If you know even a little abouthow the Hollywood machine works, you probably realize that it’s fairly common for projects to change immensely from the initial idea to the final product we see on the big screen. The original concepts of some titles still surprise us, though, as it’s the case with theFast & Furiousversion revealed by filmmakerDavid Ayer(Suicide Squad), who spoke with Collider after our special screening ofhis new movieThe Beekeeper.
In an interview with our Editor-in-ChiefSteve Weintraub, Ayer – whoco-wrote the screenplay for 2001’sThe Fast and the Furious– revealed that the initial starting point of the now world-famous franchise was a lot different than what you’d expect from a street racing movie. From the sound of it, it looks liketheVin Diesel-led film seriescould have been something else entirely if Ayer and Universal producers had stuck with the concept:
“I read the script, and it was like Italian kids in New York, and it wasn’t really like a racing world or like the streets that I knew. And so I told Scott [Stuber, former Universal Senior VP], I’m like, ‘Hey, I’m in, but I’m gonna set it in LA, and it needs to look like the LA I know. It needs to look like the people I grew up with. It’s got to be a different thing than it is.’ And to his credit, he’s like, ‘Yeah, go for it.'”
‘Fast & Furious’ Was Inevitable Because It Was a Growing Culture in LA
Ayer also told Weintraub that what piqued his interest in the street racing scene in LA was the fact that people were basically doing whatDom Toretto (Diesel) and his friendsand rivals did in the first movie: Taking ordinary cars and replacing their engines so that they could reach impressive horsepower levels. He inviteddirectorRob Cohen(The Hurricane Heist) to car shows and added that all we saw inThe Fast and The Furiouswas already an existing culture that he “just put in the movie." As Ayer told Weintraub:
“So, I just did what I do and I hit the streets and I started talking to the heads that are out there turning Honda Civics into 500 horsepower cars. They’re running, like, nine-second quarter miles in a Honda Civic. I’m like, “Bro, what’s going on?” This was back before any of this was legit or anybody knew about it, and these dudes are getting engines, and I don’t know where the parts are coming from, and these are the first guys to crack the computers on the custom fuel curves and everything, and I just put it all in the movie. And Rob Cohen, the director, I’m like, “Bro, come on.” I took him to some car shows and he saw the vibe and the looks and the aesthetics and had a talk with people.It was straight up LA street culture put into Hollywood, and the rest is history.”
As we all know,Fast & Furiouswent on to becomeone of the highest-grossing franchisesof the cinema industry. While that significant change certainly helped the franchise debut’s popularity, we can’t help but wonder how it could all have looked like if Ayer and his team had stuck with the Italian kids idea. Eleven entries in, the film seriescertainly could use some fresh ideas, and we’ll see what Universal does after Toretto and his family drive away into the sunset.
Fast & Furious 11is set to premiere in theaters on August 03, 2025.The Beekeeperpremieres in theaters tomorrow.
The Beekeeper
In The Beekeeper, one man’s brutal campaign for vengeance takes on national stakes after he is revealed to be a former operative of a powerful and clandestine organization known as “Beekeepers”.
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