Office Ladies - An Interview with Beth Grant on “Speed”

Episode Date: May 5, 2023

Happy Bonus Episode Friday! We continue our movie breakdown of “Speed” with an interview with actress Beth Grant! Beth played Helen in “Speed” and shares what it was like to act alongside Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in a runaway bus on the 105 freeway. Beth shares how much the script changed since her audition and how making a mistake during a take was a huge ordeal, like 300 cars having to all turn around ordeal. We learn firsthand what it was like to work on “Speed” and of course, the ladies and Beth reminisce on Beth playing Dwight’s babysitter in “Dinner Party”. This is a fun Friday treat so don’t get off this “Office Ladies” bus and enjoy!  Office Ladies Website - Submit a fan question: https://officeladies.com/submitaquestionFollow Us on Instagram: OfficeLadiesPodCheck out Office Ladies Merch at Podswag: https://www.podswag.com/collections/office-ladies

I'm Jenna Fisher. And I'm Angela Kinsey. We were on The Office together. And we're best friends. And now we're doing the Ultimate Office rewatch podcast just for you. Each week we will break down an episode of The Office and give exclusive behind-the-scenes stories that only two people who were there can tell you. We're The Office, ladies. Hello. Hey there. Welcome, everyone, to this little bonus episode. Just throwing a little episode out there on a Friday for you. Yeah. Happy bonus Friday. So, you know, earlier this week we broke down the movie Speed. And we mentioned how very excited we were to get to talk to someone who was in the movie, who was on

the bus. You know her as Dwight's babysitter from the dinner party. We know her as Beth Grant. And we got to talk to her about her time on that bus. That's right. Beth Grant is here. Speed fans will remember her as Helen, the nervous passenger who tries, you know, to get off the bus too early and does not go so well. No, she gets blown up. I know. Well, we were super curious what life was like on that bus with Keanu and Sandra and the rest of the cast. And you guys, Beth does not disappoint. She has great stories about her time on Speed. Yes. And you know, we thought about putting her interview in our Speed Breakdown, but

frankly, it stands alone. Yeah. It is its own thing. We hope you enjoy it. So, here it is, our conversation with Beth Grant. Beth Grant, here you are on Office, ladies. Oh, there you are. I can see you. We are so excited to have you here. We're such big fans of yours. I mean, everyone that watches the office knows you from dinner party. You are Dwight's babysitter and his date to the dinner. Oh, my God. How much fun did we have doing that episode? I mean, so much fun. It was so hard. Well, for me, I really thought I was going to lose it a couple of times. I mean, big time.

When I was at the door carrying the cooler, I had just worked with Steve in Little Miss Sunshine. And so, you know, we knew each other a little bit. And I don't know, I felt like he was really trying to get me because the things he was improvising at the door, I, and I was so nervous because, you know, guest stars, you've guest stars. I mean, you don't know, you're, it's not your team, you know, and you don't know, you don't want to be bad. And I was holding and he kept saying these things. And I finally just went way down like this. And he said, Oh, great. Now she's crying. Anyway, we were off to a good start. And it was just the most fun. I

love you guys so much. It was a very, very, very special memory. It is. I mean, you have to look at it from our point of view, too, which is that we're on the other side of the door and the door would start closed and it would just open on you holding a cooler, bringing a cooler to a dinner party. It was so hard not to laugh. Giant glasses. Yes. Every time you nod on that, you had a beat. I was sucking on a beat. But you know, rain cracked me up. And he kept grunting while he was eating his beats. Yeah. Most of us just love those beats. He's going mm, mm, mm. Like it's the best thing he's ever tasted. So funny. But all of you

guys were so funny. It was just the most bizarre, demented episode, really. Steve's sleeping on the little thing at the foot of the bed or having what she had three bedrooms to herself. Yeah. Exactly. Well, we are so thrilled to have you here today, and we are going to talk with you about your time on the movie speed. Yeah. We are super fans of speed. Can you believe that we're coming up on the 30th anniversary? I can't. 30 years ago, you were on that bus. Isn't that crazy? It's really nuts that time goes by so quickly. My daughter was not yet one year old. It was the first job that I had. I was on a series when she

