Film culture and habits have curiously moved to a point where the most popular and profitable movies are the ones that are pieces of giant, sprawling franchises. There was a time where making a billion dollars at the box office seemed practically impossible, but it’s now becoming the benchmark for the culmination of film series. Long-running film series like Star Wars or the Marvel Cinematic Universe have rich properties to fall back on. They have extended legacies that go far beyond their films.
However, one film series that has also reached unbelievable heights, but doesn’t have the luxury of a built-in audience or legacy to fall back on, are the Fast and the Furious films. These are simple movies about fast cars, yet these movies have turned into a franchise of nearly ten films that have set new records and become major pop culture events.
17. The First Film Was Based On A Magazine Article.
With the truly ridiculous heights that the Fast and the Furious has reached over the years, it actually sounds kind of impossible that the whole franchise was kickstarted from a grounded magazine article titled “Racer X.” Director Rob Cohen was so taken with the drag race culture that was outlined in the article that he actually bought the rights to it so he could officially adapt the piece and dig deeper.
16. Not All Of The Cast Members Have Their Driver’s Licenses.
The level of racing and stunt work that takes place in the Fast and the Furious franchise are truly on another level. Even the first film in the series features unbelievable car stunts, which makes it even crazier that not everyone could drive! The films place an emphasis on real stunts, but during production of the first movie, both Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez didn’t have their licenses. They were even worried that this would lead to them being booted from the movie for insurance purposes, but it didn’t.
15. Vin Diesel Turned Down $25 Million To Do The Sequel.
Back when the Fast and the Furious franchise was first getting rolling, nobody had any idea of what heights the films would achieve. As a result, when the first sequel was happening Vin Diesel actually turned down $25 million to reprise his role as Dom, citing script problems as the reason. Diesel’s departure also led to director Rob Cohen leaving the project, which led to John Singleton taking over. Considering how much ownership Diesel has taken over the Fast films, it’s fascinating to see this brief period where he turned his back on the movies.
14. The Character Han Originates In The Film Better Luck Tomorrow.
Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is the first film in the franchise that introduces Sung Kang’s character, Han. Han has since become a crucial part of the Fast franchise and he even appears to be a major figure in the upcoming Fast 9. What’s interesting to point out is that Fast and the Furious director Justin Lin previously worked with Sung Kang in the movie Better Luck Tomorrow, where he also plays a character named Han. Fans have gone so far as to assume that this Han is the same character between films and Justin Lin found a fun way to connect his separate worlds.
13. Diesel’s Tokyo Drift Cameo Made Chronicles Of Riddick Possible.
Vin Diesel briefly exits the Fast and the Furious franchise after the first movie and it took Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin a very exhaustive process to convince Diesel to appear at the end of the film in a cameo, which would kickstart his return to the franchise. Lin had to fight for hours to get Diesel to agree to the brief appearance and Diesel only agreed to do it if he could be given the rights for The Chronicles of Riddick, which Diesel would turn into his science fiction action franchise.
12. Vin Diesel Wrote And Directed A Fast And The Furious Short Film.
Vin Diesel makes a brief cameo in Tokyo Drift, but Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the series, marks the actors official return to the series. Since there were some gaps to fill in before Dom is established in the Dominican Republic for that movie, Diesel actually took it upon himself to write and direct a short film called Los Bandoleros, which fills in some of these gaps. The short film focuses on Dom’s relationship with Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty, as well as connection to Han, Leo, and Santos. It’s a fun extra piece of the story and speaks to Diesel’s immense passion for the franchise.
11. The Rock’s Role Was Originally Written For Tommy Lee Jones..
One of the most incredible things about The Fast and the Furious films is how they’ve been able to assemble such incredible casts, not just of action stars, but genuinely good actors. Fast Five marks Dwayne Johnson’s entry into the series as Luke Hobbs, but before his casting was locked in, Justin Lin had a very different approach in mind for the character. In fact, Lin pictured Tommy Lee Jones in the aggressive role, but the pivot worked out incredibly well for the franchise. It’s hard to picture Hobbs & Shaw with Tommy Lee Jones in the part.
