‘Speed’ With Bill Simmons, Chris Ryan, and Sean Fennessey

14:11Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I feel like adrenaline is the thing that they tap into with these movies. It's that feeling of just like, you're shaking the whole time you're watching the movie and having fun at the same time.

14:19Bill Simmons:I would say adrenaline, problem solving. Like the guys that came, this next wave of action movie guys like Keanu, Snipes, Willis, Nick Cage. It's less about like those guys winning fights and being like the strongest, like which is what we had in the 80s. And it's more like, how do we get out of this? I'll try anything. Oh my God, he's going to do that. Like when Keanu gets under the bus, it's fucking insane. No normal person would do that, you know? And it's the same thing with Die Hard. And I feel like Die Hard cracked the code on that. When he's like, oh, what was it? The elevator shaft? What was the craziest thing he did in that movie?

14:57Bill Simmons:Or when he's swaying off the top? Yeah, I mean. But he's like a normal guy. Like, I guess I got to do this. I just think also like the taping to the back. I mean, all these, yes. It's like, it's using your brain as much as your body. Yeah. And pretty regular guys. Like Keanu Reeves barely wins a fight with Dennis Hopper. Like, he's actually on his back. Well, the Hopper thing is another, it goes back to Alan Rickman and Die Hard or even Anthony Hopkins in Siles of the Lambs where they're also like, the key to this movie is to grab the guy who's Tommy Lee Jones, Dennis Hopper, Anthony Hopkins, the villain who people are going to be absolutely, like, magnetized by.

15:37And Connery and Huffer Red October

15:39Sean Fennessey:where you're just like, there's a hugely overqualified screen legend who is like, I'm just going to let it rip on this one.

15:47Bill Simmons:this would have been a fun Nicholson part I think Hopper's great but it's it's right in that zone where it's like you can almost steal the movie if you're in the evil guy part um Hopper's another one Hackman I guess yeah he does it but they but they all kind of dabbled in it De Niro's one was Cape Fear were you born the year of this movie? two months after it came out see that's why he loves this stuff

16:10Sean Fennessey:born for it who showed it to you? how old were you when you saw it? this was a movie that was like my dad put it on for me and it was it just felt like it was always on like TNT or something. And it was a big cable watch back when people did that for me.

16:22Bill Simmons:Keanu. Point Break, Speed, The Matrix, John Wick. Yeah. Just those four. That's about as good of a Mount Rushmore of... What kind of action movies did you make back in the day, Keanu? Well, you might have heard of John Wick. I made four of those. Did three Matrixes. But between Point Break and Speed, it's a little dicey for him. And that was part of the charm of this movie. It's like, really, Keanu? Just watched him bomb in Dracula.

16:51Sean Fennessey:He had a tough run there. He was terrible in Dracula, but that was a big hit. That movie was very successful. I think it's... He was trying to do a thing that you see a lot of actors do now. This is something like Chalamet does, where you're really trying to balance the quality work with the mainstream work and trying to find a middle ground for those two things. And you can see that after Point Break, he kind of very strongly pivots against that. He's like, I'm going to do Shakespeare. I'm going to do, you know, arthouse films.

17:18Bill Simmons:I have the movies. Bill and Ted 2, Private Idaho, Dracula, Much Ado About Nothing, Cowgirl Gets the Blues, and Little Buddha. This was a fucking bender. When are we doing my own Private Idaho? It's a really good movie. It would be like the greatest zag ever for us to do that. I wonder how many... Have you seen it? I mean, it's the movie that made those two guys best friends. Yeah. And in the research, I didn't even realize this, that River Phoenix died when they were filming Speed and Keanu was so upset about it they had to like fix the shooting schedule.

17:50Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I didn't know that either. It was his best friend. My Own Private Idaho would be a good episode. It's a really interesting movie. Do you want to participate? Yeah, of course. Yeah. It's a really good one. But that's obviously not a big hit. He's making a very specific choice to do something. He's great in that. I think he's fine in Much Ado about nothing. I mean like he got a lot of grief for it but if you go back and watch it… I think Dracula's worse. I think Dracula, he sticks out like a sore thumb. Dracula's like laughing the theater back. Because Dracula is a cool movie. That's like a really fun horror movie that Coppola made and he is not at his best.

18:22Bill Simmons:It's fine. This Point Break, it's obviously iconic. It was one of the first ones we've done. But it's kind of fun to make fun of him as it's happening a little bit at some spot. FBI! Junior! I think he's just really good in this. He's a little more yoked up in this and jock. I like his hair. Him and Harry are in the office building right after they've rescued the people from the elevator, but they're trying to figure out whether Howard is in the building. And Harry's like, he would want to be close by. And Jack gets up and he just like points at him like he's Joe Burrow. And I was just like, this guy's fucking cool, man.

18:57Bill Simmons:The point. I love it. You know one thing I was thinking? Because they overthink everything now with TV and movies and everybody has to have a backstory and all kinds of shit. I like that we just don't know anything about Jack. Where's he from? I don't care. You don't know anything about him. You know anything about Annie? Yeah, nothing. Is he a vegetarian? Who gives a shit? Where does he live? We don't have the scene where he's just like getting ready to go to work in the morning and he's got like his dog. Like everybody else in America. Yeah.

19:23Sean Fennessey:Also, the villain does have a traumatic past, but it's not played for any kind of like character dynamic. It's just like, he's just like, fuck you. Give me my money.

19:33Bill Simmons:Don't you think if they made this now it would be a half hour longer, which is fat?

19:37Sean Fennessey:Yeah.

19:38Bill Simmons:And we would definitely see Jack like working out at Equinox and... You know, and he just broke up with his girlfriend. Yeah. They would just add all this dumb shit to his character. Well, it's even like you think about Harry's death in this. It's like he takes two seconds to mourn him.

19:53Sean Fennessey:He's just like, no. And then he's like, all right, let's move on. We're still on the bus. We can't, like, what are we going to do? I think he does say, I'm going to rip your fucking spine out.

20:00Bill Simmons:And he's like, you'll do nothing like that. Yeah. It's actually a really good scene because Bullock, who's unbelievable in this movie, she's so great. But she's like, Jack, I need you to stay with me. Yeah. Like you got a lot of people counting on you but he's not just like the typical and that's what they were doing with these movies where they would have your hero but he would also have some sort of Achilles heel or he sometimes couldn't handle the moment he might get overwhelmed a lot like watching Joe Burrow with a bad offensive line that's right or Justin Herbert or CJ Stroud you've been doing your research Sandra Bullock I don't know if this is the

20:35Sean Fennessey:does that not apply to Drake May?

20:39Bill Simmons:shaky offensive line we're taping this on July 31st good Drake May performance today yeah

20:45Sean Fennessey:oh at camp hit AJ a couple times did he yeah

20:48Bill Simmons:the reporters are impressed how are you going to feel

20:50Sean Fennessey:watching AJ fine fine

20:54Bill Simmons:that's how I'm going to feel about Jalen Brown we both win Sandra Bullock I don't know if this was Bill I definitely won I got LeBron we'll see okay but that's what that's what they said when the Trojan horse was delivered we did it me and all my Trojan buddies were like we did it oh we got it this fucking horse look at this thing lift that thing up

21:19Sean Fennessey:so Jalen Brown is the Trojan horse

21:21Bill Simmons:in this scenario yeah wow interesting Sandra Bullock is this the all time you're gonna have a fucking crush on me at the end of this movie performance or just on the top shelf

21:32Sean Fennessey:way up there I'm pretty sure I saw Love Potion number nine before this though so it's not like this was the first time I'd ever seen her.

21:39Bill Simmons:I saw four movies with her

21:40Sean Fennessey:before this. She was a Demolition Man before this? She was. Yeah, I think we saw her in that.

21:44Bill Simmons:Yeah. The Vanishing. The Vanishing. Was that before this? Oh, yeah. Oh, interesting. And she's smoking hot in that. And then she's in...

21:51Sean Fennessey:I'm not sure that's supposed to be the takeaway, but...

21:54Bill Simmons:No, she's in it for eight minutes. Have you guys seen The Vanishing? Smokeshow. Absolute fucking... No, she's hot. That's why he spent five alarms, three years looking for her. He's got posters of where she got abducted. And then she's in that thing called love whatever that movie the River Phoenix music movie

22:10Sean Fennessey:Peter Bogdanovich movie

22:11Bill Simmons:still one of the weirdest things I've ever done professionally is sit in a really small room with you and do the vanishing oh yeah you heard that weird room and you just did the voice like for 60 % the Bridges voice yeah hello Jeff hello Jeff I'm Barney I'm the man you're looking for we should bring Barney should be one of the voices for the pod occurring. I'll do it today. Would this movie be better with Barney? Yeah. That thing called Love had her and Samantha Matheson. Yeah, sure did. And River. It was on my radar. I saw it in the theater. Not a bad movie. Didn't have a lot going on in 93 either.

22:47Bill Simmons:Not a bad movie. So yeah, but this was, I wrote in my notes a little Indy Navarrete-ish where it's like by the end of the movie you're like, that person's going to be in my life now for 20 years.

22:58Sean Fennessey:Yeah, for sure.

22:58Bill Simmons:They will be repeatedly casting her in movies.

23:00Sean Fennessey:She has an incredible ability to have chemistry with any male lead. It does not matter how old or young they are, she is like born to be a mainstream movie star. She's a good actress, but like she's just really good at connecting with other people on screen and then you feel connected to her.

23:15Bill Simmons:That's a great way to put it. Yeah, you're right. She could be with, I mean, she was with Ryan Reynolds.

23:21Sean Fennessey:Yes. And that movie worked so well. I don't really like Ryan Reynolds, but that was a huge hit, that movie. To your point about like what they focused on in this movie and what the screenplay focuses on. what's Annie do we know where Annie is going to work do we know what her job is she sped that's I know she speeds she has she smokes CR yeah I'm just saying like she doesn't just smoke but who it is it's Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves

23:50Bill Simmons:she doesn't just smoke morning smoker yeah well that's a whole level of darkness we'll explain that darkness or lightness like darkness or like the sun just came out because we're having I'm having a coffee in an 8 a.m. dart getting on a bus. Would you be, were you a morning smoker? Yeah. You were. I would get up, go downstairs, smoke, go back upstairs when it happened, whenever I got up.

24:14Sean Fennessey:Like 11 a.m. or 9 a.m. For the longest time when I was working retail, we were not greeting the morning. You know what I mean? So, but I would get up, smoke, and then go shower.

24:24Bill Simmons:My takeaway, knowing nothing on that character, is just those little two tidbits told me she was out till three in the morning than that before. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Probably had four hours sleep. Might not have slept at her own place. Oh, interesting. Rallied back with the coffee cigarette. She's late for the bus. Fortunately, she knows Sam. She knows Sam?

24:44Sean Fennessey:Are you calling Annie a loose woman?

24:46Bill Simmons:No, I think she might have had a big night the night before.

24:49Sean Fennessey:That's why she was running a little late for that bus. The 8 a.m.

24:52Bill Simmons:Yeah. To be like, that bus is a half hour. Let me wipe out this dart. Right before I get on the bus. Half hour is a long time. just takes a couple puffs. Meanwhile. She's great and can drive a bus. I mean, she was really the dream girl. Yeah. I like when she apologizes when she has the bomb vest on. She's like, sorry.

25:13Sean Fennessey:She's very special. Drive a bus, is that on your hit list for things you want a woman to be able to do? Just jumped right in.

25:19Bill Simmons:I mean, would you know how to drive a bus, Sierra? No. I mean, I, like, is it more like driving a long car? Would I know how to drive a bus? Probably not. I feel like just getting a handle on that would take a bit. I think turning is probably a challenge. Yeah, giant wheel. When she makes the sharp turn to get on the freeway, I'm like, that's impressive.

25:40Sean Fennessey:One of the best parts about him, her and Keanu in the movie is when he's like, realizes she's done a good job and he's like, wow, hey, pretty good, you know? That's them connecting. It's kind of funny that he doesn't ever like say like, I'll drive for a little bit. That's true. There's a lot of time where they're just standing there and she's driving.

25:56Bill Simmons:You'd think as the cop, he'd be like, I got it. Well, there's what, 40 minutes into the movie he's like eh I might take a crack at this one once we get off the bus I don't know what she's doing later yeah I think she's thinking the same thing it's funny because we did Obsession we recorded that one on Monday and it's very similar to Indy Navarrete in that movie where you're just like I like this person and Sandra Bulg always had it she finally put it together and now we're I just saw a trailer for Practical Magic 2 yes still going three and a half decades later

26:31Sean Fennessey:I was at CinemaCon in April and she came out to talk about that movie when I was there and she's like 62 years old or something she looks like she's 39 it's insane how many she doesn't really make that much stuff anymore I was shocked

26:43Bill Simmons:she had less than 60 IMDB credits yeah she's basically been two a year max that's it is this her first movie

26:50Sean Fennessey:since The Lost City I feel like it is she hasn't really made a movie in about four or five years that's crazy She does have kids, yeah.

26:58Bill Simmons:I actually know, it's a long random story, but the person she's with now, just like normal LA person. Cool. Yeah. That's great. She always had the rep. Sam the bus driver? She ended up with Sam. But she always had the rep for most normal Hollywood star. Because some of them, you'd be shocked to know, aren't that normal.

27:18Sean Fennessey:She's one of those people like Leo or Denzel, where they still matter. People actually will still just, people went to go see The Lost City, regardless of whether or not you like that movie that movie was actually a hit almost entirely because she is still a draw in a unique way

27:32Bill Simmons:well the funny we haven't done Gravity yet it's on the list oh yeah but that's one where that's basically a Matt Damon The Martian like Tom Hanks cast away I think that's her biggest hit it's just me yeah it's just me for an hour yeah and that's like the last level of movie stardom if you can carry a movie like that just be like it's just me guys you're gonna enjoy watching me try to figure out stuff and get mad at myself you also just like if you think about all the different ways you could have shuffled the deck of the two people who could have been the cop and the woman who's driving the bus and if it's like and there's a version of this movie that's like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Natasha Henstridge and you're just like that movie probably is like borderline entertaining but you're not like zoomed in on what's happening at the wheel of the bus and watching these two people kind of fall for each other yeah and also like really magical chemistry with them which doesn't always happen in an action movie

28:24Sean Fennessey:yeah I agree and I think that it's more likely that you were going to get that. That's the reason why the movie is just, is a forever movie. It's like they kind of nailed all those particular choices that had to fall into place. Yeah, when you go through the casting, what ifs, it's not like, oh, well, we were looking at, you know, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, but we just, it's like this, they were like, I guess we'll try Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves. Like nobody knows who she is and he was in Point Break a couple years ago, but. The same goes for Yon DeBond. Like it could have just not been him.