was born, but it's very different to do a sitcom and to do a feature. Mm hmm. You know, and I thought that all of the bus stuff would be CGI. I didn't know we're going to be on live freeway and that my trailer was going to be, you know, a mile and a half, two miles, and I wouldn't be able to see my daughter. And I didn't want her stuck under a freeway, stuck in a, you know, so it was a painful experience in that way, being away from her. And, you know, I was still breastfeeding. Too much information, I know, but I would leave the house at 5 30 and drive crying all the way, you know, leaving my baby asleep. And then I wouldn't get home until 7 30 because

we had, you know, 12 hour days. And where did you pump in my little trailer? I mean, I would say it wasn't painful. I could wait for those breaks when we got to go back. But for a lot of the time, we couldn't even go back to our trailers. We were on the freeway with an umbrella that was kind of it. This was one of my big questions because like, how did bathroom breaks work? We use porta potties. Oh, they would have like stopping points, but they weren't those fancy little porta potties. There were construction workers literally on the 105. It hadn't quite opened. It was live. There were there were, you know, construction workers, cars

going by and so on. And there were real construction workers. And so they had to have porta potties. So I think our porta potties, they probably just incorporated them. Okay. So other than porta potties, there was really nothing there. Everything we see the film crew added, right? We had 300 cars that were extras cars, which let me tell you something. You don't want to miss a line when they have to turn around 300 cars. But it was just one of those things, knowing that there are helicopters going around and 300 cars and yonder bot, you know, love him maniac. He's got all this stuff going on. I mean,

we were shooting with 11 cameras. We had cameras on the wheels, you know, cameras all over the bus. We had cameras. I mean, crazy. But one time to my mortification, I have, you know, quite an angular face. And it was Sandy's closeup. And my nose apparently kept popping in and out. And my nose in my chin. And finally they had to stop 300 cars, turn around hell. I mean, it's like it wasn't subtle when you messed up. It was not. Everybody knew. And you could hear the going again, going again, turn around. It was horrible. But we made it. And we didn't mess up too much, you know. Well, I have a question for you, Beth.

What was the audition process like? Like, what was the scene you auditioned with? And it seems like you didn't know you were going to be on an actual bus. I didn't. Well, it was John DeBond. And I had worked with him before on Flatliners that Joel Schumacher directed. And so I knew he was really a great DP. You know, of course, he had done Die Hard, big, big movies. But I liked him, you know, he's crazy. I mean, he's like me. He's like, in fact, Sandy, he and Sandy and I really had fun. I think we probably drove people crazy because we cracked a lot of jokes and we were naughty Sandy and I quite often.

And so the three of us got along really great. And but anyway, so the audition process. And it was John and I read the script and I thought a bus, you know, going 50, 50 miles an hour. If it got, you know, it just seemed preposterous to me. And I called my friend Don Mancini, who wrote the child's play movies. And Don, we were very close at that time. And he really knew Hollywood. I mean, he knew what movies were happening. He read all the scripts. He had a real good sense of what was going to happen, what wasn't going to happen. So I called him, I said, yeah, I've got this audition. What do you think? He's, oh, do it, do it. It's a huge movie. This is going to be huge. I said, really? People want to watch a

runaway bus? Absolutely. Do it, do it. So I read the script, which was not the script you saw, by the way, different script. Graham Yo's script was very different after Joss Whedon did the rewrite. Yeah, that's what we're learning. And it's a lot of fun stuff that changed, you know, but it was a really nice role at that time. It wasn't what ended up being in the script, but it was sort of like the Poseidon adventure or Towering Inferno. We all had these backstories and history. And I liked my character. She had just gotten engaged. She had a little dog. She had, she and Sandy's character were friends. I had been to see her do stand up the night before. So it was all, you know, chatty. And then they would, every bus stop, they would stop and the

