Yahoo News Fast X director breaks down the first trailer for the end of the franchise
Start your engines — the end of the road for the Fast & Furious franchise just got a whole lot closer with the debut of the long-awaited Fast X trailer.
On Friday, the super-sized, action-packed trailer was finally released after weeks of build-up, and the new footage gives fans a sneak peek at where Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his friends family are heading in the first of the final two Fast films. Check out the first trailer above now.
Below, director Louis Leterrier breaks down all the biggest moments from the Fast X trailer, from that Fast Five footage twist to all those new characters and more.
Universal Pictures 'Fast X'
Rita Moreno
The trailer kicks off with the introduction of a new Toretto family member. Rita Moreno joins the Fast franchise in this film as Dom's grandmother, and the first scenes show her giving a toast at one of their iconic family dinners.
"The beauty of Fast & Furious is that the parity has always been as many women as there's been men, and the women in the franchise are the guiding light that Dom Toretto is following," French filmmaker Leterrier, who took over as director after Justin Lin stepped down, tells EW. "They're his conscience. They're the people that keep him grounded. When your grandmother who you haven't seen for years comes and gives you a message that becomes the guiding direction for the second part of your life, you listen. And that's what Rita Moreno does."
Leterrier adds that Moreno's presence during production brought so much soul to the film, both onscreen and off. "She's so beautiful as a human being and a person, and to have her on set was so special," he says. "She never left. She was always there. Even jet-lagged, she fell asleep in the Dom Toretto garage on the set. Literally, she looked like an angel; there was this beautiful light in the afternoon, it hit the side of her face, and I was like, 'What an angel.' We all realized early on in this movie when Rita showed up, she gave us so much magic."
Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures Vin Diesel and Daniela Melchior in 'Fast X'
Dom's family
It should come as no surprise to Fast fans that Fast X shifts its focus onto Dom's family more than ever before. Multiple scenes in the trailer show Dom with the love of his life Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) and his son Brian (Leo Abelo Perry), talking about being father, and worrying for his family's safety.
"Dom was always a lone wolf. He was living, as he said, his life a quarter mile at a time," Leterrier says. "He never thought that he would have responsibilities, a family that he created, and, later on, a son. The stakes are real now. You're not just responsible for yourself and your wife, you are responsible for a human being, an innocent life that you brought into the world, so Dom has all these responsibilities."
The trailer features a conversation between Dom and Letty during which he confides in her that he's worried he can't live up to his son's expectations. "Just like any son looks up to his father as the greatest person in the world and as a giant, Dom actually is this giant and the greatest person and the greatest driver in the world," Leterrier says. "And Dom also teaches him how to drive, he teaches him life, he teaches him also to look over his shoulder, he teaches him that life is full of surprises, good but also bad. That's important that he's teaching him what his father didn't have time to teach him because he was killed early. Dom is changing and life is changing. Life has more weight now."
Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures Jason Momoa in 'Fast X'
Jason Momoa
But just as Dom is focusing more on his family, so are Dom's enemies. The trailer introduces Jason Momoa's new villain Dante who is hyper-fixated on making Dom suffer through losing the people he loves most. "He is so different from any villain you've ever seen in any franchise," Leterrier says with a laugh. "Jason Momoa brought everything. He dumped the kitchen sink on the table. He brings chaos to the franchise, and that's what is needed. You need to not only put Dom on his back foot, but you need to put this whole family back to back, looking all around for who's surrounding them but it's just one guy."
Leterrier describes Dante as "pure evil," and "obsessed with Dom" to the point that he knows absolutely everything about him. "He's studied Dom for years, and he actually forged himself as the anti-Dom," he adds. "He is the yang of his yin, the antichrist of his Christ. When Dom wears blacks or whites, he wears nothing but colors. Dom has a close shaved head, he has the hair, he paints his nails. He has the same car, but different — Dom will drive a Dodge, he will drive a Chevy. That's the thing: he teases him, he pushes Dom's buttons."
It all stems from Dante's own tragic origin story, which, of course, leads back to Dom. "Dom's father and Dante's father met their maker the same way, but one is responsible for the other's death," Leterrier teases. "There are strong ties between the two of them, and that for me is what makes an amazing villain because you understand why they became this and why they're chasing the protagonist."
Dom's role in the death of Dante's family is what drives Dante to go after Dom's family, and the trailer reveals several scenes in which Mia (Jordana Brewster) and Brian are attacked in their home. Jakob (John Cena) tries to protect them from the masked men shooting at them, and Dante kidnaps Brian and takes him on a high-speed chase with Dom on his tail.
"Family has been the secret weapon, the super strength that Dom has had. It's his superpower," Leterrier says. "But when that family is used against him, it becomes his Achilles heel. The moment where Dom is at his weakest is because he can't control everyone. Dante knows that Dom's weakest point is his family, that's where he hurts the most. These are Mafia tactics — you don't kill someone, you make them suffer and you make them suffer by hurting the people they love. Dante's experienced that firsthand, and now he's going to make him feel what he felt."
Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures Vin Diesel in 'Fast X'
Bringing it back to Fast Five
Now, about those Fast Five scenes... the Fast X trailer delivers a heavy dose of nostalgia for what's inarguably the best Fast & Furious film in the franchise. There are several moments ripped right from Fast Five's climactic vault heist dropped into the Fast X trailer, only now with Dante added in. Leterrier reveals that Fast X retcons Fast Five in a big way to "thematically explore the price of justice."
