All language subtitles for F9 (2021) DC (1080p BluRay x265 10bit Tigole)

Hey, everyone.
This is Justin Lin.

This is the commentary track for F9.

And as you can see here,

I think for people
that are aficionados of logos,

this is one of the older Universal logos.

It was a very conscious choice.

I went back and looked at
all the motion logos...

And by the way, this is...

Growing up as a kid,
the Universal one was my favorite.

And the choice of going with an older logo

was because I wanted it to sync up with
this quote-unquote the flashback to start.

I wanted the point of view to start
with the past timeline.

I felt like, you know,
when we were prepping this,

we kept talking about these
as the flashbacks,

and it definitely is.

But I was really hoping
that for the viewing experience,

because you're being thrust into this
time and place.

I wanted this to be
the starting point for the film.

We shot this in
Irwindale, California.

It's really interesting
because even on films

with huge budgets like this one,

still you never have enough money.

You know,
we shot most of the film in the UK,

and so to get back to LA.
and shoot was definitely

something that we had to keep
fighting for, budgetarily.

It was something that
I felt was important

that we get to shoot

for me growing up, having shot in LA,

just the sunlight,
and just a feel of it.

And this is where it all started

and it was very important to get back
and shoot in Southern California.

Bell's driving safe.

Corbin's got a sponsor in the stands,
so he's pushing it.

Talking about me?

You got a real problem with car 23.

- Linder.
- About to whip your ass, Toretto!

The Jack,

the young Dom,

Vinnie Bennett and Finn Cole.

JD Pardo. They were amazing,

I think a lot of times
shooting these sequences,

it's so hard and that was
one of the big challenges of this film.

Obviously, Vin Diesel is Dominic Toretto.

And to be able to find someone,

that can, in many ways, embody Dom Toretto

but at the same time
bring something that is original,

that is new to the character,

I just thought Vinnie did an amazing job.

It's one of those things
where I got so excited

when, you know,
one day I woke up, and I...

I realize there's more
for us to explore, you know,

the mythology of
Dom and his family.

But at the same time,

I remember I felt like
there was something that was lacking.

And, you know, I felt like
the exploration wasn't enough

and it took another,

I think, couple of weeks
just really brainstorming

that the big idea came,
which is to explore this theme of family,

but in more of a bloodline way.

And it was about 12 hour
of just excitement.

And I was so, kind of, inspired
that this would be the new chapter.

But then after those 12 hours,
I wake up and I'm...

Then it was just total fear because...

It's like, well...

First of all, can we pull this off?

And then if we can,

part of pulling it off
is that we need to find an amazing cast

to be able to
really do these sequences justice.

And so, it became this global, kind of,
search for the actors.

And I have to say,
I felt like our casting team,

everybody was just amazing.

I mean, we looked everywhere,
and Vinnie is from New Zealand,

and it's amazing
to basically go all around the world

and to be able to find
our young Dom in New Zealand.

The other thing that really was scary
was, of course, Jakob.

It was an exciting idea,

but then, you know, I didn't know
if we would be able to find anybody

to be able to pull that off.

You know, the missing Toretto.

The Toretto that has existed
this whole time,

but in eight movies,
no one's ever mentioned it.

It wasn't until I met John Cena,

and within the first 30 seconds,
I was able to breathe, you know.

And so, this whole process
actually felt very organic.

I think sometimes, you know,
you're doing sequels,

you're bringing back
a lot of the same cast

and it's great because
you get to grow together,

you know, you're not alone.

But then when some big idea comes along
and you're bringing new elements,

that is also the most challenging thing,

but also the most exciting aspect
of that journey.

And for some reason,
I think being away for a couple of movies

and then coming back,

it felt really organic.

It felt like we were building a film
from ground up again on all levels.

You know, I think the idea
of exploring the mythology

and introducing new brother,
you know, when it came to me,

Vin was the first person I called.

And I drove to his house,
we talked about it,

and I could tell we both were very excited
for this new chapter,

and at the same time,
this was going to be the first film of

you know, our final chapter in the saga.

The final chapter saga is something

we've been talking about
for about 10 years.

So it was an amazing,
kind of, earned moment

where we were able to sit
and just talk like we've always done,

but really have a sense of tone
and also our purpose.

Yo, yo!

We come in peace. We come in peace!

It's me!

I have to give Universal and Vin
so much credit.

Because when I left after Fast 6,
I really thought that was it.

And I was going to move on
and do other things.

But, you know,
everybody was always so open,

and they always kind of checked in

to see if there's anything brewing
and talking Fast.

So even though it was gone,

I never felt like
I was fully away, you know.

And even when I was
shooting Star Trek Beyond,

I remember Vin calling me
and I was in the cutting room,

and we started talking about Dom
for a couple hours.

I remember thinking,

"Hey, Vin, I'm out.
I'm not doing this anymore."

But I think Vin is always,
kind of, a couple steps ahead of me

and I think he knew at some point
we were going to reconnect and so...

Again, it was all
the seeds that were planted.

It felt very organic,

and I didn't want to come back
unless it was something new.

It was something that, for us,
to be able to explore.

I think this idea of
being able to go back

and explore the mythology
and the past so these characters

and this franchise can keep moving forward
was very exciting to me.

Why just us?

He caught Cipher.

But there was a midair attack,
and she was extracted.

It seems his plane crashed somewhere here,

over the northwest region of Montequinto

If Mr. Nobody survived...

You know, when I came back,
it was really interesting

when I first met with Nathalie

because Ramsey is a character
that showed up in Fast 7.

But is a character that
we've been talking about since Fast 5.

And so it was really surreal

to be talking to her about a character

that we were talking about years ago.

And then when I left, you know,
the character came to life

and then I was meeting back up with her
developed already.

So, it definitely...

There are moments like that
that was really odd,

but interesting, you know.

Cipher and Queenie are two
other characters that preceded me.

And it was a lot of fun

to be able to work
with Charlize and Helen

to keep evolving it
in this new chapter.

I'll always be in your heart.

Hey, little guy.

I have a gift for you.

Your father gave this to me.

And now I'm gonna give it to you.

It's very special.

Take care of it.

And here you see Little Brian
and it is amazing, you know, that...

I think doing these big action movies,

people talk about the stunts
and everything.

And to me,
those are exciting to design, to shoot

but usually when we're shooting
those sequences,

it's been, you know,
eight to fourteen months of prep,

hundreds of meetings with every department
to have it come to life.

This isn't who we are.

And I'll tell you, I think the scariest
thing for me making this movie

was actually the scenes with Little Brian.

Because showing up
with this three-year old

and trying to hopefully
create an environment

where he can
feel present,

feel Dominic Toretto as his father,

Letty as his mother...

You know, that to me
was the most challenging thing.

And I think just even getting him
to go to sleep there,

I remember saying...
I think that was probably take 21.

And of course,
it's not the kid's fault,

but it's just sitting there with the boom,
and we have our dolly going in.

He was amazing.

It was actually twin brothers.

And they were so great
and Vin was amazing with them.

You know, I think being a father,
he knew that,

you know, he needed to make sure
he spent some time with them.

So for the first week,
while we're shooting this,

you know, Vin wasn't in his trailer,
he was just hanging out with the boys.

So here we're dealing with the cross

that basically connects Jakob
to Han to Dom.

It's kind of an intersection
of so many of our different threads.

And one day I hope

we're going to have the real estate
to fully explain it.

But it's pretty complicated.

It was exciting
to actually come up with it,

but it's one of those things
where we commit to it,

and I hope one day
we will be able to

fully explore that chapter
in the Fast Saga.

You know, I would love to see my nephew
just a little bit more often...

And this is a scene here with Jordana.

This is her first scene back.

Both in the film,
but also shooting-wise.

It was pretty emotional.
I came up with Jordana even outside Fast.

So, to be able to
be on this journey with her and...

When I left, she did Fast 7
and that was it.

And so to be able to be back together,
it meant a lot.

And to be able to find a storyline
where she comes back organically,

that was even more of a bonus.

What life would have been like
if he was alive.

We'd be a very different...

Unfortunately, this is a scene
that I ultimately cut

even though I really liked it.
It went back and forth.

Staying in the cut and I took it out.

Ultimately, I felt like for the theatrical
version, we didn't need it.

Selfishly, it was just nice
to be able to work those small scenes

with Vin and Jordana.

And here, we're about to enter
our first huge action sequence,

which is this fictional place,
Montequinto.

It's supposed to take place
in Central America,

but when I went on
our global scouting tour,

we stopped at Phuket in Thailand.

And when I saw the geography
and all those, you know...

I don't know.
Actually, I still... I asked people

what those things are called
and nobody could give me an answer.

You know, the buttes,
that are coming out of the water,

so it was just amazing.

And I think
part of doing these Fast movies sometimes

is to explore the world
and hopefully be able to integrate that

and bring it
to share with the audience.

So I think, having...

You know, going on that scout

and loving the visuals
of Phuket, Thailand,

I felt like it was kind of our perfect
place to shoot our fictional Montequinto.

What was also amazing for me,
was on the scout,

I didn't realize the kind of
rich cinematic history of Thailand.

Until recently
they were producing their own films

at a rate that I think
was like hundreds a year.

It was amazing.

So to be able to kind of hook up
with the crew in Thailand,

and be part of that rich
cinematic history, it really meant a lot.

And I think you could feel it
when we were shooting in Thailand

because they really were an amazing crew.

And that's one of the perks of
shooting these films

is to be able
to go into different cultures

and hopefully not be just tourists,

but to be able to truly kind of work
with them and getting to know

how they work
and having that shared experience.

The source of the SOS signal
is coming from inside this thing.

Somebody wanted in.

Plane must have gone down
before they could cut through.

Or it was sent down on purpose
to stop 'em.

Yeah, well, their mistake
was trying to cut into it.

And here we're about to introduce
our McGuffin for the film,

and this is probably, I would say,
for the Fast franchise, I think that...

In Fast 6 is when
we started kind of introducing

these kind of world-ending devices.

I was torn, I was going back and forth on
if we were going to do this or not.

And ultimately...

I think that was one of the challenges
coming back to do Fast 9.

I don't think we make
these films in a vacuum.

And I think there are a lot of things
about coming back

that I had to respect.

And part of it is,
since I've been gone,

it's kind of gone
a lot more kind of sci-fi.

And I felt like, ultimately,
if I just kind of ignored that,

it just wouldn't be respectful
to the films that I wasn't part of.

So it was a long process
in the writing phase.

When I first came back, I didn't want to
have a world-ending device.

But when we were working on it,

it felt like it was almost
such a rebuke to the other films.

I didn't want that.

I wanted the spirit of this film
to always embrace the chapters prior

and whether it's to correct
something that's wrong,

or to build on something,
I never wanted to be reactionary,

because I think sometimes,

I think having made movies,
TV shows and stuff,

I see a lot of instances
where filmmakers

become very, kind of, reactive
and they take it personally.

And I think the films and the shows
sometimes suffer for it.

And I felt like it was important
to try to be positive.

And, yes, I think one of the
big reasons to come back

and to correct is, we'll talk about later,
which is the justice for Han.

But at the same time,

I wanted to always stay positive
to everything.

And that led to the whole Aries device.

So anyway,
it was a long way to explain it.

