10 Shocking Movie Twists That Nearly Happened

We all know the story: A plot device spins out of control and the hero has X amount of minutes to fix it, or a bomb will go off somewhere, killing untold hordes of neighbourhood saints, kindly pensioners and little, tiny babies. In Speed, Officer Jack Traven (Keanu Reeves) is the hero, a speeding bus is the plot device, and the untold hordes of innocents are the passengers - good, hardworking, salt-of-the-earth folks who want nothing more than to get home to their little, tiny babies.

While Speed may not have invented the formula, it is nonetheless widely regarded as the film that popularised it for modern audiences. And it wouldn't be half of what it is without either the "guy in the chair", Detective Harry Temple (Jeff Daniels), or scenery-chewing villain Howard Payne (Dennis Hopper), who loves nothing more than extortion and murder. It's a classic case of good vs evil, where the sides are drawn early and the audience know exactly who to root for.

However. Before Hopper stepped into the breach, Jack Traven's in-film partner Harry was set to be the secret baddie, turning Traven's world on its head. Screenwriter Graham Yost (who revealed this tidbit to the Script Apart podcast (via CheatSheet) ultimately nixed this idea during production, rewriting Harry's parts and leaving it to script doctor Joss Whedon to kill him in the second act.