28:52Sean Fennessey:It could have been any number of other filmmakers because it was just like, this is a hot script. It's a studio movie. You got to pick the right people. He'd never made a movie before. But you get this Dutch maniac who's been studying under Verhoeven for 25 years. And you get a guy who's willing to do all this crazy shit in this movie. I mean, the practical stuff that they're trying to pull off, that they do pull off, in that movie is insane.

29:11Bill Simmons:And he brought a bunch of new stuff that wasn't, like the bus jump was like his idea. The whole elevator, first 20 minutes, like he, that was him on Die Hard. But even like when, when the first bus blows in Venice and Jack is like running up to it and then like the flames are jumping and he's like ah I'm like is that Keanu Reeves next to like actual active fire?

29:34Sean Fennessey:did they have any oversight? that's the thing is the flip side of it is this is clearly a much less safe time in Hollywood but so many of the things that they do in the movie so many of the action set pieces when they were making if they were making it now they would have just said ah we'll just fix that in post we'll just we will be able to digitally touch this so it's all fine and some of the sequences wouldn't look as good they definitely wouldn't feel as good they wouldn't feel as deep and real also all the stuff like the elevator shaft is all miniature stuff that they built by hand and then shot together it's just like it's kind of the last moment right it's pre-armageddon it's pre-independence day where it's pre it's a

30:12Bill Simmons:year before twister or a year and a half before twister it's just right at the end of that cgi

30:17Sean Fennessey:transition where everything big and explosive just goes into that approach instead of this approach. And it's why it's such a forever movie. I like those movies too. I love those movies as well, but this one is almost entirely done practically. It's like The Fugitive. It's like, let's take this thriller concept, but take it to its most extreme, but still plausible and logical extension of have a train crash, have this St. Patrick's Day parade be the setting for a chase scene. And then have buses. And we love The Fugitive,

30:51Bill Simmons:and we've done it twice, including Infernal Lab audience in Chicago. This movie moves way faster than The Fugitive. Sure. Fugitive, there's a couple slow parts. Did you ask Danny Kelly if he would change his name to Ian? Not yet. Does Danny Kelly know that Scoop McNary is playing a character named Danny Kelly on Furious? Yes, he was just informed. Somebody on Twitter sent him a screenshot of, because they talk about the character's name being Danny Kelly in the show, right? Yes, being very Irish.

31:17Sean Fennessey:Does anybody call him DK? No, not yet.

31:19Bill Simmons:Okay. Not yet. That was a Bill Simmons note. First year of the pod. Changing to Jan. Can't both be Danny and the pod. And now neither of them are Danny. It has to be. It's Heifetz and DK. Yeah. Hopper. A little Hopper resurgence. Sure. Starting with true romance. The Hopper side.

31:37Sean Fennessey:I would argue that the blue velvet Hoosiers thing is what puts him back on the map. That in 86, he makes those movies. he gets an Oscar nomination despite being one of the well-known maniacs in Hollywood history. Like, literally a crazy person who did crazy shit in the 60s and 70s. And then he makes this crazy comeback. And then he gets, like, a 15-year gravy train where he gets tons of studio movie parts.

31:59Bill Simmons:He's True Romance, Speed, and Waterworld. Yeah. All back to back to back. I didn't know who... I wasn't, like, a going-backwards movies guy. I knew him from Hoosiers first. I was like, oh, shoot her. Wait, Coach is getting kicked out? Yeah. Shooter take over the team? What's going on here? But he ended up having a nice run. And I would love to say, oh, it should have been somebody else for this part. But I think he's like a home run. Yeah, I mean... I think he's so good at this. He has like this malevolence that can come out of nowhere. You know, even going back to Blue Velvet. And an energy that you can see in Apocalypse Now and see in any of his classic performances that is that kind of like aging method, wildcat.

32:44untamed animal. True romance talking about the Moors. Yeah, I mean, it's just so special, man. It's just really special to watch. And even though Howard, I'm not even really sure what his ideology was. Yeah, or like what the plan was. Like it seems like... Oh, why'd he blow up that house? That was in a nice location. You think that was his house?

33:03Sean Fennessey:Whose house was that? It was his house. It was his house, right? He had the chips pushed all the way in. Right, so he blew up his own house just to kill him. That's kind of a crazy house. He's like, I was going to move anyway. That's what Mike Gansey did to get LeBron. He was like, just to show you how in I am. Bluff my own house.

33:22Bill Simmons:Then we got Jeff Daniels, who pulls off the double Harry in 1994. He's a dumb and dumber in Speed.

33:27Sean Fennessey:Kind of a weird moment where he's slumming it a little bit, but it makes both of those movies so much better that skilled actor Jeff Daniels is in them playing the fourth lead. It's really strange.

33:38Bill Simmons:I think he, in the research, he was basically saying, I didn't realize this movie was good until I saw the movie. Yeah. But I think he was probably like how everybody felt filming season one of Cape Fear. But it turns out it wasn't good. Yeah, it turned out it wasn't good. But when you watch Cape Fear, by about episode five, you can start seeing when each actor loses their will to be on the show. Patrick Wilson by episode seven is like, just fucking kill me. Just shoot me in the head. Have you stuck with Cape Fear? No. It's the worst show of all time. but Jeff Daniels was probably like yeah I'm doing this Jim Carrey thing I think it's gonna be big this fucking Dutch guy this bus movie I don't know yeah I'm only we wanted John McTiernan we couldn't get him so we got a cinematographer yeah I'm only in a few scenes like Keanu's the lead and then he gives the movie a lot

34:26Sean Fennessey:he really does he gives it like a credibility he's got a different tone in his acting style where everybody else is just like so locked in yeah and he's like much more laconic and easy going

34:35Bill Simmons:I think he's great also he gives it the face he makes which I had later for the most gifable moment from this movie the oh my god I'm fucked face and you just kind of kind of the OG

34:47Sean Fennessey:Shamit face yeah have we addressed how the Shamit face needs to be completely retired how Shamit is now like a god have we addressed it he is on any Bill Simmons podcast on the rewatch yeah

34:58Bill Simmons:he got a new contract yeah

35:00Sean Fennessey:yeah a great deal so Shamit face

35:03Bill Simmons:got replaced by Jeff Daniels face

35:05Sean Fennessey:possibly possibly Jeff Daniels is about to be exploded into a million pieces face.

35:10Bill Simmons:How do you feel about Dumb and Dumber and Speed, same actor, same year, couple months apart? Six months apart, I think it was like Christmas and summer? Yeah. I mean, that's like an all-time two fucking weird parts that have nothing to do with each other.

35:24Sean Fennessey:That's got to be up there for any great year for any double rewatchables movie actor. Yeah. Also, probably really helped Dumb and Dumber when it was coming out. People were like, oh, Guy from Speed. Oh, yeah, Jeff Dan. Well, yeah, but he was, you know, in terms of endearment and, you know, he was in a ton of shit.

35:37Bill Simmons:I agree that he's important for this movie

35:40Sean Fennessey:yeah he gives it some credibility he's not in that much he's in 30 minutes yeah there's him and Joe Morton I think give it a lot of credibility oh fuck yeah Joe Morton's incredible our guy yeah there's a quality to the screenplay so Graham Yost writes this it's his first I think produced screenplay at least but he was pretty young hotshot he goes on to do Justified and like tons of TV stuff a bunch of movies but he wrote this script I think it was almost all on the bus when he wrote his version of it before it started to go into development. I wouldn't say it's like William Goldman or whatever, but it is a rock solid screenplay.

36:19And even though these characters aren't real people, they are perfect movie characters.

36:23Bill Simmons:Yeah. Where like you can see like Harry says to Jack, you need to start thinking and not just be so instinctual. Guts will get you so far. And by the end of the movie, like Jack has to think his way through this situation. and Harry ironically dies by being instinctive and running into a house that he shouldn't run into and it's like just really good solid Hollywood screenwriting that's happening while most people are like that fucking bus is about to jump over a gap Josh Whedon did some rewrites for it too I was trying to I was looking at Joe Morton's IMDB it's just never a bad thing when he's in a movie he's probably secretly been in like seven rewatchables he was just in Ali he's great, Ollie I think he's really good in this movie he doesn't have a lot of lines, but he's got great reactions I love when the bus jump happens and they cut to him and he's just like fuck yeah you're all fired and then I had the screenwriter, director The Score by Mark Mancina

37:29Sean Fennessey:hired in part because he was coming off of being basically Hans Zimmer's number two on True Romance. And they were like, I want some of that energy in this movie.

37:36Bill Simmons:And then, the only other thing I had for the intro was just favorite, like I'm in LA movies. It's weird because this movie's, it's basically LA under attack. But it's some nice different snapshots of, we're in Venice. We're near the airport. We're on all the different highways. We're in downtown. We end in two different spots in downtown. We're using the trolley. rears in the bus.

38:02Sean Fennessey:I fantasize about being able to get off that exit going to the airport with not a single car on the highway. That is one of the worst places in the universe. I think you have to do it at 3 in the morning if you want

38:13Bill Simmons:to have that kind of experience. That was literally the only positive of COVID that I could think of. Other than having more family time. Just no traffic. Just flying around.

38:24Sean Fennessey:No traffic, then more family time? Family time, 1A, traffic,

38:29Bill Simmons:1B, then no other happy things. Speed won two Oscars? Yeah, sound, right? Sound and best sound effects editing. Yeah. Who are the favorites this year, Sean?

38:41Sean Fennessey:The Odyssey is going to dominate all the below-the-line stuff. Also, they've combined those two categories just so you know now. It's just best sound. They no longer do sound editing. Do you think Odyssey will be... They have best stunts, right? I think that's next year. Next year. Yeah. Okay.

38:54Bill Simmons:I'm already emotionally prepared. It's a lot like the past Super Bowl where deep down I kind of knew we were going to lose of Matt Damon being the favorite for seven months and then losing for best actor.

39:05Sean Fennessey:He's going to lose to Andrew Scott in a movie called Elsinore that I've not yet seen. But I can already see. I'm just looking at all. This is what we were talking about with Navarrete. It's going to be so devastating. She's going to win. And I'm like, no, she's not. We're not a Rhymes. We said she's the favor right now,

39:23Bill Simmons:but we also haven't seen 80 % of the movies. Right.

39:28Sean Fennessey:Yeah. I gotta talk about this for nine months so I don't wanna get ahead of myself but I can for whatever reason in my bones I'm like this Andrew Scott thing is gonna happen I don't know I don't know why I feel that way but I do

39:38Bill Simmons:it's the fucking helmet catch for the Oscars for Boston fans it's like Matty D here it comes Boston people and the nominees are we got this he's one ass this kid Odysseus motherfuckers

39:53Sean Fennessey:you're treating Matt Damon like Kurt Schilling on the Red Sox is so weird

39:57Bill Simmons:He's a Boston team. Both of our guys. He started out from Boston. Has Joe Maz weighed in on the Odyssey yet?

40:05Sean Fennessey:Oh, wow. That's a great question. I'm surprised. It is a real. I'll watch this 10 times in a row.

40:09Bill Simmons:What if I had Allison just ask Joe Maz, don't want you on, doesn't want to talk NBA, just wants to talk Odyssey. No, re-town. Re-town with Joe Maz. That's the one he watches over and over again, right? If you did the town with Joe Maz live in Boston, you could probably sell it at the Garden. Right? After watching Shane Gillis sell 76 ,000 football stadium. Did he really? Yeah, he sold out the fucking football stadium. Oh, Philly. That makes sense. All right. Settle down. Cut him a dig. $35 million budget for this movie. Made$350. Bang. Pretty good. Fifth biggest 1994 movie. 1994. Banger.

40:49Sean Fennessey:Banger year. I don't have the list. Do you have the list of what was above it?

40:53Bill Simmons:No, I can look. I'll look after we do the break. 1994 is pulp, right? Yeah. Biggest touchdown of the whole pod. Roger Ebert. Four fucking stars. I knew it. Speed is an ingenious wind-up machine. Smart, inventive thriller. We've seen this done before. Sell them so well. And then he said, films like Speed belong to the genre I call bruised forearm movies because you're always grabbing the arm of the person sitting next to you.

41:19Sean Fennessey:Great line. He reused that line on the TV show. I watched Siskel and Ebert talk about this last night. this is what struck me they both love the movie right this was like a critically acclaimed summer blockbuster which is a very rare thing right they talked about the movie for less than two minutes and then went on to the next movie on the episode if this movie came out today we would have done I would have done at least three episodes of the big picture about this movie I would have found a million ways to cover it it was kind of fascinating to think about the fact that like what our media was that was supporting movies like it didn't require all that much to get people to get up and go to see the movie.

41:56Would you do one good blurb on a bus for Speed? Sure. Yeah.

42:00Sean Fennessey:I've been on an LA City bus before. Yeah. It's one blurb. It's not one good blurb. My bad. One blurb.

42:05Bill Simmons:As the executive producer of one blurb,

42:07Sean Fennessey:I didn't mean to. I still think you should do that. You just come out of the theater. Yep. Sean Fennessey, just saw The Odyssey. Does he have to introduce himself on his own social handles every time? Yeah. Okay. Hey guys, it's me, Sean Fennessey. Yeah. Just saw The Odyssey. Just test drive it. A magnificent reinterpretation. Fuck you, Emily Wilson. sign off boom Boston's son is coming home

42:31Bill Simmons:listen you guys you guys think I'm kidding so top 8 domestic 94 Forrest Gump Lion King yeah saw that on a date did you stay with him good date no we were dating we were dating at that point real date

42:49Sean Fennessey:Speed and Lion King were in the same Siskel and Ebert episode these are two of the most how long did they talk about Lion King Mormon minutes okay santa claus still haven't seen it uh the flintstones which made 130 million dollars

43:02Bill Simmons:somehow i don't still don't understand that dumb and dumber clear and present danger speed the mask

43:08Sean Fennessey:pulp fiction of the in-year releases director of the mask chuck russell just passed away awesome movie but then that there's a whole bunch of wow 94 was we've done a lot of these

43:20Bill Simmons:a couple disappointing ones too like what Cop 3 I'm still coming to grips not a good movie not a bad movie

43:26Sean Fennessey:I mean Shawshank is 94

43:29Bill Simmons:Shawshank's 94 a lot of good stuff is JFK 94 what year's JFK 92 I think 93 we didn't know how well we were eating in 92 93 and 94 we're gonna take a break we'll do rewatchable scenes this episode is brought to you by ChatGPT imagine you're running a professional sports team nice That would be a dream of mine. Imagine the player contract report is due today. Not so nice. You've got performance notes from the coaching staff. You got a salary spreadsheet from your analyst, three rounds of back and forth emails with the agent, and all of it is scattered absolutely everywhere. Well, that's where chat GPT work comes in.

