Louis Leterrier has been chosen to direct the final two installments of the “Fast & Furious” action movie franchise. The tenth opus is released in theaters on Wednesday, May 17.
A Frenchman takes the wheel of the franchise for the first time Fast & Furious. Louis Leterrier directed the tenth part of the planetary saga which will be released in theaters on Wednesday May 17. He hopes to have respected the“integrity of the initial concept”. The director ofElusive told AFP: “I never try to do French when I do American films. I do what I like.” He wanted to reconnect with “integrity” of the first Fast & Furious for the tenth and penultimate opus.
Since 2001, the series tells the story of “Dom” Toretto (Vin Diesel), a former prisoner converted into a street racing driver in Los Angeles (California), and his gang. This year, Dom and his cronies return to the big screen to take on an enemy: Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa, Aquaman), son of a Brazilian drug kingpin defeated by them (Fast Five, 2011). Dante wants to avenge his father’s death and has devised a plan to do so: make the leader of the band suffer by attacking what he holds dearest, his loved ones and in particular his eight-year-old son Bryan. . For Louis Leterrier, the “fan” from the first hour “became the director who will end the franchise”the goal was not to “do ‘fanservice'” but to respect the DNA of Fast & Furious.
“Back to basics”
As far as technique is concerned, if “nothing is impossible anymore” to realize, according to him, he did not want “to lose the spectator in the impossible”. On the contrary, he asserts: “I’m going back to basics. And the main thing is to get out of the computer and get back into the physical”creating for example this cylindrical bomb “one and a half tons” which descends the streets of Rome. “Cars are actually driven, fire is actually made.”
As in the other films in the series, the action takes place all over the world, from Los Angeles to Rome, from Rio de Janeiro to London, and from Antarctica to Portugal. There are also references to Brian O’Conner, played by American actor Paul Walker, who died in a traffic accident in 2013 while filming Fast & Furious 7.
Distribution does not upset habits. The essential Vin Diesel is still driving his Dodge Charger. Also in the cast, Michelle Rodriguez, who has played Letty Ortiz for more than 20 years, Dom’s partner and mother of their son. Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, John Cena or even Charlize Theron in the role of Cipher, one of the main adversaries of the team, are also on the bill. New faces include Oscar-winning actress Brie Larson (Room) as Tess, an independent Agency representative who missions Dom’s gang.
Louis Leterrier, who has also signed on to direct the final episode of the saga, announced in 2024, wishes “finish this series in human apotheosis” but “not exploding”. “The sequel was not shot at the same time but it was conceived at the same time. So we know where the film will end. There are a lot of things that are said in this film. [Fast and Furious X] and which are really important for the end”, he says. The director already announces that the saga will end “in a place where Hollywood does not usually go” And “where it all began”.