"[Fast Five] is easily the best movie of the franchise. It's the greatest," Leterrier agrees. "That chase with the safe, it's the greatest moment in cinema history, so we were like, 'Let's Rashomon this scene. What if we experience this scene through the eyes of Reyes [Joaquim de Almeida], the guys who the safe belongs to, and Dom and Brian [Paul Walker] are the thieves that kill them?'"
Expect to see a lot more flashback scenes from Fast Five in Fast X, although from a much different perspective — because it turns out that Reyes was Dante's father. "We took these scenes, and we created it through the eyes of the other guys," Leterrier explains. "We see them from afar and they're like, 'Take them out. They're bad guys, they stole our safe.' That's what's interesting — by doing so, you guide the audience to rethink everything they've experienced in the entire franchise. Sure, your experience was 'that's the right thing to do': the truths through the eyes of Dom and the family. But the antagonists always had their point of view and their truth that's quite different from the other one. A good antagonist has their own truth, so that's what we [wanted to explore]."
Tying Fast X's villain Dante back into one of the franchise's best moments excited Leterrier about bringing Fast & Furious to its ultimate end. "That's a great origin story where you see the two of them and how Dom created Dante," he adds. "Dom's legacy is also the wake that he created in all these adventures and in fighting for the right cause — there is a wake and there's a price and you break eggs making omelets. That is our opening, and it's so good."
And it's not just Fast Five making a comeback. Leterrier reveals that Fast X is "playing with time" and touches on every Fast film in some way. "It's been a quarter of a century — Dom has been fighting for justice for a quarter of century, and this little snowball picked up speed and became an avalanche," he says. "And now it's tumbling down towards him and you're going to see that. We can only finish this franchise looking back in the rear-view mirror, looking forward but also seeing what's chasing us."
While Dom has grown and evolved since the beginning of the franchise, Leterrier wanted to look back at everything he's done and explore the consequences. "Dom has pushed forward, he's got his son, he has everything, but he's the light that attracts darkness," the director says. "Just like a magnet, he brings this thing behind him, and that's what you are going to experience in this one. It's Fast Five definitely, but then you've seen all the lead-up with all the legacy trailers, and I think it'll also be worth re-watching all the Fast & Furious movies because we looked at the whole saga and tied it together. Thematically, that's what this movie is about, so let's pay it off."
Peter Mountain/Universal Pictures Brie Larson in 'Fast X'
Brie Larson
Later in the trailer, fans meet another new character joining the franchise played by Brie Larson. Not much is revealed about who she is, but we see her warning Dom that a threat is coming for him. Letty shows her respect, telling her "game recognizes game" with a smile.
"Just like with Rita Moreno, just like with every woman in the franchise, women are the guiding light to Dom's journey," Leterrier says of Larson's new character. "She is mysterious, working in the shades of gray — she appears to Dom in his highest time of need and she's his guardian angel. When he is alone and lost his way a little bit that his grandmother warned him about, she will help him."
He pauses before adding, "And she has an origin that is clearly part of the franchise. I won't reveal it, but it's all about the legacy, the generational legacy of all these characters. After a quarter of a century, these people have had lives and kids and everybody has a different point of view on Dom and his own personal influence on their life. And that's how she [fits in]."
Universal Pictures 'Fast X'
Old school street race
With all the explosive chases and fights between Dante and Dom's family, the trailer throws in a big twist by making it seem like the conflict all comes down to... a good, old-fashioned street race? Yup! The footage shows Dom challenging Dante to a race, which he accepts. After watching F9 take the action to space (literally), Leterrier wanted to bring things back down to earth and take Fast X back to the franchise's more grounded roots — the streets.
"That was so important to me," he says. "That was not in the script, it's something I added. I hadn't seen a street race for a while and I wanted the antagonist to be a driver. I wanted to see our actors behind the wheel. I wanted to create special cameras and rigs to fly through the cars like we've never seen before. As a director, I wanted to bring cars back to the forefront of Fast & Furious. I did all that stuff and that was my little dream come true."
Giulia Parmigiani/Universal Pictures 'Fast X'
Justice for Han
Leterrier knows that fans have waited long enough — after Han's (Sung Kang) resurrection in F9 didn't lead to revenge on Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) for his presumed death, "justice for Han" is finally coming. The trailer reveals a showdown between the two during which Shaw asks Han if he still knows how to drive, and Han appropriately throws a quip right back. But expect to see more than one-liners going back and forth between these two in Fast X.
"Justice for Han was teased in the previous movie, but justice for Han is given in this one," Leterrier promises. "I wanted this moment to be so special. That's something I was missing [in the last movie]. They are mortal enemies and it was teased at the end of the last one, so what greater way to truly bring justice to Han than have your battle royale between these two iconic characters? They're fantastic. You'll see. It's really fun and special."
Universal Pictures 'Fast X'
Cipher
Just before the heart-pounding trailer ends, it reveals one last trick up its sleeve. The final scene reveals Cipher's (Charlize Theron) return, as Letty wakes up on a table next to her in what looks like a lab. Cipher taunts her with, "Good morning, sunshine," and Letty deadpans back, "You've got to be kidding me." What follows is a montage of brutal fighting between the two women that teases an ultimate showdown.
"You're going to see Cipher in a way you've never seen her before," Leterrier says. "Cipher is the devil, so when Cipher gets scared, it's interesting. Cipher, who thought she was the devil, will really see the devil in this movie, and that will scare her and rattle her to the core. Not only does she have this fight, she has another fight and she has another amazing scene I can't tell you about. They were the first ones I shot, and they were the core of the planet I was about to build. The scenes between her and Vin, they are so potent, so powerful."
Fast X drives into theaters May 19.
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