Twenty years ago, a simple movie about an undercover cop trying to take down a band of illegal-street-car-racing thieves eased into theaters.
It zoomed away with more than $207 million.
The Fast and the Furious, made for the relatively low sticker price of $38 million, was the sleeper hit of the summer in 2001, an action romp that automatically appealed to gearheads but ended up offering something for everyone and spawning a $6 billion-and-counting franchise, with F9: The Fast Saga finally opening June 25.
Anchored by the core quartet of Paul Walker as LAPD detective Brian O'Conner; Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, the outlaw leader who lives life a quarter mile at a time; Michelle Rodriguez as Letty, Dom's ride or die; and Jordana Brewster as Mia, Dom's sister and Brian's crush, TFATF is both a heist flick and a love story—largely between dudes and their cars, but also about the fierce bond among loyal friends. And, sometimes, there is actual romance.
The series has become increasingly more stunt-driven, the stars now Marvel-esque in their feats of automotive derring-do while flow charts are helpful for keeping the growing cast of characters, locations and plot points straight. (Not to mention the timeline of the action, which is all over the map.) But it started with the simple premise of the original: Ambitious cop meets career outlaw with a conscience, conflict ensues and trust hangs in the balance, but at the end of the day it's all about family.
And there's always time for an argument over whose engine is bigger.
Slick yet old-fashioned, exhilarating and delectably corny in all the right places, The Fast and the Furious may have been unassuming as far as foundations for a franchise go, but it set the table for everything to come.
So in honor of the blockbuster's 20th anniversary and just in time for the release of the latest model, we checked under the hood of the classic ride and found out what made it go vroom:
And yes, Diesel was famously anti-sequel.
"I was a fan of classics, so Rebel Without a Cause, On the Waterfront, older movies that were classics," he told EW's Binge. "I had seen movies get sequelized and quite often studios would just brand the movies...They weren't trying to Francis Ford Coppola the movie, they weren't trying to go the extra level to make sure that you were building off the existing story and the existing characters and having those characters evolve.
"You just simply call it whatever the brand thing is and not evolve the story in an episodic fashion. That's why I said, 'Guys, if you do another one, you'll jeopardize this first one being a classic.'"
But in hindsight, it's apparent that everything happened for a reason.
Even his altruistic artist dad was questioning his son's choice back then, Diesel said with a laugh, remembering the reaction to him turning down 2 Fast 2 Furious. "But by doing that you send a message with your actions that you have to continue with integrity," he explained. "So if I didn't opt out of being in the second one I never would've been able to be in the position to become the producer and have such an incredible role in the thinking. When I did the fourth one [after a surprise cameo in Tokyo Drift], roles had reversed."
He saw so far into the future of the saga's mythology, Diesel said, he didn't hold back on his suggestions, advising the studio that they could save money if they just filmed the fourth and fifth movies at the same time. "And they almost kicked me off the Universal lot," he said, chuckling, instead reminding him, "'You're lucky we're making a Fast 4!'"
F9 is in theaters and IMAX Friday, June 25.
(E! and Universal Pictures are both members of the NBCUniversal family.)