44:09Bill Simmons:It's a new way to use chat GPT for bigger multi-step projects. Give chat GBT work access to your apps and files and can create real work documents. For instance, spreadsheets, slides, structured reports. You can bring all those to your next meeting. And when you don't need answers, you need help just getting the work across the finish line. Guess what? Chat GBT work can move your projects forward while you stay in control. Put chat GPT to work on your most ambitious ideas and projects. Get started. Just go to chatgpt.com by selecting work mode available on plus and pro plans. Most watchable scene.

44:52Bill Simmons:This movie has 25 minutes in an elevator and you always forget when you start watching it. The opening 23 minutes. Holy fucking shit. This goes so hard. That's my only note. The one scared lady not wanting to come out of the elevator. Yeah. That would be Sean. Come on. Yeah. Sean would be like, no. fuck that

45:13Sean Fennessey:first guy jumping out yeah so I just had I did a really cool interview that hasn't run yet on the pod with Patrick Fishler who is the guy who you know who is a very well known character actor now who's in this movie this is his first credit in a movie he's the guy who's getting picked on in the elevator where he presses the button oh wow yeah and we had an awesome conversation about like his the arc of his whole career but he talked about getting cast in this movie in that interview where he was just like yeah Jan liked me and that just like set me off on a that guy run for my career. Did he have any memories of like how they shot the elevator scene or anything?

45:46Sean Fennessey:Yeah, we talked about it a little bit. I mean, it obviously wasn't as exciting as it looks in the movie. But he was just kind of blown away because it was his first like really big movie set that he was participating in making the movie.

45:55Bill Simmons:Tabak got the idea from working on Die Hard. And I always thought elevator shafts were scary and was like, what if we did this? Can I just throw one of my favorite unintentional comedy moments is in, like in that office building before they get on the elevator, the way that all of the characters, all the actors are about to go on this elevator ride to hell, but they have to do 10 seconds of like, great meeting, dick. I thought the blueprints for that building were excellent.

46:20Sean Fennessey:But you know you're in what's going to be an awesome movie, because in that scene, it's not like the camera's set up on a tripod far away. It's like the camera is spinning around in that meeting room, and you're like, holy shit. Jan de Van is on. I think this project's going to be a rousing success.

46:35Bill Simmons:Crazy Dutch guy. And then you think the elevator's over, but then we're in the freight elevator. Yeah. And we're doing that whole thing. Great stuff. First bus blows up. That gives us the pop quiz hotshot.

46:48Sean Fennessey:Do you think of Howard shooting them out in the freight elevator and then taking Harry hostage as a separate scene? Or is that all the same scene? I think freight elevator

46:57Bill Simmons:is its own scene. Yeah, I think there's three scenes within the first 25. It's like the people in the elevator, the freight elevator, and then the basement with the hostage situation shoot the hostage. The freight elevator also has a great moment when they were like trying to figure out if he's in the building. And Daniels is like, I think there's a freight elevator. And Keanu's like just on the run, ready to roll. First bus blowing up.

47:23Bill Simmons:The payphone. We're going to have to do some nitpicks as we go through the movie. But bus blows up. Jack's getting coffee in the morning. You know, just talking to the bus driver. Just ready to start the day. Yeah. This bus blows up. He chases it. Now it blows up again. Now it's on fire. We don't know how many people are on, but the driver's definitely dead. And the payphone starts ringing. And Jack's just like, payphone, I should get that. I just don't know. He has a feeling. He has a bad feeling.

47:56Sean Fennessey:He's an instinctual police officer.

47:58Bill Simmons:And then Hopper has it figured out so that the bus is going to blow up and roll to the spot where these two payphones are and banking that Jack's going to run after it. I'm going to say 101 outs.

48:09Sean Fennessey:And does Hopper have eyes on the bus blowing up in some way? That's the thing. He must have had cameras. No, he's right by there. He's nearby. He's calling on his cell phone like down the street. Okay. Because you can see the flames in the windshield of his car. Right, okay. Are you answering a payphone right there or no? Well, I mean, I think that for kicks, like back in the day, I used to answer. For kicks? Yeah, like if you were like hanging out and smoking a cigarette with your friends and the payphone rang, sometimes you would pick it up. What are you talking about? Would you not ever pick up a payphone that was ringing?

48:37No. What if it was for somebody you need? Really? Psychopath? No, not to be like Pop Quiz hotshot, but to be like, what's up? You never know what if fucking Sandra Bullock was calling. You know?

48:49Bill Simmons:Okay. I wouldn't do that. Well, this got stolen for basically every video game where somebody's on a run or doing a mission where it's like, oh, the payphone's ringing.

48:56Sean Fennessey:There's a whole movie called Phone Booth that is based on this feeling, this vibe of what happens in the movie. I have a quick question about this scene. Another speed ripoff. It is. I'm not what's up with him forgetting his muffin what do you mean he gets coffee and a muffin Keanu gets coffee and he forgets his muffin and then the guy behind the counter is like hey Jack you forgot your muffin and then like so Jack turns around and at first you're like okay so maybe this is so that he doesn't like get on the bus or something but he's never gonna get in the bus he drove there I think it's just supposed to be a slice of life like this guy likes a muffin but sometimes he forgets it sometimes he's in a hurry sometimes he's he's thinking about maybe like like Sandy having

49:32Bill Simmons:the morning dart same thing

49:33Sean Fennessey:Follow-up question. Is Jack Treven the kind of guy who eats a muffin? I was asking my wife about that. It's like an egg sandwich. Yeah, like where are we at with muffins, like popularity-wise? I feel like they're really falling out of favor, especially at your specialty coffee shops. But some of the donuts came back. Yeah, yes. Well, I feel like the PR for muffins is bad because now everybody's like, well, this isn't good for you. Well, they're like, it's 3 ,500 calories. And it's like… And sugar. Yeah. So you're going to crash. The thing now that has been going on is the PR for bagels is out of control and they've convinced like hot people that eating a bagel in the morning is totally fine.

50:07Yeah.

50:07Bill Simmons:That we've made the yeast better and it's actually better for you. Courage and Layla bagels and all these like fancy bagel spots. It's like you see these like women in workout clothes at 8 a.m. having a bagel.

50:15Sean Fennessey:I've been team bagel for a long time so this is huge for me. You know, the fact that I can eat a bagel sandwich. Craig just went like full Nithya. That's why I'm gonna change LA. You should run. You should run for me. You would win in a landslide.

50:31Bill Simmons:Courage and Layla the bagels though both they're great but like home runs east side we got maury's we got bells we got starting their day every day now because of like the pr spent on bagels it used to be like a hungover sunday morning you have a bacon egg and cheese it's like basically having pizza start your tuesday with a bagel i'm a Jewish guy from the east coast yeah i don't know long island bagels are a religion yeah we eat bagels every saturday love the bagels uh next scene sandy gets on the bus sam holds the bus for her and uh makes her run a little bit though yeah see her she has to throw down the dart um hops on gets sits next to uh connor roy would you seek out a woman smoking when you were a young man i would have filed it away but like when you saw a woman smoking where you're like you're going on the list i'm interested no it's more it's it's fellow traveler what did it tell you it's like you're outside you have a kinship she has a smoke break Or you're outside a bar.

51:26Do you have a light? It's just like an icebreaker.

51:30Bill Simmons:It's like when Cruz sees a fellow Scientologist. He's like... How does he know they're a Scientologist? You should talk later about the Thetans. We're cutting out. We're trying to get Cruz on the room. No, keep it.

51:47Bill Simmons:So she gets on the bus. Keep it. Have those secrets? She gets on the bus. meets all the weirdo people on the bus. Keanu hops in his 1974 Bronco Sport. God damn, that's a nice car. One of the best cars ever. Not a car I'd want to chase down a bus in, though.

52:06Sean Fennessey:No.

52:07Bill Simmons:Yeah. Rickety, a little wobbly. Gets in, finds Glenn. They won't let him on. Gets Glenn Plummer. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Out of nowhere. Tune man. Hops into the Jaguar. Figures that I get on the bus. It's just a wonderful seven minutes. Probably doesn't need to strike the two doors on the side of the car. That felt like he was going a little extra. Well, so I think that... There's a cool move. The elevator's great. The bus blowing up is great. When he opens the car door and slams on the brakes to smash off... To almost start a 40-car accident. That's when the prayer circle starts.

52:45Sean Fennessey:They just did that. He was doing tricks on it. That just happened. That's just a real thing that they did while making the movie. There's a couple of things. I don't want to step on Great Shock Ordo, but it's not that important of a category. There's a couple of shots in this where I'm like, so what was take two going to be? Did you guys have another Jaguar with the exact same Jaguar? Dutch directors. Yeah. Dutch directors. Dutch directing and soccer. Just think about this. Out of the box. This 12 months in Jan de Bon's life is he shoots Basic Instinct as a cinematographer. He's the man behind the camera for the most notorious scene of the 1990s.

53:20Sean Fennessey:Yeah, he finds the key light. Yes. Yes. And then he makes Speed. This guy is fucking crazy.

53:26Bill Simmons:And then he's like, what's next for me? Twister, cows are going to be flying in the air. Truly. Stay on or get off. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Really good one. I forgot to mention, it's not a rewatchable scene, but I love when the guy, the criminal on the bus, thinks Jack's there for him and just shoots Sam. Always fun when somebody just gets randomly shot but lives in an action movie. the uh the old lady blowing up

53:55Sean Fennessey:moving Sam off the bus and then Beth Grant's character getting blown up is one of my favorite moments in the movies in the 90s

54:03Bill Simmons:I sent you screenshots of this I have to Annie you can see it cuts to her and she's like ugh like almost like a crack addict I gotta say uh the fucking guy who should be exiled to Siberia is the one cop who's like come on

54:21Sean Fennessey:yeah it's like this is like widely communicated that they're not allowed to get off the bus what are you tempting these people for

54:28Bill Simmons:just jump lady the bus jump this movie just does not let up every time we're like oh let's get some backstory it's like nope next problem yeah they didn't finish the bridge what do you mean he shoots it like the charge of the light brigade too where it's like Joe Morton watching the bus go off as like the sun is starting to crest and it's like So we, I mean, we might as well do the nitpicks for this now. This is probably the most unrealistic great scene in the history of movies. But physically possible.

55:00Sean Fennessey:Wow. I wish I'd prepared for that.

55:02Bill Simmons:The bus goes up. If there is an incline, there is physically possible. But when you look at how they do it, it's pretty strange. I read on Reddit. R slash physics. I read on Reddit. But I went to like a real Reddit board.

55:14Sean Fennessey:Sure. Oh, yeah. Not one of these fake ones. Or the verifiable ones.

55:17Bill Simmons:they did a Mythbusters episode in 2009 and here's what we found out it was impossible under real world conditions was the legacy of this in your face all they're saying is that it's kinetically possible you know what I mean I think the ramp would have to be like this looks like it hits something that kind of pops the nose up

55:44Sean Fennessey:it was like when you'd go over a little hill with your BMX bike. You'd be like, oh, got a little jump.

55:49Bill Simmons:So this was a little crazy Dutch thing where he heard about that there was a space between the two highways. He was like, we will do a jump! And they just do it. There's YouTube… You should do him as Goldmember. Like, you think he just talked to my Goldmember?

56:05Sean Fennessey:I love speed! That's cute! We'll do a jump!

56:11Bill Simmons:They do two tries. The bus collapsed the first time. There's YouTube video of it. Collapsed? Yeah, the bus lands and just like… Yeah, they were like… Every tire breaks. Like the submersible. Yeah. It's like, wow. And then the second one was two days later. It went further than they thought. And there was a camera where the bus was supposed to go right into the camera. But the bus went further and destroyed the camera. So they had to use the side shot. But that fucking crazy Dutch Jan had this like awesome bus coming at the camera. Camera's gone. Incredible. So anyway. I think that became the most famous part of this movie, though.

56:50Bill Simmons:The most discussed. I agree. It's just such a great in-the-theater or re-watching moment, if you forget it a little bit, where you're like, they're like, there's a gap in the road ahead, and you're like, what the fuck? Really? Yeah. How are we going to get out of this one? They didn't finish the highway. Yeah. The chopper shot of, you see the gap. Yeah. Same thing for when they do the turn, when they're getting the highway ramp, and it's like, we're not going to make it. And he's like, everybody get on the, this side of the bus that's like fucking smart. It's great. Jack's just killing it. It's Annie who's like we're not going to make it.

57:20He's like shit we're not going to make it. I will say

57:23Sean Fennessey:if there was a gap in the road in Los Angeles everyone would know about it because that highway would be shut down for a period of time. So that would be common knowledge amongst Angelinos. they're making the 105-110 interchange at this? Is this like the beginning of the 105?

57:37Bill Simmons:Okay. Jack on the pulley thing going under the bus when Joe Morton says don't get dead. Yeah. does the gas screw move and I just think he does. Okay. There's some movie magic with this one too. I think Jack under the bus is just gonna it's just gonna not work. When that bus is like bouncing Yeah. I don't think he makes it but it's fine because I believe in Jack. Indy under the truck. I would like to also know like how close we were to losing Keanu Reeves during the shooting of this scene. Who insisted on doing all of his stuff. Yeah. And he was like I don't really understand how they're shooting it if it's not incredibly dangerous.

58:17It seems like he's going fast.

58:20Bill Simmons:Good Joe Morton. How many lives you got, man? Harry blowing up.

58:27Sean Fennessey:I love the way that scene is shot, though, where you see them surrounding the house and they go inside. Why do you think, though... I don't know if this is an unanswerable question or not, but why does Hopper's character put a bomb that has a light and a timer like obviously it's for the audience but if you had a bomb in the house wouldn't you just like press the button you don't need to like indicate to the people I thought it was motion censored yeah oh is it motion censored? yeah I thought it triggered yeah oh okay got it

58:55Bill Simmons:bus escape getting all the passengers off but it's just them it's just Jack and Annie and then he figures out we'll open that little hatch and we'll just zoom out from the bottom of the bus again this is a hundred to one odds you're pulling this one off I don't know how long the runtime would be, but if they had just ended the movie with them kissing, as the... Yeah, we're probably fine. Are we better off as a country? It's a great 88 minutes.

59:24Sean Fennessey:I think it's 1.32 or so, thereabouts. Yeah, come on, dog. That would have been just good stuff. I know you have to go get Howard, but...

59:30Bill Simmons:Where do you guys stand on the giant plane blowing up in this scene? That's fucking... Were people in the plane? Do you remember when we talked about... Was anyone... I don't think anyone... the implication is that it's a freight plane being refueled. Yeah, it's being serviced. And the guy who is the refueling truck driver does run away.

59:47Sean Fennessey:It did remind me a lot of, do you remember when we did Die Hard 2? And we were like, holy shit, they blew up that plane in Die Hard 2? Like, you could never do that in a movie ever again? 300 people just getting killed. But like, in three years later, they just did it again in this movie?

