 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 gets hijacked by Alex, reprising his role from Speed as a Jaguar owner whose car gets 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 Conway. 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 "Mac" in an uncredited cameo appearance in the beginning of the film.
