It started innocently (or not innocently) enough in 2001. Several charismatic up and coming actors came together for a rehash of films like Point Break. The Fast And Furious told the story of an FBI agent infiltrating a group southern LA kids and their love of street racing. Which they fueled by robbing truckers of their cargo.
After a few more subpar installments, the series was transformed into a fully-fledged action spy thriller - not bad for a couple of street kids from Los Angeles that the government trusts saving the world to them and their ability to drive really, really fast. Here are ten behind the scenes stories from The Fast And The Furious franchise.
The Fast And The Furious (1954)
Cool cars and Hollywood have gone together like apple pie and vanilla ice cream for nearly as long as movies have been around. It turns out that one of the kings of B-movies, Roger Corman has already made a movie called The Fast And The Furious. It involved a man who broke out of jail, stole a car with the driver in it and headed to Mexico for the big race. 47 years later, Universal Studios would license the name for their new Vin Diesel / Paul Walker movie.
Racer X Article
A writer never knows when and where inspiration might come from. For the screenwriters of The Fast And The Furious, their initial inspiration came from Ken Li’s article, “Racer X” that he wrote for Vibe Magazine lovingly detailing the world of underground street racing and how the kids mod their cars up.
From that article came the blueprint for the first film and all of the wild races throughout the series.
The Girls Couldn’t Drive
When you’re making a movie about fast cars, hot women, and wild crimes, it’s clear that stunt drivers are going to be needed for some of the movie's action sequences. But it also might have been nice to have people that could actually drive! It’s Hollywood movie magic that makes it look like Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez knew what they were doing behind the wheel. Inadvertently, the tradition continued in 2 Fast 2 Furious - Devon Aoki didn’t have a license or any experience driving.
The Reason Diesel Declined 2 Fast...
Despite being a starring vehicle (no pun intended) for Paul Walker, the first film boosted both Diesel and Walker to stardom. When inevitable sequel talks began, Diesel balked at returning for the sequel. His reasoning must’ve seemed like sound logic at the time, in an era before nearly every movie release was a sequel. According to Diesel, he wanted the original film to stand on its own merits and not have its legacy bogged down by sequels in order to remain iconic.
...And What Brought Him Back
Universal Studios wouldn’t let a thing like Vin not signing hamper the future of the franchise, which had he not come back might have either completely died out or would head to the dreaded direct to video bins.
But he Diesel was brought back in a cameo appearance in the very underperforming Tokyo Drift; which introduced Han to the series as well. His main part in the asking price was for Universal to give him the rights to another character he made famous - Riddick.
Fast Five’s Lin-Sane Stunt
Director Justin Lin had come aboard for Tokyo Drift and directed the next three sequels and the upcoming F9. He was one of the driving forces behind taking the series from street racing to big-time action and stunts to save the world. In Fast Five, the director spent a slew of cash to purchase train tracks and the entire train for the film’s heist sequence, just so they could completely trash the thing. For all of the outlandishness of the series, Lin also likes to take a practical approach to the effects.
Sun Kang’s “Never” Coming Back
In Tokyo Drift, the franchise introduced Han, who quickly gained popularity and changed the chronology of the movies. First, the character made an appearance in Justin Lin’s Better Luck Tomorrow, a film both Sun Kang (Han) and Lin have affectionately referred time as a prequel to Han’s story. He also once told ComingSoon that he wouldn’t be returning to the franchise. Fast forward a few short years and Kang showed up in the trailer for F9.
The Real Deal
While there is certainly a lot of movie magic that goes into the making of these grand high stakes action movies, there is also a degree of realism. The tank chase in Fast 6, which could have been done on a computer. But Justin Lin wanted to shoot the incredible chase scene for real. Another batcrap crazy sequence that most people would think was absolutely done with CGI involved dropping the cars out of an aircraft carrier.
Michelle Rodriguez Advocated For Letty
Muscle bound meatheads driving shiny muscle cars who date hot women - that’s the makings of a testosterone-fuel-injected adventure. However, the ladies have also been able to grow beyond their eye-candy roles. Some of that is thanks to Michelle Rodriguez threatening to walk out of the franchise.
One her reasons was a simple one - a storyline was to call her for cheating on Dom, with Brian! She flat out refused, saying she had no interest in that storyline. On another occasion, she simply wanted stronger roles for the ladies behind the wheel.
The Actors Who Were Almost Cast
During the casting phase of some of The Fast And The Furious movies, some of the following names have been bandied about. Some of which are completely ridiculous picturing them in the role, such as Timothy Olyphant possibly playing Dom. Other big names that possibly could have been a part of the cast were Denzel Washington as Mr. Nobody instead of Kurt Russell and Keanu Reeves playing the head of ETEON.