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Keanu Reeves on Why He Turned Down Speed 2: Cruise Control : 'I Loved Speed , But an Ocean Liner?'

Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in Speed
Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in Speed

Richard Foreman/20th Century Fox/Kobal/Shutterstock

Keanu Reeves wasn't feeling Speed 2.

During a recent appearance on the U.K. talk show The Graham Norton Show, 57-year-old Reeves explained why after starring in 1994's Speed he didn't sign on for its 1997 sequel Speed 2: Cruise Control, for which costar Sandra Bullock did return.

"At the time I didn't respond to the script. I really wanted to work with Sandra Bullock, I loved playing Jack Traven, and I loved Speed, but an ocean liner? I had nothing against the artists involved, but at that time I had the feeling it just wasn't right," he said, per CNN.

Both Speed movies were directed by Jan de Bont. The second film also starred Jason Patric, Willem Dafoe and Temuera Morrison.

The original follows Reeves as a police officer trying to avoid a bomb going off by keeping a bus driving at a speed above 50 miles per hour. In the sequel, it was a cruise liner that was targeted by a hacker, charting a collision between it and an oil tanker.

RELATED: Keanu Reeves and Carrie-Anne Moss Describe Their Matrix Bond: 'It Is Like a Soul Friendship'

Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves

Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic Keanu Reeves

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Back in 2019, Reeves told GQ that his decision not to do the action film's sequel prompted the movie's studio, Fox, to place him in "movie jail" for 10 years. "I didn't work with [Fox] again until [2008's] The Day the Earth Stood Still," Reeves said at the time.

Reeves also told Jimmy Kimmel in 2015 that he chose not to participate because he didn't like the script.

"I didn't get to be in that. Well, I decided not to be in that," he said at the time. "I loved working with [director] Jan de Bont and Sandra, of course. It was just a situation in life where I got the script and I read the script and I was like, 'Ugh.' It was about a cruise ship and I was thinking, 'A bus, a cruise ship… Speed, bus, but then a cruise ship is even slower than a bus and I was like, 'I love you guys, but I just can't do it.' "

Reeves' latest film The Matrix Resurrections is in theaters and on HBO Max starting Dec. 22.