“F9,” the latest entry in the ‘Fast & Furious’ franchise, exploded onto screens worldwide this May, garnering commercial success to the tune of some $700 million and giving the series an opportunity to live long past its upcoming tenth and eleventh installments. Helmed by series mainstay Justin Lin, who has directed most of the entries since “Tokyo Drift” in 2006, “F9” is making one more quarter-mile run at top speed as it arrives on home media today, featuring a director’s cut with 7 minutes of new footage. “When people watch the whole [series] from [front to back], the extended cut [of “F9”] is going to be the better connector,” said Lin, who we got to chat with about “F9” and the new cut of the film.
Speaking as well about the ways in which the franchise has kept going bigger under his direction, Lin added, “I can see why people say, ‘Every time you make another one you go bigger.’ That’s not what I wake up trying to do, it just felt organic [on ‘F9’].” Something else that has been important to Lin, more than going bigger, is to try and do something new with each entry. “Coming in on ‘Tokyo Drift’ there was no guarantee we were going to have a sequel,” said Lin. “It was clear we had to earn it. I felt like if we were lucky enough to do another one, let’s not do the same thing again. What I love about this franchise is, for better or worse, we [keep trying] something different. The characters are the glue, and every two years, they’re not the same person.”
Jordana Brewster, who has played the role of Mia Toretto since the very first ‘Fast & Furious’ film, has felt these changes in the franchise’s lead characters more than just about anyone. “Justin and Vin [Diesel] have a lot of integrity,” said Brewster, reaffirming Lin’s views on creating three-dimensional characters. “They don’t make the next movie unless we’re ready and each character has a beginning, middle, and end that makes sense. I’ve had conversations with Justin where he goes, ‘I’m not ready to show this to you guys yet.’ I feel so comfortable on set because I know he’s got our back.”
Brewster also gave her own perspective on the ways in which the franchise has kept topping itself with each film. “The reason we can keep upping the ante is that we have the family anchoring us,” said Brewster. “Everyone can relate to that piece of it, everyone’s represented in the film in some way.” In regards to what the future might bring for Mia, Brewster added, “I’d love to explore my relationship with Jakob (John Cena). I’d also like to know where my kids are at. Are they psyched to be in hiding, do they want to break away? I have that a lot as a mom, like ‘Mommy’s in movies swearing but you can’t watch it.’ I’d love to show Mia handling that in more extreme circumstances, ‘we’re breaking the law but we’re good guys.”
READ MORE: The 12 Most Ridiculous Moments In The ‘Fast & Furious’ Franchise
Sung Kang is one of Lin’s most frequent collaborators, working with Lin since the director’s first feature film, “Better Luck Tomorrow,” as well as in “Finishing the Game,” an ahead-of-its-time comedy that showcases the director-actor duo’s sense of humor and real-life spontaneous personality. Kang’s character in the former film, Han, would join the Fast franchise with Lin in “Tokyo Drift.” It’s an interesting transition for the character, and Kang spoke about the process of maintaining Han’s previously established personality within the confines of an action franchise. “You gotta humanize everything you do,” said Kang, “[or] people will see right through that and it’s not believable. I think the challenge for every actor is to find something identifiable for you first and that can resonate on a human level. You can’t really identify with the dude with a bunch of cars, but you can identify with a person who has lost someone, who wants to be a good friend, whose family is the center of their life.”
READ MORE: ‘Fast & Furious 10’ To Hit Theaters In April 2023
Kang also spoke about the influences behind his performance as Han, who often exudes a charismatic presence with very little dialogue. “For me, it’s trying to find the human cadence of the character,” said Kang. “Sometimes it’s not written on paper. In ‘Tokyo Drift’ Han barely says a paragraph in the whole movie. I watched the behind-the-scenes for ‘The Magnificent Seven,’ and Steve McQueen was talking about working with all these superstars, and he didn’t have lines, so he needed an activity. So he would snack, to watch or create suspense. Brad Pitt does it in ‘Snatch,’ too.”
Finally, Lin hinted at where the next ‘Fast’ entry might go. “[‘Fast 10’] is very special. It has a unique journey,” said Lin. “When I met Paul [Walker], [we talked] about what would the last chapter be? It started off almost as a joke, we never thought we were gonna have the opportunity to do that. This final chapter has special meaning to me because of those conversations that started more than ten years ago.”
“F9” is out now on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4K UHD formats, including the theatrical cut and Justin Lin’s director’s cut.