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Hey, everyone, this is Justin Lin, director of Furious 6.
I know that all the posters out there...
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
Everybody was talking about Fast & Furious 6 and everything,
but I just wanted it to be totally clear and on the record,
when we were working on the trilogy, starting from Four,
the idea was to always call it, Fast & Furious
and then Fast Five and then Furious 6
to be the culmination of this chapter of the franchise.
But I think the marketing part of the studio, I think with Fast Five they did some research
and, for some reason, they came back and wanted to do Fast & Furious 6.
So, it was many discussions,
Long discussions with executives, heads of the studio.
I really wanted to keep it in the spirit of what we were trying to do
so that's why when you watch the film now it will say Furious 6.
And it was always intended to be that way.
The start of the movie here, on the cliffs in Tenerife...
This really... l wanted to start this film off with no music.
I think at the core of it, I really wanted that visceral connection
with the audience that we've never had in this franchise.
And hopefully, it sends a signal to everybody that's watching it.
That even though this is part six of a franchise,
we're not resting, we're going to keep pushing.
And I thought it turned out really well,
it was really tough because those are real cliffs,
Long drops, and it was very dangerous and for the right...
For the drivers to get together
and to be able to execute that,
I feel very fortunate to have, again, the best crew in the world.
Because I'll be there to kick your ass if you ain't.
-Get in there. -Go.
So, here we have, obviously, the misdirect.
Where you think it's the end of Fast Five
but we're actually going into the life-changing aspect of this franchise,
which was Brian and Mia having their baby.
We didn't really have a... Well, here it is,
here's the montage of the last 12 years.
But we didn't really have too many discussions about having the baby,
and I was very...
From pretty much the fourth one, Fast Four,
I wanted to evolve and grow the franchise.
And with that, I think, it just felt natural that
Brian and Mia would get together and, ultimately, start a family.
It will be very interesting to see where an action franchise will go after 6,
with the baby growing up along with everything.
This montage actually came pretty late in the game,
but it was actually such a great time working on it.
And PIC, who did this montage,
did an amazing job.
I thought they captured,
not only the linear narrative of this franchise,
but at the same time, the spirit of what this franchise is about.
I remember watching it for the first time and a lot of the crew members, too.
You do get a little emotional.
For me, it's been eight years, almost a whole decade doing these films.
And to be able to get excited every morning,
wanting to show up, work with people.
And we've developed and grown into a family.
It is quite emotional.
And I felt it was very appropriate for this
because again, Fast & Furious 6,
Furious 6 was always designed to be the culmination.
l know there were rumors out there about shooting two at once, and that's true.
But it was always going to culminate in the plane sequence.
It was very interesting because we had so much story to tell
but at the end of the day I felt like,
we could actually squeeze it all in one.
So, that's why when you watch this film,
you might get a sense that,
"Wow. There's probably a little more action than I'm used to."
And that's true in the sense that, at one point I was going to be...
There was going to be two movies.
When we were working on it, it was so massive
because there was 1 3 characters,
there's a whole other intro of a team.
And I was up for doing two movies.
It was going to be quite challenging.
And we were actually going to call it... After Fast Five,
we were going to do back-to-back movies and call it The Fast and The Furious
and that was going to end it.
But at the end of the day it all worked, it all worked out for...
I'm happy with the fact that we could put it all into one movie.
And this is it for this chapter.
And here you can see, Gina Carano has joined the franchise as Riley.
l got you five minutes with this guy.
l only need two.
I'm so excited to have her be part of this film
because of the fact that she really can fight
and she has this confidence.
I remember meeting her for the first time
and she's the nicest person. One of the nicest people I've ever met.
And she's so calm.
And I think part of that calm comes from the fact
that she just knows she can break you in half if she wanted to.
And she's so great to work with, always comes prepared.
And it was just such a pleasure to be on set with her every day.
I've got rights...
And here is Oakes, who's being interrogated by Dwayne as Hobbs.
He's a great guy. He's actually a magician.
And l was told to be careful
and not look into his eyes too long.
But he was a really fun guy.
He was up for being thrown around by Dwayne all day.
So, any information you just beat out of him, Interpol has now.
Great. Now they can take the morning off. Shaw's in London.
Let's go pick him up.
This scene right here in the hallway,
we actually had a couple of other scenes written
about Letty and joining the team.
And it explained a lot more.
But at the end of the day I really didn't think it was necessary.
I thought it would be better
for us to find out.
We all, kind of, already know because of the end of Fast Five.
To be able to be here and find out with Dom.
And l think it all worked out because the first act of this film,
there's just so much going on
that I felt like we needed to, hopefully, stay just long enough
to be able to have that emotional impact,
and for the audience to be able to connect with the characters.
And at the same time, to be able to always be moving forward.
And I remember here, we had some fun discussions
about Dom drinking beer in the morning
because, as with all shoots,
I will always have conversations with Valeria,
the script supervisor, about clocks.
You will see that there's a clock in the background
and I think it's like, 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning.
And finally, I just thought,
"Yeah, Dom would be drinking beer at 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning."
...and no extradition.
So what are you doing here, cop?
Last Tuesday, a team of highly coordinated drivers
took down an entire military convoy in Russia.
l don't do cold weather.
l know it wasn't you.
But you're going to help me catch the team responsible.
And you ain't gonna need that.
You can't touch him, Hobbs.
This Dom and Hobbs scene, it was very interesting going on set
because of the relationship between Dom and Hobbs from Fast Five.
And l think both Dwayne and Vin were coming in
and trying to find that right balance
of the fact that they don't have to like each other,
but they have to respect each other.
And I thought they did a great job of that.
It took a little time to, kind of, fine-tune it.
But it's always hard, I think,
with scenes like this where you do have two main characters.
I like to play with the gray, and I thought that these were some of the fun days for me,
to be there with Dwayne and Vin and really make adjustments.
And that's what I enjoy a lot of times, working with them,
with actors who can really take it in and make these adjustments as we go.
I'm going to need everything...
I remember this day when we were shooting...
It's funny because it looks like there's sunlight behind on that wide shot,
but right now, where the shot's on Vin, it was actually our last shot.
l had to shoot this scene in about an hour because there was a huge rainstorm coming.
And really on the last take with Vin...
You just started seeing the rain come down.
But we were able to just get enough and the performance was great
that it didn't become a problem.
But that's always the thing about shooting practically.
It's always a challenge.
Especially... It was funny, at Tenerife, I was told that it rained four days a year.
And it happened that when we were there it rained every day.
So, there's another scene later on where you can actually see when we lost the light.
And this intro scene here, actually, I had it scripted,
and as with all these big budget films,
the numbers come in and l remember getting a call from the studio saying, "No.
"We have to cut the budget.
"And you can't have the intros."
And this is very much like the favela chase in Fast Five.
I remember thinking, "How can you not have the intros?"
And they said, "Well, we can't afford it."
So l said, "Okay, fine."
And I just kept working it
and somehow l was able to squeeze in all these scenes here.
I was able to get it into the schedule. And so, it was never scheduled.
We were able to get all these scenes, even Hong Kong.
Hong Kong was actually the last day of production.
I actually have four sound stages running at once
and l ran outside to shoot this.
I left my assistant with the Antonov pilots to shoot some inserts
while we shot this in two hours.
And sometimes it takes that, even with a big budget film,
you never have enough.
And it was incredible that we were able to,
basically, be shooting four different crews at one point.
And this was definitely a fun way to end this big journey.
To shoot Hong Kong and only have two hours to do it.
Coming up here, there's gonna be, at the very end of the sequence,
the button, which is the "Roman with a voucher" joke.
It is probably the most divisive joke of my career.
I would say, it almost crossed like...
It basically divided by race...
Or l would say, probably more class.
Either people thought it was the funniest thing
or people just didn't get it at all.
And the, "It's Roman, bitches!"
It's funny because that's what Tyrese actually had on his seat.
He had them speciaIIy made where it said, "lt's Roman bitches!"
And I would always give him a hard time saying, "You're missing a comma."
And so I was able to bring that back.
I thought when I saw the plane shot I thought it'd be funny to put that in.
And here we're actually back in Tenerife, shooting.
And this was very challenging.
These days, it was supposed to play sunny and paradise
and we were just getting horrible weather issues.
But Steve Windon did an amazing job of creating sunlight
and at times with just rain pouring
and we were able to get away with it,
and not have it affect our schedule.
And this scene coming up, actually, was a really challenging one,
especially for Paul.
This idea of Brian living in paradise
but yet, not feeling fully complete.
This moment was tough.
I remember having to shut down the set one day
and just basically go in and really talk with Paul for a few hours
about where his character was and where Brian is going.
And I think it's so important
because in a way, Brian is kind of the heart of this film.
He's articulating a lot of what the other characters are feeling.
And it was all worth it, because I remember coming in the next day
and on the first take he just nailed it, he got it.
And I think it plays really well.
Hobbs.
If you really look on the Paul coverage,
there is actually no sunlight behind him because it was raining.
I'm still blown away that we were able to get it all without having to re-shoot.
Letty's dead, Dom.
l need to know for sure.
Then I'm going with you.
Here also, it's a big scene between Dom and Brian
and their feeling of guilt of what had happened to Letty, potentially.
And I felt it was very important for Mia to come in
and be the strength of the scene.
You always were.
I think it's very easy for the guys to be strong and try to lead
but I really wanted her to launch our characters into their journey.