But it was months and months of my life
in our writing process

of deciding if we were
going to do it or not.

Ultimately, I feel like we needed it.

It's a bit of a culmination of something
that we kind of started on 6.

And it kind of had continued.

But I think
this is probably it for our franchise,

and as we're going to the final chapter,

we're going to be exploring our characters
through other elements.

Roman, where the hell are you?

Who's compensating now, Tej?

Here, we're about to go in
to the landmine sequence

and I have to say,
I think the one thing

that really surprised me,

when we first went into the scouting
for Thailand

was how much of the jungle of Thailand
has kind of disappeared.

This is only a small stretch
of private land that we were able to find

that we could shoot in.

Most of the land
has become palm plantations.

I think they're just trying to produce
palm oil for the world.

You know, I think growing up

and even just kind of
reading about Thailand,

I was really excited to kind of
explore the jungle aspect.

And, at least in southern Thailand,
a lot of that has been... is gone.

Like even here...

This is actually...
You could see the small palms

being planted and grown
and they're everywhere.

What was great about the sequence,

I really wanted to kind of start with the
feel of just kind of this tactile action.

You know, something that's practical.

What better than to, like,

start blowing stuff up
and the landmine sequence?

It is a very conscious effort

to kind of rebuild,
I think the tone of this franchise.

And again, I feel like...

Just as a movie fan,

CG now is part of
so much of these tent-poles,

and I'm not saying that
we don't do that ourselves.

I mean, I like to think that

we can create a have our cake
and eat it too scenario.

It was just that,
I think as a filmmaker,

there's something really exhilarating
and visceral about practical effects,

and, to me, that's always important.

And especially for the Fast franchise

and especially on this one,

I wanted to make sure
that no matter what,

even the most
outlandish action beats,

we always make sure that
we shoot it practically first.

Roman, you good?

My ass is en fuego!

Like, even this shot right here,

actually, that truck
going over and blowing up,

we shot practically.

And it became reference for us.

And here with Roman hanging upside down,

we had to build this contraption
with the truck on vertical rails.

And it's a small beat,
but it took us three days, which is a lot

to be able to even accomplish this.

But ultimately,

I think you could feel the difference,

because we shot it
practically, you know...

The rocks and everything, we had to build

so that it could be safer
Tyrese to be hanging from that truck.

This is kind of the beat, too,
of this "invincible" thread

that we were exploring.

I think maybe being away from Fast,
I was really kind of drawn

and excited for this
existential thread for Roman,

and Tej and Ramsey.

It is something that I think

a lot of times
with these big action tent-poles,

you know, that the characters,
they obviously escape death.

And I felt like it was time
for us to at least,

hopefully, acknowledge it
and explore it in a fun way.

Wait, okay, I think
I found us another way out.

Two miles to what looks like
a bridge across the border.

Good. The sooner
we get out of here, the better.

This shot here was a really
complicated shot. We shot...

We actually had I think it was

almost like three continents worth of work
just to get that shot in.

Shooting that practically,

and then being able to
basically matte that

and then have Michelle do it
and we shot that in London.

It's amazing how filmmaking
has become so global.

And this jump too, it was something
that basically was shot in Thailand.

We shot again in London, practically.

And then, putting Michelle on wires.

The device.

So here is the big, kind of,

first time where the brothers
see each other.

Getting that Mustang
to drift in was definitely a challenge.

And those doors...

I realized the doors didn't quite match,

so we actually had to bend it 90 degrees.

You don't notice it,
but a lot of times,

the shots that I wanted to have,

the cars don't quite
have the right angles.

But again, I feel I have the
support of this amazing crew,

and we always figure it out.

And sometimes,
it's just a 50 degree shift in something

that's been kind of built in.

So we're about to head into this,
kind of, crazy sequence

that's evolved from
something that was very practical

to something that's going to be
a bit more outlandish.

And hopefully we've earned this.

This is something that
we actually scouted

on so many of these aerial scouts,

trying to find the right two,
I guess, buttes or islands,

so we can shoot this.

Peter Chiang, our VFX supervisor,

he was on it so much,
and I really was very adamant

on making sure that
we found the right practical ones.

I remember we circled around it so much
that Peter actually had to get off

because he was nauseous
and he was throwing up

on one of these buttes.

And here we have the helicopter,

the brother, Mustang,
against Dodge Charger.

You know, it's something that, I think,
people who love cars,

they notice that it's Mustang vs Charger.

And we had a lot of fun
in the writing process, developing it.

I think in the flashbacks, later on,

you'll see that Jakob's
also driving a Mustang.

And it's something that we actually wrote
way more than we needed to.

And I hope, one day we're going
to be able to explore that,

whether in feature
or maybe in other mediums,

because it is really amazing,

sometimes doing these films,
to have the environment to just explore.

And on this one, for some reason,

our script was really long
compared to the other ones.

At one point, we were approaching
almost 200 pages, which is insane.

But it was just fun to be writing
and just to be free.

And ultimately we were able
to kind of bring it down.

Where's the bridge?

No. No, no.

Dom.

I think a lot of people ask,
you know, "This must be all CG."

It actually is a combination.

We actually...
Every beat that you see here,

was accounted for,
like the launch of the car.

Even the swing, you know,
we had a crane.

It was in the UK, actually,
to swing it.

It kind of acted as reference
for us in making sure

that everything we did,
it was kind of accounted for

so we can have the proper conversations.

Well, that was new.

This is Stasiak,
and there's a Japanese antacid...

It happened when I was on a trip in Japan,

and I love how they always have visuals
to sell all their products.

But this thing is a mess.

The headlines out there?

Secret spy plane crashes in a...

It was such a treat
to be able to bring Shea back,

and we had a lot of fun with
Stasiak's nose, and we went through...

We tracked it from Fast 4,
when he gets slammed

by Brian O'Conner and again in Fast 6.

And so, Shea showed up on the day
and we just kept fudging it.

And it was a really fun nod

to his relationship
and the connection to Brian O'Conner.

And that's something
that we were very conscious of.

You know, the spirit of Brian,
the character is still, obviously alive

and thriving in this universe.

But, you know, I felt like
trying to make sure that,

you know, we always kind of
honor thing that's happened.

And so that we can kind of embrace it
for the narrative, for people that really,

you know, love the franchise that
we never short change any of the thing.

So, it was a lot of fun.

It was like multiple meetings
about his broken nose,

and how much we were going to do it.

Brother?

You got a brother?

Who also happens to be
some kind of super spy

with his own private army,

who drives literally...

This is a really interesting moment
between Dom and Letty, you know,

and it is one of those things
that I felt like, you know,

working with Michelle and Vin on it,

it was such a great process, you know,
because, as you can see,

there's not a lot of real estate
for anything.

So, to be able to get everybody
in those moments to track it,

and to feel it without us
really shining a crazy spotlight on it.

And that's always the biggest
challenge for these films

because, you know,
especially Fast 9,

I feel like there's three movies
jammed into one, right?

You have the brother-thread,
you have the main-thread.

And then he had the Han-thread.
And the biggest challenge

of making this film
really was real estate.

And, you know, I have to say,
one of the reasons

why I ultimately felt like I was,
you know, done with the franchise

was that we've never been able to have

a full draft of the script
when we start shooting,

and that's part of the process

that we've had developed,
and I'm not complaining.

It's just... It's okay.

It's just the way
we always end up doing it.

And so, I felt like I wanted to make sure
that for the first time,

we had a script, fully done,
and we were able to on this one.

And the funny thing is that we ended up,

kind of, overshooting it
and it was much longer.

But I think you can feel that,

you know, this film had a lot more,

but it was always about condensing
and making sure

that we didn't take any beat for granted.

What is that?

Get out of here. Go.

So a man can't pay his last respects?

That's what that is?

No.

No, not you.
You're the one that killed him.

No, racing killed him.

Look, he knew that I was gonna
pit him into the wall. He knew that.

Now, I don't know
if he dropped gear.

Here's Jim Parrack playing Linder.

It was great to work with him again.

His first job as an actor was actually
on Annapolis, and we worked on together.

So it's always great to be able to
meet back up with actors

or crew through the years.

And he's kind of a perfect Linder,
he was great.

Leave.

This obviously, is one of the most pivotal
moments in the Fast lore.

And I know that in the first Fast film,

in the garage with Dom and Brian,

Dom was talking about
how he took that wrench,

and he just kept beating Linder
until his arms went numb.

And it was a struggle, because it was
great in that moment when he said it.

And here, when we were working on it,

we actually did
all these tests and...

With that hit with that wrench,
if you just did it more than,

you know, a couple of times,
the skull is going to crack, you know?

And so, I wanted to make sure that we
honor what Dom was sharing with Brian.

But at the same time, I think
in that moment, it was important

that we were capturing it
through Jakob's point of view.

But, that was also one of the things
that we had so many discussions on.

And ultimately I felt like...
You know, sometimes in life,

we're all a little bit...
Get stuck into the moment,

and we're not the most reliable narrators,
even though there's no intent to deceive.

We're the protagonist in our own stories.

And I think in Dom's mind
that's what happened.

But I think one of the ways
that we were able to, kind of,

hopefully, honor that moment,
but at the same time make it feel

like it's not out of this world
where he's beating Linder, you know,

countless times with the wrench
was to go to Jakob's point of view,

which is what we needed in that moment
for this film.

- She say anything?
- Nope. Nada.

You know, I look at her
and I feel creeped out.

And sort of turned on at the same time.

Is that weird?

Nice operation.

You snatched me off
Mr. Nobody's plane midair

without a scratch, and you took him down.

And here we have our scene
with Cipher.

Again, it was such an honor and treat
to be able to work with Charlize.

And this is a character

that obviously was in 8,
and she was so gracious and open.

I remember sitting down with her
and talking about the character,

and I think she was excited
to keep kind of evolving it.

So I remember asking her,
you know, "Is there anything in 8

"that you built
that I need to be aware of?"

And she was like, "No, "
you know? It's the basic...

"Let's go back and rebuild this."

And I had such a great time
with her just talking.

And she is so specific
about every beat, you know,

and I love that, you know, in this scene,

even though she is this
character that's stuck,

has been captured, stuck in the box,
and I wanted to also really make sure that

it's not one of these diabolical scenes
where she's already gotten a way out.

I wanted the experience for the audience

in real time with Cipher, is to see
how she could figure her way out.

I need you to find out which one.

So, here she does

an amazing job of just, kind of,
scoping out all the players, right?

There's Jakob.
There's Otto and there's Sue.

And even though it's probably not clear,
it's not scripted,

this idea of her constantly testing
and trying to figure out

what is her... How is she
going to get out,

starts here.

And I just had such a great time
working with her on the day,

but also in the cutting room
because I can see her,

and that's something that we planned,
you know, basically calculating, like,

let's test Jakob out. Let's go through,
let's push those buttons.

But the... Little bit of the curve ball

is actually she finds
a weak point in Otto.

And I think if you watch this film
multiple times,

you'll really get a sense.

And if you really watch her,
she's been, you know,

you can see her wheels turning.

And that's...
I think, that's the fun of this character

and I think this is also a new element
for us in this franchise.

Finding the two halves
of Project Aries is the easy part.

Add in your brother Dom to the mix?

You don't have a chance.

Plans are in motion.

