ship on which the film would be set, De Bont visited ships from various cruise lines and chose Seabourn Legend for its luxurious amenities and sleek design. While Speed was produced for $30 million, the sequel was green-lit at "just under $100 million" due to the larger production and higher cast salaries. He started location scouting in the Caribbean in May 1996, and chose Saint Martin as the primary filming location because he felt it was least likely to be subjected to a hurricane. It was later reported that the film had gone over-budget and costs had ballooned to as much as $160 million. De Bont acknowledged that the had gone over budget but that the cost would be close to $100 million. Casting Bullock initially declined to star in the sequel, but later agreed to get financial backing for the drama film Hope Floats (1998); she was paid a reported $11–$13 million to reprise her role as Annie. Reeves was offered $12 million to reprise his role as Jack Traven, but turned it down because he did not like the script, was financially secure from the success of Speed, and felt he was not "ready to mentally and physically" star in another action film after having completed Chain Reaction (1996). He passed on Speed 2 in order to star in the film The Devil's Advocate (1997), which was filmed at the same time, then subsequently toured with his band, Dogstar. Reeves said that Fox was "furious" with his decision and released "propaganda" against him, falsely claiming that he turned down the role to tour with his band. De Bont said that the character in the sequel was not specific to Reeves and could be played by any young actor, as long as he had chemistry with Bullock. Many actors were considered to replace Reeves including: Simon Baker Denny, Jon Bon Jovi, Patrick Muldoon, Johnathon Schaech, Christian Slater, and Billy Zane. Bullock initially suggested Matthew McConaughey, who passed on the role, prompting her to suggest Jason Patric, with whom she had wanted to work since seeing his performance in After Dark, My Sweet (1990). De Bont was skeptical of featuring a relatively unknown actor such as Patric, but was reminded by the studio that Bullock and Reeves were also relatively unknown prior to Speed, and chose Patric based on his role in Sleepers (1996). Patric was paid a reported $4.5–$8