Keanu wanted to see what it like to really drive a dragster. He actually ran a high 8 second pass at 150mph a couple weeks after filming the dragstrip scenes. The studio found out and was thoroughly upset because they weren't finished filming other scenes.
share I don't understand why they would be upset. I would get it if he crashed and injured himself, making it impossible to film the rest of his scenes.
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Because he did something risky and could have jeopardized any further filming of scenes he was to be in or delayed or possibly changed the script eliminating his character. With the cast of the movie being full of stars and the payroll, filming cost it would have been well over a million dollars for a change that late in the game, it could have killed the entire movie.
shareWhat's awesome to me is that Keanu actually seemed like a (less exaggerated version of) Ted from Bill & Ted in real life back then if you see old interviews and stuff. :) All his roles in the late 80s and early to mid 90s where he was playing a surfer/rocker kinda guy probably wasn't much of a stretch for him.
He probably thought "Whooa dude!" and wanted to drive a legit one.
It was a act, he was down to earth and a nice kid (at that time). He was curious as to how a driver would act in the car. The film crew had no idea of how things really happen at a dragstrip other than what they had seen in other movies. Look at the fire suite they had him in. That type of suite hasn't been used since the early 60's. He had a smile you couldn't have wiped off his face after we got him out of the real race car.
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