As the Fast & Furious series ramps up for its ninth release, it’s incredible to see how different F9 is from the very original movie. The Fast and the Furious was a grounded crime drama, whereas F9 is seemingly a huge blockbuster space odyssey. But how it got to that point is fascinating, as it was all thanks to Fast Five – a movie that was more transitional than anything, but still arguably the most entertaining film in the franchise.
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Fast Five sits dead in the middle of all of the releases, and it’s the one that was the biggest leaps in the narrative, ultimately changing the series forever. But it didn’t get to that point without having some ludicrous behind-the-scenes facts.
It Was Actually Filmed In Puerto Rico, Not Rio de Janeiro
Despite the movie having an alternate title of Rio Heist and being based in the location, Fast Five wasn’t actually shot in Rio de Janeiro. It was originally planned to be shot there so that it was as realistic as possible, but the Puerto Rican government offered the studio tax incentives that were impossible to turn down. So instead of Rio, Puerto Rico is what audiences can see in the movie and is what represented Rio de Janeiro. It was also seen to save the studio more than $11 million.
It Was Influenced By The Italian Job
The whole of Fast Five builds up to the ultimate heist, which sees Brian and Dom drag a bank vault through Rio with muscle cars. So it’s hardly surprising that the movie was influenced by one of the greatest and most fun heist movies of all time.
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The Italian Job follows a group of British conmen, who steal bars of gold from Italy using three Mini Coopers. But The Italian Job wasn’t the only heist movie that the studio was influenced by. Justin Lin also found inspiration in The French Connection and The Bourne Identity too, and it was the implementation of car chases in those movies that the director found fascinating.
Tyrese Gibson Thought The Movie Wouldn’t Make Sense
In a behind-the-scenes interview promoting the movie, Tyrese Gibson admitted that he didn’t think that the movie would make any sense. He questioned how all of the returning characters could be brought together in a way that’s both satisfying and logical. And though Fast Five isn’t the most complex movie in the world and audiences are very much along for the ride, writer Chris Morgan did a great job of pulling in characters from the previous four movies, many of whom didn’t actually know each other, in such a gratifying way.
Hobbs Was Written For Tommy Lee Jones
Being one of the best characters introduced after the first movie, Hobbs was part of what made Fast Five feel so fresh compared to the street racing movies that had gotten a little stale. The character is played Dwayne Johnson, who is so charismatic and steals the show whenever he appears. But the character was originally going to be much different, almost the exact opposite, in fact.
The role was originally written for Tommy Lee Jones, and it would have been a wildly different movie, given how stoic and serious the actor is. He doesn’t stand for any funny business, as he called Jim Carrey a “buffoon” on the set of Batman Forever, so it’s unlikely that he would have been a good fit for the Fast & Furious series. However, it would have been hilarious to hear Jones spit out one of Hobbs’ iconic lines.
Diesel And Johnson’s Contracts
The on-set tension between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson has been very well documented, as they don’t seem to get on all that much and constantly accuse each other of being late to set. But it all started with Fast Five and their contracts, as both alpha males’ contracts say that neither one of them can lose a fight. It goes so far that it’s reported that there are producers on set counting their punches. And it’s the reason why they never properly fought in the movie.
Paul Walker Did All Of His Own Stunts
The stunts and action sequences might not be as authentic as Mission: Impossible, as the whole Fast & Furious series takes some major liberties with CGI, but there are still some seriously impressive stunt work in Fast Five. Most of the actual stunts come when Brian O’Connor is jumping from trains and onto a speeding car, leaping over rooftops in Rio.
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Just like he did in 2 Fast 2 Furious, the late great Paul Walker did all of his own stunts, working closely with his stunt double to perfect them. And at one point, Walker jumped 30 feet from a building onto a safety mat.
The Shift From Street Racing Was A Very Conscious Decision
With the first few movies being all about street racing, as the original was based on a magazine article about underground racing in L.A. called Racer X, the series has since distanced itself from that niche. Fast Five was the first in the series to almost entirely forgo street racing, and that was apparently a conscious decision made by the producers.
They were worried that there was a ceiling on how far the novelty could be taken and that there would be diminishing returns. There is still street racing in the movies, but there’s usually just one race arbitrarily forced into the narrative just to appease fans of the older movies.
Michelle Rodriguez Didn’t Know About The Twist Ending
Though Michelle Rodriguez was a main character in The Fast and the Furious and the fourth movie, she wasn’t in Fast Five after she was killed off in Fast & Furious. However, in the Fast & Furious series, nobody ever stays dead, as Han has even returned in F9 after fans literally saw the car that he was in explode in Tokyo Drift.
And in a mid-credits scene in Fast Five, it’s revealed that Letty is actually alive. According to Rodriguez, she didn’t actually know that her character was still alive until she actually saw the film as an audience member. And it’s a good job that she did return, as the only F&F staple missing from Fast Five is Letty constantly screaming “Dom!” at the top of her lungs.
It Was Inspired By Golden Girls
Along with classic 60s heist movies, director Justin Lin found inspiration in other places, and one of those was The Golden Girls. Being a big fan of the sitcom about senior citizens when he was growing up, Lin cited the show as what influenced him to bring back the characters from previous movies.
The director noted that he figured out that the NBC shows The Golden Girls, Empty Nest, and Nurses all shared the same universe after the shows all featured the same hurricane over the same weekend. And though Fast & Furious isn’t quite the shared universe that the MCU is, it’s definitely getting there.
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