity shows no sign of abating. And why would it? Sandra Bullock has always been one of the more likeable Hollywood stars and she delivers comedy with a calm, comfort that isn’t always apparent for femal roles.
Bullock is acutely aware of the varied nature of her filmography. When speaking to TooFab in a 2022 interview alongside her co-star of The Lost City, Daniel Radcliffe, she shared her thoughts on one title that particularly embarrasses her. It’s an opinion practically all of her fans share.
The revelation came after the publication asked the pair to reflect on what films they were initially embarrassed by but eventually came to enjoy after witnessing the love they received from fans. Radcliffe went first, and unsurprisingly, he chose Harry Potter, as he’s spoken about his complicated relationship with the franchise before.
“I think honestly, when I was on Harry Potter and dressed as a schoolboy, it didn’t feel like the coolest thing in the world at the time,” he said. The actor was too close to the subject, he felt like a dorky kid in a nerdy outfit. However, with time and space he has been gifted a clearer view: “It’s been, honestly, later that I’ve looked back and gone, ‘That was incredibly cool,’ and I do feel that now, for sure.”
Bullock’s choice was also unsurprising, given that for many of her fans, it is the most evident blight on her career. This is 1997’s Speed 2: Cruise Control, the sequel to her and Keanu Reeves’ 1994 blockbuster, Speed.
The film sees Bullock reprise her role as Annie as she and her boyfriend holiday on a cruise ship that gets hijacked by Willem Defoe’s insane antagonist, John Geiger. Greatly lacking the intensity, originality and on-screen chemistry of the original, the film is often discussed as one of the worst follow-ups of all time.
Bullock explained: “You stumped me with the fans coming around later on [part of the question] – I have one no one came around to, and I’m still embarrassed I was in. It’s called Speed 2. I’ve been very vocal about it. Makes no sense. Slow boat. Slowly going towards an island.”
The picture is exactly the kind of movie that makes people hate Hollywood. How a truly awful premise can get off the ground, simply because it is a sequel and features some big name stars, is a blight on what it means to make a movie. And whaty’s worse, it didn’t even make the money it promised to shallowly deliver.
Speed 2: Cruise Control flopped at the box office, grossing $164million worldwide, failing to turn a profit on its large production budget. Reflecting on the film when appearing on The Graham Norton Show, Keanu Reeves, the star of the first Speed movie, said he rejected the follow-up because of the screenplay.
“At the time, I didn’t respond to the script,” Reeves said. “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 made the right choice. Just ask Sandra.