1:00:01Bill Simmons:Relationships that start under intense circumstances never last. Yeah. Great quote. Dennis Hopper dies. Yeah, but I'm taller. I have some thoughts about that just quick sidebar my favorite TV or movie decapitations ever here are my top four Game of Thrones Hereditary Black Rain and Speed got it four best ones I'm gonna go criteria orgasm here and say Kurosawa's Ron incredible decapitation yeah Bloodsburg fucking waterfall of blood yeah and the subway crash ending just true love from Keanu He's like, you know what? If we're going down, we're going down together. If I can get out of this and we don't die, I'm definitely having sex with her tonight.

1:00:47Bill Simmons:I got to roll the dice. I've been putting in foreplay for eight hours, seven hours, whatever. This is the... I just got to do it. I got to find out how this is. This is sort of a Z-Want-N-A-O thing, but when do you think Annie lights up after this movie? Like, at what point is she like, God damn it, I need a new part. By the way, why wasn't she lighting up when they end up in downtown LA and she's like, I'm going to take a little walk. Why wasn't that a smoke break? Yeah. What are we doing? Honestly, on the bus, you could just be like, light him if you got him. That would have been a way to get rid of Conor Roy.

1:01:20Bill Simmons:Spending a lot of time on cigarettes here, guys. Wow, it just made her even more attractive. What was the most rewatchable scene? Controversially, I think it's the elevator scene for me this time around. I rewatched the mechanics of it and how they shot that. It's just a deep cut. Yeah. it's I think that's like you being like Nirvana Smells Like Teen Spirit wasn't the best song in the album it's actually this one it's just this time around it was so fun to watch that and think about how they did it Sean

1:01:51Sean Fennessey:I think in the theater the most euphoric moment was the bus jump and Joe Morton you know doing the fist pump but re-watching the movie I don't know. I really like them getting Sam off the bus and then Beth Graham getting blown up.

1:02:08Bill Simmons:I have Keanu getting on the bus initially in that whole chase scene. And I... Underrated when Glenn Palmer drives into the water things. I've always kind of secretly wanted to do that.

1:02:21Sean Fennessey:Hit one of the water jugs?

1:02:22Bill Simmons:Yeah, just to see the water fly up. Like, if you're ever going to crash, that's how I crash. Would you wear a seatbelt for that?

1:02:27Sean Fennessey:Bill Simmons, famed sports writer and podcaster, tragically died last night after driving his car directly into a water tank on the 101. That should be the punishment for your fantasy league. Just drive into those things at 40 miles there. Drive 90 miles per hour. What do you have for most rewatchables? I think it's Jack under the bus for me on the little sled. This means it's a good movie when we have four separate rewatchables.

1:02:48Bill Simmons:No question. Let's take another break. This episode is brought to you by Viore. All right, let's talk about a category we appreciate, clothes that stay in the rotation. Viore earned that spot. Their core shorts are good for workouts, travel day, weekend, whatever. And the Strato Tech Tee, ridiculously soft. It's the kind of gear you keep reaching for because it's comfortable while still looking put together. Get 20 % off your first purchase at viore.com slash rewatchables and discover the versatility of Viore clothing. Exclusions apply. Visit the website for full terms and conditions. I did check on ChatGBT decapitation scenes just to make sure I didn't miss anything and I think I'm now on a government watch list what'd you find?

1:03:37Bill Simmons:there were some other ones but I thought I had the right four Faces of Death

1:03:40Sean Fennessey:did that come up? did ChatGBT recommend Kurosawa's Ron? no that's why you're here

1:03:46Bill Simmons:only you can do that what's the most 1994 thing about this movie I'll give you five choices Let me know if I missed anything. Starting a movie with three minutes of credits and graphics? It just doesn't happen anymore. Yeah, it feels longer than that. We just start with movies now. This decade, we're off. This movie now, we're just in the elevator.

1:04:06Sean Fennessey:And yet somehow every movie now is 30 minutes longer than it was back when this movie came out.

1:04:11Bill Simmons:No cell phones, no social media, obviously. Young Keanu and young Sandra Bullock. We've spent 35 years with these people at this point. No homeless people under the highway underpasses or in Pershing Square has to be mentioned. And then all this time we're spending on the LA freeways, but nobody makes an OJ joke is the most 90-90. Is it in my opinion? Is it shot before OJ? Yeah, it's shot in 93. Oh, okay. I just feel like if this movie's a year later, there's three OJ jokes. Like Conor Roy's saying, I think I just saw the white Bronco. Or Amy's like Maybe we should have Gotten Al Cowlings To drive the bus Like we just would have Nice They would have been Very self-referential They're just not What did you have Anything else You missed one The nickname For the 1993 Arizona Wildcats defense Was Desert Swarm Featuring Teddy Bruschi You know I researched this Because it felt weird That he went with Arizona football And that Arizona basketball They were like 10-2 10-2 in 93 Pretty good.

1:05:16Sean Fennessey:But Lute Olsen was there by 93, right? And Arizona had made the Final Four in like 88. Isn't Sean Elliott like in the NBA? It is the time when that is really starting to happen, right? The football team was going though. I have one more. Yeah. Just not thinking about being surveilled at all. It's kind of, you could say that age the worst, but I like that the best where it doesn't even occur to Jack that there might be a camera in the bus that is keeping an eye on him. Because it's a time when you don't, you know, you don't just like get a speeding ticket from a camera on a flashlight, on a traffic light.

1:05:55Bill Simmons:What'd you have for Floyd Gundal? Is butter on my ass, lye pops in my mouth for something you just enjoy? I have two, okay?

1:06:00Sean Fennessey:One is anytime a high concept movie has a ticking clock convention. So like there are a lot of movies in the 90s that are riffing on this. We already mentioned Phone Booth. Nick of Time is like this. Panic Room is like this. Captain Phillips is kind of like this where you're like stuck in a place and there's a certain amount of time before something goes by but the thing I really like that is really simple is the way that Keanu holds a handgun with two hands and like pivots and turns the way that a police officer always does and he has been using this move in the Wick movies and this is where he learned to do it it's not point break it's in this movie when he goes down into the subway and he's looking for Hopper great shit what do you have?

1:06:38for Gondoli? yeah the Hans Zimmer JV soundtrack of dun dun dun dun dun it's like you could put that over yeah playing a video game making like a hamburger you will feel epic if you're doing I wonder if that should be the new rewatchables theme song anytime we do an action my wife and I have been all week we've just been like randomly been like dun dun dun dun it's so good

1:07:00Sean Fennessey:you want to license Mark Mancina's score from Speed I think he can give it to us

1:07:03Bill Simmons:I'll just ask Mark later okay see what he's doing I have two as well um anytime we have to repeatedly cut to something like the speed limit here, where it's like, oh, we're at 52. Oh, we're back up to 55. Uh-oh, we're dropping down to 51 again. And it's just like the easiest to keep you locked in on the tension of the movie. You could just do it forever. But my number one is the crew of super annoying people waiting to be saved that I'm supposed to be rooting for. But an hour in the movie, I'm like, fuck these people. Yeah. like the lady who ends up dying Connor Roy the fucking criminal like half of these people the one that figured this out the best is a movie we'll do at some point in the rewatchables probably when we're in the 700s Daylight with Sly Stallone sure where he's trapped in this tunnel he breaks into the tunnel to save everybody and they're so fucking annoying they're like giving him shit the moment he shows up and you just want everyone to die And I like when they do this.

1:08:07Sean Fennessey:Isn't Paul Guilfoyle in Air Force One like this, right? Where he's like the Secretary of State, but he's the most annoying guy of all time. Yeah. Who does Rebhorn play? He's like a secretary or something in Independence Day. Yes. He keeps trying to get him to nuke Atlanta. Yes.

1:08:23Bill Simmons:What's age the best? We mentioned young Sandy and young crew cut Keanu. The Clooney-Keanu haircut. The buzz. That whole, the buzz. Clooney did it for ER where he kind of pushed it forward, but that had a moment. I tried it out mentioned the score incredible gum chewing Keanu performance in this movie gum chewing is like a character to kind of figure out what's going on with him Bullock learned to drive the bus passed get another thing didn't actually have a cigarette puff but did drive the bus probably one of those days to be like man it's so fun to be an actor I just get to like go practice driving a giant bus I read that she passed on her first try

1:09:03Sean Fennessey:yeah

1:09:04Bill Simmons:Hopper's quote, poor people are crazy, Jack. I'm eccentric. Yeah. Yeah, that's coming up later for me. Yes. Jack's Ford Bronco, 1970. How about a former cop with a grudge? Has that ever not worked in a movie? I mean, specifically a former Bomb Squad cop who's got his hand taken off or crossed the digit. I want to cross that guy. Yeah. Former blank with a grudge? Would that work for podcasters? It's a former failed podcaster with a grudge.

1:09:30Sean Fennessey:Got to treat CR nicely. You don't want to find out. Careful with his Sixers season.

1:09:35Bill Simmons:Stop trying to trade him beat on me. CR's furious about the watch 20 years later. All I got was this watch. This is my favorite, I think. The criminal who shoots Sam and is handcuffed to the bus, but then they unhandcuff him. By the end, he's just part of the team. He's like, sorry, didn't mean to shoot him. Are there charges? Like, he shot somebody. Yeah. Is the police waiting for him? Did he just throw away everything? What happens? Also, like, what did he do? You know? stand or get off just as using that as a what's age the best going forward with Pop uh Pop Quiz Hotshot yeah

1:10:13Sean Fennessey:yeah

1:10:13Bill Simmons:those two things moved into the Lexicon for a while

1:10:17Sean Fennessey:Pop Quiz Hotshot had a 20 year run

1:10:19Bill Simmons:it was crazy yeah all the stuff about Reeves being uh performing his own stunts Keanu including the Jaguar to the bus jump um I never know what's apocryphal and what's not with some of this stuff but it really did seem like he did most of this. I was going to ask this and possibly unanswerable questions, but how fast do you think the traffic was actually moving? So if the bus is going 50, like, did you think, is it actually going like 35 or 30? Like, how fast do you think Keanu was going in that Jaguar? It looks like he's going 75. Yeah, it feels like at least 60.

1:10:57Sean Fennessey:I don't know how you could actually do that at that speed with the actual actor. I mean, he's the star of the movie. it had to be slower than that

1:11:04Bill Simmons:yeah that's why I always wonder as the years pass like yeah he did all his stunts he could kind of just say anything I do do all my research for the rewatchables myself you do? it shows it shows

1:11:20Sean Fennessey:Bill does all his research do you think so Keanu I think is one of the only actors of all time to have a legitimately great action movie in four consecutive decades yeah I think Eastwood is probably in the mix there. I couldn't really think of anybody else. Maybe Harrison Ford. Yeah, Harrison Ford.

1:11:38Bill Simmons:It's like how Charlize Theron has looked fucking smoking hot in a movie for four straight decades. Same thing. Because what, Cruise doesn't have an 80s one? I mean, Top Gun is kind of an action movie. Yeah. So he kind of has four.

1:11:50Sean Fennessey:Cruise doesn't have it. Cruise is on the list.

1:11:52Bill Simmons:I'm sure Cruise is alive. What are you doing? Cruise might just not be, he might be an alien species. Did you get a hard no from Cruise? are you zagging on cruise this would be an interesting zag from you is just like I'm out on cruise in 2026 yeah yeah fuck him I don't want him I want Jesse Plemons to come on for Digger how about that yeah

1:12:18Sean Fennessey:I believe a lot of the Keanu stunt stuff because the John Wick guys are like we have to drag him kicking and screaming to do it with stunt guys I have chronic back problems from all the fucking times I've fallen off of things. Yeah. I have two more really good ones, but what do you have for what's the best? I already mentioned the pre-CGI era of action filmmaking. Yeah. And it's just incredible. There is a shot of when Jack and Harry go up on the roof of the skyscraper to attach the elevator to the crane. Yeah. And there's a shot of downtown Los Angeles and you're like, they are on top of a fucking skyscraper.

1:12:55Like, this is really happening. And it's that kind of versimilitude or like that feeling of heightened reality that I think movies sometimes miss now. So that's kind of aged the best for me. Also, basically, people in Venice dress like Jack and Annie now, which is just like cool work pants, t-shirt, probably costs like$500. And then her socks are back in, actually. I think the little frilly ankle socks.

1:13:16Sean Fennessey:If I could pull off Jack's haircut, I would do it in a heartbeat. That's the most manageable haircut in the universe. It's like half of a Caesar. Do it. Cut your hair off. I think you'd like that, wouldn't you? No, I just think it would be cool. I want to see you go for like, I want you to go blonde for like the Knicks season or something crazy. I always wanted to. Platinum? I like Jeremy Sohan style. Sean's second year at Grantland when he had like the weird beard.

1:13:39Bill Simmons:That's fun. Every once in a while, he'll beard up. It's pretty cool. It's all white now though. For the Woodstage, the best on cranes. It's been an action movie thing before where they tie something to like a crane or something, but then the thing, the bolt comes out. I love when it bends. And it starts bending. And it always works. The sound design when it bends is just like, oh, that's not good. Also just like, it's going to hold. It's got to hold, you know? All right, my two favorite would say it's the best. Alan Ruck being in this movie. Maybe this whole new appreciation post-succession of you're watching it just pretending it's Conor Roy.

1:14:17Bill Simmons:Like it's a young Conor Roy. Taking the bus for some reason and then breaking the phone out. Being like, the con heads would really love this furniture.

1:14:26Sean Fennessey:just doing the Conor Royals. That's one. I mean, he was Cameron when we saw this movie. You know, he was from Ferris. Yeah, it was actually like,

1:14:33Bill Simmons:oh my God, Cameron, he's alive. But the Wood Sage is the best for me. There's some iconic Keanu line delivers in this movie. Reach out and take my hand.

1:14:47Bill Simmons:I'm not here for you. Let's not do this. And then when she hits the cart, Cans. Cans. Why do you think he's Arnold Schwarzenegger? He just… He stopped saying R's and does this weird… I don't know what it is. And then Harry, tell me some good news, man. Those are my four favorites. Is that a bad Keanu? I don't know. Now I can't unhear it. You know, like now I'm going to go back and watch this. Reach out and take my hand.

1:15:21Sean Fennessey:So this is actually my weak link of the film. is all of Keanu's punchlines in the movie where he's being given all these Arnold lines. Yeah, I feel like they probably even dialed him back.

1:15:31Bill Simmons:And he's like, but I'm taller. And it's like, what? That's not, what is that even? By like an inch maybe? No, you had to do that in the 90s.

1:15:38Sean Fennessey:Or when he's like, didn't have anywhere to be just then. You know, like he's, or he's like, he lost his head. You know, those are all commando lines.