I felt like it was very important to do that.
Because at the end of the day,
I feel like this is about the family
and you need her to be able to be strong for Dom and Brian to be strong.
And here we're in the headquarters.
These are some of the hardest scenes to shoot
because I'm gonna have seven or eight characters to take care of.
I had a lot of different personalities,
and everybody works differently,
so it's very important for me to be able to ramp everybody up correctly.
I know I try not to get Tyrese's close-ups in the morning because he just...
It doesn't matter what time zone you're in, he's never awake in the a.m.
It's just strategizing and making sure
that everybody is, hopefully, ramped up so that when the camera's on them,
they're at their best.
Give them a reason to stay.
Our target is Owen Shaw.
Former major in the S.A.S., Spec-ops soldier.
With this film, more than the others, I have all these photos
that we had to have
and it was, like, two weeks of just,
outside of production, shooting these photos, just so we can have,
to be able to have the characters throw around.
It's probably the least fun part of this job
is making sure that we have all these photos so we can display them later.
And we did that during prep.
And you're still trying to ask for money?
That's how you stay a millionaire.
This scene... To me this is like the torture scene in Fast Five and a lot of these films.
It's necessary, but it means nothing.
This tech bomb and Nightshade, it's just a MacGuffin.
And I think for us, for this franchise, we're going into this new genre.
And my challenge,
I wanted to make it a personal challenge
that we say "Nightshade device" only once in this film
because it's just there to help drive everything forward.
Which one of these things is a dollar?
It says something about...
And I felt like it was necessary to have some fun
and have some character moments in this scene.
Because l didn't want it just to be an exposition scene.
And so when the vending machine idea came up
I just thought that was kind of the perfect complement
to articulate, in a fun way,
the relationship between the Toretto team and Hobbs' pitch.
...to make that family whole again.
There it is, with the photo again.
You want to make this family whole again?
This is also a big moment for Brian. l think for Brian's evolution.
He is growing into this patriarch role.
And he's not there yet, but he's the one that's sitting
and making sure everybody is doing it for the right reasons.
That's the deal.
Take it or leave it.
I enjoy ensemble films.
But to make sure that everybody has their arc
and be serviced with the limited real estate at times,
that's something that I really like doing
but it's the most difficult thing
because we only have so much time,
not only on the schedule, but on film, in this film for two hours.
So it's always fighting and trying to carve out little moments for them.
And a lot of the jokes with Tyrese, they're not written.
I know Tyrese very well, we kind of came up together
and we have a lot of trust.
So, a lot of times I'll just watch a scene,
something will come up, I'll just walk up to him
and tell him to try different lines.
And he always nails it and I really enjoy that.
It's the scariest thing to show up on set
and know that you have a scene but you might not have some of the jokes
and to be able to do it on the fly, you really need someone that you can trust.
And I feel very fortunate to have that with him.
And now we have this big intro scene
that's gonna basically turn into an intro sequence of the Shaw team.
For me, this is one of the most exciting reasons why Furious 6 exists.
I feel like, in the past, in this franchise,
we've always had bad guys, antagonists who exist
and they service and they do what they need to do.
And a lot of times, they're there to service the plot.
But l wanted to create an antagonist for the first time
that had a philosophy.
A philosophy that's valid, that you can actually watch this movie and say,
"Well, it makes sense. It makes sense what he's talking about."
And I really wanted that philosophy to challenge
and really push the Toretto philosophy of family and loyalty.
And I feel very fortunate to have Luke to be able to play Shaw.
He's so good,
I always had such a great time with him on set
because he comes ready and he makes my job very easy.
Because we get to... We have a very strong foundation
when he's on set and we're able to make adjustments.
So that just really makes Shaw that much more interesting
in a very limited amount of time.
Come on, you son of a bitch.
Here is the first time you see the Flip Car.
lt's your share from the last job.
We usually will build something.
In Fast Five, it was the truck in the train sequence.
In Fast Four, it was Han's orange truck.
But this time, I was so excited because
when I was thinking about the character of Shaw,
l felt like he's not a character that's gonna basically take a car
and modify it, like what Dom would do.
He actually would build a car that would service whatever he needed to do.
It was all about the function.
So l remember sitting down with Dennis McCarthy at one point
and we were talking about a Flip Car,
and he had designed this Flip Car that was like a Mercedes SUV
and it was pretty big, and it looked great but I felt like it was wrong.
So l said, "Look, let's try something that's a bit more European.
"We're somewhere in Europe, so let the F1 cars inspire us."
And within two hours he faxed me the design, the blueprints,
and that's what you see here.
And it's unbelievable, he built it from the ground up.
Everything we wanted to do, it did.
And here we're at Canary Wharf.
And it was really a lot of fun shooting the implosion.
Now I can say I'm probably... I consider myself a veteran in this genre
and I'll tell you, it never gets old when you actually have live explosives.
It doesn't matter, it can be 4:00 in the morning,
your adrenaline will be pumping when those things go off.
-There he is. -On it.
And right here we have... These are the streets of London in the film,
but we actually shot in Glasgow.
London is almost impossible to shoot in.
Especially for these sequences
where we had to shut down the streets for a whole night.
So Glasgow ended up being a really great city to substitute for London.
And the people there are great.
Our crew had a really great time.
But this was the one kind of six blocks that we had.
And there it is, there's the Flip Car. Watch, there's a shot coming up.
This one is the pride and joy and...
Right there, we do it in a one-ER.
And there's no tricks.
That Flip Car did flip that police car.
I remember talking to Dennis when he built the Flip Car
and they were talking about, "We're gonna have to do it in two pieces."
And I really was challenging them to say,
"l want to do it in one."
As you can see there, these Flip Cars were actually designed to crab also,
which is something I wish I could...
I could get that car again...
I'd probably have 10 other sequences designed for it.
Here we have the intro of the rest of Shaw's team.
l wanted them to demolish and embarrass the Toretto crew.
So we found this location...
Again, there's another clock tower.
In Fast Five, it was a lot more Dom and Brian
and l feel like this is the mirror movie to Fast Five,
and I wanted to give all the other characters a lot more to do.
And, l think, Gal, Sung, Tyrese, Chris, everybody,
you could feel they were so hungry, they couldn't wait.
So, it was always fun showing up on set with these people
because they'd come ready to play.
-Shaw, we have three cars tailing us. -You know what to do.
Here, we're coming into part of Brian's evolution in his arc,
and then we're seeing what's happening, the counter with Shaw's team.
It was really a lot of fun putting together this team.
I gotta say, it's probably some of the best people to work with.
They're so professional, they showed up.
It was great to kind of look around the world and to be able to find them.
Kim was in this Sundance movie, Teddy Bear.
Sammy, he's a boxer and I've known him since my Annapolis days.
I was actually training with him.
I remember, when we were writing the scene with the joke, the evil twin joke,
and I really needed someone who's smaller because I wanted to do the Mini-Me joke,
and l looked at Sammy and l thought, "Oh, man, perfect."
He actually did a great job showing up.
I really like the makeup of that team.
The storefront here,
we actually built the whole building just so we can wreck it.
But it ended up being spectacular.
When we did the cannon, Tyrese's car just flipped perfectly.
I think our biggest fear was that
it was gonna tumble like the rest of the cannons in the sequence.
Approaching rendezvous point.
Dom! Tej and Roman are out! Where you at?
I'm right behind you!
Here, we're actually in Liverpool.
I found this tunnel that I loved,
I've always loved how graphic it is when you're traveling in tunnels
and to be able to have this one where it actually has arcs and turns,
l couldn't ask for a better scenario.
I think the only challenge was to have to move the crew all over
to be able to get this done.
This part coming up where Brian gets flipped.
It was one of those moments where
I wanted to make sure that we actually were flipping Paul.
So, we rigged up this rotisserie set where he's flipping 360, rotating.
Still, nothing beats doing it for real.
I remember using that rig on Tokyo Drift with Lucas in the first race,
so it was great to be able to bring that back.
We're about to hit the third act of this sequence.
Now we're back in London, we're actually at Wembley Stadium.
When we were doing all the location scouts, I was getting a little worried,
because I had very specific ideas about what needed to be done in this sequence,
and we were not coming close.
As soon as I got to WembIey, it felt like the stadium was designed for this sequence.
It was exactly what I wanted, the ramp and the curves and everything.
So, it's one of those moments in filmmaking where, somehow, it was out there.
We found it and it was a perfect match.
Dwayne, he's actually there, there is no green screen or anything.
We shot this at Wembley Stadium.
All directors work very differently,
but, for me, it's very important
to make sure that first unit, second unit, all the shots are in sync.
So that, stylistically, it doesn't feel segmented.
And I'm always working with the actors.
l feel like l have to be there every second that they're there.
In some films, the actors just go off with the second unit,
I just don't feel right doing that.
In the example of this sequence,
I literally would shoot a full day, 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., basically, first unit,
I get in a car, I go to second unit
and I shoot from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. with the second unit.
And then I jump into the car and go back to first unit
and shoot 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
I had a couple of those instances where you go almost 48 hours without sleep.
But I think it's important to do that
because to be able to track all the arcs and the characters,
l need to make sure I'm there to make the adjustments.
See, man, when a woman starts shooting at you,
that's a clear sign to back the fuck off!
We need to get the hell out of Dodge!
This is another example of the improv-ing.