people would come on and you would kind of find out more about them, you know. And so that was the script that I read. And so anyway, I just cut loose and had fun. And in the script, I was the hero. The bus driver actually had a heart attack in that script. And I was the one that came forward and did CPR and saved his life. And then I was the one who volunteered to get off the bus first to sort of test the waters. And we did all that. And I got on my knees in the audition and I was doing CPR. I mean, I just went for it. So it was really fun. I really loved it. And I really, you know, hoped I would get it by the time I left. And, but then as it happens in Hollywood, we were shooting like the day after Labor Day. And we went to, we had a reading,

a table read, and we had a costume parade. And so first I get there and your boyfriend, Keanu, sitting there all pumped up, baby. I mean, he looked good. And I was already a fan of his. I'd always thought, to me, he's underrated, underestimated. I just think he's a genius. He's so authentic and real and loving. And it always comes across. Anyway, he's sitting there, all pumped up, which I had never seen him like that. And I said, Oh, wow, you look great. This is really exciting. This is really good for you, huh? And he said, I hope so. He's just so real. So anyway, then we go in. So we get these new scripts. So I start going through the script and I said, huh. At the table read. It's the first time you've seen it. First time I've seen the

rewrites. I think they were hot off the press. And I think, Oh my God, it's all her characters gone. There's no dog. I'm not engaged. I'm not friends with. I thought there's nothing here to do. I don't know what am I going to do? And so Sandy and I went to the same college. And she obviously younger than me. And when we had, they put out this directory of all the famous alumni, you know. And so I had a very nice little picture and a little nice bio. And then Sandy had this huge spread in the middle because she had done working girl, the series. And I thought, who the hell is that? You know, and this, this guy that wrote for the Raleigh Newsom Observer said, Oh, you need to meet her. You're going to love her. She's great. And gave me her phone number and said,

call her up. Y'all will get along great. And I'm saying, I'm going to call her. I was jealous. But anyway, so we're sitting there. I just read this script and in walks Sandra Bullock, the girl from my college. And I was like, and then she turned. And this really happens. She, it makes me cry. She turned and she looked at me and her eyes lit up her face lit up and I fell in love. So Sandy comes over and she, you know, she's East Carolina, East Carolina, you know, Southern girls. So, you know, we were best friends for the whole shoot. And she saved my life because I had just read this script where my part was kind of gone. And then when we got on this set, when we went to rehearse first, then we read the script, she was fabulous. It was fabulous.

It was different. It wasn't what I wanted to do, but it was great. We had the reading, then we went for our costume parade. And we did that. And then we got on the set. We put, they put us on a bus and we went to the 105 freeway for the rehearsal. And I'm looking. Wait, the rehearsal was on a moving bus as well? Yeah. I mean, you were first on a moving bus. Yes. But we didn't go 50. You know what I mean? Maybe we did for a minute. They were testing that. But mostly, yeah, we did. No. Yeah. And then we would all get out. Did anyone get car sick? Oh, what a funny question. Nothing I know of. Not that I know of. We did not. Maybe it's different on a bus than in a car.

Maybe we just scared. That's lucky though. That's lucky. Would you guys actually be in the bus when the bus was hitting things? I mean, we would crash into cars while you were in the bus. We did. I mean, sometimes just sometimes though, and I can't do which ones, but we were in it for a lot of it, you know, like that one where we hit all the water things, you know, we were in the bus for that. That was shot in Long Beach on an entrance and boom, boom, boom. And a lot of it was very real on the street, you know, with the baby carriage going. That was, we were all right there. It was scary. Yon is a nut. He likes to go for it.

Unfortunately, Sandy and Keanu and I are nuts. And, you know, Keanu did his, that stunt getting out of the Jag on to the bus, you know, on doing it. And once he did his stunt, then of course, Hawthorne James wanted to do his getting on the and so I said, well, I'm not going to let men do their I'll do mine. Here I am a new mother. I mean, and they had stunt women for me. They had, you know, two different stunt women there. They had said I had to do full body cast. So they had three or four of me. I mean, I was everywhere. Okay, we really want to ask you about that hard right turn when the bus has the 90 degree turn and he's like, everyone get on the other side. And, and it goes up on two wheels. Like,

