million for his role in Speed 2 and used his salary to finance a 1998 drama, Your Friends & Neighbors. After accepting the role, Patric stated that he never saw Speed or had any intentions of seeing it; Reeves said he was looking forward to seeing Patric star in the sequel. After Reeves declined to appear in Speed 2, the screenplay was rewritten to remove his character from the story, which De Bont wanted to deal with early in the film. His absence is explained in the first scene, where Annie talks about how her relationship with Jack did not work out, and mentions her current relationship with Alex (Patric), before his character is introduced in the film. Gary Oldman turned down the role of the villain, Geiger, to star as another villain in Air Force One (1997). Willem Dafoe was cast as Geiger after he wanted to star in a "big movie" and once again play a villain. De Bont cast New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison as Juliano based on his role in Once Were Warriors (1994). Although he did not like the script, Brian McCardie accepted the role as Merced as his agents assured him it would be good for his career. Comedian Royale Watkins was hired by De Bont for the part of Dante after discovering Watkins performing at a comedy club. Glenn Plummer was cast as a character named Maurice whose boat is hijacked by Alex, reprising his role from Speed as a Jaguar owner whose car is hijacked by Jack. To add comic relief, De Bont cast comedian Tim Conway as Annie's driving instructor, and hoped it would be a comeback role for him. Singer Tamia was cast as Sheri, an entertainer on the ship, because De Bont wanted a singer who could also act. She did not plan on doing any film acting that early in her career, as she had yet to release her debut album, but said the part was "too perfect for [her] to resist." Joe Morton reprised his role from Speed as SWAT lieutenant Herb "Mac" McMahon in an uncredited cameo appearance in the beginning of the film. Filming Principal photography took place from September 23, 1996, to late February 1997. Film crews moved to West Palm Beach and Miami, Florida in July 1996 anticipating shooting in each location for several weeks later that year. However, due to scheduling issues