In a 2000 interview, Sandra Bullock jokingly referred to this movie as "the biggest piece of crap ever made" and admitted that she only did the film for the money.
Keanu Reeves passed on the role to star in the drama The Devil's Advocate (1997) which was filmed at the same time as Speed 2, and subsequently toured with his band, Dogstar. Reeves said that Fox was "furious" with his decision and released "propaganda" against him, falsely claiming that he turned down the role to tour with his band.
Sandra Bullock agreed to star in this film in order to get financing for her pet project Hope Floats (1998).
Although the movie was close to being universally derided by film critics, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel were among the very few critics to give the movie a positive review. Before his death, Ebert stated that this was the review he had to defend more than any other he had written, and that it was the one most often cited as an example of him being a hack film critic.