There's a line in there,
where she basically is pointing out

about Jakob's jawline, the Nordic strain,

and it was important
that we put it in there.

I know that a lot of people are saying,

well, how could John Cena
be Vin Diesel's brother?

You know?
And that's something that we talked about

because John was by far...

I mean, again,
I felt just so lucky to have him join us.

But at the same time, I think there's a
complicated kind of history for Toretto's.

And that's something that that one line

is giving you a little bit of glimpse

into the, kind of, origin story
of Toretto family.

I'm not going to spoil it here
because I'm hoping,

hoping that in the next few years,
we're going to be able to tell that story.

But it all started with, you know...
I had a whole back story.

It got condensed down to that one line.

But I am so excited for that one line

because it's going to
potentially get unlocked,

and we're going to be able to, hopefully,

tell more stories
to explore that line.

What now, Dom?

Whoever Jakob has become...

...and whatever he's up to...

...it's on me.

This is amazing, here.

This is like a vulnerable Dom
that I have never seen

you know, in any of the Fast films
that I have been a part of,

but at the same time,
it's a check-in with Dom and Letty.

You know, I think their trust
has been a little bit broken

in the sense that she thought he showed
up to the airport to support her.

But then she realized she was there
because of discovery of Jakob.

Thank you.
I know what a rotary dial phone is.

Okay.

Again, this is a bonus scene
between Ramsey and Chris.

It's amazing.
You know, I don't feel that old,

but, you know, I think,
when I first sat down with Nathalie,

she definitely is obviously
very intelligent.

And she knows, you know,
she's a quick study.

But it was very clear to me that
she was of another generation, you know?

And so that was the inspiration
for all of this.

And we had a lot of fun playing with it.

And I am kind of bummed.

There's a couple of scenes
in this sequence

that I went back and forth on
for the final cut,

and it was actually funny

because, you know, I actually...
As we're working on the extended cut

I was compelled to put, you know,
the scene back into the final version.

But, you know, I never had that happen,
and I think that's the testament to,

I think, this cut because
a lot of times we cut scenes

because the performance or something,
it just feels like it's a double beat.

I think on this film,
I didn't have any problem.

We really showed up every day
and there was always a challenge.

You know, sequences like this where it's
a connection between these characters.

And I think, the humor comes
from their relationship,

and this is very different than obviously,
like an action scene.

But there's always a very fresh

and new challenge for us,
and the cast was amazing.

Everyone showed up, you know, just to play

and to really kind of maximize
the exploration of the day

and that, you know, that is very rare.

So, I was grateful to really be able
to, kind of, reconnect with everybody.

And in a way, we've all kind of grown
and to be able to have these scenes

where not only do you see
the evolution of these characters,

but also for me behind the camera
to see the growth of our actors,

and that that was very gratifying.

...dumbass.

Take your dumbass jacket with you, man.

Pretty impressive driving out there.

You miss the old life.

Do you?

Every day.

Guys.

Ultimately, it was an interesting scene
because I like to edit as we go.

And I knew that the scene
with Dom and Letty at the farm

was probably not going to be it.

And I remember going to Jordana
and saying,

"This is going to be the scene."

And I think for her,

she did such a great job
of, kind of, taking that note

and in a way, take charge of the scene.

You know, I think people
are so used to Dom being the patriarch

and being the decision maker.
Here, you have Mia and Letty

saying, "No. We're part of this family,
and we have a say."

And I think it was a very powerful scene.

And also it was done
not in a confrontational way.

You know, it was done
in a very empowered way,

and I had a lot of meetings with Jordana
and Michelle about the tone of that.

And so it was amazing on the day
when they showed up,

because the last thing I wanted
was to make it feel

like it was them confronting Dom in a way

that was not positive
for the relationship.

Guys!

Guys. Get over here.
You gotta come see this.

Don't ever say Roman...

This is actually the scene
that I went back and forth on.

It was such a fun scene to shoot
and it answers...

In a way, answers a lot of questions
on like, "How can they afford

"all their transportation,
all their cars?"

And it was fun to be able

to kind of, explore Mr. Nobody's hideout,
the unsanctioned hideout.

But it just felt like, ultimately,
last minute, I think, on the eleventh hour

it didn't make the cut
because it was taking away

from the narrative thrust for the films.

But I'm glad the extended cut exists

because it works really well,

and you can see the chemistry
between our characters.

I mean, I'm just so happy
that it actually exists in the world.

...say hello to Project Aries.

What is it?

It's what we got from Mr. Nobody's plane.

Or at least part of it.

Aries was designed to override
and assimilate anything that runs on code.

Any computer anywhere.

If it operates on zeros and ones,
it's vulnerable. Aries can own it.

It can weaponize anything.

Someone could burn your house down
with your refrigerator if they wanted to.

So, now my refrigerator's gonna kill me?

It could be made to.

How about my George Foreman Grill
or foot massager?

It is interesting.

This is, you know... These are always
the toughest scenes to shoot

because they're just exposition scenes
about the McGuffin,

and the McGuffin is the device
that is usually, kind of,

artificially driving our characters.

And what I think became really interesting
in the writing of it,

we had a bit of a Trojan horse.

Here you're seeing Ramsey,

basically setting up our third act
with our McGuffin.

And just when you think the scene
is going to be just one of those scenes

where all this is about information,
there's a bit of a sucker punch

which is discovery of Han
in Mr. Nobody's files.

It was one of those nice finds
in the writing process,

and it ultimately, I think,

made it a lot more interesting
also for the actors.

You know, I mean,
these scenes when we shoot,

it's not in real time, obviously.

We have, you know, coverage,
and it takes us like a day-and-a-half,

I think two days just to shoot the scene.

You know, I can tell
that on the day when we're shooting,

when the Han image came up,
everybody knew that the scene

was much more
than just an exposition scene.

You could see it right here
with the close-up dolly in on Vin.

That's exactly what I said.

So you're saying Han's death
is connected to all of this?

He has to have something to do with it.

Again, I think these scenes
that usually are, kind of,

there for functional plot reasons.

It became these kind of intersection,
emotionally, for all our characters.

I got this the day Han died.

Mexico.

And here's the postcard again.

And I'll give you
a little bit more intel on that.

You know, this goes all the way back
when I first met Vin.

You know, this is for Tokyo Drift
for his final scene and I didn't know him.

I had heard that there's no way
he was coming back to the franchise,

and I was lucky enough
to get a meeting with him.

And were at his house by his pool,
and we were talking.

And I think we...
At one point we just connected

on the mythology
and the family of Dom.

And I was talking to him
about how, in my mind, Dom had met Han

in either in Mexico or Central America,
and I had kind of mapped out,

you know, the connection between them

that Han in a way was on the run
and Dom was on the run.

You know, I had mentioned this town
in Mexico, Guanajuato,

and that conversation in 2005
led all the way to the postcard.

And if you notice on the postcard
the cross on that church is the same cross

that Dom and Jakob, they're wearing.

So it's the Toretto Cross,
so there's a lot of meaning to that.

And there's a whole back story to that
that we've been talking about for years,

and this is the first time
that's being shared.

It's done as a connective tissue beat,

but I can tell you there's a potential
down the road for us

to fully explain and explore
that thread of the mythology.

Here, we're in the "Young Dom" sequence,
and, to me, it was so much fun,

kind of, finding the right music
of the era, you know?

And, you know, a lot of times
when I run into fans and they talk,

it's amazing, you know?

You could see when certain fans'
engagement was on Fast 1.

There's actually a section of the fan base
that started, kind of,

loving Fast on Tokyo Drift.

And obviously now, you know,
that's been 15 years,

and people would use words
like, "That's a classic, " you know?

And I thought, "Wow, God,
you know, it has been a while."

But in many ways, you know, of the time...

The music choices is a challenge
because it's not like

we go and pick the "best of"
from the music sound library.

We're actually creating
music of the moment.

And so to be able to go back
and work on these flashback sequences,

that was a luxury of
being able to really listen

to all the music of the era

and find the true piece of music
that really, for me,

defined not only these moments
for our characters,

but to really able to capture
and kind of honor that era.

Come on, Dom.

You don't want to race me
in Buddy's old Charger.

No, it won't even be close.

My Mustang?
With all the mods that I put in it?

Car don't make the driver.

And this again,

there were a lot more pages written
about this young Dom and Jakob chapter,

that, you know, my hope is to one day
to be able to share it with everybody.

Again, it was so gratifying
to be able to write that.

To me, it's always better
to have more than less,

because having those extra pages
and scenes,

it really kind of helped inform me
and also the actors

so that they're not just showing up
and doing what's on page.

You know, they're able to either read,

or talk to me about their world, that era.

And so I really do think
that the challenge to Finn and to Vinnie

is to be able to understand and thrive,
and live in that world

so that, you know, they're just not
showing up doing these scenes

to kind of update, and tell the audience
what's happening in the relationship.

And they did an amazing job,
and this is one of our last scenes

that I shot with them, and I remember
sitting there in that corner

as we're waiting for the lighting,

and we continue to talk about their
relationship outside of what was scripted,

and I could see them just really
absorbing that and taking that in.

You know, I remember Finn
comes from a family. He has siblings.

And he was really channeling
a lot of that in this race.

And, you know, when we do these films,

these driving scenes are the most
artificial-feeling, constructed

because they're in a green screen,

and you know, we're putting on casters,

and we're pushing them around,
and it's very awkward.

And so for them to really,
kind of, get in that head space

where it's not about the race, you know,

this race is about the relationship.

About this little brother,
you know, at the core of it

is that he's never going to be able
to catch his older brother.

You know, that's the basis
and the essence of this race.

And on top of that, we built,
kind of this layered...

This family secret.

And ultimately, it's this poor kid
being crushed by the pressure of...

You know, the secret that he's promised
his dad that he was going to keep.

But on top of that is having this brother

that is the spotlight of the family,
and I just thought...

Finn was able to, like,

really hone into that and capture that
and on the day,

to really deliver that
in such an amazing way

in the most uncomfortable
and awkward of, you know, set ups.

Too soon.

No!

It was also great to be able to shoot.

This is on the Fourth Street Bridge.

I was bummed because having shot in LA,

the Sixth Street Bridge was,
you know, is my favorite.

You know, we shot Tokyo Drift
underneath that bridge.

It actually got taken down. And, so...

You know, it's sad to see

all these kind of iconic LA structures,

you know, I think just with time,
they're going to get replaced.

So it was great to be able to at least
capture the Fourth Street Bridge on film.

Here's Dom going back,

and it's funny
because I think the fans will joke

about crossover franchises, you know?

And they're like "Can Fast cross
with Back to the Future?"

I don't know why.

It's always fun when they have
all these suggestions for us.

In many ways, I feel like, yeah,
we've kind of done the time travel thing.

You know, like it's been
part of our franchise.

It started in Fast 4, and it continues.

And here we, structurally,
are actually time traveling.

We have two different timelines.

Can't help you, man.

This is one of those days,
you know, as a filmmaker, where...

I love Michael Rooker.
I was such a big fan.

We casted him,

and then I remember showing up on set,

and it was just like...
I felt like a 12-year-old.

And the first time I saw him was
in this film, Mississippi Burning,

and he played this KKK member,
and it scared the shit out of me

as a kid, you know.

