Did you know that 2000's The Fast and The Furious was inspired by a magazine article chronicling street-racing clubs? That film, made on a modest budget and with a modest plot - low level heists to fund a crew's racing pursuits in Los Angeles - made $207 million. Not bad, right?
Since then, F&F has morphed into a modified juggernaut, quickly establishing itself as Universal Pictures' most profitable and longest-running franchise ever. To date, the six Fast films have made over $2.4 billion. To reference the film's street parlance, that's a lot of cheddar. It's why we're staring down the barrel of yet more inexplicable gear changes and unforgettable dialogue. Yep, it's time for Fast and Furious 7.
TG.com (briefly) sat down with all the stars from the film for the inside line, and how they managed to carry on without the one and only Brian Earl Spilner...
Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw
Just let that name roll around on your tongue for a bit. Deckard Shaw. It's all gone a bit Popeye, hasn't it? Who cares: Stath is the only man who can dish out a beating to both Vin Diesel and The Rock, while also driving a roster of British excellence.
"I went for all British cars, but they declined me on the McLaren," he tells TG, in that familiar London bark. "They said, 'What do you wanna drive?' I said, 'Give me a P1'. They said, 'No'."
Statham is of course, a bona fide petrolhead. "I've got an Audi S8 at the moment, but with the stunt driving on the film, I always wanted to do ten times more than I was allowed to do. Thing is, I've had plenty of hours being taught what to do. Way back, years ago when I was doing Transporter 1, I had two weeks with a professional driver around the streets of Paris. Believe me, that's enough tuition for anybody."
Is he handy, then? "Every man thinks he's quite handy, doesn't he?" Statham laughs.
So what was the hardest part of filming FF7? "Going back to work after Paul's demise. He was such a cool dude. I actually met him racing at Willow Springs, he was a big race fan. I had a 911 GT2 at the time - a 2008 model, lairy thing, but lovely. You could drive it there, drive around the track, ruin the tyres and drive it home, quick...
"But anyway, I met him in that situation years and years ago, and he was just so down to earth. For me, a man who really wasn't Hollywood. Totally selfless and very, very cool..."
Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto
Ah yes, the man who lives his life one quarter-mile at a time. Also a man who's funny, engaging and a lot chirpier in real life than his on-screen character would suggest. And also a man who never wanted a sequel to the original The Fast and The Furious to ever happen.
"I was in London, right after the first one, in a room full of Universal execs," Vin tells TG, "and I said, 'Please don't make a sequel, you'll just ruin it. Please don't make it,' I begged them. And look where were are today."
Indeed. His character needs no introduction, but there were days shooting the driving scenes on FF7 when he thought, 'What the heck?'
"I did too much stunt driving in this film," he says with a pained laugh. "I came in as an actor, not as Evel Knievel. I'm sitting there thinking, 'Why am I having to do these things, why are you throwing fireballs at my car, how do you race through a mile of smoke in a car that may not necessarily survive'... I did too much."
There was one point during the shoot where Diesel literally ripped the steering wheel from the car. "I said, 'guys, can we make sure that, um, the wheel doesn't come off IN THE MIDDLE OF A STUNT?' Yeah, sometimes the kits don't live up to the standards of manufactured cars," he says.
Secretly though, he loves it. Diesel, like Walker, is a proper petrolhead. Though his daily driver now consists of "a Yukon with a couple of baby seats in the back", Vin has been successful in poaching an unnamed number of the FF cars for his personal collection. His daughter's first birthday present, and therefore first car? The Red Chevelle from 2009's Fast and Furious.
What about his first car? "It was a 1978 Monte Carlo I bought from New York City. It was at an auction, where you weren't allowed to turn on the engine, and all you could do was lift up the hood. I paid $175 for it and thought I made out like a bandit."
"So I'm driving up the west side highway in it, and I don't see any cars behind me. Because all I see is blue smoke. Yeah, that car was a bummer."
Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson as Hobbs
Is 'The Rock' the nicest man mountain in the world? Yep. Also, he's a man mountain. Unfortunately for us, he doesn't really get to do much driving in FF7, but he doesn't care, because he's The Rock, and he's Awesome.
"I didn't miss out on the driving," he says, "because those things are a pain in the ass to shoot. You're in a car, it's small, there are cameras in there, and sometimes you're in a 'picture' car [a rig] so you're not even driving. You're just pretending."
Nope, Johnson loves being on the ground, dishing out ass-kickings and one-liners left, right and centre. "I'm good with having my boots on the ground, with a very big weapon, talking trash, and shooting things."
But is he a 'gearhead', as they say Stateside? "I can appreciate cars, but I wouldn't consider myself a gearhead as much as I am a pick-up truck-head. I love pick-up trucks. I have two Ford F-150s. It's a country thing."
Johnson's also got a "bad-ass" custom-made Bentley that only sits in the garage. "Yeah... really cool. I've driven it two times in four years," he sighs.
How did he manage to find the motivation to finish the film without Walker? "Working with Paul was a highlight, carrying that memory of a great last night we worked together."
He leans in. "I gotta tell you, brother, I was so motivated to go back and finish filming, because it was an opportunity for us to do something for him."
Nathalie Emmanuel as Ramsey
Franchise newcomer and Game of Thrones star Nathalie was a bit nervous on day one. "My first day on set was one of the few times everyone was there. It was intimidating, without having met everybody," she says.
Her character is the tech genius, with zero driving on screen. "There's probably a reason for me not having any driving scenes... and that's because I don't have a driving licence." Emmanuel laughs. Top Gear selflessly offers driving lessons.
"I've learned to drive a number of times, so I know how to drive a car, it's just when it came down to the test, I was always off to work. So I can drive, I just haven't taken my test yet. I'm going to do it this year, that's my mission."
But does she like cars? "I'm probably not a petrolhead, I get nervous when people drive too fast, but I definitely enjoyed seeing the cars in this movie in action. It was really amazing, and the stunt drivers were very impressive."
Any painful moments on set? "Those rigs they set up, and the car harnesses were painful. There was a scene in the film where I don't know how to put the seatbelt on, and I genuinely didn't know how to put the seat belt on. I was like, 'what is this contraption?' The rigs were intense, but fun."
Not that it stopped Nathalie from enjoying it all. "I was really up for trying everything, I wasn't really scared. Even my stunt lady told me I didn't have to do all of it, but I wanted to..."
Chris 'Ludacris' Bridges as Tej
Bridges is the tech guy who works alongside Nathalie's Ramsay to secure a snooping device that does something inexplicable to help the producers kill more cars. And Tej gets a big moment where his Jeep literally rams a couple of Benzes clean off the road.
"That was a lot of fun," Chris giggles, "and every time we outdo ourselves, it continues to surprise the audience. I didn't do too much stunt driving, but I'm happy to get any piece of the action."
He likes his cars, though. "In theory I'd like to be more of a gearhead, but technically? Hell no. I don't really get my hands dirty like I should. I've got a 1993 Acura Legend, and a BMW Alpina. But I love the 458 Italia and Bentley Continental GT. Oh, and the Ford GT from Fast Five..."
Pictures: Universal
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