That's not as big as your forehead.
l think the Chris joke was in there,
but the forehead was something that we kept playing with.
I think we're able to, at the end of the day, kind of give it a little extra push.
But it's complicated.
Letty's alive.
That's all that matters.
I feel so lucky, and this is probably karma coming from Fast Five,
when we had such baby problems.
I remember shooting the favela, we shot that in a day and a half
and I thought it was a miracle.
And then we had baby scenes the next day and it killed us.
We ended up having to build a favela set in Atlanta just to reshoot everything
because I couldn't get the babies to cooperate.
And on this film, every baby was just perfect.
I mean, they couldn't be cuter and their timing was impeccable.
She looked dead at me, Brian.
Maybe the Letty we once knew is gone, Dom.
Even though she's alive, maybe she's gone.
You don't turn your back on family.
Even when they do.
l think that the core of this franchise has always been about family.
I think, since this is the culmination,
I felt like it was important to even have the characters articulate it.
I think, usually, I avoid that
but l felt like this is the time to really have them acknowledge it.
-Ivory. -Yo.
Again, here, we're now seeing Shaw's team together for the first time.
Yeah.
Okay, listen up.
We found this great location, it was a bus depot,
and to be able to build this and put together this team,
l was a juror a couple years ago at Sundance
and I basically casted three or four of the roles in this film off of those films.
That's a great way to find new and exciting talents.
Tonight these common criminals were seconds away from taking us down.
Show them the respect they deserve, or it weakens us.
You might want to see this.
Ring any bells?
I remember Michelle had a really tough time with the "team pussy" line.
And l was adamant that we have her do that line correct
because, at the core of it,
I think this film is really an exploration of this idea of trust.
And, Letty, especially, it's so important
because she's playing this trope of amnesia,
which I think you see in a lot of these films.
But to embrace it and not wink-wink the audience,
and say, "Look, let's just play it for what it is."
And ultimately, for her, I didn't want her to get her memory back.
I wanted her to really have to trust her gut, and that's going to be her journey.
So for that to happen, l felt like I wanted the team to gang up against her.
And so that's why that line was so important.
I'm sitting here looking at these images...
lt's like we're hunting our evil twins.
Look at this black dude right here, he's handsome.
And this here is the evil twins scene.
It came out of a discussion l had where l wanted to build this team
and I said, "I basically want them to be the Bizarro team to our guys."
And it evolved into these jokes.
So then we just thought, "Okay, great, let's write it up and let's make it a scene."
It worked out great.
It was actually a lot of fun casting, not only the talent to be Shaw's team,
but also, at the same time, to know that this joke is gonna be played.
l got video footage from CCTV of the raid. Let's track that, see where it leads us.
And secondly, we just got confirmation on what Shaw's crew grabbed from Interpol.
They ripped off the database
of every location that houses the final component that they need.
So where are they at?
There are over two dozen of them around Europe.
But the list is only good for 96 hours.
Which means, wherever Shaw's crew is going to hit next...
Like I said before, it's usually very tough shooting these scenes with all these guys,
and every time I shoot these things,
there's always, finally, when everything comes into sync,
and where there's the crew and the cast and everything falls right into place,
and this is that scene.
I remember, the first three days was just trying to get the rhythm of everybody,
how they work, and making sure they're on set, and this and that.
Once we got to this scene,
I thought Vincent, our first AD, did a great job scheduling,
because this is one of those scenes where they need to be a well-oiled machine.
And l think it was smart to schedule this on the fourth day,
so that when we showed up, everybody here was in sync
and this scene just came together very fast and smooth.
Make sure they're fast.
l got this.
I'm already on it, Dom. I've contacted R&D at DSS.
Hobbs...
l said l got this.
This should be interesting.
We're now getting into the sequence where it's the beginning of the second act.
At the creation of this scene, I was always a little hesitant
because, tonally, it's going away
from our franchise, in a way, the genre, a little bit.
And it's not servicing as much as I like.
But it was interesting, once I was able to get Ludacris and Dwayne together,
and they had never really been in scenes together, it just flowed,
and l thought, "Okay, you know what, it's okay, let's embrace it
"and give it a beat, let's take a beat,
"and let's go into territories that we've never gone to before,
"and just have a little fun with it.
"You know, let's have this Pretty Woman scene. "
...but you couldn't possibly afford the cars in this auction.
Substantial lack of gaudy jewelry, no entourage, no honeys.
Clearly you're not a "baller."
And you.
It's funny,
I think, at one point, I was thinking of having him be very meta
and say, "You're clearly not a rapper."
And everybody loved it except for Ludacris.
But I have to say, at the end of the day, that was definitely too much.
But please, do finish your champagne.
This is one of the rare days where we got sunlight in London.
It's funny, the sun in London is so different
that, behind Dwayne, it almost looks like a green screen.
All right, this is number five on our list.
Here we have Firuz, played by Thure.
He was in this film at Sundance that l saw, that I really liked, and he did a great job.
So when l knew we were going to Europe,
he was one of the first guys I had the casting director, Lucinda, call.
He was great to work with and I can't wait to do it, soon, with him again.
He's a man.
Let's go.
"He's a man"?
You know, she always says that.
And now we have this bullet scene with Dom and Brian.
lt's specific to one handgun, the PSM.
Given that handguns are illegal...
I, personally, find it very refreshing
that even though this franchise, at the core, is always gonna be about Dom and Brian,
that we are now opening it up.
So that in this sequence, in the beginning of second act to the middle of second act,
we're sharing so much of the screen with the other characters,
l like that.
I'm always intrigued by our other characters
and this is finally getting to a point where we get to really have some fun
and let them breathe.
Two hot girls like you don't wander into this neighborhood
unless I've called the escort service.
And l haven't, yet, today.
This is the director's cut, so there's a little extra stuff
that Thure had, that I really loved.
It pained me, it took me till the very end, I ended up taking it out just for pacing sake,
but in this cut, I'm very happy to see it back in.
When they ask about doing another cut, it's always called extended cut
because I always feel like the theatrical cut is my cut, it's the director's cut,
but this is one of the rare times where I do feel like this is the director's cut,
as opposed to extended, just to have more stuff,
and it's not an issue with the studio or anything like that.
It was just that we really had so much going on
that the MPAA was having problems.
They were really great to work with, and we were ultimately able to get our PG-1 3.
The theatrical cut is my cut,
but, to be honest, with some of the sound tweaks
and some of the little things that I wanted for pacing,
I really do think that the director's cut is a more enjoyable version.
Not only in seeing more action but also some of the sound design,
it's much closer to what l want.
l think that if the director's cut was gonna be in theaters,
it would've been rated R for sure.
Because you're asking me nicely?
What can you offer that l can't get from a thousand other girls?
Stop! Stop!
As you can see here, Gina, she has no problem manhandling anybody.
Just seeing her flip Thure like nothing, and she really did do it.
It's always fun, because you can be on set with actors sometimes,
and you can see they're just trying to get by, action wise,
and with her, man, you just see her really taking care of business.
This is the B-side to our auction scene, and it's great
because it gave us the perfect way to present these classic vehicles for our characters.
And the fact that we needed cars that weren't chipped,
it was the perfect excuse to be able to cast all these cars.
The Daytona that Dom drives,
this is probably the third film I tried to put it in,
I know it's a very popular car.
I just never felt like it fit tonally.
But because of the auction, I felt like it worked perfectly,
I was very happy, on my last Fast and Furious film,
to be able to put it in.
That's it, functional.
Okay.
-I'll hold that. -Thank you.
Come on, man, time is money.
Yes, doing my best.
Damn, you need some hedge clippers for that shit.
The Hobbs and Tej scenes are...
Sometimes you just don't know untiI you get the actors together
and they start playing,
and Dwayne and Ludacris definitely have a really great rapport,
and to be able to see that,
I just jumped on it and started creating more moments for them in the film.
This is for you.
-And this is for you. -Thank you.
Good day, gentlemen. Thank you.
l got the information in here.
This sequence I enjoyed and I didn't really get to talk about
the Han and Roman in the balcony.
I really enjoyed this location, it's King's Cross.
This is probably the last time it's ever gonna look like that,
because when we were there,
they were already starting to build condos and buildings and stuff like that.
l think we're the last crew to be in there.
That's the last time it's ever gonna look like that.
But I was gonna say, the Han and Roman moment,
were some of the best moments, for me, most enjoyable moments,
to see Roman and Han really evolve and have that relationship.
It's moments like that, that I really...
I mean, these big action scenes are great and they're definitely fun to shoot,
but the hardest ones are the Dwayne-Ludacris or Sung-Tyrese,
these nice little moments between characters.
They're the hardest ones to get
because, you know, many times it's not in the script.
And, as a director, I'm always trying to, hopefully, create environments
where we can have the opportunity to have that.
As soon as you have it, you want to try to push it and grab it
so you can capture it.
And on this film I felt that,
because we were able to explore a lot more of the other characters,
those opportunities were more present than the other films.
Take care, guys.
We're about to start off on one of my favorite sequences in the film.
This took months and months of preparation,
because Gina is a fighter, Michelle is not.
I mean, she's tough, but she's not a professional fighter,
so it took us definitely a few months, every day,
for them to train and go through the moves with Olivier, who did a great job.
At the same time, I think as it evolved,
I wanted to give the guys something to do,
and, hopefully, on a subconscious level, we're breaking tradition a little bit.