And I knew that it was Michael Rooker,
and he's a great actor,

and when I showed up on set,

I was so scared.

It was like this crazy, just...

Like something in me was back

and I was in Mississippi,
and he was that character.

But luckily, it only lasted like a minute

because he's also just
the most gracious, nicest person.

He came in and just gave me this big hug,

and I was like, "Okay, great.
This is great."

And we had a great day,
kind of just shooting the scene.

And I think a lot of times with Vin,

we have this great process of, you know,
making sure that scenes like this,

we have ample time.

And so, we had a day set aside
for the scene,

and we just started, you know,
with what was scripted,

and then we just started
exploring moments.

And this was tough, I have to say,
because Dom is there

really for plot purposes to try to get
his next piece of information.

But, you know, I think there's
a lot of kind of hurt and guilt,

and also frustration, I think,
between these characters.

And Vin was bringing a lot more
of this reverential sense of his past

that we kept calibrating.

And ultimately, I think
we were able to kind of find it.

But it was definitely one
of those discovery scenes

where we just had
two amazing actors on set

and we just went at it.
And it was exhausting.

I would say that scene, the Buddy scene,

to me, is probably
the most exhausting scene,

for me, physically, just going through

the whole exploration
of emotion between them.

Han's old shop.

And here's another scene
that I ultimately had to take out.

I was bummed. I mean, this...

This car is the car
that Sean wrecks in Tokyo Drift.

They ultimately take
the engine of that car

and put in the Mustang for the third act.

And I remember, when I wrote it,

Clayton, our producer, he was like,

"Wait a minute, you want that car?"

And we're sitting there in London
on the set and I said,

"Yeah, we got to get
the exact same car."

And so they had to basically find it.

I think they ultimately had to ship it.

It was a big deal.

It was a big deal to get that car there.

We had to paint it, and it was
a lot of time revisiting Han's garage.

I think, sometimes I have to remind myself

just because it was
really hard, logistically,

to get the scene, doesn't mean
they should be in the movie.

And I still love the scene.

I love the connection to Gisele.

But ultimately, it was
just one of those things

where scenes to clarify sometimes
ends up complicating, you know?

And, so I ultimately took it out
of the final cut.

I'll check in with Tej and Roman.

This scene here in Cologne,
it was such a treat, you know?

Because it was very much
a reunion for me and for all of us

with Lucas, Jason, Bow.

And Sung showed up that day, too.

And it was just, you know...
This is where all started for me.

And it was interesting.
I think I was walking to set

and I saw them connecting.

Like really connecting as people.
And it was amazing.

It was this profound moment
because, in '05,

we were just a bunch of kids, you know.
For me, it was kind of like...

It was like... I had just finished
a credit-card movie,

and, you know, we're trying to make
a Fast & Furious movie,

and they were just kids.

And now, they were all talking
about their family and their kids,

and just kind of bringing back
these moments from 2005.

Did I hear that right?

You a runner and you afraid of flying?

"Twinkie"?

Here's this moment between

Roman, Tej, and the boys I love.

I have to say, as a kid, I always love it

when characters
from the same, like, universe

that somehow maybe are in different shows,
when they meet back up.

And it really...

It's not one of those things,
even in writing,

that I was that conscious of.

But on the day,

seeing these characters meeting
for the first time was great.

And then here's the reveal of the Fiero.

The Fiero is this kind of...

I guess it was a sports car.
It was big when I was in junior high.

And I had this history teacher,
Miss Grant.

She would pull up every morning
in her red Fiero.

And, you know, I have to admit,
I had a crush on Miss Grant.

I think a lot of boys did.

And that Fiero made her look so cool.

And so, when we were thinking
about finding a vehicle for this,

I have to say,
I give Miss Grant a lot of credit.

It wasn't actually her that
inspired this moment.

It was just... I remember talking
to my friends about Miss Grant.

This is probably like
a couple of years before,

and the red Fiero was
the thing that we all talked about.

And then when I was talking
to the NASA rocket scientists

about how can we get to,
you know, not necessarily space

but the outer atmosphere,

they talked about,
obviously weight and fuel.

And the more we talked about it,
the more it was evident

that we needed something light
as our starting off point.

And it was that moment of
"Oh, Miss Grant's red Fiero could be

"the car that takes us into space.

So, it's one of those fun moments

of just kind of reconnecting
with my childhood friends,

and just happy accident in trying
to kind of figure out

how to get, you know,
to this kind of crazy idea in Fast

but hopefully do it
in a way that is kind of

at least grounded in science
as our starting off point.

Who's Dominic Toretto?

Arigato.

This place is a dead end.

Do you think Jakob could be
onto the Han connection?

This is one of my favorite scenes
in the film.

If he has all the information
we do...

It took a long time,
in the kind of the writing of it,

and I had some really deep
and amazing conversation

with Michelle and Jordana on it, you know.

It's interesting because I think there's
a lot of articles about, you know, the...

Yeah, I think Michelle was
very adamant and very vocal

about the treatment
of the female characters in the franchise.

And this is again one of those things
that was really weird for me,

because when I was kind of
part of the Fast franchise,

I've always felt like, you know,
Letty, Mia, Gisele, you know, Elena,

a lot of our female characters were so...

I had such a great time,
kind of crafting it with the actors

and, kind of, building the characters.

But I think, for whatever reason,
since I was gone,

I actually, to this day,
I don't know what happened,

but when I came back, there was...

She was really upset.

And totally justified, you know.

And for me, you know,
I've had conversations with people

that have seen the film going,

"It must have been
a really tough conversation

"with, like Michelle
and all the female cast."

And I was like, "No, we never really had
those conversations." You know?

I always felt like
I love these characters.

And to be totally honest, I felt like
they were really underserved, you know?

And so, it really was just one
of those things that

it was very organic,
you know, to come back.

I love these characters,
and I want to make sure that, you know,

all our characters are being
really, kind of, loved and supported.

And so it became very natural.

So, you know, this scene though,

in a big action movie
where you have two characters

that were able to kind of sit down
and really kind of get a state

of where they are as human beings,

that was definitely one
of the gifts

of being able to kind of reconnect.

No way.

Here, this is a really fun sequence
with Queenie that's coming up.

And I would kind of point to this scene

as kind of the growth
and evolution of our franchise.

I think that a lot of times
when we shoot these scenes,

you're showing up on the day
and you're trying to find the scene

and what Helen did, that was amazing,
was that, you know, we rehearsed it,

and she was so on point

that it really kind of allowed
the camera work

to complement everything that's happening
between the characters, you know.

And I think as we are
growing as a franchise,

one of the things I love doing is to
not edit, is to create these moments

where our characters are
just living in that moment

and the camera is there with them.

When are they gonna learn

some birds can't be caged?

Are you looking for one of me sons?

Not tonight.

This was a great night in London

where, you know, when she showed up,
she really set the tone,

and Vin was amazing, and at that moment,
during the rehearsal,

I knew that I was able to, like,

really challenge everybody

so that we can capture
everything in camera

and not have to sometimes find
some of the beats in the editing.

This is the Queenie...
We call this the Queenie Chase

that we're shooting throughout London.

And it still blows me away
that they allowed us

to be so close to Buckingham Palace.

It just shows the kind
of earned relationship

we have with the government, I think,

because I can guarantee you,
when we were shooting there in Fast 6,

I wasn't being brought that close
to Buckingham Palace.

But I think having this as being
our second time shooting in the UK,

we definitely had much...
And I wouldn't say better,

but I think we've kind of earned
our way into locations

that I think weren't available to us
the first time around.

...he was into
something big up in Edinburgh.

Local seller, huh?

She wouldn't happen to be
wearing a stolen necklace, would she?

He paid well. What was I supposed to do?

This is also another kind of great day
for us on production,

just to be able to get in there
and work with Helen and Vin.

Oh, bloody hell, he's not
your cousin...

And obviously the scene is, you know,
for it to happen in this chase,

but really, it is her connecting with Dom.

She's kind of the mastermind in many ways,

and she's always kind of also testing Dom
and a lot of the characters.

And so to be able do that
in the middle of a chase,

it was a lot of fun.

It was a lot of fun
because Helen showed up

and she wanted to really understand
driving the Noble.

And she was able...

I mean, she learned it so fast,

and she never kind of lost continuity,

so she was able to, like, really mimic

the driving through London
as she was delivering the scene.

It was unbelievable, you know?

And actually it was interesting

because, you know,
growing up as a Laker fan,

I was always kind of fascinated
by the colors.

And growing up, it was called Forum Blue,

which is this kind of dark blue,
purple and gold.

And I remember learning that
that was kind of the royal colors.

Those are the Queen's colors.

And, so I thought,
"Oh, we get to finally get

"the thing that I loved as a kid,
I can match it."

And ultimately, you know, I couldn't
quite find the right purple.

I think the purple on the Noble is
actually a bit more purple than I like.

It was kind of more the 2000 Lakers color

as opposed to the color I was looking for,

which is the kind of 1980s Magic Johnson,

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar purple.

Dominic Toretto.

Tell me.
Why is the best fruit always forbidden?

You should know.

Here we had... This is
kind of a bonus moment

with Cardi's character
when she greets Dom.

It was a lot of fun shooting it,

and ultimately, I felt like, you know,

it was better to kind of
hide her in the crowd

and reveal her in the back of the truck.

Well, financier.

But, you know, my dad, he's a dictator,

so we're not talking regular people...

Thue... And here we have Otto.

He is kind of the financier
for Jakob and Sue.

We actually have this backstory for Sue.

He was "The boy named Sue, "
the Johnny Cash song.

We had this whole thing,
and we even shot it, and it was awesome.

But ultimately, it just got to be
too long.

And it was one of the heartbreaks for me

because I love it when in movies,

when you have these characters
that are kind of...

They're there as, quote-unquote, muscle
or whatever purpose,

and you realize there's a whole history,

and there was a whole back story
to these characters,

and we definitely had a lot of fun
with both Otto and Sue.

And the Sue thread
ultimately kind of got cut down,

and it was kind of...
I had it for a long time,

but it was the right choice,

but I just had so much fun
with Martyn on that.

He's long gone.

All I see is the same scared little kid
that killed our father.

That's your mistake.

The spy game,

this is my world.

And this is, you know, obviously
the first real face-to-face meeting

between Dom and Jakob.

I think, in this scene,
we actually had a lot more to it.

And in the earlier drafts,

I actually was playing with the flashbacks

where it explained a lot more
of where Jakob was

during even the events
of the first Fast and the Furious.

And we had this amazing shot

where I took footage
from the first Fast and the Furious

that handed off into a young Jakob
who was in the crowd

when Dom was racing Brian.

And it was an expensive, extensive shot

that took us months and months to prepare.

And Peter Chiang, our VFX supervisor,
did an amazing job,

and as we were working on that shot,

it was so good
that it really took me out of the movie,

so much so that I ultimately
cut it from everything,

because I didn't want the audience
to be taken out that much.

And I think ultimately it was
the right call, and it's better here

because it's kind of referenced to
as opposed to kind of shown.

And again, I hope that there's going
to be other opportunities for us

to really kind of explore that chapter.

And I think we'll be able to do it
in a much better way

than to be able to cram it
into, you know, this film.

And here I thought my dad
was a pain in the ass.

But your family is a train wreck.