were you on that bus when it did the hard right turn? We were, but I don't know. The two wheel thing might have been shot as a separate piece. We did it though. It was right there at the entrance of the 105 and the 110, I believe. So it wasn't actually, I think it was on a street rather than the actual ramp, I think. That's what it looks like. Yeah, it was. Yeah, it's real. So much of it is real. What Yon said to me, I wanted to quit when I saw that we were shooting on the freeway. And he said, trust me, I'm going to shoot this like a European film. You saw all the costumes were in earth tones. And he said, we got, we're going to cover this in a very specific way, like a European film and real, we're going to keep it real. And so I, you know, I took him at

his word and I think that is what he did. Do you agree? Yeah, I have blown away by some of these shots that they got and where the cameras were mounted. And I was so tense in so many scenes because it feels so scary. Yeah, yeah, it is. It was real. Anything you saw on our faces was probably real. I have to imagine you guys really bonded being on the bus together for so long. I mean, how many weeks were you shooting? Well, I shot for six weeks. I think they shot for seven or eight after I died. Although Sandy had me come back. It was so funny. She wanted me off camera when she knows Helen's dead for Helen's death. Yeah. And so they call me up after I wrapped and they said, Sandy, you know, was wondering if you could maybe come back and do that. So of

course, you know, I was thrilled to go back. But anyway, I came back and so I'm in the bus and counter gets on the bus and he said, what are you doing here? You're dead. I said, off camera. Yeah. Have you stayed close with any of your bus mates after this experience? I know it's been 30 years, but yeah, Sandy's the only one. And since she is a very wonderful mother and very much engaged in her life, you know, as a mom, I haven't seen her as much. We've had some email exchanges, but I haven't seen her for a while. But we were very close for a long time. And, you know, I would still call her if I needed help. If I was something was going on and it was urgent, I wouldn't hesitate to call her. I love her. Now I know she would respond, you know, and I hope she

knows that about me. So yeah, it was a lifelong friendship developed with her. That's so wonderful. Yeah. And so we were united on time to kill. And then she wrote during that period, she wrote a little short called Making Sandwiches. And she wrote a part, I don't know if she wrote it for me or if I just happened to be lucky and be there at the right time to play it, but we shot it and been to her a little short. I gave you Spencer's in it. Matthew McConaughey's in it. Me. Oh, Eric Roberts is in it. That's quite quite the cast for a short film. Yeah. It was a premiered at Sundance and, you know, wonderful little movie. Then when all about Steve came along, my agent wanted said, you need to get in there and play her mother. But it was written

as an agent Marilyn Monroe type. And I'm thinking, that's not my casting. But my agent was just like, I want you on that movie. And so she got me the audition. I said, okay, I'm going for it. And so I wore this pink fluffy dress, put on a blonde wig and went in and went for it. And then Sandy called me to tell me that I got it, that the studio approved me. And it was just thrilling to then go get to play her mom. We had the best time that we laughed so much. And it was so fun for me to play a character like that, because no one in the world would believe I would do it. But just goes to show you really need to go for it, you know, if you audition. I mean, if I had said offer only, or if I hadn't been willing to take a chance, you know, really,

they wouldn't have happened. So, Beth, you've done three films with Sandra Bullock. Plus, you were in her directorial debut and only film she's ever directed. So you've, you guys have worked together over these 30 years since speed four times in these different movies and have a lifelong friendship. Yeah. I mean, what a blessing, this movie. Yeah. Yeah, it is. It is. It's what you take with you. In the end, that's what it's all about. Yeah. Well, you know, she did me, I mean, she saved, I told her this, you know, she never wants to take credit for anything. She always compliments everybody else and is always so giving and loving. And but she saved my life on that movie. First of all, I don't know that I would have stayed on the movie once I saw that

thing. But I bonded with her. I loved her. You know, I felt like I wanted to work with her and Keanu and Jan gave me, but beyond that, she just was always upbeat and positive. She had such a good attitude. And we had chocolate break every day at I think four o'clock and they would bring out the chocolate. And I didn't even eat sugar at the time, but honey, I was eating Tootsie rolls. And we would dance if you can believe it. We would put on salsa music and she's a great dancer. And she would salsa dance, you know, my pitiful version of salsa dancing, but she kept everybody going. Like if it was because it was so hot and the hours were so long. And as I say, we couldn't even get to our trailers, all of that. But her attitude was so good and positive and loving at