I think having the guys... The Roman, Han and Jah fight,
it's a bit more comical, it doesn't need to exist
except the fact that this team is being over-matched right now.
I feel, obviously, the core of this sequence is really about Letty.
Again, within the theme of trust, I think it was a crucial sequence for her,
because she can't remember who she is,
and all she can do is be who she is.
Anyway, we'll get to that.
Here we have a big reveal of Braga,
and I know that's something that I felt was important to tie all the films together.
And, obviously, Gisele was working with Braga in part four.
And this is also a great moment here with her,
her focus and calm, to be able to take this guy out in one shot.
And, actually, that happened. I designed that in five minutes,
because I had this whole sequence set up
where the motorcycles were gonna jump the ramp.
It was crazy, it was a great sequence, but we were running out of time.
And l think Gal was initially really disappointed
because it was one of her big moments.
But I was running out of time and I had to do something for the character,
and I decided to just revamp everything in five minutes.
At the end of the day, I think it said the same thing much more economically.
I actually like it better.
I have the other sequence stored,
so it'll probably show up in one of my future films.
Again, here, with these fights, this is all them,
they went at it.
On Letty's side, two and a half, three days,
and it might be a 40-second fight or a minute fight,
but it was three days of them going at it nonstop.
It was exhausting, and they did an amazing job.
On the guys' side, we only had one day
and I couldn't believe it was a three-day fight that we had to shoot in one.
And I remember pulling Joe aside
and saying, "Look, it's one day, just pace yourself."
And he wouldn't listen to me, he went all out every take,
he never ran out of steam.
It was insane shooting that, with all the extras, and coordinating that in one day
but the crew did an amazing job.
Again, I was going back to this idea of Letty and why this fight exists.
It's probably one of the most crucial moments for her,
because, when we do things in life sometimes,
whether in sports or in fights,
very rarely does it happen,
but these incidents that we get into, we find out who we really are.
The fact that she can't remember, and she gets into this fight
and the way she fights,
at the end of it, I felt it was important for her to realize that she's a survivor.
That even though she might not remember anything,
she would actually bite her way out of it,
she would actually tackle someone down a flight of stairs.
She'll do whatever she has to do to survive.
And that's a big component to her character.
This whole fight was designed for Letty and for her to be able to realize that.
It was very funny
because, I think, Tyrese...
He always shows up and we would do this fight,
and he kept saying, "God, I'm getting my ass kicked.
"Can l get a punch in?" And I said, "No, you're not,
"because this whole thing is about you and Han getting destroyed by one guy."
And this is the third...
There is a kick here that's not in the theatrical cut.
I really loved it and I think it works better
because it actually really puts the...
And this is the shot that I was talking about.
About her realizing that she's a survivor.
And l wanted to make sure that that was in there.
And I remember Tyrese kept saying, "I'm getting my ass kicked all the time."
He said it so much that this line...
No one needs to know about this.
"Nobody needs to know about this. No one."
No one.
I just walked up to him at the very end and said, "Just go up to Han and say that."
And it was on the spot and I thought it turned out very well.
We lost Ivory.
He's gone.
Thanks.
That's it?
If Ivory's dead, he made a mistake.
So, tracking Letty's arc...
If you make a mistake, you pay the price.
This is where she's now coming into her own a little bit.
And she is questioning some of Shaw's philosophy.
And I think it's important because it kind of gives her a sense that,
even though she still does her job very well,
something's not feeling quite right.
And this idea of self-discovery/trust,
this is something that I think is very important
and leads up to this scene between her and Shaw,
where it's evident that she's now questioning a lot of the stuff,
and Shaw's seeing that.
He's coming in here and he's all about efficiency
and taking advantage of situations.
And he's already planting the seed.
When l found you in the hospital, and you couldn't remember anything,
l said to myself,
"This girl has a gift."
I don't know if people watching would even clock it or anything,
but l think this is one of those moments where it could be played very differently.
And it's these subtle adjustments that l think make these scenes work
and create layers that you might not expect.
And having Michelle and Luke, it was amazing.
I think once, I told Luke saying,
"We have to plant the seed that you're so ahead of the game.
"Even though it's not in the script or anything, you're already ahead."
This scene, the talk with Dom, everything,
the kidnapping of Mia is already in place starting here.
And once he heard that and he got it, we were able to make those adjustments.
And it played...
It added that eeriness for the viewer,
even though nobody knows exactly what's going on, but it's there.
-What the hell happened? -We met Dom's girlfriend.
She's lovely.
-Are you all right? -Yeah.
Tej, what have you got? Footage, CCTV? Talk to me.
l just went through all of it.
Believe it or not, everywhere Shaw's team is, the cameras are down.
There's a few scenes in this film
where I think when Hobbs was pitching with the MacGuffin scene,
and these scenes here,
where we really had to explain what's going on.
It actually is great to have all these characters
where they're all linked somehow with the last three films,
Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious and Fast Five.
And now to have everything kind of come together.
It actually made these scenes much more, I would say, fun to shoot.
This very easily, for me, could just fall flat.
But I think seeing all these different reactions from different characters,
it links everything together from all the other films.
He's sitting in a prison in Los Angeles.
How do you know that?
Brian put him there.
All right, so this is the break we were looking for.
If the two of them were working together, Braga will know what Shaw's up to.
-I'm going to pay him a visit. -Are you serious right now?
Think about what you're saying.
You're wanted, Brian.
The moment you step foot off that plane, it's a wrap.
You're not coming back.
"Coming back"? How are you going to get in the country?
Let me worry about that.
To have Brian basically leave this film and go into another film,
it was pretty daring, I think.
In many ways, I can see why people think, "Wow, what's going on?
"This character is actually leaving the whole group to his own thread."
But I think it is important because
I think for Brian in this film,
his arc of basically trusting his instinct and becoming a father,
becoming a patriarch,
he needs to go back to a place where he has to face his own demons.
Thank you for seeing us. l won't take up much of your time.
Okay, this CCTV scene was, l would say,
in the last two Fast and Furious films,
I didn't really leave much on the cutting room floor.
I think we end up taking one scene out in Fast Five
and l think one in Fast & Furious 6.
But this was the scene that was talked about,
and I thought about maybe this scene actually could've been taken out
and nobody would miss it.
But I felt like if we were gonna go for it, we need to embrace what we're trying to do.
And this scene is really about Hobbs and how he takes care of business.
And at the same time, I also really loved Gina's performance in this scene.
So at the end of the day l felt like it's worth it,
because the scene works.
Again, it takes its time to explore these characters.
That's something that a lot of times in films of this genre you don't get.
And I feel like we've earned our right to be able to be a little bit indulgent,
to be able to take a little time to spend with the characters
without having to always rush.
And l also strongly suggest that you put a hold on any more
"maintenance."
Yeah, of course.
We appreciate your help. Thank you so much.
And so, this is probably one of the threads and I'm sure people watch it,
and some of the reaction would be like, "Wow, he's going back to LA.
"How is he getting back to LA?"
And of course, it's Stasiak. Great actor.
I always enjoy working with him.
So, it was great making that call to say, "Hey, can you come and play with us?"
He was actually there with us in London on the very first day of shoot,
and this was our last day of shoot.
But he's kind of the DNA of Fast and Furious with Shea and John Ortiz.
And actually for me, it was always a lot of fun watching Silver Linings Playbook
and seeing both of them in that film.
You're an asshole, you know that?
l missed you, too, man. l really missed you.
Believe me, I think this conceit of being somehow worked on
and Stasiak bringing him to LA and then putting him into a prison
which is supposed to be max.
lt's insane.
I think in the construct of it, I can see that
but l felt like it was worth it. It was worth taking this route.
Because again, I wanted to separate Brian
from the rest of the crew, the rest of the characters,
and have him face his demons and fight his way out.
And to do that, I didn't want any other character around.
l wanted it to be him
because the guilt that he felt with Fast Four, he was the one that...
Here, we have the call back to the Fast Four Stasiak hit.
But I really did want Brian to... That guilt, he was running Letty,
so when Letty died, he feels responsible.
And for him to go and face his demons, you know, Braga,
l felt like it was worth it to do that.
Big Brother's about to go live.
And here, with the CCTV, it is true.
If anybody's been to London, there's cameras everywhere,
and they cover everything.
And here, of course, we have the setup for the harpoon gun.
What does that mean?
That's what they use to anchor buildings and hold up bridges,
stuff you know nothing about!
l liked how this scene turned out.
It was fun and it kept moving.
But really, this is just a setup for the plane sequence.
And you might think, "Well, is it too convenient to have this, to have that..."
I think, if you actually trace everything, it actually does all work out,
because Firuz is playing with the harpoon gun
that they were working on, on Shaw's side.
And so, our guys are going to react.
I actually had a lot more scenes written about the back and forth
and the design of the weapons and stuff.
But at the end of the day, I felt like it was just going to drag everything down.
So, l just kind of slimmed it up.
And now we're here with Brian, obviously with the paper airplane.
A call back to his son.
And now, he's about to basically find the truth,
or at least for him, digging and facing his guilt and everything that he feels.
And this is something that...
I thought he did a really good job back in the scene with Dom on Canary Island.
Because he has to, in a way, between Fast Four and Fast Five,
he has to accept the fact that Letty is dead.
The fact that she's alive,
I think he feels very personally responsible for everything that's happened.
