Different director
Considering the movie is often referred to as "'Die Hard' on a bus", it won't come as a surprise to hear that the director of the ionic action flick – John McTiernan - was on the shortlist to helm the 1994 picture.
However, when filmmaker was approached by 20th Century Studios to helm the project, the declined, citing it was too similar to his previous work.
Even so, John was happy to help out, and suggested Jan de Bont – his 'Die Hard' director of photography – should oversee the picture, and sure enough, Jan signed on to 'Speed' soon after.