all times that she kept me going. I mean, I made it because of her. And so I really feel like, you know, I owe her that forever. So while you were shooting it, you knew you knew this was going to be a hit. While you were making it, you guys felt it. You could feel you were part of something special. We could. I mean, also, it just felt good. You know, if Jan was on his game, the crew was on their game, Keanu, I could see was going to be an action star. It worked out pretty well. Sure did. Yeah. And you just could tell. And he was so sweet. Talk about bonding. Yeah. Can we talk a little bit about Keanu? Oh, my God, I want to tell you everything. One day in Long Beach, I guess it was the day in fact, we did that thing on the on ramp where

we ran into the water barrels. Sure. That was what we were shooting. There's a lot of technical stuff to work out. So we had a lot of downtime on the streets of Long Beach. And so we made up a comedy show that would be called Sandy Sandy, kind of cute, kind of wild Sandy. And and then we he would be the boyfriend. And I don't know, I think I was making it up and he was acting it out. And he fell on the grass and kicked like a cockroach and just did I mean, just cute, funny stuff that you don't really see that side of him, you know, very often in interviews or in what he does, but just cute, sweet, funny, going with whatever crazy game we were coming up with. And just such a team player with this cast. That sounds so charming. I feel like we were

like that on the set of the office, Jenna, how we would get punchy being in the conference room. Listen, it wasn't a moving bus. We didn't have to hang out on the side of a freeway. But we definitely had all of these little comedy bits we would do and and act out and be silly and kept us going throughout like long days on set. That's why it worked. You know, you can feel it on that show. You really can. I mean, your show and that show. But you can, you can feel it. It just couldn't have worked any other way. I love the idea of thinking that Keanu does bits. Exactly. Beth, I have to know, was there ever like a stunt that went wrong for a second? Were there any mishaps that you remember? Or was it all pretty controlled?

I can't remember anything going wrong, except, you know, maybe my acting. Oh, no. My whining. I tell you, I went to that premiere and I thought, get that lady off the bus with her whining. What about the rest of us? Why about the rest of us? You know, Jan said to me, I asked him, I said, why aren't I the hero anymore? So we have too many heroes. He said, we need Richard Chamberlain in Towering in front of, we need a coward. So I was the coward. But in the original script, Jeff Daniels was the bad guy. Yes. Isn't that shocking? Yeah. No, he was in cahoots. Yeah. It was really good. It was, I like. Do you like that twist? I did. But I also thought that it was very moving when he died in our version.

Me too. I did think that worked very well because that second on his face when he knows he's going to die. Oh my God. And who doesn't love Jeff Daniels? Yeah, you know what's crazy after I watched that scene and I saw that moment of realization in his eyes after he sees the red light. I watched it several times and then I tried to do it as an acting exercise. I did too, too. I was like, am I a good enough actor that I could do Jeff Daniels' moment of realization? It was so good. So I tried it. It was so funny. I did the same thing. I said, could I do that? Would it look real? Do I look like a cartoon? Yes. It was so, because it was so good. Well, I'm proud of you guys. Those are real actors that would do that. You saw a great moment and you

wanted to see if you could duplicate it and I have no doubt that you wouldn't good. That's great. My well little cartoony. I'm no Jeff Daniels. I'll say that. But my goodness, it's crazy though, because so many people in the film did not get to work together. Like, you never got to work with Jeff Daniels. You never got to work with Dennis Hopper. Dennis Hopper was by himself for most of the movie. On a telephone. But you know, one thing that I did notice on the bus, which just blew my mind, is how you've got, you know, the police captain and all the police officers are on like a flatbed next to the bus. And there are all these scenes where they are just the background of something that's happening on the