Well, now that your brother's
finally out of the game,

it's time we go to Edinburgh.

Get the second piece,
maybe do a little sightseeing, huh?

Otto, with his father issues,

I had so much fun with Thue,
kind of working on his relationship.

And we had numerous conversations,

so that when we were doing this scene,

you really get
his relationship with his father.

And he was so much fun
to work with and build Otto.

Because I think very easily
he could just be a stock character.

But I think if you watch
the film, you can see that

he's a fully developed character
and it's something that I enjoy.

So, here is Cardi's scene.

And this is really a big Easter egg
for the fans.

You know, I think the fans that
maybe had not followed the Fast Saga,

they'll know her as someone
that's working with Queenie,

that was probably in a white dress,
that was planted in there to help Dom out,

but she's actually the sister of Cara.

Cara is Han's significant other
in Fast 4.

And they used to, in D.R., they would
steal gas for the people.

So there was a whole connection there
that I talked to Vin about.

And, so now Cardi has
been introduced in our franchise

as a character
that's basically been around

since, you know, Fast 4.

So, you know, I'm hoping
that there will be an opportunity

for us to explore that character more.

So here, we're introducing
this, kind of, new element to Han

to explain his absence
and how he's alive.

This is something that we worked on a lot.

And I have to say, it kind of felt poetic.

This whole "Justice for Han"...

Because when I left,

I didn't engage on any of the other films,

it was during the screening
of my indie movie Better Luck Tomorrow,

at the Egyptian, where, I think,
the fans during the Q&A, brought up

this idea, or this movement
of "Justice for Han."

And when I heard it,
I was totally baffled.

To this day, I have no idea why

the whole Shaw showing up
at the barbecue at the end of 8

was handled that way.
I mean, you know, when I left,

Shaw had killed Han,

and he was the antagonist
to Dom and the family.

And, you know, I don't mind

when characters can maybe show up
and they can change sides.

I think it's part of Fast universe.

But I just never...
You know, when I came back,

there was after the discovering
this whole "Justice for Han" movement,

I even sat and talked to the studio,

and I said, "What happened?"
And nobody could give me an answer.

You know? And, so...

I think it ultimately was great
because to be able to come back,

I felt like it was something
that needed to be addressed.

And, you know, I think
part of the gift of it is that,

if they actually did handle it correctly,

then Han would
probably stay dead, you know?

And, so I think, you know,
for whatever reason,

the way it was handled, you know,
really, for me, needed some answers.

And because of that,
I was able to come back

and be part of the solution
in answering that.

And by answering that, you know,
I was able to bring Han back.

So it actually ends up being a win-win.

You okay?

This moment here...
You know, in Tokyo with Han,

it was just a great moment.

It was again, one of those things
where, in writing it, developing it,

I knew what we were doing.

But it wasn't until we were shooting
and you see it through the lens,

and you see Han's face,

that, like, I got chills, you know.

And it was something that, you know,
as we get into more of the film,

I'll try to share a little bit more
of the reasons and the process

of bringing him back.

We're hitting this Edinburgh sequence,

and this actually is an amazing location.

And it was actually a pivotal,
not just on a logistical level,

but creatively,

you know, we take this train
from London to Edinburgh,

and it ended up being a defining moment
in the development of the film.

When I first came back,

I actually wasn't planning on bringing
Han back alive.

We were gonna address Justice for Han,
but he was going to stay dead.

So a lot of this stuff was going to be
handled in the flashbacks.

But it was actually in the train ride
to Edinburgh that Jeff Kirschenbaum,

who is an executive that...

When I started Tokyo Drift,
he was executive on it,

and we kind of grew up together
making the Fast movies.

And then we both left the franchise.

And so when I came back, I felt it was
important to have him be a part of this.

So he became a producer on this film,
and he's a big part...

He's one of the architects.

I consider him a partner
on the building of this franchise.

And it was on that train ride
that we started talking about Han.

And, I think, one of the things
that is great about Kirsch

is that his enthusiasm
for this franchise has no boundaries.

And I would say 99 out of 100 times,

he would say the most outrageous things,

and he would get crapped on
and laughed at by me, mostly by me.

And I love crapping on
and laughing at Kirsch.

But one out of 100,
this guy will say something

that maybe doesn't even make sense
in the beginning,

but ultimately becomes a brilliant idea,

which is this idea of Justice for Han
is not just justice for Han.

Let's bring him back for real.

And I have to admit, I get it.

I don't get up in the morning and say,

"Hey, let's just bring
dead characters back."

I don't want to do that, as a rule.

And I think even when on this train ride
when Kirsch brought up the idea,

I thought it was nuts.

But for some reason,

I think in the second or third hour
of the train ride,

it started settling in.

And then we started discussing
about what we were working on

with the back story of Han,
and how he could actually be alive.

And it actually made more sense.

But it was a very organic way for me.

That morning, I did not wake up thinking
that Han was going to be alive to...

This train ride,
by the time we landed in Edinburgh,

that, "Oh, my God. Han is alive."

So it was a...
It was an amazing ride,

and it was very inspired.

It just kind of shows...

It reminds me of the spirit
of Fast & Furious,

is to never
fully just reject things because...

Just because.

And it's never to condescend on anything.

And the fact that I have
this amazing group of people,

where we can say
the most ridiculous things,

but feel there's enough support where...

We can laugh at each other,
we can crap on each other,

but to be able to take it seriously
at some point,

it's really rare.

I could say that in Hollywood,

where you'd think
that creativity is embraced,

it's actually very much something
that you have to fight for.

A lot of times, there's so many agendas
when it comes to budgets,

and there's all these things.

And a lot of times when you make
these big tent-pole sequels,

the tendency sometimes with success
is that, "Well, we know what works,

"so let's keep doing the same thing."

And so to be able
to be a part of this process

where we're saying,
"No, we were successful in the last film

"because of A,

"but I think it's potentially yielding
something that we've earned.

"Let's try something brand new."

It sounds kind of logical, but is also...

I think in the business sense,
it's the scariest thing

to always be exploring
and trying new things.

And I think that's what I love
about doing these films.

And that is what I love
about being with Universal

and the group of people
that I work with in that,

we're never trying to do the same thing.

If we were, I wouldn't be making
the fifth movie in this franchise.

I feel like every one that I've done
have been completely different,

thematically, and also
in what we're trying to explore.

And I think that, for me, on this one,
is to embrace what we've evolved to,

over-the-top action
and just even taking ideas.

And it's almost become science fiction,

but at the same time being able to explore
and go back to what started it all.

I feel like that balance
was such a new thing for us,

that if we're able to earn
the emotional connection,

the emotional exploration
on a very real level,

then it allows us, gave us license

to then push the ridiculousness
of the tone of the action.

But I felt like
if we weren't able to do that,

then we wouldn't be able
to really evolve our action.

Shit.

Hey!

And here you have...
I'm just going to point out,

that's my son and all the kids.

I think Jordana's son,
J. J. Perry, Samantha Vincent.

It's become a tradition for us

to have these kids in the middle
of these big action set pieces.

My gut is that it's going to keep growing

just because when we started,
there were no kids,

and I think Fast 5 was the first time

where my son was
a year-and-a-half old,

and I was doing the vault scene,

and I wanted to inject
a little bit of humanity in there,

and I thought,
"Yeah. What about a young kid?"

And I thought,
"Yeah, I have one of those, "

and then that's when we started,
and then it just kept...

For me, it's always good

to connect with humanity
in the middle of these set pieces,

so it's become a tradition for us.

Oh, no!

The Ramsey driving scene,

it was one of those great
character threads that I loved.

I think, to me, I remember
talking about this character.

She wasn't named Ramsey,

but we were talking about this
computer hacker character

all the way back to Fast 5.

And then, when I showed up, she was...

Nathalie had taken over,
and they birthed the character.

But it was interesting to me,
meeting with her.

It was very clear
that there's so much to her

that hasn't been explored.

So it was just a great opportunity
to be able to introduce something new.

The fact that I always love meeting,
not savants, but even geniuses,

and seeing that they are human beings.

She could hack
everything in the world,

but the price of that is that
she's never driven a car,

and that was very exciting for me,
to be able to explore that.

And I think it's unlocked something

that now I feel like I have
a better sense of Ramsey,

and there's going to be a lot more
that we get to explore.

Otto, sending you new pickup location.

I've got it. I'm headed to you now.

And here you can see the brother fight.

This is something
that I wanted to be in close quarters,

and it was something
that I felt like tonally,

it needed to capture anybody
that's ever had siblings,

where you can fight strangers,

but something about blood,
where it always feels

one hundred times more intense.

And that evolved to them

going through walls
and windows and everything.

And this is really
more of just an exercise

of trying to articulate for anybody
that doesn't have siblings.

If we were able to manifest that
into an action sequence in a fight,

what that would be
and the scale of that.

It really was not even
the physical objects and things

that we were designing,

it was more of the feel for it.

So it was a great exercise of doing that,

and giving it its own tone

that's different
than the rest of the sequences.

This is integrating
the craziest thing that we're introducing,

which, you know...

I know people talk about going to space.

I actually think that after talking
to NASA scientists and everything,

I actually felt like there's much more
sound science in going to space.

This whole magnet tech, actually,
didn't start off as me going,

"Hey, let's go and explore magnets."
It actually...

We were doing this scout,
and I was actually in Hamburg, Germany,

and I was interested
in particle accelerators,

and I remember going underground
and walking it with these scientists,

and they were talking to me
about particle accelerators

and the magnet tech that it took.

And, actually, that's what
inspired this whole thing.

And so I started asking questions
about magnets.

And I think we ended up
in some restaurant,

having our lunch with pints of beer.

It evolved into
from particle acceleration into magnets.

And so that actually was the origin
of this whole thing.

And I start asking about
the magnet techs and everything.

And I think, with everything,
it was always started off in reality,

and then I think the questions I had
was more of just

aspiration of that technology,
and it just set me off.

And I think that was the origin
of what we were going to do in this film.

And it became,
I wouldn't say like fiction.

It was still based on something.

I think a lot of it was in theory,
and then creatively,

I just took license to it,
and we just evolved it.

So, at the end of the day,
I actually think that it's interesting

because it was based on
something that was science.

And then we just, through questioning,
it evolved into something

that maybe one day
science will catch up to.

I don't know.
But it was something we're playing with.

We're the good guys.

Me? I'm Luke freaking Skywalker.

Are you sure about that?

I mean, I get the daddy issues, but...

Look at what you've built.

Really? Luke?

You're right.

No, I'm more of a Han Solo.

No.

And here, this scene
between Cipher and Otto,

it is one of those...
Again, it is one those really scary

things to concede,
because if you see the earlier scene,

she started clocking Otto
as her ticket way out.

And here, we needed a scene

where she was going to be able
to pull him in,

but not only destroy
his being, his philosophy,

but knowing that he's going to come back
and open up that door.

And we had to do that
in that one quick scene.

But I... On the day,
working with both actors,

I just felt like without them,

there's no way
we're able to have a chance.

So, it's again
one of those gymnastics

of trying to make sure that maybe
you don't get it in the first bounce,

but when the twist and reveal happened,
it will all make sense.

And I felt like Charlize and Thue
just did an amazing job in that scene.

Man.