10. Ja Rule Nearly Became The Face Of The Franchise.
2 Fast 2 Furious marks a curious turning point for the series where the movies were still figuring out exactly what they wanted to be. 2 Fast 2 Furious takes Vin Diesel’s Dom out of the occasion and instead focuses on Paul Walker’s Brian. With a gap left to fill, John singleton approached Ja Rule to reprise his role as Edwin from the first movie. The $500,000 offer wasn’t enough for Ja Rule, so he turned down the offer and the part was adjusted to accommodate Chris “Ludacris” Bridges to step in instead, who’s still a part of the series.
9. Fast & Furious 6 Was Nearly A Two-Part Movie.
The sixth film in The Fast and the Furious franchise upped the series’ ante in massive ways and for a long time there was discussion if everything could even be contained to one movie. In 2013, the Fast films were at the height of their popularity and with a script that was over 110 pages and loaded with content, it looked like it would be possible to extend the story into two separate movies and not excise any footage. Ultimately this wasn’t the approach taken and Fast & Furious 6 was edited down and Furious 7 took on a whole new story, but if the sixth film was split in two, it likely still would have made bank at the box office.
8. Fast Five Nearly Turned The Films Into An Entire Different Franchise.
One of the more ridiculous aspects of The Fast and the Furious franchise is that these characters begin as street-level thieves and drag racers and by the latest film they’re literally saving the world. Producers at Universal could see the scope of the films expanding and suggested that racing merely be one component of the movies, not the whole thing. It was proposed that Fast Five kick off this trend and make racing more of an ancillary element, but the plan didn’t stick. The movies have become more ambitious, but they’ve never turned their back on their core.
7. Denzel Washington Was Nearly In The Series.
At a point it was easy to write off The Fast and the Furious films as empty action movies, but when acclaimed actors like Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, and Gal Gadot make appearances, it’s easier to corral bigger talent. Furious 7 also throws Kurt Russell into the mix and gets great use out of him, but the role was originally envisioned for Denzel Washington. Washington declined, but with the franchise running strong maybe he’ll still decide to join the madness in a future movie.
6. The Hobbs & Shaw Spin-Off Was inspired By A Deleted Scene.
The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the series, is another high point for the series and it lets Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs square off against Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw. There was a scene in Fate of the Furious where Hobbs and Shaw temporarily stop their fighting to team up in order to take out Dom. The scene was ultimately deleted, but there was such chemistry and energy in the scene that it inspired producers and the cast to put the two together for their own film.
5. Films Four Through Six Are Their Own Mini Trilogy.
The Fast and the Furious series attempted to reinvent itself with the fourth film in the series, Fast & Furious. Vin Diesel, director Justin Lin, and screenwriter Chris Morgan wanted to go one step further here and design films four through six as their own mini trilogy within the larger franchise. There’s certainly a cohesive story in place between the movies and Morgan’s scripts tie the films together and carry over important themes from this middle stage of the franchise.
4. There’s A Short Film That Connects The First Two Movies.
There are many films in the Fast and the Furious series, but sometimes a lot can happen between movies. In fact, there’s a sizable chapter of Brian’s journey between the first two films that gets bridged in a short film that’s included on the 2 Fast 2 Furious DVD. The short chronicles Brian leaving Dom and how he builds his new life before he ends up in Miami for the second movie.
3. Fast & Furious 6’s Runway Finale Is Nearly 30 Miles Long.
It’s always important to end an action film with an impressive set piece, but The Fast and the Furious films continually get more extravagant and struggle with more insane climaxes for their action. Fast & Furious 6 features a particularly ridiculous finale scene where Dom and company chase a cargo plane before it takes off. The scene involves a ton of racing down the airplane’s runway, but because it’s such a long sequence, some fans attempted to do the math on just how long the runway would need to be to pull all of this off. The answer is that the runway is nearly 29 miles long, which is just crazy and shows the level of production that goes into the movies’ stunts.
2. It Was Nearly Titled Redline.
One of the more iconic aspects of the Fast and the Furious films are the actual names of the movies, with many of them poking fun or twisting the title of the first film. However, for the majority of the original movie’s production, the film had the title “Redline.” The major issue here was that there was an old Roger Corman film with the same name that he still owned the rights towards. Corman eventually let Cohen use his old title in exchange for some stock in Universal and the new name paid off big time.