1:15:47Bill Simmons:What was the elevator one where it's like the only thing that could stop this thing is like the basement. The basement, yeah. I like it. Can I add a what's age the best? Yeah. I think the premise and the bus would be exactly the same in 2026. Like, I think it's just still the same situation would happen. I think they would have to use 30 miles an hour, though. Yeah, the traffic anywhere in Los Angeles would necessitate it. It would just, the bus would explode. But like, bomb under the bus, how do we stop it if it can't go below 50 miles an hour? I'm like, I'm not sure modern technology could do anything about that.

1:16:19Howard makes things too complicated. Howard should either do below 50, the bomb, the bus goes up or if anybody tries to get off, the bus goes up. But like making it both things, I would almost, if I was him, be like, you know what, for entertainment's sake, if you can get people off this thing going 50 miles per hour, more power to you. Right. I won't blow it up. Or it's like, I'll let you, one person an hour you can let off. How do you decide? Yes.

1:16:42Sean Fennessey:I think Howard was fucking insane, so I'm not sure that that was really in play. What do you have for Great Jack Gorda? So, I talked about the door scene, the car door. But there is a shot when Jack comes out of the coffee shop, puts his coffee on the hood of his car, on the roof of his car. Camera pans around Jack. Bus explodes. What the fuck? How many buses do they have? Right. It's incredible. It's not like shot of Jack. Explosion in the background. Cut. Sees. The bus explodes in the background of a shot. And I also happen to love when the payphone is ringing, all of the flames are reflected in the payphone and it's like, ah, man, Howard's on the phone.

1:17:25But the bus exploding is incredible.

1:17:27Sean Fennessey:There's two that I really like that are somewhat similar, but they show you the scope of the production similar to what Chris is describing. One is just when it becomes clear that they have the police escort and it's just like, it's a low helicopter shot and you just see the cop cars riding alongside the bus and it's like a moment of calm because they've at least figured out, okay, we've blocked off the highways and this is going to be okay for a minute. And then the other one is just the bus going into the fucking jet and then it explodes. I remember being in the theater and being like, what the fuck?

1:17:56Sean Fennessey:That's crazy. How did this movie cost$30 million?

1:17:59Bill Simmons:Yeah, I would have thought that would have cost$30 million. How did they blow up the jet? Must have been like a broken jet. I don't know. I like when Jack and Annie are the only two left in the bus and everybody else gets off and they do that shot of the other bus with all the passengers. It's kind of going away and they're all in the window kind of watching them. Yeah. Effective. That's good. Where it's like, yeah, we don't know what's going to happen. Chess Rockwell Brock Landers are our best character name. Sam the Bus Driver.

1:18:28Sean Fennessey:I don't know. Officer Jack Traven and Detective Harry Temple is we can't do better in the 90s.

1:18:34Bill Simmons:Jack Traven. Did Keanu seem like a Jack Traven? It's a perfect cop name.

1:18:38Sean Fennessey:Does he seem like a Jack Traven? No. He does to me. What's his name in Point Break? Johnny Utah. Johnny Utah, yeah. He's always got the very short names. John Wick, Johnny Utah, Jack Traven. They're all riffs on John.

1:18:52Bill Simmons:Was there a better title for this movie? It was originally called Minimum Speed. Minimum Speed? Minimum Speed.

1:18:59Sean Fennessey:I was thinking about this. What would you think if the movie was called Jack Traven and it was the first in a line of Jack Traven movies? I think that they were hoping for that after the success of this movie.

1:19:08Bill Simmons:I'm zagging the other way. I'm going to ask you guys the greatest title ever for an action movie. First Blood, Terminator, Die Hard, cliffhanger face-off under seizure speed i think diehard those are seven bangers diehard's the best though right diehard lethal weapon yeah those are both good the terminator is a great title though it is how about to live and die in la yeah it's pretty good good one um but those are just great ones i think speed's a great title what if it was 50 miles per hour or 50 mph or 50 sure you can't drive parentheses lower than 50 that's pretty good what do you have for flex it's a book about medals award for the belatedly best quarter exchange for you're fucking crazy no poor people are crazy Jack I'm eccentric real hopper also kind of kind of funny that this bomb squad guy is like class consciousness so yeah I liked it speaking of hopper Hans Gruber scale villain ranking pretty high

1:20:12Sean Fennessey:Way up there for me.

1:20:14Bill Simmons:Eight and a half? Yeah. Rickman's a 10? I think just for the fact that Howard is not physically imposing, maybe like a point or two down, but in terms of his... Eight and a half feels like the right number. What do we have for the Sean Fenton Award for Criteriorgasm?

1:20:30Sean Fennessey:Name on the truck used by the terrorists in Die Hard and Die Hard with a Vengeance is Pacific Courier, and the plane destroyed by the exploding bus in speed has the logo Pacific Courier Freight. on its side. This is an in-joke by production designer Jackson Degovia. That's very funny. Wow.

1:20:48Bill Simmons:Butch's Girlfriend Award weak link of the film. It's the bus jump, but I don't, this movie has no weak links. Oh, really? You think that's a weak link of the movie? Well, it's just, I wish it was going up when they jump. It's just the physics of it. Every time you watch, you're like, all right. So, I love the bus jump. In the original screenplay, I think, or at least, I didn't read it, but the accounts of it are is that Harry is the villain. that the Jeff Daniels character. Had that in Unanswerables. And at the end of the movie, I think you can kind of feel like now we have, because like the movie should kind of conclude with them getting off the bus.

1:21:23And then they're like, shit, we have to go get Howard. And they can't just do Jack and Howard. So they bring Annie downtown, which is like a huge fucking like, what are you talking? Why would you do that? So I just think that the weak link is the need for an additional 25 minutes to like settle this movie because it was maybe written with a different villain in mind. Yeah. Yeah, I think the first 90 minutes are like perfect. The last 20 are good. Maybe not like amazing. Like I felt like Howard's whole speech about like bombs need to go off. This is what bombs do. I was like, oh, this feels forced a little bit.

1:21:58Sean Fennessey:Yeah, I have some picking nits around that sequence as well.

1:22:01Bill Simmons:What's age the worst? Did you have a Butch's Girlfriend weak link, Sean, or no?

1:22:05Sean Fennessey:I already mentioned Keanu's punchlines. Okay. But I'm taller. Okay.

1:22:11Bill Simmons:Give me your hand. What stage is the worst? Dennis Hopper running.

1:22:21Bill Simmons:It's true. Not as bad as Nicholson running in The Departed, which I watched recently. I forgot how fucking funny it was. When does he run? He runs at the end when they have the SWAT thing. Right. Nicholson's like has no vertebrae. I have a couple more, but what would you have for this? Dennis Hopper watching college football on a weekday? Yeah, in the morning. It's like, come on, just ask the sports star. Could have just cleaned that up for you. I had that in picking nits. Like, is he watching highlights? Because he goes like, yeah. He's watching games. It sounds like he's gambling. Yeah, so he's gambling on tape-delayed college football.

1:22:54When do we think this movie happens? It was shot in late summer to December, right? Oh, what time of year? I think it happens in early fall. So it's got to be October.

1:23:05Bill Simmons:Because Keanu's got the Baja on when he's... But it's not on the weekend because they're going to work. So it would have to be a Friday college football game that starts at noon. PST? Not likely. SportsR could have helped out on this. In 93? Was there a college football game happening at 3 o 'clock? SportsR would have helped out on this. Is he watching Mac football? Again, he should have been watching Premier League.

1:23:26Sean Fennessey:You know, Howard is a fruitcake. You know, he's just a nut bar. So who knows what's going on.

1:23:32Bill Simmons:I texted you the guy this. I have a counter. It seemed like a pretty good hang. Howard? Yeah, like gambling. Yeah. Had an early TV setup. Like an ice-cold Coke and a sex doll. Yeah. Is the whole soda thing just so there's that one scene where he pees? I think it's so that you also see his busted hand in action. Yeah, also, he got maimed by his duties and didn't feel properly appreciated.

1:23:58Sean Fennessey:This is unanswerable, but is he deaf in one ear? Why does he keep holding the phone on the opposite side of his head? I know he's got his hand blown off on the other side but why is every time he holds the phone he's holding it like this I gotta say JDB more into blowing up buses than he is being consistent with how injuries affect people over a long period of time I think Harry's leg limp changes a couple of times it does and then he disappears

1:24:19Bill Simmons:when by the time they do the SWAT team of the house he's like vaulting over a window

1:24:23Sean Fennessey:a lot of continuity errors in this movie

1:24:27Bill Simmons:the stereotypical bus crew Janine Garofalo has a really great half hour that she did in the mid 90s remember this

1:24:34Sean Fennessey:which is on HBO

1:24:35Bill Simmons:and she does a whole thing about speed about how when they get on it's the most stereotypical and she's like why didn't they just have an Eskimo and an Indian with a headdress but it's like they check every box of who's on the bus in like the character-y kind of way

1:24:51Sean Fennessey:is that the same special where she's talking about how much she loves NYPD Blue and she's like the cops they have their badges on the chain and she's like ah fuck that's so hot it's a great special it's really good

1:25:01Bill Simmons:I highly recommend it um Speed 2 with Jason Patrick. Yeah, I had that. Making a speed movie without Keanu. It is one of the most reviled sequels of all time. And I think it really hurt Jason Patrick's career. Oh, yeah. For sure. And Sandy was unscathed. I also hate the breakup story where it's like, oh, I broke up with Jack because he wouldn't leave the bomb squad. I'm like, Jack being in the bomb squad is why you're fucking here, baby. Like, what are you talking about? Baby. Jack's agent? you knew what you were getting into baby exactly when you signed up with me baby you were gonna have to share me with the bombers I live my life like Speed 2 never happened I don't watch it I remember it's like a really really iconically bad performance JDB directed it though right?

1:25:52Bill Simmons:yeah he had to my last one from Wikipedia the character of Annie was originally written as an African-American paramedic to justify her ability to drive the bus. What the fuck does that mean? Keep going.

1:26:09Sean Fennessey:Because she knows how to drive a large vehicle.

1:26:12Bill Simmons:But what does her being black or white matter? Yeah, but get to the second part of this. You woke down. That it was going to be Halle Berry? Yes. I just don't understand why it was written that way.

1:26:22Sean Fennessey:I don't see color.

1:26:31I just thought it was weird that was good Bill was like favorite sub-jobber his black guy white guy hanging out would be like I don't know why does she have to be a black lady

1:26:42Bill Simmons:well it leads to them trying to get Halle Berry she would have been good she would have been fucking incredible if Halle Berry was in this movie this is 93-94 Halle Berry yeah it's like two years after Boomerang Ruffalo Hanna Ribbon and Partridge overacting word, the crazy lady. Yeah, Helen. Yeah. What do you have for Flex?

1:26:58Sean Fennessey:It was the same as Chris's, but it used it a different way. The Jesse Eisenberg. That's good. You should be proud of that right there. Don't worry if you don't make it any further award for best line reading, which comes right before when Howard Payne says, do you know what a bomb is that doesn't explode? It's a cheap gold watch, buddy. Pretty good line.

1:27:16Bill Simmons:Eisenberg. Yeah. He's on a heater. Did the smart... I just saw a preview with the trailer where it's got the Julian Moore... when he's directing. He wrote and directed but he also wrote the lyrics. I'm a little nervous. Another person who's coming

1:27:27Sean Fennessey:for Indie Navarrete's Oscar is Julianne Moore. She has one though. She does for Still Alice, CR's favorite movie.

1:27:36Bill Simmons:Still Alice is good. Yeah, it's alright. I like that and I like The Father with Hopkins.

1:27:41Sean Fennessey:My two favorite My Parents Falling Apart movies. Oh my god. Interesting. We should do Alzheimer's Month on the rewatchable. Yeah, let's send me up. Let me know. I'm going to go to fucking London. still Alice rewatchables would go crazy that's really still Alice drugstore cowboy no my own private Idaho my own private Idaho people still

1:28:01Bill Simmons:still talking about fucked up family February that was a great month

1:28:05Sean Fennessey:I loved that month

1:28:06Bill Simmons:yeah I listened when I was in Hawaii I listened to the first half hour of our Kramer vs. Kramer podcast might have been the peak of the podcast I don't think I can do better I don't think I can do better was that Mal who was on that yeah no me Mal and Sean just talking about divorce in profound ways. You just learn a lot about all of us. Yeah, that was a good one. Yeah. I like that. The CR thinks Luke Wilson could have been Harrison Ford. How to stake a word. I have a doozy, so I'll go last. Okay. I wonder if a lot of really volatile moments between citizens and cops could be diffused if more cops would just say, I don't know you, man.

1:28:43I don't care about your crime. Whatever you did, I'm sure that you're sorry. so it's cool now.

1:28:54Sean Fennessey:Try it? Yeah. Let's just see what happens. Keanu doing so it's cool now. It does feel like he wrote his own lines. Yeah. I'm putting down

1:29:02Bill Simmons:my gun to my badge. We're just two cool guys.

1:29:06Sean Fennessey:What do you have, Sean? This is the last truly great American action movie.

1:29:12Bill Simmons:And we moved into CGI.

1:29:13Sean Fennessey:It's no sci-fi, no superheroes, no fantasy elements, no secret societies, no mythology. pure action. You could make the case for Mission Impossible movies. You could make the case for The Rock. I might make the case for The Rock, which I love. You could make the case for Ambulance, you know, which is kind of a similar movie, the Michael Bay movie. Do you think Wick has too much mythology, even the first one? I do. Just the high table and all that stuff is way too much.

1:29:35Bill Simmons:So I would offer you a little movie I've seen 10 ,000 times called Taken as one of the only ones that has kept the legacy. Yeah. They didn't really need CGI. That's true. Matrix has too much yeah taking moves nice at a nice pace which is why it's been such a great rewatchable

1:29:53Sean Fennessey:I would listen to bad boys takes mission impossible takes I think those that makes sense but this movie feels like it stands on its own

1:30:00Bill Simmons:I agree um well I'm going true hottest take old school definition okay they're better off just letting the bus blow up well I think that 18 lives it causes 7 billion dollars worth of damage I don't know it's a calculation wow this is this is shoot the hostage take them out of the equation so that would be they set it up old Jack before he meets the wildcat is maybe thinking I'm not gonna like you know what do I care or like maybe we have to take these people protect and serve yeah he has to protect and serve but he's gotta protect and serve all of Los Angeles not just a bus how many billions of dollars of damage from this three hours with the bus I don't want you on the fucking bomb squad if that's your attitude yeah but I have I have incredible nerve I don't get rattled Many people are saying When are you in high octane situations I think he'd be good on the bomb squad I wouldn't know anything technical But I think I'd keep everybody on level I'd keep everybody happy

1:31:00Sean Fennessey:We should do a narrative podcast series About Chris training to be on the bomb squad That ends with him dying trying to defuse the bomb

1:31:06Bill Simmons:I think you'd be good as the guy Asking what's What do you see under there Is there a green wire Can you take that out without cutting the wire

1:31:16Sean Fennessey:I would be good at that part thank you appreciate it who are you in this scenario Joe Morton yeah I'm like

1:31:23Bill Simmons:oh you got nine miles man casting what ifs are incredible for this movie including Speed being under development at Paramount Pictures with Jeff Speakman yeah attached as Jack I can't name a single do you know who Jeff Speakman is action star he was like a martial arts

1:31:41Sean Fennessey:action star he was like the three guys who were discount budget Steven Seagal but like 99 cents or like Chuck Norris the three people who are up for Jack tells you a lot about what their expectations for this movie

1:31:56Bill Simmons:well Stephen Baldwin was one of them yeah and Richard Grieco right Stephen Baldwin was having a semi-moment like he's unusual suspects people Richard Grieco I don't I can't for the life of me understand that one he said he turned it down coming off 21 Jump Street basically my favorite is when they have these stories when you research them and it's like it's the biggest regret of my career. It's like, I would fucking hope so, Richard Grieco. Really? Really? It was a huge regret not being in this one? That and not doing summer stage. And they said there's this urban legend thing about how they wrote the female role as like comic relief and it was going to be on Degeneres and then everybody's like, that's not true, but it's funny.

