The Fast & Furious franchise has been thorough a lot over the course of the last nine movies. The story on the screen has been compelling enough to keep audiences interested for decades, but the story behind the scenes has been potentially just as intriguing, and the latest film, Fast X, has been no exception. The movie ended up changing directors just as filming was getting underway, and bringing in somebody new to the franchise, but Michelle Rodriquez has nothing but praise for director Louis Leterrier.
Originally, Justin Lin, who had directed half of the movies in the Fast & Furious franchise, including the previous F9, was set to return to the director’s chair for Fast X, but at the last minute, a week into production, Lin announced he was leaving as director. Michelle Rodriquez explained to the Los Angeles Times just how emotional that was because there was no telling what it would actually mean for the future of the movie. The actress said…
You're ready to shoot the thing, you don't have a finished third act and your director just quit. Welcome to the heartache. There's tears, because you don't want things to end up wack because people are rushing things or they're worried about money so they forget the integrity of the thing. You wonder, 'Will they find someone who's passionate enough to take this on and care enough?'
After making nine movies over the course of the last couple of decades it’s clear that the people making Fast & Furious movies feel passionately about the franchise. It’s understandable why Rodriguez would be worried, as well as why the studio would want to rush to replace Lin, but in doing so, they could have made decisions based on that desire to get things done rather than on finding somebody who was passionate about the series.
Apparently it was Louis Leterrier’s work on The Incredible Hulk, a character Marvel shares rights with Universal on, that was a big part of helping him land the Fast X. job. Universal had a good relationship with him, and he’s even been considered for previous entries in the franchise. Likely putting many of the minds on set at ease, he was also a fan.
Michelle Rodriguez saw a very direct impact on the set of Fast X as her big one-on-one fight scene with Charlize Thron, that’s teased in the trailer to Fast X, was apparently done without a director. While there was likely a second unit director handling the sequence, one has to believe there was a great confidence that came with the new director coming on board. Rodriguez says Louis Leterrier saved the movie…
He saved us. He saved our ass.
Certainly, if a different director had joined Fast X, we could have ended up with a very different movie, but it sounds like Rodriguez is very happy with the movie that we got. Universal was apparently happy as well, as it's already been confirmed that Leterrier will direct Fast & Furious 11. Now the only question is how fans will feel. We’ll find out when the movie opens on Friday.
