There's precious few action blockbusters left in this world that are as endlessly quotable as Speed.
All you need to do is say, "Pop quiz, hotshot!" and people instantly think of Dennis Hopper holding a brick-like mobile phone with his fucked-up thumb. It doesn't even end there, either. Pretty much all of Dennis Hopper's lines in the film are classics - "We've got all the balls in the world right here, man!", "Poor people are crazy, Jack. I'm eccentric!" - and all of them are thanks largely to none other than Joss Whedon.
Yes, that same Joss Whedon who created Buffy The Vampire Slayer, directed two Avengers movies and pretty much took over Justice League from Zack Snyder. In an interview with HollyRebot.com, Whedon explained that the uncredited rewrite he did for Speed was pretty extensive. In fact, Whedon pretty much wrote all of the dialogue for the film.
"In my whole career, I’ve never had to talk about it," said Whedon. "I’ve never signed a copy of it, I’ve never sort of been a part of it. And I was proud of it, I worked hard on it, I had a really great time and I worked with really cool people. I thought it was good stuff. Graham has been very generous, but I did not get a credit on it. The studio gave me one, but then the Writers Guild of America took it away, and I was pretty devastated. I have the only poster with my credit on it."
Surprisingly, however, Whedon refuses to take credit for the most famous line in the movie - and, what's more, he's not a fan of it either. "It became a catchphrase, and everybody was led to it, and I get why, but in mind he (Keanu Reeves' character) was a lateral thinker. He would see things, and be calm about it. He would see things — this came after we sat down and redefined this character — not as a maverick, but someone whose whole goal is diffusing the situation. These people on the bomb squad are unfailingly polite, and they always say “sir or ma’am, you know? They’re bureaucratic."
You can read the full interview here.
Via HollyRebot.com