There is literally zero industrial
or weapons-grade electromagnets

I can find that are this powerful.

Look at the pull strength level here.

- It's crazy.
- Yeah.

Wait, watch this.

So, just going back to the magnet tech,

we have actually spent way more time
in a lot of the tech,

that was based on science,
and it just evolved into our world.

And I know I spent way too much time.

I think even in shooting it,

there was a lot more logic
into the magnets.

Ultimately, they're still there
if you freeze frame it,

but it's actually in the edit,

I decided not to really spend
too much time on it.

But it's there and we...
Actually, in the construction of it,

there's actually a logic
to everything that was happening.

'Sup, man?

Nice to meet you.

And so this is another one of those scenes
that in writing it, you're like,

"Yeah, at some point, if Han's alive,
he's going to meet the family."

And it wasn't until this moment,
where Dom embraces Han,

he basically gives the okay
to not only the characters,

but to the fans to say Han is back.

But, at the same time,
trying to build in the triangle,

this idea of family through Jakob.

To me, that was a... That was...

We needed every piece to work.

How you doin'? Stayin' out of trouble?

Of course not.
Well, at least you're honest.

And that's the most important thing.

And here we have the scene,

and this is also another scene
that stayed in for a while,

and it was to check in
with Little Brian.

And shooting it on the day,
we had all these takes,

and I was honing it with Vin.

And ultimately, I told him, I said,
"Look, I'm not going to cover this.

"I'm not going to edit this.

"So we're going to have to get this
in one take."

I remember the scene started off,
two-and-a-half minutes,

and I just kept working
with Vin on it, and I said,

"Look, I am not going
to do coverage on this

"because there's a sincerity.

"There's a real time emotional connection

"we had to have
with Dom and Little Brian."

And Vin just was on his A game.

He ultimately got it down to what
we wanted to, and it was very sincere.

Ultimately, I ended up
cutting it out of the film,

because it's something
that I felt was so inherent,

it worked so well in the beginning
that we didn't need to do that.

Can you just be quiet for one minute?

We made plans.

We had dreams.

So what's our next adventure after this?

Here we're seeing the flashback
to the connection between Gisele and Han.

This is on Fast 6.

And we were always very conscious

that Gisele and Han,

every time we had
a chance with them on screen

was going to get closer to Tokyo.

And so it was really fulfilling

to be able to actually come back
and revisit that moment.

Because when we shot Fast 6,
we definitely planted it there,

and it was going to launch Han into Tokyo.

But to be able to bring that back

into the Justice for Han,
it felt very appropriate.

You can lose an asset at any time.

Bullet, knife, wire.

But I never thought I'd lose her...

And Kurt here, the connection
between Mr. Nobody and Han through Gisele,

it was also another thread
that I hope one day

we'll be able to explore,
because it was so much fun

working on this thread.

Because when Gisele
was introduced to the fans,

it was actually Fast 4, with Braga,
and they were doing the tunnel runs.

And I've always felt like her connection
was actually through Mr. Nobody

when he was still with the CIA.

And so, I remember thinking that.

And again, Mr. Nobody was a character
that we had talked about before I left.

And then, Kurt Russell showed up.

And I remember meeting Kurt
when I wasn't doing the Fast.

We were actually
looking at another project.

And he ended up talking about Mr. Nobody
and his philosophy and his history.

And I was like, "This is so great."

And then, when I saw the films,
it wasn't in there at all.

And so it was great to be able
to come back and connect with Kurt again,

and then actually bring that to life
and know that there's a lot more to it.

I was so excited to go

I forgot my raincoat, so I went back in.

At first, I didn't see it.

By the time I looked out the window...

Elle is another really exciting character.

Anna was... We did a global search,

and when I saw the audition from Anna,
I knew that that was our Elle.

It's funny because doing these auditions,
there are always NDAs,

and we'll always take the names out,

because we don't want to have
any spoilers out in the world.

And Elle actually was
the code name for the character.

But when I saw the audition with Anna,
the way she said Elle was so...

Something about it felt so right

that I actually changed
the character's name and made it Elle.

So it was actually
supposed to be the letter "L",

but I just really loved the way
she delivered the character's name.

And so we ended up
changing her name to Elle.

He knew I'd always be a target,
so he taught me how to survive.

We became a family.

Again, this is something
in the whole Justice for Han.

There was a lot more worked out

that I hope, one day, we'll be able
to bring it to life for the fans.

So I'm really excited for right now.

I don't want to say anything.

I feel like
whatever is out there in Fast 9

is there for the fans
to talk about and to explore.

And I think when it's appropriate,
we'll be able to bring that story to life.

But I am excited for people
to see what...

Which dots they connect,
and what is the back story

that they can come up with and to share.

But you got killed in a car crash, Han.

Mr. Nobody had a way
of making things look real.

This is also one of those moments
where I was telling Kurt and Sung...

We ended up finding the perfect location,
and it took a while to light,

but there was not
going to be any coverage.

It was just going to be this moment
that it was going to be

Mr. Nobody and Han sharing that screen,

and it had to say everything
about the absence of Han in that world.

- What's happening?
- It's some kind of hidden subroutine

the system follows.

So coming up here, this scene,

this is one of those scenes
that I would say

making these movies or making anything,

it's the toughest thing to shoot,

because you have...

First of all, you have the whole cast,
you have all these moving parts,

you have all these soldiers with guns,

and you're trying to earn
this moment of intimacy

between two characters.

Jakob.

I'm sorry, Mia.

And this was really the second scene
we shot with John,

and it was interesting.

I could tell, in the morning,

Vin really wanted
to get into the meat of it.

And usually, when you shoot these scenes,
you shoot the wides,

and you go in.

And I was going on set,

and Vin came up to me and he said,
"What do you think?"

As soon as he said,
"What do you think?"

I knew what he was saying,
and I went to the crew, and I said,

"We're not going to cover it
the way we usually cover this.

"I want to get to the intimate moment
between these two brothers."

So we actually shot this
not in a conventional way.

It was done actually on this fluid master
between Jakob and Dom.

And then we just kept working on it
until we felt we got it.

And once we had it,
then I was able to go back

and do the coverage
and shoot the wide shot.

And it was...
It was the right way to approach this,

especially with John Cena,
this being his second scene.

Good thing about Dad dying...

...was he didn't have to watch
what you became.

You never deserved the Toretto name.

This is part of the fluid master here.

It was the first shot that I did
for the whole scene,

and he was amazing.

He was fearless.

And part of it was
he was going to reveal this big secret

that he's been holding
all these years

that was going to fundamentally change
everyone's point of view.

Dom, and Mia, and Letty,
everybody that was there.

And so, John, I could see him
on that day, he just used it.

He used even the awkwardness of going in

and shooting that close up first,

a shared close up
with Vin and the whole cast

with all these ex...

Everybody.

And to be able to fully engage

and not let any of the artificial elements
get to him.

That was an amazing...
It's not even a performance,

but it's an amazing feat
for John and also Vin,

and it really set the tone for the scene.

And it's just an example
of there's no right or wrong way

to make films,

and sometimes you just
have to go with your gut.

And, in this case,
it really made a huge difference.

It's funny, I think, a lot of times,
how you get characters out of binds,

and when you watch the movie,
it's like, "It's two seconds right here."

It's like, "Tej doing this knob."

But to be able to do that,
hopefully on multiple levels...

I mean, this thing took...
It took eight months

of writing ourselves
into a corner of saying,

"Okay. Well, now Jakob's got Elle,
and he's leaving,

"and now he's leaving
all the soldiers there

"to probably kill Dom and the family.
How do they get out?"

And so it's like,
in the writing process,

it's always great because you're like,

"Great. We basically...

"We give Jakob a true win.

"And now how are we going to be able
get Dom and the family out?"

And so, to be able to figure out
that magnet, I mean, it was...

It's funny, every time I watch it,
I start heating up

because I get drawn into the struggle

and the challenge
of how to get these characters out.

And it's just a great...
Like, once you get it,

it feels like you're able to solve
all the world's problems, you know.

But then, when people are
watching the movie,

it's like, it's two seconds,
boom, they're gone.

Here this is another sequence that,
for us is kind of a first time,

which is actually seeing
Dom be really defeated.

And obviously he's doing this
to try to save Letty and the family.

But it's always kind of gratifying

to find new beats for us
to explore, you know, and...

And I think we actually
never had anything like this

where, yes, it's a big fight scene
with Dom and all these guys,

but for him to really be doing it

to try to save his family,

even if it's ultimately about
giving up his own life,

it was great.

No!

And I thought, again,
if you watch it closely,

there's shades of Dom in this film
that we had never experienced.

And this sequence coming up, to me,
is another example of that, you know.

I think Vin really just brought it
and he was able to go places

that I think that even
if we tried in the other films,

it wouldn't have been right.
It had to be earned.

See, cars like this are immortal.

Here, you see, Vincent,
this is actually Vin's son.

And it was one of those
amazing moments

where I knew we were going to have
a young Dom Toretto,

and they actually started scouting for it.

And I'm looking through all the auditions

and at one point, you know,
it dawned on me that,

"Well, why don't we just
try Vin's son, " you know.

And it just became this perfect fit
and Vincent did such an amazing job.

And here again, this is a Dominic Toretto
that, you know, for me...

I have never gone to that place with Vin.

And I know for sure that
Vin's been always keeping that.

And this was one of those
earned moments for us,

and it was such a great time on set

to be able to earn that
and earn that together.

No. You know I'm good for it.

It's crazy. You see that door with Jack.

You know, we shot this on a sound stage,
but as soon as I walked on that little set

and I saw that door,
I was in the Toretto house,

I feel like, even as a viewer,
a fan of this franchise,

sometimes it's like these little cues

that really just brings out
all these feelings.

Seeing that door brought me back to
me being in film school

and watching
the first Fast & Furious film

at the AMC Santa Monica, you know.

And then shooting that in that house

on Fast 4 with Brian and Mia.

I'm telling you, I got intermittent miss.

- Last two laps.
- On it!

Get those plug wires!

Jakob! Now.

And here,
this is the moment of connection.

And I just thought, you know J.D. and Finn

and Vin, even though we shot it
in different environments,

it was such a great connection.

And a lot of it was this moment of,
for Jakob, of deciding

and that pressure of not knowing
what's right or wrong,

but ultimately doing it
and keeping his word to his dad.

And for Vin and Dom
to be able to process that...

Again, it's unchartered territory,
and I'm so kind of proud

that we're able to earn that
in this new chapter.

No!

It's interesting, you know, this sequence
was actually really a challenge

to put together,

because a lot of times you watch films

and there's underwater sequences
and it's great,

but it's really hard to capture that.

And so, we had to find this tank
and Michelle was just fearless.

She jumped in and it was great
and then Vin had to come,

and we had to shoot
all the underwater sequences,

and it was mind-bending and...

I was trying to change
the axis and everything.

But ultimately, it was great,

even though it was only, like,
maybe less than 10 seconds,

I felt like we did it right.

And both Vin and Michelle's
commitment to it

really just helped those moments.

Do you hear me?

Is this who we are?

Yeah.

And this is, in a way, an earned moment
between Letty and Dom.

We really only had various moments

in throughout the movie for them

to kind of get to work out
everything they've gone through.