bus. Did those guys just ride next to you for 12 hours a day sometimes? That was crazy in the heat on a flatbed. In the SWAT uniforms or wearing those heavy duty, you know, with the bulletproof vest. Well, you know, stunt guys, you know, stunt guys. I mean, they are just gluttonous for punishment, I guess. I don't know. They're amazing. I mean, and they seem to take great joy in it. I mean, I'm sure they're nice. They go home and they say, I'm never doing this again. But it's not my experience with stunt people. They are always so enthusiastic and ready for action. But they are really phenomenal. I mean, they just always just are so eager to jump into the fray. And God bless them. I mean, we need them. That's for sure. We sure do. But yeah, they are on

that flatbed, suffering in the heat. And it was hot, hot, hot, you know, September in California, Southern California. It's hotter than the summer. And it was, yeah, God bless them. It's our hottest month for sure. It's September. I think so too. Yeah. Definitely was that year. Well, you know, Beth, you have been in so many things. And we've talked about a few of them here. I'm personally with my daughter rewatching the Mindy project, and you are hilarious in it. She was like, Mom, please tell Beth how much we love her in the Mindy project. So I said I would. Oh, tell me, thank you so much. Yes. But we are curious, what do you get recognized the most for? Is there a character that people really identify with when you're out in the world? Well, you know, what I

found is, obviously, it depends on, you know, the fans of which thing, like speed fans and speed. But I will, you're gonna think I'm making it up. But I promise you that the office is at the top, top, tippy top. You know, people love that show so much, they love the dinner party episodes. I mean, a lot of people have called and gotten interviews with me and, you know, Rolling Stone picking it as the top comedic episode in the first 10 years of this century or something. I know y'all know all this, but it is extremely popular show. Y'all are much, much beloved. I mean, you truly are. And I know for a fact, because you're not around. They have no reason to tell me how much they love, love you. And they do, they just do. Well, we were so lucky to have you on the office,

and we're so lucky that you joined us today to talk about speed. Thank you for coming and nerding out with us. Beth, we were just hanging on your every word. Beth, I love you both so much. I think you're fabulous. And I love your podcast. And I'm gonna root for the Broadway fantasy dream come true, which will happen. And I'm gonna root for you with, I don't know about the gardening and hummingbirds. You can come over and garden and hummingbird with me. I got a lot of I would love that. Beth, I'm not even kidding. I will come over. She's going to be at your house tomorrow. If there's a hummingbird, Angela is there. Trust me. I mean, I'm not kidding. We have all drought resistant native plants in the front and the back. It's, it's a hummingbird paradise over here.

We love them. Beth, I have to come over. Angela is more excited about this news than anything you said about speed. I guarantee it. What a delight. Beth, maybe they come over and give me some advice. Cause I really love to pull weeds and grasses stuff, but we need help. It's very bushy. Nobody needs that much bush. That's what she said. All right. Great. Love you, Beth. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, thank you everybody for going on this journey with us, rewatching speed and listening to our chat with Beth Grant. This was so much fun, Angela. I want to do more movie breakdowns, I think. I know, me too. I had so much fun watching speed over and over and over. And we also want to say a special thank you to Sam and Cassie and Ainsley for

chipping in and working extra hard to make this episode a huge success. We just love our team so much. We also want to tell you guys that today over at OfficeLadies.com, we are launching a few fun new merch items for spring and summer. You got to check it out. Super, super cute stuff. Marissa and Ileana crushed it. Go check it out. And we're bringing back some oldies, but goodies. And by request, we now have the really cute blue. It is your mug, mug available for single purchase. So yeah, fun stuff. Fun stuff. OfficeLadies.com. And we'll be here next week chatting with you. I hope you have a great one. It's all about season eight starting next week. See you then guys. Bye. Thank you for listening to OfficeLadies. OfficeLadies is produced by Earwolf,

Jenna Fisher and Angela Kinsey. Our show is executive produced by Cody Fisher. Our producer is Cassie Jerkins. Our sound engineer is Sam Kieffer. And our associate producer is Ainsley Bubbicoke. Our theme song is Rubber Tree by Creed Bratton. For ad-free versions of OfficeLadies, go to StitcherPremium.com. For a free one month trial of Stitcher Premium, use code, Office.