Justin Lin, director of F9, has revealed that he had disagreements with Universal over the title for his previous installment - 2013’s Fast and Furious 6. The latest chapter in the long-running Fast and Furious series, F9 sees Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his Fast family - including Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, and Ludacris - reuniting to stop Charlize Theron’s villain Cipher. This time around, Cipher is aided by Dom’s younger brother Jakob - played by series newcomer, John Cena.
The upcoming film will be Lin’s fifth turn directing a Fast and Furious film. He initially joined the series in 2006 to direct the third movie, Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, and went on to helm three follow-ups: Fast and Furious, Fast 5, and Fast and Furious 6. The director is also currently attached to direct both the tenth and eleventh Fast and Furious films in the franchise, which will reportedly be one epic conclusion split across two parts.
In an interview with Cinemablend’s Reelblend podcast, the director discussed his past experiences of working on the series. When asked if the name of the tenth film would be stylized as ‘Fas10’ (think ‘Fas10 your seatbelts’), Lin explained that he loved the idea of having fun with naming each new film. He also described the “spirited” discussions he had with distributor Universal about what to name the sixth film, having originally intended for it to reflect the name of the previous film - Fast 5. Originally titled Furious 6, the film was renamed as Fast and Furious 6. You can read Lin’s full quote below:
“If you watch Fast 6, it’s called Fast & Furious 6, but when you watch the movie, it’s called Furious 6… So this is something that happens, and obviously I have a great time, I have a great relationship with the studio, but I was like, ‘Man, it was called Fast Five so you can have Furious 6. That was always by design.’ And somehow, for some reason, it became Fast & Furious 6. So there was some very… spirited conversations about titles, but I think we always have fun in how we choose to label each new chapter.”
It’s unclear why Universal chose a more straightforward title for the sixth film, but they would eventually choose to name the seventh film Furious 7, seemingly realizing what they could have missed out on. Moreover, Universal seems to have become more open to having fun with the different naming conventions as the franchise developed - the eighth chapter was titled The Fate of the Furious, a play on the number eight. Interestingly, Lin also highlighted the importance of the inclusion of ‘The Fast Saga’ in the title of F9, describing it as “our commitment to not just one movie and earning another one, it’s actually a commitment to a chapter.”
From the sounds of things, it seems as though F9 will be integral to setting up the events of the next two films. While very little is known about what exactly will be in store for Dominic and his family, both the cast and Lin have discussed some potential ideas. With both Fast 10 and 11 set to be a two-parters, it will undoubtedly be a bombastic showcase. Fans will be able gain an idea of what’s in store as F9 is out in theaters now.
Source: Cinemablend