1:32:38Bill Simmons:The Halle Berry thing is true. She said, she stupidly said no, but when I read it, the bus didn't leave the parking lot. And then there's like a million people who were allegedly up for Annie. I don't know what to believe. I think they wrote, like in the movie, in the original script, I think the bus is just like driving around Dodger Stadium or something like that. Yeah, and it's going to crash into the Hollywood sign. Craig T. Nelson offered the Joe Morton role, but was filming Coach. Couldn't get out. Too bad. You like Coach? Never liked Coach. Did you not like Coach or you just didn't watch it?

1:33:09Bill Simmons:I just thought it was bad. I kind of liked it. Yeah? I watched it. Jack's sidekick carrier was going to be played by Ed Harris when he was going to be evil and then they pivoted away.

1:33:19Sean Fennessey:That would have been good and then he gets to do that in The Rock.

1:33:23Bill Simmons:McTiernan said no. Yep. Rennie Harlan said no. Our guy Tarantino said no because he was finishing Pulp Fiction.

1:33:30Sean Fennessey:But has regrets. McTiernan does... Is it DH with a V and then Last Action Hero or vice versa? It's a... Last Action Hero then DH with a V. Yeah, because I think... Like, DH with a V is almost like the makeup a little bit for Last Action Hero because it didn't perform as well, right? I'm the world's number one Last Action Hero fan. However, I do think if you put McTiernan in the chair on this, it goes from like a 10 out of 10 to a 10.5 out of 10. Oh. What kind of cap, aside from his legal issues, like it was Medicine Man, right? That kind of capped his career, right? No, like 13th Warrior. Oh, that's right.

1:34:08Sean Fennessey:He made a basic. He made a bunch of movies that didn't work in a row. Michael Bay wanted to direct

1:34:15Bill Simmons:banged on the door and he had never directed anything and they were like no thanks Michael Bay I mean it's probably best that he didn't because I don't know that we would still have Los Angeles like he probably would have blown up the 10 and Bad Boys is one year later yeah Joey Pants Award for best that guy is Joe Morton is not eligible I don't think so is Glenn Plumler available sure

1:34:35Sean Fennessey:I think so he's coming off of Menace to Society and it's right before Showgirls so he has like a hot run there Yeah. My pick was Hawthorne James who plays Sam because he is also the security guard in Seven who turns the music up in the library when Morgan Freeman is researching Dante. That's right. That's a good one. That's a great call. I had David Kriegel who's the guy on the bus with the like slightly longer hair who's like, that's your plan? He was in Alive.

1:35:04Bill Simmons:Oh, wow. He's one of the guys? He's one of the rugby players in Alive. I have the guy from Blood In, Blood Out who's just amazing in this movie. the guy who's like Jack's helper

1:35:12Sean Fennessey:the gigantor yeah

1:35:13Bill Simmons:that guy home run like easily could have spun him off into a second movie and Fishler too I guess and Fishler of course yeah loved him Deion Waiters Award I think he's eligible for that as well Glenn Plummer Ruck Ruck who I think's pretty annoying I have Morton yeah I think Morton's the answer I do want to shout out Sam the Bus Driver pre-shooting yeah don't you start with me Annie He's doing a couple of generic bus driver lads. I'll kick you off this bus right now. He's good. Recasting Couch Director City, I wouldn't touch it. Of course not.

1:35:52Sean Fennessey:Could you pull this movie off in New York City?

1:35:54Bill Simmons:I don't think the highway thing would work. It would just have to go up and down the FDR. Yeah.

1:35:58Sean Fennessey:Or the West Side Highway.

1:35:58Bill Simmons:Yeah. I wanted to do a whole Boston thing, but we just don't have the highways in Boston. Store or drive. Yeah, it just wouldn't have worked.

1:36:05Sean Fennessey:Yeah. I'm just trying to think of the action set piece of trying to get across... you know, the east side to the west side, 34th Street, and a bus bombing down a New York City street. Yeah, I mean, in some ways, McTiernan kind of plays with that a little bit with some of Die Hard with Vengeance, but yeah. Flex? Can I do two quick ones? Yeah. Do as many as you want. I want to bring back the old, we used to have an old category called like five-word description of the movie. I think you can go down to three. I think it can be bus can't stop. And there's just a million questions that come from that.

1:36:37Yeah. Why can't the bus stop? Who's in the bus? who planned that. Like, you could get in an elevator with, like, an executive in 1993 and you're like, bus can't stop. I think Die Hard on a bus was the pitch. And they were like, here's$30 million. You could also say bomb on bus. Same thing. Bomb on bus. Yeah. It's a good call. I'm also going to give Keanu Reeves the Tom Cruise Award for the most valiant attempt to emulate a normal human when he goes, University of Arizona. Good football team. Arizona Wildcats. And Sandra's like, yeah.

1:37:06Sean Fennessey:It's like the mug smashing unusual suspect. He's the Kobayashi. Arizona Wildcats. Arizona Wildcats. There's like Sherlock Holmes. Wildcats. I used to sing in a barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois.

1:37:22Bill Simmons:Half-Bestern Research. This was inspired by Runaway Train, Die Hard, and Silver Streak. This ending is very similar to Silver Streak. The train derailing. Silver Streak was a huge deal and just this kind of died. I don't know if it's just not on. Is that Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor? I feel like... And Jill Kleberg. Oh, yeah. When I was a kid, Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor were like the peak of comedy duos. Yeah, they made four movies together. Josh Weed, we mentioned. Oh, here's a good one, CR. Jack is transported in Good Hue Ambulance, the same ambulance service used in heat. That they blow up.

1:38:02Bill Simmons:See that shit coming out of their ears, Slick? They can't fucking hear. the prosthetic dummy head of hopper was too realistic when he got beheaded and they had to use a different angle from it because it was too gross this is really funny you should mention that there have been a couple of beheadings on house of the dragon this season and I feel like it's pretty obvious that they're using very fake looking decapitated heads because I bet if you really let a makeup guy cook he's like I can get you a pretty good looking head

1:38:32Sean Fennessey:I just saw from dusk till dawn at the academy museum and there's a bunch of decapitated heads in that movie and they all look amazing because it's the best makeup crew of all time on that movie. I think they're taking a little bit off their fastball now. We peaked with Charlie probably.

1:38:47Bill Simmons:Hereditary. So good. Just an incredibly bad performance by the brother. Brings Charlie to the party. Doesn't make sure her food allergies aren't.

1:38:57Sean Fennessey:I'll re-hereditary tomorrow. It's still the best podcast I've ever been a part of. It's incredible. It's a great movie.

1:39:04Bill Simmons:It's where your long legs voice came from. Oh, wow.

1:39:06Sean Fennessey:Yeah.

1:39:07Bill Simmons:Oh, interesting. Yeah. Here's good research. Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock developed secret crushes on each other during filming. I bet they did. But didn't admit it until decades later on separate appearances of the old and degenerate show. I don't believe that for a second.

1:39:21Sean Fennessey:They later appeared in The Lake House together?

1:39:23Bill Simmons:Yeah. Seen that one? I'm going to say they climbed in the ring and went a couple rounds.

1:39:32Sean Fennessey:Climbed in the ring? Yeah. The octagon?

1:39:34Bill Simmons:I think.

1:39:35Sean Fennessey:They laced them up. When you go home today, you should say, Phoebe, you want to climb in the ring? Because remember,

1:39:42Bill Simmons:they knew each other. They had a history. They had a history because River Phoenix was doing the music movie with her. Keanu definitely visited River Phoenix on the set at some point. So it was probably on the radar. Did he definitely do that or are you just making that up? That's his best friend. Yeah.

1:40:02Sean Fennessey:Is CR going to come visit me when I go to New York next week just to say hi? I'd love to, but I'm going to be on a lake. Wow, must be nice. Yeah. Like the lake house. Yeah, like the lake house, yeah. Like the Fredo Lake? Yeah.

1:40:19Sean Fennessey:Who do you think… If you had to hire somebody to take CR out on a canoe, on his little lake, who would it be? Craig. He'd never believe Craig. I was going to say DeBundo. Hey, buddy! I feel like DeBundo would take him out.

1:40:32Bill Simmons:Oh, DeBundo would be a great one. What would have to be my... Would I do... He'd know Austin Gale immediately. It would be like, oh, yeah, yeah. This is fishy. Yeah. Raiders fish. I'm out of here. Austin, what are you doing here? What would my crime be? Going on Pardon My Take without asking you and then... And then I'm on vacation. No, it might be... The crime would be just the year of CR has gotten too big. Too big for the britches. That's right. We've got to shoot him in the back of the head. LeBron going to Philly. The Eagles start out 11-0. This is too much. I think that would be great for the ringers business, yeah.

1:41:05Just assassinate me.

1:41:07Sean Fennessey:I think the controversy would do wonders. Yeah. You know, we'd definitely be on the Chiron on ESPN. Sure. Was Chris Ryan assassinated by Bill Simmons? Stephen A is like, that was my brother.

1:41:22I know this is a business and Bill Simmons had to make some tough decisions.

1:41:28Sean Fennessey:But as a fellow Philadelphia legend. Do you think he would be acknowledged by any figures in the Philadelphia sports world? Do you think like, like would Jalen Brown honor you with something on his jersey? I think the Sixers wear black armbands for an entire season. If I, if I got fucking killed by Craig Horlbeck.

1:41:50I think Vijay Edgeko would go CR every time he fucking tomahawked.

1:41:55Bill Simmons:I was just thinking of the next couple of weeks.

1:42:03Bill Simmons:how bad we would be when people who were friends with CR like this fucking guy this blogger yeah we would be screenshotting tweets sending to a chat going back and forth

1:42:14Sean Fennessey:look at this guy what this guy doesn't understand is CR had to go down CR hated this guy oh my god not gonna name any names people post we're gonna take another break

1:42:28Bill Simmons:let's take another break Brian Curtis writes and now they tell us Chris had a fucking crippling steroid addiction

1:42:41alright let's take

1:42:42Bill Simmons:a break this episode is brought to you by Quince good clothing is like a good movie you want it on repeat that's how you'll feel about Quince's pieces their clothes are versatile and timeless without the insane markup other brands have. Perfect for a fall wardrobe refresh. I'd recommend the lightweight down packable puffer vest. It's great for those days when the temperature can't make up its mind. Keeps you warm without getting too hot. And it's easy to fold and take with you on a walk or wherever you're going. Check out all their stuff. Upgrade your everyday. Go to quince.com slash rewatch for free shipping on your order.

1:43:21Bill Simmons:365 day returns now available in Canada in the UK too. That is Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash rewatch for free shipping and 365 day returns. Quince.com slash rewatch. This episode is brought to you by Sleep Doctor. Let's say a good sleep is wildly underrated. You can do everything right, eat well, work out, sleep seven or eight hours, and still feel exhausted. If you snore, wake up tired, or crash during the day, it might be worth looking into. Sleep Doctor offers an at-home sleep study done in your own bed. They accept most insurance plans so you can pay as little as$0. Visit sleepdoctor.com. Apex Mountain.

1:44:02Bill Simmons:What you guys don't know is Chris Ryan used to bet on cockfighting.

1:44:10Sean Fennessey:How come Edwin Diaz didn't go down for that? Did you notice that? You know, Edwin Diaz, they said he was part of a cockfighting ring. He's on fucking Mark Walter's umbrella of protection. Yeah, that's real. That's real. Conspiracy bill has been falling very intensely. Conspiracy crisis is all over it. The fucking, like, my insurance company is loaning me billions of dollars? Come on. Philly's fan who doesn't want to see the Dodgers in the playoffs right there?

1:44:33Bill Simmons:Well, don't worry. This is our last year before we run a baseball

1:44:36Sean Fennessey:for about seven years. Seriously.

1:44:39Bill Simmons:Like, enjoy it while you can. It's our last playoff.

1:44:42Sean Fennessey:I expect nine Mets to have been traded during the recording of this podcast.

1:44:46Bill Simmons:Apex Mountain, not for Keanu and Bullock. I think it is Apex Mountain for diehard ripoffs, even though it's demeaning to call this movie a diehard ripoff. It kind of is. I agree. LA Freeways I think it's OJ Cops with a Grudge maybe this one LA Freeways

1:45:02Sean Fennessey:the chase in this one is up there with speed

1:45:04Bill Simmons:that's a good point Cops with a Grudge I think there are other Cops with a Grudge that we could think of name one Big Boy I mean does Popeye Doyle have a grudge in French Connection I guess not really I mean my dad John's dad good answer LA buses yes okay how about 1994 LA just in general fucking crazy year to be here yeah it is kind of weird

1:45:35Sean Fennessey:that they made a movie where you're rooting for the LAPD like two years after the riots though a little weird but the bomb squad I think is like

1:45:41Bill Simmons:a circumvention of that yeah I was trying to think of other stuff that was going on in LA this year in 94 I think the real world I think it was here in Venice Either in 93 or 94. 90210 and Melrose Place kicking. L.A. Law is happening. All the movies were still being shot here. And then you had Speed using all the parts of it. And the O.J. thing, which taught people where Brentwood was. People like us that had no idea where anything was in L.A. I don't know. I just felt like it was in the mix in a completely different way.

1:46:17Sean Fennessey:Was this kind of an irrelevant time for the Lakers? It was.

1:46:21Bill Simmons:It was post-magic. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. Dennis Hopper, Noah, obviously. Jeff Daniels, I think 94 was Apex Mountain. Yeah, you're hearing Dumb and Dumber and Speed. Yeah, this set up like the next 10 years from him. Did he win an Oscar for anything? He won an Emmy for Newsroom. Newsroom, yeah.

1:46:39Sean Fennessey:I think you can make the case Newsroom is his Apex Mountain. Even if that show wasn't good, he was the star of a massive HBO show created by Aaron Sorkin.