And now, he's gonna find out what exactly happened.
You put a lot of these men in here.
What? You didn't think one would recognize you?
And this Braga thread that links with Shaw,
it's something that a lot of people ask,
"Well, how much in advance did you know all of these things?"
In Tokyo Drift, I remember going and talking to Vin,
and trying to convince him to do the cameo.
I thought that was one of the most important steps of this franchise,
because Tokyo Drift was about trying to change the sensibility
of what Fast and Furious is.
And I felt like if I could go to him and convince him
what I was trying to do, and he would say, "Yes,"
that would mean a lot because it would mean we were going on the right direction.
Because Toretto is everything for him, he's always gonna be Iinked with Dom.
And so for Vin to be able to be convinced and say, "Okay, let's go on this journey,"
that was one of the most crucial points.
And so I remember in 2005, standing there at Vin's house by his pool,
just talking for hours about the mythology, the connection between Dom and Han,
and in essence, Brian, and all these things.
It's amazing sitting here, watching this film,
and how much of that was being talked about in 2005.
I wouldn't say all the details,
but a lot of the main stroke relationship stuff was talked about.
So, it's amazing to be able to see it come to life
and know that it's all been realized.
The minute you put Letty undercover, she was dead, bro.
And here you see actually what happened with Letty and Fenix.
And I remember on the day we had a whole discussion,
"Is Letty gonna have the jacket or not have the jacket?"
And I felt like, "Yeah, she should have the jacket."
Because that's what she was wearing.
And what you see in Fast & Furious,
that's actually through Dom's interpretation,
we actually never saw Letty dead. We don't know what happened.
And this is the reality.
But she survived.
That girl is one tough bitch.
So, it's these little nuggets and in-depth conversations with Valeria...
And l know l threw her under the bus a couple of times in this film,
but it was for the sake of believability. I wanted imperfections.
I'll point that out later.
What happened to Letty is on your head.
This was pretty taxing.
It was the actors doing all the fights.
And Paul going at it for two straight days
of just all the coverage and all the different angles.
But he loves this and he is, in a way, built for this.
And this scene actually sounds much better on the director's cut.
This is an example of,
with the MPAA,
where sometimes it's not even the cut, it's the sound itself.
And when they feel like it's too violent,
and I don't know where the line is,
but it is just something that they'll come back with
and you have to keep working with them.
But I can say, in this cut,
this sound is exactly the way l wanted it to sound like.
And l think it's much more effective.
You won't do it.
What is Shaw up to?
A lot of people watch this and they think that
maybe Brian didn't get anything, but he does.
He actually gets a lot, and we can talk about that later.
But this stuff right here...
Braga's basically giving up the whole Riley reveal
if you really think about it.
We're coming up to my final car and hot chicks sequence.
Thank God.
I wanted to go out on top and this is all I got.
I hate shooting these scenes. They're miserable.
l have hundreds of extras. They barely have any clothes on.
It's at night. It's freezing.
And I'm trying to coordinate and make everything work.
But they were troupers.
You see 'em with this and it's freezing outside.
And when you call cut, everybody is putting on these blankets.
And so, for this to work...
I'm so glad I never have to do this again.
Again, this is another sequence where I was asking for a circular building.
I had it in my mind. I wanted to design it a certain way.
And we found it.
It was pretty much exactly the way I wanted.
The funny thing is, is that this courtyard
is actually about 50 yards from 10 Downing Street,
which is the equivalent of the White House.
It was a Treasury building.
And for them to shut it down, and for us to be in there,
shooting with all the cars and hot-looking people.
It still blows my mind that they would actually let us do that.
We're coming up with the second part of Letty's self-discovery.
And this is about Dom really testing her and saying,
"Look, you might not remember, but I'm going to help you feel things
"that you might not remember, but feel familiar."
And it's always a challenge
because l know we wanna have races in these films,
and to give it more meaning is always the challenge.
I just felt like, again, not to waste any sequence.
You know, "Let's put it in character."
Ride or die, remember?
And Rita Ora here. lt's funny. You see her standing there?
She's actually not there.
We actually shot the sequence and then Vin came up to me one day and said,
"l met Rita Ora. She's awesome, and she feels like London."
And I met with her and I thought, "Man, Vin's right."
And so, l had the insert unit at Shepperton basically set up with a crane and two cars.
And we shot this in a couple of hours in the rain, no less.
And it all cut in together really well.
This race is not really a...
Superficially, it's a race.
But it's really, again, this idea of Dom
showing Letty a little bit of who she is.
I thought it was great because we actually did shoot in London in these sequences.
And we couldn't be there a long time.
And like, Piccadilly Circus...
We're only the third film...
There's my son, who makes his second cameo.
And again, Piccadilly Circus, we were there all night.
And they couldn't shut it down fully. So we had about seven-minute windows
to kind of get the cars through, shut it down for regular traffic.
And we did that all night and we shut down for another 30, 40 minutes
waiting for the next window.
But I think challenges like that come with the territory.
I think when we want to shoot in big cities
that are just iconic and stylized,
you're always going to run into problems like that.
And I think with the right crew and the right strategy, it can be done.
And I'm very proud of this sequence, with everything,
and just getting everything together.
One of the shots here coming up,
l remember talking to Andy and Spiro, coming up right here,
this shot right there.
I wanted the Daytona to do the 1 80 and go forward all at one shot.
And I really challenged and pushed them and they did it.
And those are the little moments, like the extra little twelve frames
that I, personally, find it makes a huge difference
in the feel of the movie.
As you can see, this is a much darker sequence.
We didn't really do a lot of lighting.
I felt like it actually was a great look and l wanted that
because part of the growth and evolution of these characters and the maturity of it,
I wanted the style and the visual to reflect that.
And l think in earlier Fasts, I think the first couple of days,
it was lit very bright, which I think it worked.
But I think as Dom and Letty, as they're growing and maturing,
I wanted the film language to reflect that.
This sequence here,
this scene between Dom and Letty is the heart of the film.
If this scene doesn't work, the film doesn't work.
It took us a couple of days on this location. And it's funny.
It's a huge location. Huge location.
And for much of the two days,
we were actually just shooting around the close-up of Vin and Michelle.
And it's just funny seeing this huge crew
and basically shooting in a five-yard radius.
You never could resist American muscle.
Nice scar.
You never could keep yourself out of trouble, either.
Chris Wagner, who cut this scene,
this is one of the scenes where, basically, I think when I saw the first cut,
we made two adjustments to it.
And it's one of those great moments,
I feel like, as a director,
when I'm able to find people that work together,
and we really do kind of develop this sixth sense,
being able to kind of read each other's mind.
And for this scene to be able to cut together that quickly,
it just means that we definitely have grown.
And it was also great to be able to see this scene cut together very early on
because I knew we had the goods at that point.
No.
l was the kid showing off.
And here...
Boyle Heights.
You were fleeing with my little sister Mia and got trapped in a corner.
And you thought it was a good idea
to ride your Torino Cobra through a retaining wall.
All right, how about this one?
Yeah, Vin and Michelle, they're really in the moment there.
Sometimes with actors, they try to pace themselves out with coverage.
And l told both of them that the way I designed this scene,
they were not going to be able to take any split second off.
They had to be in the moment. Both of them, at all times.
l followed you.
I purposely designed it that way,
so that you can genuinely be in there with them.
Even on the close-ups,
so that you never feel even subconsciously cheated.
The camera is always gonna see them together.
I'm here for you.
That girl you remember,
it's not me.
Not from what l just saw.
Like it or not,
you're still the same girl.
l saw it out there.
l see it right now.
l got to go.
Hey.
This cross.
It belongs to you.
I'll admit this cross was something that started in the fourth one.
l know Vin or Michelle had worn it in the first Fast and Furious.
Vin did in the first Fast and Furious.
And it was through a conversation with Vin on Four early on
that we decided that was gonna be a symbol for Dom.
And it's amazing to see how that cross has survived
explosions in tunnels and everything and how it's living on.
There she goes,
leaving you again.
And this Dom and Shaw scene...
You want bloody? We could do bloody.
It was probably one of the scariest scenes to shoot
because there really wasn't much on page.
And Vin was very skeptical.
We had talked about it, but until you start getting on the set
and start really playing with it,
you just didn't know what you had.
I think I understood, everybody understood what we needed to accomplish.
But it's the delicate balance of
how are these characters gonna handle the confrontation.
And I think for me, it was to make sure that Vin understands
it's not about the word count.
It's not about trying to puff up and show Shaw how great you are.
It's actually trying to be very genuine and sincere,
and to listen to everything that Shaw is saying.
And l think it was like a two-hour conversation l had with Vin on set
and I remember looking at Luke and saying, "You come at him."
And Luke got it right away and so...
There was a point at that night where I think the crew was feeling like,
"Oh, my God. We're not gonna make the schedule."
But then as soon as Luke just got into the mode of attack
I think Vin started feeling, understanding...
It was one of those things that it had to be done in that way.
I honestly don't know if we did it any other way it would be any better.
Most men don't.
It came together in a very organic way,
even though it was stressful and it was a little scary,
but I think a lot of times on set, I think now that we know each other so well,
you know, I know Vin so well, we have so much trust,
I don't mind him pushing back as long as he has very valid concerns.
And l think the fact that we didn't actually have it on page,
and we were growing it and evolving it.
It had to be done that way, because I felt like what was on the page didn't work either.
l walk away when she walks away.
