Fast and Furious star Michelle Rodriguez described the new creative leadership of Fast X as a “French takeover.” She further said that the new team will bring a new excitement to the series, which is so necessary.
The so-called French takeover occurred after Justin Lin, who directed half of the series’ films, decided to leave the project earlier this year. According to an article by The Hollywood Reporter back in May, there were several reasons why the director left, and they were all related to the chaotic production process of the series.
Firstly, Lin wrote the script, realizing that it was final, but it was not destined to come true. Due to the war in Ukraine, the main episode, which was supposed to take place in Eastern Europe, was completely cut out of the film. In addition, according to rumors, Vin Diesel, whose fame led to his increasing participation in the production process, became a diva on the set. It is known that he gives very harsh comments on the script, directly rejecting the scenes, without explaining why, and leaving the director and screenwriter to just guess what changes the star wants. It is also reported that Diesel was often late for filming and did not remember his lines. Finally, even after filming began in the film, the villain had not yet been chosen. Unable to cope with the chaos, Justin Lin resigned as director of the film, but remained a producer.
In the end, Universal chose French director Louis Leterrier (“The Incredible Hulk” 2008, “Battle of the Titans”, “Illusion of Deception”) instead of Lin. According to Fast X star Michelle Rodriguez, Leterrier brought a group of French filmmakers with him to complete the rest of the production. “This ‘Fast and Furious’ is the French ‘Fast and Furious,'” she told The Hollywood Reporter. “Our special effects team, all the guys who are engaged in fights, are all French. Our second advertisement is French. Our director is French. It’s like a French takeover, man.
However, instead of worrying about such drastic changes to the production team of one of Universal’s most important tent series, Rodriguez is all for it. “Believe me, at the beginning I had about two weeks without a director. I’m like, “What are we going to do?”. But as soon as Leterrier joined the team, “he came with all this energy of love. We haven’t had this in Fast and Furious for a very long time, where we encourage someone who is a real fan and who really wants to use it where it hasn’t been before. We’ve been doing this for 20 years, bro. After all this time, you get fed up and kind of forget why you’re doing it [until] a director like Louis comes along and reminds you, “This is great.” Let’s do magic.” We’re so lucky to have him, bro.”
The passion of a new film director may be exactly what the series needs to start all over again. This will be the 11th film in the series, 22 years after it first started, and it’s becoming increasingly difficult to prevent the series from becoming obsolete. In June, star Tyrese Gibson said Fast X would see the franchise return to its roots—presumably meaning a return to the local street racing scene from the early films, rather than international bank robberies and Soviet-era nuclear submarine battle scenes. the latest movies.
Fast X is expected to be released on May 19, 2023.