1:46:46Bill Simmons:Ten-minute monologues every episode. Movie characters named Annie? Because you could also go Annie from Misery. I think Annie Hall is probably number one. Or you go Annie Hall. Or you could go Annie. The musical Annie. Sure, that's right. I don't know what the answer is for that. Probably more. Annie, get your gun. Yeah. Easiest cruiser Hanks of all time. Cruise. Yeah. In fact, I wonder if Cruise is like, I could have done that shit. Do you think he watches?

1:47:11Sean Fennessey:I think Cruise was furious when he saw this. This is Interview with the Vampire Year? Yeah, he's furious. But when he sees Keanu back surfing on that little piece of plywood.

1:47:20Bill Simmons:I wonder if this pushed him to make Mission Impossible. I wonder definitely was like I can't believe I didn't get a call he's like I need my diehard yeah I've been messing around with this new category for because we have cruiser hanks but actresses depending on what the movie is 1974 Goldie Hawn 1984 Sharon Stone 1994 Cameron Diaz or Sandra Bullock 2005 Scarlett Johansson and 2021 Sidney Sweeney. Can I get 26 Navaretti for this? Or 26 Navaretti. As Annie? What's the idea? I don't know.

1:48:01Sean Fennessey:What is the category? Who could have beaten Bullock?

1:48:04Bill Simmons:Like, who would be better? You're always asked to a good follow-up. Well, I don't know. I think Bullock wins. I think she beats anyone at any point in history for this role.

1:48:12Sean Fennessey:These are all great actresses, and they're all hot. But what do Goldie Hawn and Sharon Stone have to do with each other?

1:48:17Bill Simmons:I think this would have been a great Goldie Hawn role.

1:48:18Sean Fennessey:I agree with that.

1:48:19Bill Simmons:That mid-70s Goldie Hawn, like, I'm just a fun hang. I'm a little more talented at stuff than you're giving me credit for because you think I'm a ditzy blonde. 74 is like right after Sugar Land Express.

1:48:31Sean Fennessey:Right before Shampoo. Right.

1:48:37Sean Fennessey:I think I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't change anything about Sandra Bullock.

1:48:41Bill Simmons:Me too. The Edie Falco and Copley Award for the character that got three times hotter by smoking. We'll never know, Sierra. she never lit up that dart but she puts it out we never see her take a drive we never have her at the station not realizing the bus took off nobody did this for Flex because it was in the regular categories this time oh did I put it in there? you did what is his name? Cassetti? Rick Cicetti this is your category it's a listener category Rick Cicetti Guard Meat Award for the most memorable death by a security guard or other bystander whom the movie treats as inconsequential but who probably has a spouse and kids who love him at home.

1:49:24It's obviously the elevator security guard in the first scene of the movie. I think there's three people. Who gets fucking ice-picked in the ear. The knife in the ear is insane.

1:49:31Bill Simmons:Poor elevator guy. Hey, do you have a pass? Yeah. Do you have a work order? The bus driver on the first bus. That guy's just going to work. Yeah. And then...

1:49:42Sean Fennessey:Yeah, that guy is the... That same actor is the guy. I think he's the other... the detective from Ace Ventura, the police detective, who's a bus driver. But the winner is the guy

1:49:51Bill Simmons:in the subway train, the subway conductor. Yeah. Hopper shoots him like 13 times

1:49:55Sean Fennessey:in the back and then laughs. This is an unanswerable. What's Hopper doing with that? Like chrome plated AK-47. Those guys, we are still in a full like post commando. Like everybody seems to have an Uzi zone. Yeah.

1:50:09Bill Simmons:Pickin' Nits. Keanu answering the payphone mentioned. Why didn't he shoot the tires before it got to 50. Just shoot the bus tires. Great one. Spin it out. Great.

1:50:19Sean Fennessey:That's the best one.

1:50:21Bill Simmons:Being able to stay over 50 on the highway in Los Angeles for more than 10 seconds. Yep. I defy anyone to try this Monday through Friday. Stay above 50 while doing a hairpin turn. Impossible. No way. College football on before 9 a.m. PT during a work week. Keanu stabbing the gas tank and then has to hold on with a screwdriver as we go 55 miles an hour. Also, stinks of gas for the rest of the movie, not mentioned again. And then the gas tank just leaks out, but lasts 20 minutes. Isn't that thing, that gas tank's done in 90 seconds? Harry gets shot in the leg and has a cane, but then he's fine, he's vaulting windows.

1:51:03Bill Simmons:An L.A. cop in the early 1990s putting his gun and badge down with a suspect who's pointing a gun. that wasn't a great run for the LA cops here from 88 to 93 the explosion of the old lady blows out the front tires of the bus I think and the bus crashes it's an explosion but nothing else happens to the bus just a little walkway if he blows out that thing again can't they now get everyone else off the bus he's already used the bomb in 1994 you could just take a bus go through security in the airport and just drive around the runway? So could other people do this? But furthermore, why wasn't that like the first thing Joe Morton thought of?

1:51:47They're driving around out. Yeah, get to the fucking airport. He's like, the answer is always get to the airport. Yeah, go to the airport. We'll shut down LAX. Just drive around in circles. I think they were very far from the airport at the beginning of the movie. Well, he's in Venice at the beginning of the movie, right?

1:51:59Sean Fennessey:That's where the bus starts? Yeah. That's where Andy gets picked up. It's going from Venice to downtown. Oh, and then back. So I guess they are heading downtown. so they go from Venice to downtown and then back to the airport and then go back downtown no way they'd be able to do that I I feel like the biggest thing in that part when they pull into the airport is the tire blows immediately when she drives into the airport because she's going over the reverse yeah how's the bus not going the bus should just like tip over it's a bus you can't have a blown tire in that situation and it blows later in the movie

1:52:33Bill Simmons:my answer for all these things at all times every time I watch a highway chase on Channel 5, Channel 9, or Channel 11. Let's go to the fucking airport. The copters can't follow you to the airport. And if I'm trying to escape the police, you get to the airport, you get in a parking garage, and then you just take off. And the whole thing... That's what I'm going to do. The choppers, the whole thing is just like freedom of speech stuff. Like, why can't police helicopters be like, ground your helicopter. This is dangerous. We need you out of the air.

1:53:02Sean Fennessey:I don't know the rules there. my biggest one is there's no way somebody as savvy as Harry is like I'm gonna go to a serial bomber's house just waltz in and go right in and not think that it's booby trapped this guy is conducting all of this from Sun Valley is highly unlikely

1:53:17Bill Simmons:how do you feel about remote cameras working on a bus in 1994 I've seen a lot of really nice grief about this online I mean I'm willing to go with it

1:53:26Sean Fennessey:I like the tape loop trick that they play on him though that's a clever part of the movie I mean there's some like broader stuff too. Maybe this is more unanswerable than a nit, but like, shouldn't they have just paid him? It's like, he's asking for$3 million. Were they even planning on paying him? What do they, like, it would be, it's, what Jack pulls off is a 99 out of 100 impossible thing to do. Just, he's asking for$3 million. Just pay the guy. Well,

1:53:51Bill Simmons:it costs$3.7 billion of damage, at least, by the end of it. And then, airport to downtown in less than 30 minutes, middle of the day. No way. The collateral route. I don't care what,

1:54:02Sean Fennessey:year we're in unless it's 1944 i'll be doing it tomorrow at 5 30 a.m it'll take 35 minutes there was also did you guys notice like at the end of the movie on the subway when when howard's holding the bomb trigger and he's like you got to keep your hand on this and then she gives it to annie he's like ah you're too hysterical give it back to me he's holding it but then like 10 minutes later he has two hands on an uzi i totally agree where is it did he turn

1:54:25Bill Simmons:it off no he's i look for this he's holding it the whole time but it's a little unrealistic he's He's fighting Keanu. But he's always holding the trigger. Maybe he can turn the safety on it. Keanu takes it from him. So he's holding it? Right as he's getting beheaded, he grabs it from him.

1:54:41Sean Fennessey:I believe he's two-handing the Uzi into the roof. There's also a lot of like door closed, but then there's an explosion. And when the door is open, there's continuity problems all over. Keanu breaks the door. I mean, the biggest one by far is when he's fighting with Jack on top of the train. He doesn't have any paint on him. He's opened up the bag and he gets the pain all over him and then when he's fighting him and he gets beheaded, he has no pain on him. Him being like, I got this. I'm going to go fist fight a 30-year-old cop with one hand. That's my final play.

1:55:10Bill Simmons:And somehow all of these I'm not bringing the gun. All these nitpicks don't pass the bunch, don't pass the bus jump. That bus making it that far. None of them matter. And guess what? We've seen this movie so many times. The more nitpicks you have, that just means you've seen the movie more.

1:55:24Sean Fennessey:Yeah. Well, also just like the fact that it takes so long for Howard to get the news that the bus is blown up at the airport. Like, the news would have been on that instantaneously. Even if there are no copters there, that would have been reported. There would have been a cop on the phone with the news in a second.

1:55:37Bill Simmons:How many months do you think we would be forwarding tweets and tributes about the late CR to each other that enraged us that people died on that?

1:55:44Sean Fennessey:I have been making a list in my mind of the 20 people who would send disingenuous tweets trying to honor him as if they knew him. Like, there's so many people who would be like, Chris and I once shared a beer in an alleyway. There wasn't a nicer, more genuine guy

1:55:58Bill Simmons:than Chris Ryan. He just did it for the passion. Who would trigger you? Like J.D. Vance?

1:56:08Sean Fennessey:You didn't know him, man! You know? It'd be a lot of stolen valor from me and Bill. Yeah. Me and Bill Stanton. Me, Bill, and Greenwald, we've been on Team CR deeply, more profoundly than anybody, and that's why we have to kill you. We gotta get Andy in on this plot to get you killed.

1:56:27Bill Simmons:Dabundo's our guy. Yeah. He'll never suspect it. Anthony, what are you doing here on this lake? I just want to talk gambling. Sequel, prequel, prestige, TV, all black cast are untouchable. They did make a sequel. And it was bad. And can I just suggest what they could have done? It wouldn't have been as good. For Speed 2? Just for... How about Bomb Squad? Just a spinoff.

1:56:53Sean Fennessey:My idea was Howard Payne prequel, Bomb Squad in Atlanta. Oh. I would just watch a Joe Morton. movie. Like Joe Morton with two new guys who have replaced Harry and Jack. He's like, you got big shoes to fill.

1:57:05Bill Simmons:I have an important question, but I can't ask it to the two of you because your answer would be yes. Okay. Craig? Craig, I think, has a better litmus test, but his answer is probably also going to be yes. When's the next big movie thing where they announce stuff? What do you mean? What would that be like? CinemaCon, you mean? What's the next one where they announce?

1:57:24Sean Fennessey:Probably not until next April. CinemaCon, yeah. We just had ComicCon. isn't there

1:57:28Bill Simmons:isn't there a convention in September there's a New York

1:57:31Sean Fennessey:Comic Con in September what's what's the film festival there's a Disney one there's Telluride there's a D23 or whatever the Disney thing

1:57:39Bill Simmons:is that happening this year in August yeah okay D23 next film festival day announced Speed 3 is happening Keanu and Sandra Bullock have signed up is that immediate ongoing is it like a Heat 2 situation or do you have fear are they bus passengers like what are we That's all we know is Speed 3. I'll go see it. Is JDB involved?

1:58:02Sean Fennessey:We don't know anything other than Speed 3. Yann DeBond is still alive, but he is 83 years old. And he hasn't made a film in over 20 years. It's Yann Jr. I'm trying to think of who would I actually be fired up. Like if it was Chris McQuarrie? Yeah, I would be down.

1:58:18Bill Simmons:What if Speed 3 was they actually end up with each other and they're married? It's a domestic drama about their family? It's a little like the lake house. but something happens and now they're in peril again. You know what? It's like Howard Payne's son. Work with me here. They're married. They've gotten back together after Speed 2. Now they're in their dotage. They're on a road trip because the marriage is on the rocks. So they go on a road trip to try and save things. He gets on the highway, goes above 50, a little light goes on and then he gets a phone call. It's Howard Payne's son. It's Howard Payne Jr.

1:58:51He's like, you killed my dad. Now it's time for you. Now you and your wife can't slow your Tesla down to below 50. If the battery goes below 60%. Yeah.

1:59:02Bill Simmons:They're driving to go to their daughter's wedding. Yeah. It's about an EV. What if it's like Father of the Bride crossed with speed? Yeah. EV-I-L. Yeah. They're throwing a wedding for their daughter at a location. Indiana Reddy. Oh, come on. Why are we wasting our lives doing podcasts? We honestly look like Sandy and Keanu's daughter. It's on a ferry going from Boston to Martha's Vineyard. So we have another crack at speed, too, because it should have worked.

1:59:35Sean Fennessey:While we're talking about this, though, I was thinking about how the best person to kill CR would be Juliette Littman. That he would never fucking see that coming. You're thinking about this now too much. He would be so excited to see Juliette.

1:59:46Bill Simmons:Wesley is the best person. You'd never suspect Wesley. I mean, I would never suspect you. You would, though. You would. It would make sense as you were dying. You know the look Jeff Daniels had when the bomb went off? It was always ECR.

2:00:03Bill Simmons:Is this movie better with Wayne Jenkins, Fergie the Flores, Zane Lowe, Robert Evans, Dr. Charles Nichols, Ted Levine, or someone else? You missed CR debut John Bernthal from The Odyssey in this category. Manolayas, yeah, for Obsession. Would you run it back for me? Did I do it for Obsession? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, no. You told the Let me tell you a story about a man. About Freaky Nicky. I was gonna tell you in honor of Hopper how about if Frank from Blue Velvet was in this movie but just if he was bartending when the bomb squad is having celebration drinks and he's like Heineken fuck that Pabst Blue Ribbon

2:00:46Sean Fennessey:Frank Booth is good

2:00:47Bill Simmons:Frank Booth could go on the list Do you wanna throw some Barney in here? So what part is Barney is Barney on the bus? What if Barney was Jack? It sounds like Barney's just one of the passengers. He's like, I need everybody to go to the right side of the bus. And Barney's like, hello, Jack. We should do a movie character draft of people you'd want on the speed bus. Oh my God. Barney. Just one Oscar who gets it. Obviously sound.

2:01:16Sean Fennessey:What about Yon DeBond? Come on. Best direction. Show some love. Giving it to him over Tarantino. Hopper never won a competitive Oscar. Only nominated once. Who won Best Supporting Actor this year? This was 94. Yeah. Oh, it's a travesty, right? It's supposed to be Sam Jackson.

2:01:34Bill Simmons:Yeah, it should have been Sam Jackson's Oscar. Terrible. It was Julius. Probably unanswerable questions. You mentioned earlier in the original script Harry was the bad guy. Is this a better movie if Harry's the bad guy?