Well, then,
it appears this inspiring tale has come to an end.
If that's the way it has to go.
Let me guess...
Hobbs.
That gun that Dwayne is carrying is so heavy.
See you around, Toretto.
You can bet on it.
The example of never giving in and always push for every inch.
This moment here, I think on the script this is more of a logistical thing, right?
Hobbs calling Riley and that's it.
And they have the trackerjoke.
You know what would have happened if l didn't put that tracker in your car?
But I felt like it was important...
This is one of the big moments of connection for Dom and Hobbs of respect,
and for him to say this line...
And I threw that in pretty late in the game because I felt like it was worth trying.
And when we were on set and we did that,
you can see the performances of respect between them
and we shot that kind of middle of the schedule.
It became kind of an anchor for a lot of the Dom-Hobbs moments for the rest of the film.
This better have been worth it.
More than you'll ever know.
Again, we're back in Shaw's hideout
and Letty again investigating, finding out a little bit more about herself.
You know, we have this cross where,
I think it was until really the draft before it went into production,
l wasn't sure if she should give the cross to Shaw.
But I remember doing our first rehearsal and seeing it done,
I thought, "She has to give that to Shaw," you know.
That's part of her...
Where she is right now is that she might understand cerebrally
the significance of the cross, but emotionally she has no connection.
I'm going to ask you a question, Letty,
and l want you to think very hard before you answer.
And it's funny because, there was a leak on the Internet on Ain't It Cool
about this Jason Statham reveal
and if you read that leak it actually says,
Shaw tosses the dog tag.
So, l know the leak actually came from a script, it's not coming from a screener.
And in that script, she still hadn't given the cross,
handed the cross over to Shaw.
l kinda know who leaked it.
And I know it was from script form and not from the screener.
Tej, talk to me, what have we got?
I have to be honest, I think this sequence from here
until the tank sequence is just bullshit. It's boring. It sucks.
Not because of the actors, everything was great, it looks great.
This is where MacGuffins take over
and l think this was kind of in a way a bit of a...
As a filmmaker, I feel like I can always get better.
This is tough because...
The end of second act, you know, a lot of this stuff,
even though I knew where the movie was going,
I knew thematically where everything is,
a lot of the script was not there.
So some of these scenes, I was still writing while we were editing,
because they were not shot, it didn't exist.
And part of the challenge is that
it's very much not about what our characters are going after, but what they...
This is just to service the plot points to get 'em to where we need to get 'em to.
So, l mean, l definitely have a good time watching it
and you see the characters and stuff,
but I felt like with a little more time,
I probably would have been able to tighten it a little bit more.
Let's go, guys.
Shaw, everyone is in place. All things moving according to plan.
Good. Send him in.
The Samoan Thor is funny because I actually threw that in the very last minute.
I've seen so many people talking about it and...
Yeah, it was kind of, for me, it was kind of the rule of three.
I think we started off with The Hulk, and then we went to Captain America
and I wanted to give it the comedy rule of three.
l guaran-damn-tee you one of them is gonna match.
Yeah, so, I mean, it's not too much,
but it's just a couple of scenes that I think could have been tighter.
That means he's got an eight-hour lead on us.
We gotta move now. Tej, give me that info.
Riley and l will go ahead and we're going to lock down the base.
We're going to protect that component personally.
Toretto, I'll arrange transportation for you and your cars.
You brush up on your Spanish, boys. I'll see you en España.
Here, we have Brian coming back.
You son of a bitch! You made it!
I know that people have talked about it.
A lot of people are saying, "Well, he didn't come out with any information at all.
"There's nothing concrete. His whole trip was wasted."
You know, and I disagree.
I actually think that if he did go and find concrete information
it would have played much more into the MacGuffin
and it would actually have been worse.
I know I'm being tough on this sequence right here
but I have to say, I think the one thing that l do like is the fact that
you think he doesn't have anything, but he actually, on a character level,
he was able to go and find closure on certain levels,
and l don't think Dom is being dismissive at all.
I think Dom is actually saying,
"It's fine, you found your closure, but we still have a mission to go on."
And it actually does result in something, because in this next scene
Brian's gonna figure out that it's the convoy, not the military base.
So, the idea of him going to Braga and Braga basically telling him that...
Basically indicating that there's a mole
and also letting Brian know a little bit of Shaw's philosophy.
lt's time.
Something is not right. He wanted us to find that guy.
Think about it. At Interpol, you were face-to-face with him.
Brian, so what are you saying?
Braga said the only way you get near Shaw is if he wants you to.
Tej, where's that component?
They're moving it to a secure location.
Shaw ain't hitting that base.
He's hitting the convoy.
So, here we go, this is actually one of the two biggest sequences
that's gonna go back-to-back, almost, in the film.
At one point, when this was going to be... This was so big, this film,
that I was thinking about doing it as two films.
This tank sequence was gonna be the end of the first film, The Fast.
And then the plane sequence
actually was gonna be the end of the second part of it which was gonna be The Furious.
Let's go!
I actually had a sequence
prevized and designed where that sequence was taking place in London
at Piccadilly Circus and everything, but it was just gonna be insane.
We were actually gonna build London on a sound stage,
we were gonna build it like, I think it was 1 2 city blocks.
At the end of the day, I felt like the money was not being well used,
because it was gonna be so much visual effects for the buildings only.
And building a whole London set,
I just didn't feel right doing it and at the same time we would keep going on scouts.
And as soon as it landed on Tenerife and they took us on this freeway,
this highway, basically, that is brand new and they hadn't opened it yet
and they said we could have it, that kinda tipped the scale for me
and l felt like we would be able to put much more of the money on-screen
and also have the control and to be able to do everything practically, you know.
And I have to say, right here, this was one of the sequences with this truck
and Joss, our special effects supervisor, did an amazing job.
We had these meetings, I remember pitching this to the crew
and I would just have silence.
People were, I don't know, scared
and they didn't know how we were gonna do it.
And I remember them coming back saying, "We can do it in two sequences,
"we can do it in four parts."
I said, "No, I want it in one part."
And Joss and his team, they figured it out and it was unbelievable.
And I think you feel the difference.
When these things are done practically and there's no editing tricks, it is what it is,
you just feel that sense of awe
that l think makes these films so much fun to watch.
We got company, guys.
Toretto is coming right at you.
Okay. Get the weapons hot.
Give me satellite imaging.
We're gonna come up to this sequence with Han and Gisele.
Again, this is an example of...
I have so many characters and the budgets always come in and they say,
"Well, we don't have enough money, you can't do it, you can't do it."
I can't print any more money, I can't get any more money, it is what it is.
And as the production goes on we get into better shape
and l went to Spiro and l said,
"Look, I need you to splinter off your unit and go shoot some of these shots."
And he was able to do that and this whole sequence was shot, in a way, unscheduled.
It was never on the original schedule.
The other great thing about having a... Being able to own a whole highway is that
I could actually put the actors behind wheels and have 'em drive.
And I know, that's always one of the big things I get on set.
Everybody wants to drive.
Of course it's so dangerous to begin with,
but finally I was able to go to Vin and Paul and say,
"Hey, guys, you're gonna be driving on this one."
And l can see the excitement in their faces.
Hey, we do what we do best.
We improvise, all right?
This whole sequence started off a little bit as a joke.
You know, I think we were saying, "How do we top the vault?"
And we thought, "Okay, if the vault can drive and you can shoot."
And you know, then we're thinking, "Well, that's a tank!"
So, we went and looked at some tanks and we got one. l remember, at Shepperton,
we didn't know what it was gonna do.
So we just had a car and just drove a tank towards it,
and I think I've got the footage somewhere,
and it just crushed the car like it was nothing.
And at that point, I realize, "This is something we can do and we can design it."
And it wasn't as easy as that because of the safety factor,
making sure that we can execute everything I want in a sequence.
We actually ended up with the real tanks and then we built these medium-sized tanks,
and then we had lightweight tanks. And it was the combination of all three
that we were able to execute and maneuver these vehicles the way we wanted to.
We got one right in front of us.
Boom.
Shit!
You lucky bastard.
Roman, you hang in there.
Hang in there, man!
Somebody better do something! l got a tank on my ass!
There's gotta be a break up ahead.
Yeah, this whole tether anchoring the car,
it was probably another moment,
and one of many, where I would pitch it and tell the crew, "This is what we're gonna do."
And you could just see people's faces, just blank stares of,
"Really? We're gonna what? We're gonna crush a car and then drag it?"
To me, that's what's so much fun.
That's part of the fun of doing Fast and Furious films.
I feel like,
we have this great relationship with the viewer, the fans,
and we're the only kind of
cinema in the world... Like this, with that car articulating like that
I remember telling Andy saying, "That nose has to be down."
He would say, "Well, it's gonna flip."
I said, "Doesn't matter, do it until you get it right."
And, you know,
in reality when you do that, it does, the nose hits and it flips the car,
but we have the ability, we have the budget,
we have the manpower, we have the craftsmen,
to be able to get together and do anything that comes out of my head,
and that's incredible to me.
I don't think there's any other cinema in the world that can support that.
So, my whole thing is that we wanna make sure that we respect that
and we show up every day. Just, let's play.
And l have the best crew in the world who are up for the challenge.
It's funny, when you see these guys run, it runs a little funny.
In real life, those highways are built...
When I was walking I felt like I was drunk, because they were never flat.
