Trivia: The famous "Dukes of Hazzard" sequence was the filmmakers' wry commentary on the uncompleted state of Interstate 105, which had become a running joke among LA motorists. It was finally (and quite uncoincidentally) completed in late 1993 shortly before the film's release, years behind schedule.
Trivia: In this movie the only reason why Howard Payne is trying to blow the elevator and the buses is because he wants money. He also gets very upset when the paint explodes in the bag. If you look on the back of bus 2525 there's a green sign that says "Money isn't everything (Yeah Right)".
Trivia: When the bus crashes into the plane at the end, the company logo on the plane is "Pacific Courier." This fictional company name also appears in "Die Hard"--it's on the truck the terrorists show up in (except Karl and Theo, who arrive by car). Jan de Bont, who directed "Speed," was DP on "Die Hard."
Trivia: The bus number is 2525. 25+25=50. The bus has to stay above 50mph.
Trivia: Dennis Hopper's line about Pershing Square being the "pickup spot" (for his ransom money) was a double entendre. For decades, Pershing Square has been a notorious locale for soliciting gay sex.
Trivia: When we first see the bus in the airport you see a plane go over the bus. That scene took 50 takes.
Trivia: Although Keanu Reeves states in the film that the freeway gap is 50 feet, the missing section shown in the digitally-retouched freeway shot is actually 177 feet, when measured against other known structures. Jan de Bont's digital effects team realised that a properly-measured 50-foot gap would appear far too small for the desired shot, so they made the gap more than three times larger.
Trivia: When they show the gap the bus has to jump for the first you see birds fly through the gap. The birds were digitally edited in and the gap was digitally added on to a real bridge.
Trivia: Joss Whedon rewrote most of the dialogue, uncredited. He changed Alan Ruck to be more sympathetic. He wasn't a fan of "pop quiz, hotshot", which Keanu Reeves came up with, feeling it didn't fit with the character, but was overruled.
Trivia: In the original script. Jack's partner Harry would turn out to be the mastermind behind the bus bomb (with Dennis Hopper simply being his accomplice). When Ed Harris, who was originally cast as Harry, left and Jeff Daniels got the role, producers felt that Daniels was too nice and likeable to be truly convincing as a villain and changed it to just make Hopper the sole baddie.
Trivia: At the beginning of the movie, Keanu Reeves breaks some glass on the door of the bus. This was not scripted; it was purely an accident and kept in the final print.
