Keanu & Sandra: Inside Their 30-Year Friendship

Since getting cast in 1994's Speed, Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock have formed atruly unbreakable bond

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Sandra Bullock recalls the first time she met Keanu Reeves during her audition for Speed.

"There was a paper plate," the actress shared on Oct. 8 in LA at a 30th-anniversary screening of the blockbuster-in which she plays a city bus passenger who is forced to take over driving as Keanu's cop character attempts to disarm a bomb that had been planted onboard. "That was the steering wheel."

During the same event, Sandra went on to remind Keanu that there were three actresses he encountered first-who all passed on the role before she even auditioned. "I don't remember that," he said dismissively, eliciting a big grin from Sandra. "That," she gleefully told the audience, "is why I love him." It marked a rare and joyful night out for Sandra, who's kept a low profile in recent years. In 2022, she announced she was taking a break from Hollywood to focus more on her children, Louis, 15, and Laila, 11. In 2023, she mourned her partner of eight years, photographer Bryan Randall, who died at 57 following a secret three-year battle with the progressive neurodegenerative disease ALS. "Sandra and Keanu got even closer after Bryan's passing. They stayed in touch while he was alive, but now they talk more often," says a source. Indeed, more than three decades after they first connected, their beautiful friendship endures. "They've always had a special bond," confirms the source, "and it's even stronger now."

WHEN SPARKS FLY