2:01:45Sean Fennessey:I don't think so. I like what they did.

2:01:47Bill Simmons:I think it winds up being great the way it is. I agree. You agree with that? best Jan ever Jan de Bon or Jan Hammer who's your favorite Jan if you could if you could only how do you feel about including good son dropping one Jan what about getting a Jan

2:02:02Sean Fennessey:in there too because you got Jan Michael Vinson

2:02:04Bill Simmons:yeah I think it's a Jan I'm trying to think of who the best who was the more important Jan for you CR mine is Jan Hammer what about Jan Vesely I gotta say I think Jan de Bon is a little bit bigger for me than Hammer Hammer great contributions but Jan de Bon directed speed and twisters. It is true. Shot Die Hard and Basic Instinct and Flatliners. Yeah, he's probably more important. Kind of shaped my 90s. All those are German possibly unanswerable questions. What's the hierarchy of the bomb squad? It's a lot of like calling audibles. A lot of guys just kind of doing their own offensive coordinators.

2:02:40A lot of offensive coordinators. You're the top. Yeah, but you know what I mean where it's just like I know. No selling. Very sad. I'm sorry. It took me a second. But like Max in charge but like Harry and Jack are like we're just going to do this. We're going to tie a crane to the elevator.

2:02:54Sean Fennessey:Sometimes you got to improvise. Just make choices.

2:03:00Bill Simmons:What? CR wasn't just a great writer and a great podcaster. He was an even better person. Who the fuck is this guy? CR didn't know him. I learned so much from CR.

2:03:11Sean Fennessey:I loved when they just let him cook. I hope every month is CR Month. Everyone knows that the really great CRs on music exist, but most people haven't heard it. But I heard it when it came out. I subscribed to the Rewatchables 1999 just to hear CR's thoughts

2:03:30Bill Simmons:I got a luminary sub a week a week and a half later awful announcing runs a hit piece yeah Bill Simmons never did Hunt for Red October does he regret it now CR died in vain he never got to do Aliens yeah

2:03:46Sean Fennessey:I had one more so he's like why did CR keep liking these Sophie Cunningham tweets I want the forensic analysis after your death of your socials. Yeah, we're definitely hacking his passwords.

2:04:01Bill Simmons:My only other answer was how far in the movie are we in before Jack realizes he needs to get off the bus not to save the pastors but because of how he might have sex with Annie that night. I think we're like 40 minutes in. I think it's like you can tell when he moves past Harry so quickly because he's just like the thing is I'm getting late tonight. Yeah. except Matt Annie memorabilia you'd most want from the movie the bomb trigger stick gold watch gold watch

2:04:28Sean Fennessey:I was thinking about how every time I did Matt's Corner on Zach's show I would want to wear Jack's earpiece from the opening sequence you see the earpieces that they're wearing in the bomb squad those are awesome

2:04:37Bill Simmons:one of the buses from the film auctioned off in 2018 for$102 ,000 whoa wow where do you put that thing in a museum or like in a like on a studio lot tour Just outside your house? It's a weird thing to own. It's like I saw this thing online about Jerry Seinfeld has the world's best Porsche collection. He's got like 70 vintage Porsches and they're on this giant glass warehouse. That's cool. Yeah, for what? One seems fine. So he just takes a ride over to the warehouse and is like, I'm going to drive the 63 today. It's weird. I never understood that level of collection.

2:05:18Sean Fennessey:You're surrounded by thousands of movie posters. Yeah, but he gets enjoyment from these. He gets to look at them every day. Jerry Seinfeld can't.

2:05:23Bill Simmons:John Belushi right there. That's him. Can't drive John Belushi around. Coach Finstock, Mr. Miyagi Award, best, worst, life lesson. Luck runs out sooner or later. Guts only get you so far. Little cousin of Miami Vice. Yeah, those are good. Time is luck. 20th and. I thought maybe I'd get a call this week. About a revise. Like a surprise revise. I put the three and a half minute scene of them on the boat. going to Cuba. Yeah. He goes and straps the seatbelt on her and she's kind of like... It's like a very sexual seatbelt scene. Maybe the number one sexual seatbelt scene. Gong Li? Gong Li. It's just...

2:06:07Bill Simmons:Sexual seatbelt power rankings. Good title for a movie. Best double feature choice, CR? I'm going to go Die Hard, which is pretty... I had Die Hard as well. I had Die Hard as well. What do you have? Transformers.

2:06:25Bill Simmons:Who won the movie?

2:06:28Sean Fennessey:This is a really tough one. I think it's Keanu.

2:06:31Bill Simmons:I think it's Keanu as well. There's a case for Bullock. You're going Bullock? I had Bullock. Because I think Keanu was already a star. And I think Bullock had had some bites at the apple. I just love how they never have to shoot around him. And it's just like his running is good. like his all his action shit is so believable and cool and you never have to like cut around like oh but he's not gonna run across the street into a plane do you think is he your number one draft pick for just a cop in a movie like this I think he actually he might be my favorite action star ever he's on the short list who's who's he going against Arnold

2:07:12Sean Fennessey:Sly they're so different the styles are so different you know like I really love Cruz. Anytime Cruz has to go running somewhere, I'm interested. I want to know what's happening.

2:07:24Bill Simmons:How tall is Keanu Reeves? He's tall. I think he's like 5 '10". 5 '11", 6 feet. What's he listed at? 6 '1". See, I think the thing with Keanu is… I think that's big. You can feel his athleticism and his physicality. The only thing limiting Cruz is you can feel he's a little short. You can just feel that when you watch him. So what quarterback is Keanu? Like Baker. Herbert. No, Herbert's huge.

2:07:47Sean Fennessey:But relative to action stars. It's all about relative to action stars. Oh, sure. Like a 6 '1 movie star is like a 6 '1 quarterback.

2:07:54Bill Simmons:I think he's like Mahomes-y where he can do different things depending on what the situation is. Keanu? Yeah. Like Mahomes can have those playoff games when he just rushes 14 times. But it's weird because if you put Keanu in the wrong movie or the wrong part, like he can't really do anything with it. Whereas like Mahomes, I feel like you could put Mahomes on the Panthers tomorrow and it would be incredible. You couldn't put him on the 25 Chiefs, I'll tell you that much. There you go. 6-11. Hey. Have some. Tom Brady never went 6-11. Are you okay?

2:08:22Sean Fennessey:I feel like... Just saying. It's been really interesting watching the Celtics humiliation ritual with you. You've been going in a lot of directions. I feel like you're testing the boundaries. You've been a little spiteful.

2:08:33Bill Simmons:We're fine. Still waiting for the Paul George press conference. Is that coming? The welcome to Boston Paul George. Right. Is that happening? Week three? Week four? Can I ask you a question? Yeah.

2:08:44Sean Fennessey:Because I'm not going to see you for a while. I'm going on vacation. I was listening to you and your dad. You guys were like circling back to the regular season. You were talking about 156 games. Is there any part of you that thinks that maybe like the regular season doesn't matter at all now in the NBA?

2:08:58Bill Simmons:I mean, that was a constant podcast subject the last couple years. But so why— It's almost like two different universes.

2:09:04Sean Fennessey:But you were hanging your hat on how much you valued Jalen because of how well he did in the regular season. I just like when guys show up for work, like CR. That's right. Until you kill him. Until CR. to Bunda, Lake Tahoe. Yeah, okay. I was just curious. I was listening and I was like, I watched the Knicks. They were kind of uninspiring

2:09:25Bill Simmons:during the regular season and then they won. It's the conundrum of the NBA now is you build one team for the regular season and then another team for the 10 weeks. Which is going to be the issue with Philly, with LeBron and Embiid having to play. Yeah, I'm just asking if we can see it a little bit first. before we start trading people, hypothetically, to other teams. Okay. Yeah.

2:09:49Sean Fennessey:If Joel Embiid wins a title as a sixer, is that significantly more meaningful than if he's traded for Anthony Davis or something like that? Yeah. Yeah.

2:10:02Bill Simmons:What were your speed takes that you didn't say yet? Just like the platonic ideal of a movie. Like, this is just all you want in a movie. I would pick Sandra as the winner. She's probably my number one draft pick, 90s actresses. Number one. I was kind of in love with Sandra Bullock. I think I'm in there too. Like Julie Roberts, like higher ceiling, but a little more Embiid-ish actually. She plays a normal person really well. Julie Roberts is like an alien. Sandra Bullock plays a normal person really well. And I do feel like this movie hinges on her ability to convey emotion well. Like you feel the stress of the situation through her.

2:10:36Yeah. Because Keanu's calm. Everybody else is kind of in the background. And she is so good at like when she sheds the tear and like when she freaks out when the woman falls out of the bus. I don't even know if we really did the can scene but she's so good when she thinks she's hit a baby carriage or like Clearly just a kind person. Yeah, like if you gave her a nomination for this movie I wouldn't blink at it. I think she is so good. Like just her face feeling emotions in it is amazing.

2:11:00Bill Simmons:I think it's a harder part because it could also just be a nothing part or just like a hot girl part but she actually brings more to the table. Also just like other great L.A.s like ending at the Chinese theater you see the CVS ballerina clown in Venice at the beginning of the movie. Yeah. There's just great stuff like that. It's awesome. It really does use everything but the beach. The beach is the only thing we don't see from LA. It's too bad that they did end the two of them sitting on the Venice boardwalk being like, wow, crazy day. And then she fucking lights up. The other redundant move is at the very end when they're in the subway and they're like, the track isn't finished.

2:11:34And you're like, we just did that. Yeah. It does set the record for the track's not finished.

2:11:40Bill Simmons:I don't love that either. But it's great. to your point about the practical effects stuff. I feel like Nolan now, because of the Odyssey, everyone's talking about that stuff again, rightfully so. But it's so good that you can't have CGI in this movie because they would have been like, awesome, we can make it even bigger. And the fact that... Yeah, there's cars flying up in the air and stuff. Keanu would probably be like 50 feet in the air flying in something if you had CGI. The fact that it has to stay as grounded as it is because of the limitations of what you can physically film. The only thing we forgot to mention was the bomb on the bus paper.

2:12:14Bill Simmons:flying off and then landing on the windshield. Another great gimmick. This movie just had great ideas. Great ideas always win, Sean.

2:12:23Sean Fennessey:You know, you reminded me of one other take that I had that I'm going to share with you as soon as I pull it up that was related to this and it was in a different category.

2:12:30Bill Simmons:It's not about CR's death?

2:12:31Sean Fennessey:No. I'm happy to keep going on that, though. I really enjoy that, Jag.

2:12:37Bill Simmons:Okay, hold on. I was a struggling writer in 2012. and I sent Grantland an application and CR sent me a really nice note saying keep it up man. He'll be missed.

2:12:54Sean Fennessey:We fucking love it when an original genre movie comes out of nowhere. This is one thing I wanted to say. So what happened this year with Obsession is also what happened with Speed which is just like what the hell is this? Who is Sandra Bullock? This happened with The Sixth Sense it happened with Alien it happened with Get Out it happened with The Terminator Inception Pulp Fiction when an original movie Weapons was an example of this you're like I've never seen this before usually there's one or two people you've never seen before in the movie and you're like god damn we can still do new things that's the best thing at the movies in my opinion Get Out was a good example

2:13:37Bill Simmons:of that too what is this? what's happening? this movie also makes me think about i think that there's a the current space for action movies is kind of weird right now because the superhero stuff took over all that and now that's kind of slowing down wick and born and mission are all kind of slowing down yeah and it's like there's no real big action movies that are also like they've gotten so over leveraged on like the cgi stuff yes like uh like there's never any real feeling of stakes in these things anymore there's no like action stars being minted there's no new diehards no new speeds like there's no big original action movies anymore i I thought the streaming movie star thing was really interesting that you did with Amanda where you were talking about Alan Richson.

2:14:18Sean Fennessey:Alan Richson in 1997 would have been an insanely big star. And he actually is a really big star, but only in one way. Yeah. Like only on Reacher or in the Netflix movie War Machine.

2:14:28Bill Simmons:The other thing we didn't mention, well, two things about the movie Big Picture and then we'll wrap up. But one was moving it up to June then basically shifted the whole summer movie schedule, which we've talked about before. because these were supposed to come out in July and August. And then all of a sudden now they're coming out in May and they're trying to get the first jump and stuff like that. The other thing is like the Netflix and Amazon, all these people making versions of Speed, but for a streaming movie. Like what was that Jason Bateman airplane movie? With Taron Egerton. Yeah. Yeah.

2:15:00Bill Simmons:He's the carry on. Air traffic or security guy. So these were getting ripped off for, I don't know, 10, 12 years with like phone booths and the cell. Not the cell. What was the phone call movie with Halle Berry? There was a movie. She was like working the… When a stranger calls? No. Is it One Missed Call? I think it's The Call. The Call. The Call. Movies like that where it's like just this premise and we go. And it feels like they've moved to streaming. Yeah. And they're just… It's always like the DNA of this movie. I also think this is like a big… Cell phones, smartphones kind of killed a lot of attention in these.

2:15:36It's like really hard to be like… so you like I could just Google who you are while this is happening you know what I mean like you would just be like Howard Payne is this oh shit you know we got him

2:15:49Bill Simmons:CR pleasure as always I hope you keep kicking it for another 50 years yeah I hope I make it through this lake now

2:15:55Sean Fennessey:wait isn't the line reading that's our scumbag that's what we're gonna say when CR goes down

2:16:03Bill Simmons:Sean have fun on vacation thank you I look forward to being on the flop draft Yeah. Let's get you in there. That I've invited myself to. Craig, fantasy football show. We're heating up. Drafts coming. Drafts are coming. A lot of drafts at the end of August. I know. Yeah. Things are happening.

2:16:18Sean Fennessey:Yeah. Am I doing it? It's up to you. You're doing it. You're fucking, you're going to be there. I think I responded maybe to the invite. You did. You actually responded yes and then switched it to maybe? Wait, because you're thinking about how you were treated last year? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, which was unfairly and rudely. But you know what? Didn't finish in last. I finished in last. how sweet would it be if you came back and won? Am I allowed to have to draft for me again? Yeah. His own team. You're your own team. That's right.

2:16:44Bill Simmons:All right. Thanks, guys. Thanks, Bill.

2:16:57Bill Simmons:This episode is brought to you by Whole Foods, who has your back-to-school eats sorted. Wow, we're going back to school already. They've got your fast and easy breakfast covered with frozen waffles and pancakes. Lunchboxes are looking tasty with organic seedless grapes and baby carrots and essentials like cheese sticks. Then for dinner, you can build your own meal. Choose from a variety of entrees like chicken scalopini in two sides and it's all good too. Whole Foods has banned more than 300 food ingredients store wide. Shop back to school must-haves at Whole Foods Market in-store or online.