So, it always created a bit of a problem for the camera in this sequence.
Letty, go take care of the cable.
And now we're coming to the end where the anchor and also the launch of Letty.
And it was one of those moments where discussions were had, you know,
"Are we jumping the shark?"
I get the sentiment, but I always feel like
if it's there to service the character, which to me,
that moment is the only moment why this whole sequence exists.
Which again, when you're going with this idea of trust,
it's Dom showing Letty, as a character,
that he didn't know that there was gonna be a car there,
but he went with blind faith, he trusted that, you know, he was gonna do something and
no matter what happened he had to have blind faith and trust
and he's demonstrating it to her.
I remember screening this film for an audience,
and when that moment happened,
this cheer, everyone just stood up and started cheering
and that's when I really... It felt good because
it wasn't about the idea of jumping the shark or not jumping the shark.
It was really the idea of, there's that moment, is it earned by the characters?
And when they cheered, l felt like, "Okay, it worked because it truly was earned."
That 3-ounce computer chip is more deadly than 1 ,000 of those tanks.
What about her?
Not her.
She was working with Shaw.
Was,
but she's always been one of us.
Let's give them a minute.
Let's go process Shaw and his crew.
I've never looked more forward to filling out paperwork in my life.
You know, usually, budget-wise for these films,
I mean, we have a lot of money to spend,
but all we can afford is two big set pieces.
On this one, on the same budget,
we were able to basically squeeze out a third one.
We had the team versus team, the tank and they're not small ones,
I mean, these sequences dwarf even the vault sequence in Five,
or even the train sequence.
Again, it means a lot to be working with Clayton and the whole crew
and everybody being so efficient
that we're able to basically squeeze out another huge sequence.
To be able to be done with one...
The tank sequence, where it usually... The size of it is a third action set piece.
And then to have another one that's even bigger coming up,
that's something that I'm very proud of and I'm very proud of the crew.
And here you have the Han-Gisele
kind of working their way into the Tokyo Drift rap.
And I felt like it was important, I think in the theme of trust,
l think for them it's more existential
and anytime I can get on set with Gal and Sung,
it was always something that we would sneak in.
Because these scenes are always so huge with all the coverage and stuff,
it's never quite officially on schedule.
So l would always have wardrobe be ready
and l would look at Sonia and Lorenzo
and they'd just know and they grab Sung and Gal and they just run off to get changed.
Some things you just have to take on faith.
Hey, Toretto!
And this sequence here, again, this is early on our schedule
and there was only two days, this is basically Luke's first day on set.
And I remember talking to him and he's like, "Way to throw me into this franchise."
You know, it's like first day, we're at end of second act
and he basically has to stand up to all, everybody.
But he's great, he's just a consummate professional
and I can't wait to work with him again.
l told you exactly what l was gonna do if you didn't walk away, Toretto.
And again, here we work in this, hopefully it's a bit of a surprise.
l think the conceit is that when Mia sends them off,
you think, "Oh, it's just get rid of the baby and..."
But they actually end up playing a huge part of the third act.
And I think when this was figured out,
I really, you know, it was a sigh of relief for me
because not only do you get to incorporate
and bring back all the characters, bring everything around,
but it actually fits into both philosophies.
-Mia? -Brian!
Let me go!
So, this is how it's gonna go down.
You're gonna cut me loose from these cuffs,
you're gonna hand me the chip,
I'm gonna walk out of here and you're not gonna follow.
You must be joking.
Look at his face.
Ask him if I'm joking.
One hostage does not outweigh the threat to millions.
I'm sorry, but this changes nothing.
It changes everything.
You tell your men to stand down.
Stand down.
Adding this turn on Hobbs,
it's something that, if you really look at this exercise of an ensemble
and I think Dwayne got it right away and I told him, I said,
"Look, if you really count the time he's on-screen, it's not that much."
But if you really look at the impact of Hobbs,
it outweighs that by many times,
because Hobbs is the character
that actually brings Dom and the team into this new genre, this new world.
I always enjoy working with Dwayne because he gets the bigger picture.
I think, a lot of times, some people might get pushed back
because they feel like they're not in the movie enough, or whatever.
But never from Dwayne, we just have one conversation and he gets it.
And that's what you need for a movie like this.
Coming, babe?
And here we have the Riley turn.
Which I always loved watching it in theaters,
and we always end up
eliciting some sort of reaction from the viewer when that happens.
It might surprise, but the seed was planted with Braga.
So even if it's a big or mild surprise,
it actually fits into everything that Shaw... Who he is.
I think that's always part of the fun when you set the game plan
and philosophy for different characters,
and when things organically kind of come together.
So, what about Toretto's sister?
I think I have to give credit to Jay, one of the execs at Universal.
He actually came up with the mole with Riley.
And usually when you hear executives talk,
you just want to basically throw them in the closet or something.
But Jay is a superstar.
I enjoy working with Jeffrey Kirschenbaum, who is now the president.
We came up together on Tokyo Drift.
And now he's co-president of the studio.
And Jay, who's just starting off his career, he's a superstar in the making.
And I feel very fortunate. A lot of times you have this tug and puII
when you're working with the studio.
But I actually have a great relationship.
I work with people who are passionate, who don't mind a good fight,
but at the end of the day, respect the process.
You can't ask for anything more than that as a director.
Because l know I'm not the easiest person to work with,
because I feel like it's my job to fight for a point of view.
And I will fight to the end.
And to be able to have collaborators that are not afraid to do that,
but also, at the same time, respect the director and what he does,
I think it's very rare.
And l think this franchise has been able to benefit from that relationship.
She's as good as dead if Shaw gets away on that plane.
Then we don't let him get away.
Let's end this thing.
And here we are, this is the big plane sequence.
It took about four years for it to finally come to life.
I started designing the plane sequence after Fast Four,
and I actually still have the previz for it.
At one point it was just an exercise on what can be done,
and then I started incorporating more character moments in there.
There was talk about maybe using it at the end of Fast Five,
but I didn't think we had the resources,
I didn't think the technology was ready.
And so, finally, now to see it come to life,
the fact that it took four years for it to all come together,
it's very fulfilling to see it on-screen.
The challenge, also, with this sequence,
there's not a lot...
You have to make a commitment.
Because, I think with other action sequences
you can always cheat and change the order of things.
But with this, there are so many characters, you have to make a commitment,
there is no going back.
And so, it did take many, many months,
and once l decided that this was gonna end Fast 6, or Furious 6...
This interior set itself...
I didn't have it totally set until about three weeks before we went into that set.
And part of that was, I had to make sure the overall connections were all set,
and that all the character arcs were gonna be serviced.
Tell them to take off!
And that started from the outside and we worked our way in,
knowing that a lot of the big pieces were gonna be in the interior.
But we were shooting second unit first.
And with first-second units, again, directors all work very differently.
There's directors out there who basically just hand off whatever action
to the second unit director.
I don't like doing that. I don't do that at all
because l feel like that makes the film feel very segmented.
So all these shots have to be designed, talked about, and it has to be executed.
You don't get any time back.
If the second unit, they don't get the shots right,
you're never gonna get it again.
So l have a great relationship with Spiro, Andy, and the whole second unit.
And they're usually shooting nights and we're shooting days,
so I'm up all night talking to them on the phone.
If for some reason a shot that's designed...
I work with Alex Vegh, who's head of previz, and he's unbelievable,
he's become such a big part of this team.
These shots are designed for the move and lens, everything.
And so when we're on set, there should be no surprises,
but yet, there will always be. l would get a call from Spiro saying,
the 1 8mm lens is not quite working because of this and that.
Can we go to 1 6? Can we go to 14?
Whatever it is, that's how specific I like to get
when dealing with these sequences.
And also, there's enough trust with Spiro
because we talk about these sequences for months and months and months
that when he suggests, "This doesn't work, let's try this,"
it's always in the ballpark because we're all in sync.
And it's important to have that.
And then, in the first unit I'm with all the actors, and also with Olivier.
He had a lot on his plate in this film designing all the fights.
On Fast Five, l thought there was a lot,
but that was nothing compared quantity-wise
to what we're doing in this film.
Yeah, he did an unbelievable job.
I'd never worked with Olivier, this is the first time.
The challenge, a lot of times, working with fight coordinators is that,
they come from a very different background.
They really see it through a different lens, they look at fights as fights,
and they are very technical.
With Olivier, l love talking about character and motivation,
and he gets it.
Right here, this is actually the Dom-Hobbs moment that I really wanted to earn.
And it's always very satisfying to be in the theater and watch it with the audience
where they cheer for that moment.
And we had a lot of cars that we destroyed.
We keep breaking our own records.
I think this one, we went above 250 cars, we wrecked.
I remember on Tokyo Drift, I'd asked for a cannon of a car for a stunt
and it was a big deal.
And it feels like every day we were doing one of those big deals on this film.
And I remember in Longcross, we were trying to see what would happen with these cars
and we got a crane.
And as soon as I saw that you could actually lift them up and how wild they would swing
that's when I knew we had something.
You know, how do you top the Dom and Hobbs fight of Fast Five?
I don't think you try to top it,
you really try to service the character in the moments.
But that being said, I was very happy to have found Kim,
because Dwayne is a huge guy, but he looks like a normal guy standing next to Kim.
And Kim was just game. And I loved playing with them on their fights,
even the way they would take the hits. It was so good.