But what I love is that it wasn't
about them working it through together,

it needed Letty
to go on this journey with Mia,

and then Dom to go through this journey
with Jakob for them to reconnect,

and to have to not only share that moment,

but to have a sense of...

At least a sense of
what their future is together.

Not remotely.
We'd have to do it physically,

Fifty miles above ground
while the satellite is in orbit.

Orbit?

We need help.

Otherwise, we have no chance.

We do it ourselves.

It's where we've been
that got us this far.

No. No, no, no, no, no.

Do y'all not understand?

Clearly, y'all don't.

Because if you did,
you'd be pissing your pants

like a normal person.

Orbit.

That's outer space.

That's another level.

What we gonna do? Hijack a space shuttle?

Put rockets on our backs?

This is where... We're about to
head into our third act action sequence.

And I know a lot of people
maybe, through the years,

joked about what's next.
Space? You know, and...

And that's something, internally,
we were always talking about.

And to be honest, I wasn't sure
if we were ever going to be able to do it.

And it became a very organic way
because when I finally committed

to this kind of existential threat
with Roman, Tej and Ramsey,

as I was working on it,
it felt like we needed

something that is not of this world.

And that's pun intended,
to really kind of pay off that thread.

And I remember even working on it,

and when we got there,
I called Vin up and I drove to his house

and I remember sitting down
and he looked at me and goes,

"So this is the one, right?"

I said, "I think so."
And we both kind of laughed,

because, you know, it was something
that we we always would sit there

and throw the craziest ideas
of what we can do and explore.

But I don't know if we ever thought like,
"Oh, yeah. Let's go to space on 9."

It was just something
that became very organic.

And even like, for me, personally,

it actually had
a much more profound effect

because, to me, I always get the sense
when I talked to Vin,

when we explore and we talk about stories

about the journeys of our characters
of Fast and the Furious.

I think we always start from a point
that we're never supposed to be here.

Like, I remember growing up
being a filmmaker was, you know...

When I would tell people,
it was like... It was not a possibility.

And I know that, you know,
having gotten to know Vin very well,

he had went through
the same thing, you know.

And Michelle, same thing, you know.

She was a Jersey girl
and, you know, Sung, all of us.

And somehow we all found our way
to each other.

Like with Vin it was about
making this indie film and finishing it.

And even though nobody believed in him,
he got into Sundance,

and that's where Spielberg saw him
and he got into Saving Private Ryan.

He has his own story.

My story is, nobody believed
in anything that I wanted to do.

I ultimately did a credit-card movie.

I met Sung and got into Sundance

and changed our lives
and gave me a career, you know.

And for Michelle, it was just
her exploration letter to Girlfight,

and she would share her stories with me
where the fact that the filmmaker Karyn,

she took a chance on someone new
as opposed to an established actor.

And somehow, we met each other and we...

We started making these films
that wasn't a given.

Like, I think when I joined,
the Fast and the Furious

was not Fast and the Furious today.

And for me to say, "For sure we're going
to have a sequel, " that was insane.

We had to earn it.
And then by earning it,

I got to work with Vin and Paul
and Jordana and Michelle and...

And we just kept challenging
each other, you know.

And that's the spirit
of Fast and the Furious.

And at the same time, there was no IP,

there was no comic book,
it's not based on anything.

It was whatever we wanted to do.

And I think it was very clear
for us from the beginning

that we were never going to just do
the same thing over and over.

This was not going to be James Bond,
where it's the same character

or characters that's just going to go
through different adventures.

We were going to honor these characters,

and as they grow, we were going to grow.

And now you're seeing us, you know...

These characters
have gone together, had kids.

And now we're doing
these big action movies

with our protagonists who actually have
kids at home, you know.

And I think that's what's
so unique about it.

And to be able to grow together
and not be alone.

You know, I can go all the way back to
meeting Tyrese on Annapolis

and getting to know each other.

But we were so different then.

And to be able to build that trust
where now I can put him and Chris

in a deep sea diving suit and say,

"You're going to attempt to go to space."

That's meaningful to me,
you know, and to us.

And so going to space,

it had all these profound meanings

that I wasn't even really conscious of
until we did it.

I'm barely ready to go scuba diving
in this old-ass thing.

Don't listen to him. We ready!

- "We"?
- Yes, I said "we"!

I thought you was invincible.

Let's see how invincible
your Black ass is after this.

- Punch it!
- No! Tej!

Oh, my God! I don't want to die!

Ignition!

Oh, my God. Oh, my God.

When we were shooting this,
and the Roman and Tej sequence

that comes a little later
when they're talking about,

"No one's going to believe us, right?"

it actually had a lot more meaning.

And those were actually improvised.

And when they said it,

I really had this
emotional connection to it,

and I felt like, "Okay, great, "
because now that we're up here,

we're going to definitely...
That's going to be in the movie

because we're never supposed to be here.

We're not supposed
to actually be making Fast 9,

and this was never supposed to be
a franchise that was going to be

such a big part
of Universal's legacy, you know.

And so, yeah.

So, to be able to see this sequence
actually, it meant a lot more.

And, you know,
it is definitely a lot of fun.

I would say that, you know,
talking to the NASA rocket scientist...

At first, he just thought we were crazy.

But soon, I think he realized
we weren't trying to duplicate

our space to outer atmosphere.

We were actually really trying
to figure out a real way to start.

And so those conversations were awesome.

It was...

It started off with fuel,
the amount of fuel that we would need.

And it led us to the launching point

where I knew we couldn't
launch our characters from the ground,

it'd just take too much fuel.

So then we looked at the Virgin Galactic

and some of the
space shuttle tests they did.

And we realized if we launch the the craft
from higher altitude,

it would be a lot less fuel
and actually has been done.

So it was just about making sure
that we had characters

that was trained in that discipline.

So Earl and Sean and Twinkie
actually felt very natural

because these are characters
that are kind of savants, you know.

And as they lived in the universe,

and us not checking in with them
for the last, I don't know, 10 years,

that they would naturally be
very much into this idea

of pushing vehicles into new realms.

And so... Anyway, it is crazy.

I know that people have seen the trailer,

and they thought, "Oh, my God,
they're going to space."

But I could tell you that,

I think aside from the polymer
and some other things,

it is actually very sound
what we're doing.

And we've had many, many
really great conversations

with literally rocket scientists
to get all that going.

I think if anything,
the magnet tech is actually

maybe a little more further out, you know?

And I just took the principle
of a lot of stuff that they're working on

in that technology,
and we just kind of build off of that.

And, yeah, I think a lot of times you see
the knobs being turned right there,

which is to repel or to attract.

But there are actually,
if you look at Ramsey's computer,

there are a lot more specific things
that they're doing with the tech.

And I shot it.

And actually, ultimately...

I just felt like it was going to be
more confusing in those cuts.

So the tech is there.

If you really look closely,
it's actually there.

We actually had footage,
but ultimately it just was not...

I just felt like it was
confusing people more,

so I just simplified it.

And here, we're seeing Francis Ngannou.

It was one of these nice perks
of doing these movies

because I just get incoming calls
from people.

One day it could be Cardi B,
it could be Bad Bunny,

or it could be Francis Ngannou.

You know, just people saying,
"Hey, we love the franchise.

"Can we be a part of it?"

And I thought, "Okay, cool. Let me see."

And I remember it was actually...

I was on my way to the set
and we were well into shooting.

And I was just inspired one morning.

I was listening to this Carpenters' song,
Top of the World,

and for some reason,
it was the structure of the music

that it was like a three-parter
that really inspired me.

And I started writing, and this whole
sequence was written in that car.

And so when we landed at the studio,
I called second unit

and they were actually
shooting in Tbilisi,

and I told them the shots
and I started sketching it out

and I would email it to them
and they ended up shooting it,

and that became the Ngannou sequence.

And it was all done when I was in the car,
and it's...

It's a testament to the team that I have.

We now have this shorthand
where certain sequences

we planned for months and months.

But then on the spur of the moment,
when I get inspired,

I can actually call them
and plan that over the phone,

and they could actually shoot it
and we can shoot

all the interior stuff in London
and get it all done.

So here what you just saw was actually
the improv sequence with Roman and Tej.

It is one of those things
that when I saw it,

I knew it had to be in the film
because it was never scripted.

But it was a sentiment of
"we're never supposed to be here."

And I know it's done in a fun way,
but I just love the delivery that Tyrese

and, both, Chris, in that moment, gave.

And it really kind of says it all
for all of us,

I think, you know,
behind the camera, in front of the camera.

And it really captured the essence
and the spirit of Fast and the Furious.

And so, it's one of those great things
that in film that I love

is that sometimes you can plan
and plan and plan.

If you do that enough, you get the
spontaneous moments on the day

that outshines all the planning.

That's what happens,
the magic of filmmaking.

- Something you want to tell me, Otto?
- My bad.

Satellite uplink
is actually going splendid.

And, by the way,
I have a new business partner.

Maybe you know her.

Guess who's out of the box, Jakob.

But I did try to warn you.

You were never my competition.

- Otto, there's something you should know.
- Yeah, go on.

So here, we have seen the intersection now

of this earned partnership
between Otto and Cipher

that was all done off screen.

And, again, it goes all the way back

to that Yoda, Star Wars scene
between them.

I was so excited after we shot that.

You know, soon as I knew
we had that scene in the can,

I felt like,
"Okay, this beat is going to work."

And again, these sequences
are so complicated to put together.

It takes months and months to plan
and then you location scout.

You have to scan the location,
and they have to previz it and previz it,

and then we have to go through stunts

to make sure that they can execute
everything that was planned.

And here, you know,
it looks like two cars...

That actually was two stunts done
at the same time, a cannon and a ramp.

And this is a combination of...

You're talking about,
at the end of the day,

crew in Tbilisi, in UK,
and in post, you have crew in India,

you know, UK, Montreal,

everywhere around the world
to make it all happen.

It was a connection of this amazing crew
of thousands across the world

for us to be able to bring this to life.

And this is one of the craziest moments
of hitting that.

And we actually did that practically.

It was done in pieces, of course,

but I was very proud
that we were able to capture

all that in camera, every beat of that.

And here there's a...
I'm sure people watching it

have questions about the magnet...

How is it that the Supra
is the only thing attached?

And it, actually...

If you see all those things,
those directional kind of magnetic force,

we had months and months
of meetings about it,

and I actually...

There is actually tech in there
with... that Mia does.

But I remember seeing an earlier cut
when I actually cut to her doing it,

it brought on like
it was just an overload of intel.

And so when I removed it,
it just felt like it all made sense.

But for people that are doing
a deeper dive,

I could tell you
that there is a logic to that

that we had spent months developing.

I mean, it's still there
if you really look at it,

but in the cut, it just made
more sense for it to be simple.

So here, you know, I have
Anna shooting this crazy Gatling gun.

I think she had a lot of fun
that day doing it.

But it was a combination of us
shooting interior in London

and then sending her to Tbilisi
to shoot that gun for real.

And a lot of people,
they ask me about this sequence.

And as you can see,

there's no way we can duplicate
that in the visual effects world.

So I was giving notes and I just
kept asking them to throw more cars

at, we call it the Armadillo.

That's something
that we built from ground up.

And so, my note for them was
always to keep throwing more cars at it.

So I was very happy
the way the sequence turned out.

