Rob Cohen‘s nearly 40 years in Hollywood have been filled with ups and downs. He started off as a script reader for Universal, with his big break discovering the screenplay to eventual 1973 Best Picture winner “The Sting.” However, it wasn’t until he set his sights on directing that Cohen fully immersed himself into the Hollywood conversation. He would go on and make 2001’s “The Fast and the Furious” which starred relative unknowns Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Michelle Rodriguez. That film would spawn one of the biggest franchises in Hollywood history. Now, it looks like Cohen might be interested in returning to the franchise he gave birth to.
Speaking to Screen Crush, while promoting his latest film “The Hurricane Heist,” Cohen says, “I always wished Universal would come back to me to direct the last one. If they ever make a last one. If Comcast’s Board of Directors ever allows them to end the goose that laid the golden egg.”
Fair enough, but, at this point in time, Cohen’s directorial style is far removed from the hip and stylish ‘F&F’ films that have been released since “Fast Five.” Yes, he began the franchise, but it would be an odd choice to have him direct any of the upcoming sequels. Cohen has been in a major slump since directing Vin Diesel in “xXx” back in 2002, having followed that box-office success with “Stealth,” “The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor,” “Alex Cross,” and “The Boy Next Door.” The latter of which, starring Jennifer Lopez as a woman stalked by a younger romantic fling, being the worst of the lot. He now has “Hurricane Heist,” which, quite frankly, doesn’t look like it’s going to be a huge success.
That being said, Cohen is very aware of how the ‘Fast’ series has morphed over the years. What started as a street racing rip-off of “Point Break” has turned into a superhero franchise, minus the tights.
“The franchise went from a Los Angeles story built around a family of multicultural brothers and sisters to what I’ll call ‘pure spectacle’…I’m very proud that the characters I created in 2001 are still in the lexicon…It had to evolve, and it evolved in a way that was ultra-worldwide commercial. And the heartbeat of it is: We live in a world with no gravity, cars can do anything. They can burst out of the nose of airplanes. People can jump across freeways. They can take down helicopters,” says Cohen.
Cohen also recognizes that being the father of this series does come with certain…financial benefits.
He continues, “They spend $350 million on these movies, so they’ve got the money to pull this stuff off. And the audience is eating it up. The last one still did $1.25 billion. For my kids’ college fund, I’m very happy that it’s had this longevity.”
While Cohen’s original ‘Fast’ film is the first, and therefore created the characters fans across the world know and love, it’s clear the franchise went a whole notch higher in quality when Dwayne Johnson came into the equation. In fact, you could argue that “Fast Five” is the best movie of the eight released. With Johnson’s Hobb being the only ‘Fast’ character to get his own spin-off, it’s obvious that the studio believes Johnson plays a large role in the franchise’s current standing.
“The Hurricane Heist” opens in theaters this Friday, March 9.