Need To Know Facts on The Four "Fast and Furious" Films

The Four 'Fast & Furious' Films

by Matt McDaniel

"The Fast and the Furious" roared onto movie screens in 2001, and it made Vin Diesel a household name (even though it's not the name he was born with). Eight years later, Vin has returned for another spin in "Fast & Furious" along with the original's stars Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster. So here's a look under the hood of the four films with some inside facts you might not know about how they were put together. Plus, we have an exclusive racing scene from the movie introduced by Vin Diesel himself.

1. "The Fast and the Furious" shares its title but not its story with a low-budget movie from 1954. It was one of the first films produced by B-movie legend Roger Corman, who also drove a car in one of the movie's race scenes. He got so into it he forgot his car was supposed to lose, and afterward the notoriously stingy producer had to pay up the money to reshoot the scene.

2. "Racer X," a Vibe Magazine article by Kenneth Li, was the inspiration for the first movie. It delved into the culture of illegal street racers in New York City and their tricked-out import cars. Dominic Toretto's line in the movie, "I live my life a quarter mile at a time," was something said by Rafael "Ralphy" Estevez, the real-life driver in the story.

3.Vin Diesel was born Mark Sinclair Vincent, and he adopted his pseudonym while working as bouncer at a New York City nightclub. He struggled at first to find work as an actor, and it inspired "Muti-Facial," a short film he wrote and directed that played at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival. Steven Spielberg saw his film, which lead to Diesel getting cast in "Saving Private Ryan."

4. Toretto's Mazda RX7 in the first movie originally had a roll cage, but it had to be removed so that Vin Diesel could fit in the driver's seat. Mark Wahlberg, Christian Bale and Eminem were all considered for the part of Brian O'Connor before Paul Walker was cast. Neither Michelle Rodriguez nor Jordana Brewster had a driver's license when they were hired.

5. "The Fast and the Furious" was a surprise hit, earning more money its first weekend than the movie's entire budget. Diesel turned down a role in the sequel, so Walker was paired with Tyrese Gibson for "2 Fast 2 Furious." Not only did Walker do some of his own stunt driving in the movie, he did it in his own Nissan Skyline.

6. "Tokyo Drift," the third movie in the series, centered on a new set of characters, though Vin Diesel did appear at the end in a surprise cameo. Some of the movie was shot in Japan, but most of the racing scenes were filmed in Los Angeles. The film made less money in the US than the previous two, but it earned more internationally than the first movie.

7. "Fast & Furious" finally reunites the four lead actors from the original film eight years later. Originally, the plan was to make "Toretto," a solo movie with just Diesel's character, but that was put aside to do the reunion film. The opening of this movie takes place before "Tokyo Drift" chronologically, because it features Sung Kang's character, Han, who died in the third movie.

8. Diesel also directed a 20-minute prequel to "Fast & Furious" called "Los Bandoleros" that fills in what Dominic has been doing between the movies. It shows him meeting back up with Michelle Rodriguez's character in the Dominican Republic. Diesel calls it the "Anti-Fast" because it doesn't have any car scenes. The short film will be on the "Fast & Furious" DVD

9. One of the new faces in "Fast & Furious" is Gal Gadot, who makes her feature film debut as Gisele. Gadot is a former model who won the title of Miss Israel in 2004 and competed in the Miss Universe pageant. She had recently finished her military service before auditioning for the film, and she appeared in Maxim Magazine's "Women of the Israeli Army" photo shoot.

10. There's one other big star that's returning for "Fast & Furious": Toretto's 1970 Dodge Charger. None of the classic muscle cars from the first movie were still in working order, so the production had to piece them together from parts collected from around the country. In this movie, Dominic also drives a 1970 Chevrolet Chevelle, a '73 Chevrolet F-Bomb Camaro, and a '87 Buick Grand National GNX.

The cast has been cagey about saying who would come back for a fifth movie. There's been talk another installment would have Vin and Paul racing around Europe. It will all depend on how this one does at the box office. To get a peek at the action in "Fast & Furious," take a look at the racing scene below.