You know, it was one of those things
where, like this,

you cannot duplicate that
in the visual effects world.

Letty, drop back
and line up with the front tires.

- What?
- If we can't slow it

and we can't punch through...

So, where we're coming up to,
is this pole,

and then this is,
actually this shot right here,

where the car hits the windshield,

that was one of the happy accidents.

We threw a camera on there,
and it just had this amazing moment

where it captures a car
hitting the windshield,

and I think it delayed us a little bit,

but it gave this really great coverage

that I ultimately was able
to kind of work into the movie.

You read my mind.
Han, get in front of me.

And the wire gag here,
it seems pretty simple.

I think, for anybody,
it's just five seconds of a moment.

But again, it took so much time.

We had cannons, poles
and it was all the amazing stunt team.

And usually, you do one of these,
it's a big deal.

But to do multiple vehicles like this,

it is a huge undertaking.

And again, I just give the crew
so much credit, you know, they...

There's never any hesitation.

Everybody was always in
to do something new,

even if it's just a small beat like that.

And so, for this beat of the flip,

we actually had to build
so many different rigs to do that

and one just for the head
of the Armadillo.

And actually, for a lot of this,
we had to capture in camera,

just for reference.

And it's something that...

It was so complicated
just because there was

three different lighting sequences
to try to get all that done.

But we were able to capture
a lot of the stuff practically,

even if it was used for reference.

Satellite is in range.

Let's power up these magnets and fry it.

All right, take our time.

I have to say, I think this coming up here
with Chris and Tyrese,

to put 'em in the most ridiculous outfits

and to be in this ridiculous vehicle

in this ridiculous situation,

and for them to really
kind of connect on an emotional level...

Oh, my goodness, it...
I'm so proud of them.

I would say, with everything
that I've done with them,

this is my most proud moment with them

because they're showing up,
they look like Minions.

I have 'em hanging from the set
for hours and hours.

And then they had to deliver this
existential monologue

where both of their philosophies converge.

And that Tej was always driven
by math and science,

is basically saying that
it's an impossibility.

It's one in a million.

And then for Roman, who's basically,
the dreamer saying,

"Well, if it's one in a million,
let's go for it.

"Because we were never
supposed to be here."

And it says a lot about us
as a franchise,

and us as a family
in front and behind the camera.

And you can hear it
in Tyrese's performance.

It really captured that.

And I remember thinking about rewriting it
just as an exercise.

And then I thought, "No, it doesn't matter
whatever I write or rewrite."

Whatever was captured in that moment
between Tyrese and Chris

really says it all for us.

And for us to be
doing this crazy action sequence

and then getting into that
emotional moment for all of us,

to me, that's like
the secret weapon a lot of times

to be able to surprise people.

And I think people, lot of times,
think the surprise is

in the craziness in the action,

but for me, it's always
the emotional moments

that we're able to capture.

We did it!

Let's go.

Yes!

Shit.

Not bad, man.

Not bad at all.

We're about to hit the sequence here
where, for the first time,

I ended up taking out
this huge action beat.

And this is not in that cut,

but I love it in the extended cut

because it took us months
and we shot this practically,

we went through simulations,
went through all these things.

And it's a combination of cars
going through buildings

and CG simulations
of a crumbling building and stuff,

and I still love it.

But ultimately, I just felt like
it wasn't contributing

to the emotional connection

which is this next beat
of Dom and Cipher.

And I took it out,

but I still am really,

I have to say, even though I felt like
it was the right choice,

I was bummed.

But I think as a filmmaker,

it gives me a lot of peace to know
that we have this extended cut.

It was always, I think, in conception.

It needed to be in there,
but I think, you know, ultimately,

we just had so much.

I felt like the right thing
was to take it out.

And then also just...

Again, you see that beat of Dom
running through,

that is actually one of the hardest sets.

It took us weeks to build.

It was on this 360 rotating set
just for those couple of seconds.

And that's what's so, to me...

I'm still blown away
that we're able to do that.

And the amount of care
that we can do.

This is still something
that I wake up every morning,

and I'm so happy and excited

to be part of, you know,
the tent pole cinema.

You just can't do this
anywhere else in the world.

You know, to be able to wreck
over 200 cars,

to come up with crazy ideas,

and then have this amazing crew
bring it to life.

And to be able to use
every tool available.

To even do this, you know,
right here, with the jump.

To be able to start practically
and then go all the way,

using every tool to tell the story.

So coming up here with Cipher,

this is probably
the beginning of something

that I'm really excited to explore
with both Vin and Charlize.

And this is the...

I'll point this out,
it's one of those luxuries...

For the first time,
I allowed myself to think of it

as a final chapter
so that we can have scenes like this.

A lot of the credit goes to Vin
and the studio

because I have always wanted to only treat

every film, every chapter
as its own journey,

and I didn't wanna engage.

I wanna earn the next chapter,

but Vin talked me into thinking of it
as we've earned this final chapter.

And Fast 9 is really the first film
of the of the three.

So, it allowed me to be able
to explore things

and have scenes like that with Cipher,

which is suggesting
that there's more to come.

This is the world I chose, Dom.

You know, Dad wasn't perfect.

And then, of course, here, this exchange,

it harkens back to the heart and soul

of the franchise of the first
Fast and the Furious.

And even though,

Brian O'Conner's not physically
part of this film and journey,

it was very much an effort
to always be conscious

that he is part of this universe,
and any time we can, you know,

have moments that helps
the audience connect with him

and to know that
he's still in this universe,

it's really important.
And this was one of the great finds.

It was, again, very organic and earned,

but it's also very much part of the DNA
of where we all came from.

So we're about to get into
this kind of wrapping up

this crazy chapter of going into...

I know we're saying space.
Like here, it's space.

But I can officially tell you
that it was outer atmosphere.

It wasn't until they pushed that NOS
that took them into space,

which is way further,
and so they've been drifting for a while.

And, you know, the Minion joke
actually came from me

trying to figure out
if there's any way of them

coming up with a space suit with no time.

And I was talking to a rocket scientists

and it ultimately came into this idea
that, you know,

deep sea exploration diving suits
are very close to astronaut suits.

And so the idea that they blow up,
that's all kind of based on real science.

And here we are in the race track,

and this Bad Bunny track was amazing.

He actually sent us the track.

And I loved the song
and I didn't know where to put it.

And I think once we
tried it in the scene,

it really gave it so much more meaning.

You did?

And it was just... Again, I feel so lucky.

You know, when I first
joined the franchise,

people weren't sending us tracks to try.

And now we have all these amazing artists

that are just sharing with us
materials that they've created.

And when we're able to find
these amazing connections,

it just makes me realize
how far we've come,

and the fact that it
wasn't always like this

and it was something that
that we've earned together.

This moment here, I felt like
it was so important to have

because when we talk
about time travel,

the idea that we're able to explore
two timelines,

and finally, we're able to have
this kind of temporal and physical space

converge into one.

I was so excited to have this.

But it was also able to wrap
this chapter up completely

in a way that it suggests a lot more

that that's happened, obviously,

but at the same time, for Fast 9,

this connection,
it was so important to me,

and I'm so glad we're able to achieve it.

And so, the Toretto house,
under construction,

that was something that I also wanted
to earn our way to,

even though they were living
in that farmhouse when we first find 'em,

I always knew our goal
was to earn our way back

to the Toretto house
and to be able to have our barbecue.

I'm sure when people saw the trailer,
they expected

Han to be with Sean
and Twinkie and Earl and I...

I love the fact that, for the first time
they see each other

is actually in this moment of the film,

that they actually
weren't connected at all,

and that they were able to
find their way to each other

and to kind of be introduced
to Elle, their new member.

Just call me T.

And, you know, Leo, Santos...

We actually... Is also something
that I really was excited to do

was to see how they met Dom
in that flashback sequence.

And it was awesome to get Don Omar.

In this present timeline, to be able
to get him and everybody together,

it just meant so much.

It has so much more value.

Again, I know I said this so many times
during this commentary,

but there's a lot of times
in writing and understanding

the magnitude of certain things,

but then there's a difference between that
and then showing up on the day

with all the actors,
with the whole cast.

And it really elevates it
to another emotional level

that I think on a cerebral sense,
writing it you understand,

but until you get there and you shoot it
and you're in that location

in the Toretto backyard,
you truly feel it.

I think Daddy has a question for you.

You ready to say grace, kid?

But I don't know what to say.

Oh, it's easy.

Here, obviously, little Brian,
you know, joining the barbecue,

the family barbecue, is significant
because it also suggests that

he's going to be
at many more barbecues.

Little Brian's ready to say grace with us.

I think that the empty chair...

And I remember sitting there
with the set decks

and trying to find the right color
to match for Brian.

And then at the same time, like,

having Brian show up at the barbecue
with his Skyline,

for anybody that's been
part of this franchise,

I just felt like
that was the right way to approach

his presence in this franchise,

but hopefully, doing in a respectful way.

Again, you know, I think
it was so gratifying to be back,

but I think more importantly,
is to be back for the right reasons.

And to be able to do this film

and to be inspired and to know that,
"Yes, this is chapter nine."

But we still have all this new themes
and arcs and threads

to explore with our characters.

And to do that, again,

I get the business
of making these movies

that when you're successful,
you have other opportunities,

but on a creative level
to know that we can do this,

but be able to have an environment

where we're still challenging each other
and trying new things,

that to me, is when it's most fulfilling.

And I think at the end of this,

it's interesting because
I knew we were gonna have a tag.

And I remember shooting Fast 6,
and I was leaving.

I knew I was leaving,
and I was talking to Jason Statham

for a long time
about joining our franchise.

And I remember in London,
I came up with the idea

that he was going to be Shaw

and that Shaw was going to be
the one that killed Han, and...

And I called him and he was awesome
and he came in and did the scene.

And then I finally
officially decided I was leaving.

I had a long talk with him.

His first reaction was,
"If you're leaving, I'm leaving.

"I'm not going to continue."

And I said, "No, no, no, no.
Please, you should."

I think there's still
a lot more story to be had,

and he obviously stayed.

But I always felt bad because he came
and did that scene for me.

So, it was great to be able
to come up with the idea for this,

and in many ways,
it's the continuation for us, you know,

and to be able to call him and say, "Hey,
can you come in here and do this tag?

"And this tag is not about me leaving.

"This tag is about connecting with Shaw

"and it's for us to make the promise

"that we're going to be able to, you know,
not only work together,

"but really dig into Shaw
the way we wanted to."

And so, it was a great call to make.

I didn't know what to expect.

And Jason was so excited,
and he was great.

And just... Again, it made it feel like
it was always meant to be, you know?

And so, on this day,
when we were shooting it,

it reminded me of shooting that tag on 6.

But instead of this feeling of leaving,
it was the opposite.

It was connecting, it was reconnecting,

and the excitement of what's to come.

So, it was a great way.

It was the last scene
that we shot in this movie.

And to see him and Han

and the promise of
fully doing justice for Han, right,

it was the best way to go out.

And so, I'm excited to be back.

And I had such a great time
reconnecting with everybody.

And I look forward
to concluding our saga

with all these great characters.

So, thank you, guys, for your time,
for sitting through this.

And I look forward to exploring
and finding the right next two films

to close out this saga
for Fast and the Furious.