Rewatchables Reference

• The quarter-mile speech: 'I live my life a quarter mile at a time. Nothing else matters. Not the mortgage, not the store, not my team and all their bullshit. For those ten seconds or less, I'm free.' They pulled this into the rest of the series – it's how they end Part 7 after Paul Walker's death.
• The first Brian vs. Dom street race – the NOS moment, the train tracks, the whole thing.
• Brian giving Dom the keys at the end and letting him go. The moment that defines the entire franchise relationship.
• The Race Wars sequence with 1,500 real cars.

• The diversity and representation – the cast is incredibly diverse for a 2001 blockbuster and it wasn't even trying to make a statement about it.
• The family theme. What started as a throwaway concept became the backbone of a multi-billion dollar franchise. 'Salud mi familia.'
• Brian giving Dom the keys – the entire franchise is built on the trust established in that one moment.
• The youth and charisma of the whole cast. Everyone is young and beautiful and having the time of their lives.
• The Brian vs. Vince rivalry – the tension of the new guy threatening the established crew dynamic.

• Jordana Brewster's driving – she didn't have a driver's license during filming.
• They're stealing DVD players. By 'Fast Five' they're stealing $100 million. The jump from DVD players to globe-trotting heists is absurd.
• Jesse fleeing Race Wars and getting killed by Johnny Tran – an overreaction that makes no sense.
• Some of the special effects, particularly in the race scenes.
• Brian's haircut.

• Timothy Olyphant was the studio's first choice for Dominic Toretto but declined.
• Eliza Dushku was originally written for the Mia role but turned it down.
• Colin Farrell was pushed for the Dom role – if he's in here, Vin Diesel is in Phone Booth.

• Ja Rule – his whole thing in the movie is he just wants to have a threesome, that's it. He doesn't get it and everybody laughs at him. Ja Rule and DMX were way bigger stars in the 1998-2003 era than they get credit for now – having him in the movie was a big deal.
• Johnny Tran was another possibility, but Ja Rule wins.

• Ted Levine – Brian's boss who also played Buffalo Bill in Silence of the Lambs and was in Heat. Shea didn't even recognize him.
• Hector (Noel Gugliemi) – looks exactly the same in every role, same tricks, same haircut. In 2018 Michael Pena is playing all the roles he would have gotten.

• The police sergeant (not Ted Levine, the other one) – dialing it up to a parody of every police sergeant in every action movie. 'If we don't get these guys...'
• Ja Rule – although his acting was also kind of perfect.
• Vin Diesel – 'a great horrible actor.' Fun to impersonate but genuinely compelling on screen.

• Danny Trejo – could have been Dom's uncle working at Toretto's Market with the little paper hat. By Fast 4 he'd become part of la familia.
• Michael K. Williams – the movie kind of needs him, especially since other than Ja Rule it doesn't have a lot of signature Black actors.
• Steve Buscemi disqualified because he looks 60 years old, but could have been Jesse's dad.
• They vote Danny Trejo.

• Working title was 'Red Line' – refers to the maximum rate of speed a car can go. Traded the Fast and the Furious title from Roger Corman for Universal stock footage.
• Real house location: 724 East Kensington Road in Echo Park, blocks away from Dodger Stadium. It's now a tourist attraction.
• Key LA filming locations: Dodger Stadium parking lot (Brian's opening test), Angelino Heights, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Little Saigon, San Bernardino International Airport (Race Wars).
• The entire truck hijacking scene was filmed on the Domenigoni Parkway on the south side of San Jacinto Valley.
• Neptune's Net on PCH is the same location where the Patrick Swayze character worked in 'Point Break'.
• An alternate ending was filmed where Brian shows up at the Toretto house, tells Mia he resigned from the LAPD, and wants another chance. She says 'It's not going to be that simple.' He says 'I've got time.' Thank God they didn't use it.

• Neal Moritz (producer) – putting together a multi-billion dollar franchise off of a Vibe article is definitely his Apex Mountain.
• The hosts debate whether this or 'Fast Five' is Apex Mountain for Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, and Michelle Rodriguez. They settle on 'Fast Five' being the peak for the actors.
• Jordana Brewster was maybe the best in this specific movie and you'd have thought she'd be a bigger star.
• Matt Schulze (Vince) – you would have believed he was going to bigger and better things.

• Why did Brian risk sneaking into Dom's garage? He knew Vince was side-eyeing him at all times.
• The end of the movie: they're flying around Echo Park hills at insane speeds – nobody has ever gone more than 35 mph in Echo Park. There are four-year-old kids everywhere.
• Brian telling Mia he was a cop – he only had a couple hours left on the case, just let it go.
• Dom and his crew should have been rich from stealing six million dollars worth of DVDs, but Toretto's Market seemed to be in the hole.

• Whatever happened to Toretto's Market? By 'Fast Five' they're stealing hundreds of millions – who's making the roast beef?
• Did Jesse deserve to die? Don't race Johnny Tran at Race Wars and then just drive away.
• What happened to Leon? He was the most dispensable crew member – his only job was listening to the scanner, and when things went wrong at the truck heist, he didn't help anyone. Dom took stock and Leon was out of la familia.
• Was Brian O'Conner a bad undercover cop or an atrocious one? Bad, because at least he taught himself to drive at Dodger Stadium.
• Did they have a deal with Corona? No.
• What is Mia studying at the Toretto house party? Textbooks open, taking notes. College? High school? Restaurant management? Tuna?

Yes – the 2001 version stretched over ten episodes, deep in the LA street racing scene. A little more gang element, like 'Training Day'. Race Wars looming at the end. The world could sustain it.

• Vin Diesel. Nobody knew who he was before this – Paul Walker was already somewhat known from 'Varsity Blues' and She's All That. Diesel felt like he'd been famous for a while even though this was really his first signature role. By the end of the movie you knew he was a star. The Knockaround Guys 500 speech confirmed it wasn't a fluke.
• Shea argues Brian because when they made Part 2, only Paul Walker came back – they thought they could make the franchise without Dominic Toretto.
• Every scene Dom is in, he's electric. From the first time he turns and looks over his shoulder, he's just in the room.