And this clothesline was the perfect ending to the Dom-Hobbs end of it.
What happened? Did you hit the flap?
You should buckle up right now.
What?
This sequence here, we had built a set that was the fuselage,
and it had a rotating set just to make it feel authentic.
I think a lot of these little things, when you watch the film,
it goes into the planning of it,
so that subtle moves in the movement in the background, it all really helps overall.
At the end of the day, we basically built a whole Antonov.
We built them in parts.
So we had the fuselage set, we had the pilot set,
and we had to build a wing, we built the wheels,
and when you put it all together, we basically built a whole plane.
Shit.
And here we have Mia and Brian. Again, it's nice when things work out
where it feels like Mia is basically sending the guys off
so she can take care of her baby,
and now she's driving the car that's gonna take down the plane.
And this is the moment for Brian, where, again, his discovery of this idea of trust.
He actually has to shoot not at the target
but at where he thinks it's gonna go to hit the target.
l got you.
This Han-Gisele moment l love.
I always love, whether it's Star Wars or any kind of franchise movies,
where you have these iconic characters that have...
They actually have an expiration date. They don't live on forever.
And that's what makes them so cool.
It's like James Dean or Bruce Lee, there's this mystique.
l think now we're at a time in franchises with studios
where they just want everybody alive.
Just in case, forever.
And so, I gotta give the studio a lot of credit. We had a lot of discussions
on this whole Han-Gisele thing.
And at the end of the day, they really did support me as a filmmaker,
and I appreciate that,
because the amount of work, commitment, that goes into making these films,
to have a studio that basically has been an amazing partner
these last eight years...
Because without them you can't have a chance to make a decent movie nowadays,
because there's just so many people.
I have said this before, you know, a lot of times with franchises and sequels,
there's so much money involved
that when one works, the tendency is to be conservative
and say, "Well, it worked on that last one, so let's do the same thing over."
And that's why, for me as a moviegoer,
I find that that's the problem with sequels a lot of times.
And so, when I go to the studio
and say, "Hey, I know that we were successful on this last one,
"but in this next one we're gonna do something very different."
And for them to say, "Okay. Let's evolve it. You do it. Let's push it."
That is very rare.
And there's a lot of trust that goes in between the filmmaker and the studio,
and I appreciate Universal for being such great partners.
For us to start off in a streetcar race scene
and for us now to be fighting in an Antonov
with people getting ejected through a windshield,
this takes a lot of conversations and a lot of trust.
And for us to be here and to see this,
to see the explosion of the plane and everything,
it just shows you that this is earned, too.
And the fans are a huge part of this process,
because sequels aren't given, sequels are earned.
And for us to be able to be a part of this, for me to be able to be a part of this
and to be able to push it and challenge it,
and even stylize it to a point where
we're able to really push what can be done physically,
it's been an amazing ride for the last eight years.
I feel like my job is to somehow
take our characters on all these adventures around the world
and ultimately bring them home.
And to have the opportunity to do it,
I just don't think you get that much in life in what I do,
and so I definitely don't take this lightly.
And I have to give David Vickery, Double Negative, Calvin...
I mean, there were so many people that worked on this, and with pride,
and just the crazy schedule that we had,
and for them to be so tirelessly working
and just giving their all...
And especially visual effects.
I have to say, l think in Star Wars or Star Trek,
you know when it's a visual effect, it looks great and everything.
Here, in this sequence they're the unsung heroes.
When they do their job, you're not supposed to notice anything.
And it's definitely very practically driven, this film,
but I still have 1 ,800 effects shots.
And the only time you recognize visual effects in this franchise
is when it doesn't work.
So the fact that everything looks so great
is a testament to everybody that's worked on it,
the visual effects crew...
I'm forever grateful.
I think for them to be in a dark room all day,
just working and taking these notes, and working and reworking things.
And to see it now, we're gonna have this film that's gonna exist forever,
that's something that I think we're all very proud of.
Where's Gisele?
And again this moment with Han,
l think there was some concern that it was taking the cheer moment away from the film.
And, to me, I don't think it takes it away, it adds depth.
l think it's the accumulation of everything, emotionally,
that this is what...
If you really want to talk about this idea of family, it does embody that.
You're gonna have moments of triumph, you're gonna have moments of support,
you know, people there for each other. That's what a family is.
And I'm glad that we're able to conclude everything and to have these moments.
And I think it speaks to the maturity of the franchise.
Name your price, Dom.
1 327.
So we're back here in the Toretto house.
And in the UK shooting, the weather's always unpredictable.
It's a challenge, and everybody knows that.
And I was looking forward to coming back to LA and shooting,
and, of course, as soon as we got back, it was raining.
Our two-day shoot became a four-day shoot.
And it was pretty tough getting this.
But it was definitely worth it,
I think, for the actors, but definitely for me, too,
to be able to, in a way, take the characters on this crazy journey
and then bring 'em home, and conclude my chapter of the franchise.
You're confusing the kid.
Mia, you're gonna let him get away with this?
You're really going to do it?
Tokyo.
Yeah, it's just something l gotta do.
You know we got your back, whenever you need us.
Hey, Mia, you better hide your baby oil.
I'm just playing.
You better hide that big-ass forehead.
l was just joking, but whatever.
Definitely not that funny.
lt's official.
You're all free.
Now, a lot of people, they would ask me, "Did you know everything?"
I knew enough, even in '05, talking to Vin,
that it is really cool to see...
When you see Roman and Tej talking to Han
and you're seeing Letty talking to Elena,
it just means that we've earned all this.
And all these characters that exist in this franchise, in the Fast and Furious universe,
are able to interact with each other.
He's an amazing guy.
Yeah, he is.
Try to keep him out of trouble.
I like our approach because we never shy away from the fact that
there's two women who love Dom,
there is a baby now in an action franchise.
The fact that we embrace it instead of pushing things away,
that's kind of a badge of honor for me, for sure.
Until next time.
Elena.
You know you don't have to go.
All this... This is your family.
lt's who you are.
This is my family.
This is who l am.
All right, everybody, let's eat.
Want some help with that?
lt's all here, it's done.
Come on, man, let's get with it.
First bite, he's got grace.
House rules, man. House rules.
Usually, working on the script, these are always the toughest moments,
to wrap everything up.
But I have to say, it came pretty easy for this film.
It came across pretty organically.
That's good enough for me.
I think the biggest issue was, "Can we cram everything into one film?"
That was probably the biggest issue.
But it was a challenge and I'm glad that we were able to do that.
And for me, it's just a nice way to close everything out.
...because that's what makes us who we are.
It just felt right for me that this was the time to go.
I feel like I was able to help it evolve and grow,
and at a certain point, I had to let it go.
I remember watching the first Fast and Furious when l was in film school,
so I actually can't wait to get back to that role
of being a viewer again, a fan again,
and see where the next filmmaker's gonna take this franchise,
and the adventures of Dom and Brian and everybody.
And l know that the franchise is gonna move forward
and it's gonna go on and on and on.
We're gonna have the tag here now.
And people were like, "There's no way
"you could have figured that out way back in Tokyo Drift."
And to be honest, I knew we were always gonna come back to Tokyo.
And l felt like there were two pivotal points in this franchise for me.
And the first one was, I mentioned earlier, it was talking to Vin,
convincing him to come back for the cameo.
Because that, to me, was a big indication
that I was doing something right
and that the sensibility of this franchise, even if it's being shifted,
and that we were gonna do something hopefully, and evolve and grow,
and he got that, and we were able to really move from there.
I have to say, probably the second biggest moment for me,
it was actually after Tokyo Drift,
and I wasn't sure if I was gonna do another Fast and Furious.
The studio had called and I didn't know,
I felt like, "God, is it something l want to do?"
As much as l... I really had a great time in Tokyo Drift,
I wasn't thinking... This was very early on, and I wasn't sure.
I remember I was on this road trip and Sung was there,
and we were at an Arby's or something,
and these kids saw him.
l think we were in the middle of nowhere in Central California.
And they ran up to him and they were talking about Han and Fast and Furious.
And at that moment I felt like,
"Okay. Well, you know what, everything I was talking to Vin about,
"it could come true if Han can come back.
"Because that would create a dialog for the mythology that we want to build."
And l remember calling the studio at that point
and they said, "Yeah, you're back on." And I said, "I need to have Han come back."
And they're saying, "Why would you do that? He's dead."
And I said, "Watch, this is gonna create discourse,
"and that's what's good for mythology."
And again, they went with it. They trusted me, they went with it,
and those are the two big points.
And it's led to the evolution and the building of this franchise
to a point that now we could actually go back to Tokyo Drift.
It was great to be able to make that call to Jason Statham and say,
"Hey, what do you think? You wanna be in the next chapter?"
And him saying, "Of course."
And that, again, means so much,
because when I first signed on, there was no original cast...
I don't think people were excited to be in a Fast and Furious movie,
but we were able to build it to a point where now everybody wants to be in it.
Believe me, I get caIIs, everybody wants to be in it.
So it's been a pleasure to be a part of this.
And I know it's very rare to be able to have such great partners,
and to be able to connect with the fans,
and to really build it to a point where I can now hand it off to somebody eIse.
So, this is it, this really is it.
I'm very grateful.
And the fact that you're Iistening to this commentary track means
you must really like this movie and this franchise.
So l have to thank you. And that's it.
All right. So until the next film. Bye.