All language subtitles for Icons.Unearthed.S03E02.Shifting.Gears.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

NARRATOR: When it comes
to cars in America,

it was love at first crank.

Hollywood quickly learned
it wouldn't take much

to get car enthusiasts
into theaters,

resulting in decades
of car-inspired cash grabs.

[TRAIN HORN BLARING]

In 2001,
The Fast and the Furious

became the latest
auto-exploitation movie

to roll off the line.

Universal greenlit the film

with a final budget
of $42 million...

And it was killer. [SCOFFS]

...and they were rewarded
with a worldwide box office

of over 200 million.

There's immediately
talk of a sequel.

NARRATOR:
Fast and the Furious 2 was on.

So many movie "franchises"
die at the sequel.

NARRATOR: At the time,
franchises were
built off the backs

of best-selling books
and comic books.

The Fast and the Furious,

all it had was a script
written by...

Well, a lot of people.

The sequel had to be bigger...

Some of the best
vehicular stuntmen out there.

...the cars had to be faster...

I was like,
"Dude, I'm going 100."

...and the stunts
had to be more elaborate.

LEONARD: It's a
multimillion-dollar yacht.

How do you jump a Camaro on it?

NARRATOR: With the odds
stacked against them...

GIBSON:
There was no Vin Diesel.

There was no
Michelle Rodriguez. Nobody.

...and no guarantee of success.

What we heard was

the car went over the bridge.

NARRATOR: Every journey
begins with a step

and every franchise
begins with a sequel.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

NARRATOR: With the wheels
already turning

in the direction of a sequel,

Universal hoped to bring back
the team from the first movie,

starting with the writer,
Gary Scott Thompson.

They signed me for the sequel

at least a month
before the movie opened

'cause they thought
it was going to be a hit

and they could get me cheaper.

So I went off and I wrote

four different treatments
for the sequel,

and then I wrote two...

Two or three drafts
of the script,

NARRATOR: But Universal
hedged their bets

and commissioned
this up-and-coming duo

to write a competing treatment.

Well, I remember... I remember

the summer it came out.

I knew it had come out
that summer

and that it had done well.

But I hadn't seen it.

NARRATOR:
And it's safe to say

they had a long road

to even be considered
for the sequel.

Back in the '90s,

spec scripts
were selling like hotcakes.

NARRATOR:
A spec script is a script
written by a screenwriter

in the hopes of selling it
later to a studio.

We wrote a spec script that

Brad Pitt wanted to
make into a movie.

It was called The Courier.

It was going.
Brad was attached,

Gore Verbinski was attached
to be the director.

At the last second,
Brad and Gore left

to go make The Mexican instead.

NARRATOR: Having lost
their duel with The Mexican,

Brandt and Haas
were down and out until...

[TELEPHONE RINGING]

Michael Brandt and I
got a call from our agent

and he said,

"This summer, there was
a huge hit movie for Universal."

I didn't really think much
about Fast and Furious

in terms of something
I would ever be a part of.

It seemed like
a big, dumb action movie.

NARRATOR: But no way
Brandt and Haas would miss out

on another opportunity
to get a script to screen.

So we said, "No."

I remember
my response was snarky.

It was like,

"Well, would I have to
watch the first one?"

And I was putting it
in the category of all, like,

stupid car chase movies.

NARRATOR: At which point,
there agent gave them
a reality check.

"This movie is coming out.

"It has a start date.

"You guys right now
have written a couple of movies

"that didn't get made.

"And the difference
between writing a movie

"that gets made

"and a movie that just
sits on someone's shelf

"is huge."

NARRATOR: After taking
some solid career advice
from their agent,

it was time to buckle up,
rev up their engines,

and to find
a reasonable parking spot

near Universal's
screening room.

Universal screened the first
movie for Derek and I.

And as the movie rolled,

it was like,
"Oh, this is way better

"than just what was
in my head of what

"the movie was gonna be."

NARRATOR: Finally, Brandt
and Haas began to see

what millions around
the world already knew.

The first race happened,

and you went inside the engine
and you came out the exhaust,

and I remember saying,
"Wow, that was...

"That was cool.
This is different."

There was a culture to it,

there was the family element
to it.

We really enjoyed
watching the movie.

NARRATOR:
Suddenly, it hit them.

They had a vision
for the sequel.

And then it ended in such a way

that we thought,
"Oh, there's a sequel here."

And Michael and I walking out
into the parking lot,

said, "What if,
what if, what if?

NARRATOR: Well, what if?

We had the conversation of,

"Well, we're not going
to do the second one.

"No, of course
we're not going to do that.

"But if we were,
we could set in Miami."

NARRATOR: And for now,

disgraced cop,
Brian O'Conner...

He could be undercover.

And as for Dom,
on the run from the law...

He could be in Mexico.

NARRATOR: But how would he
be spending his time?

We just had this idea

that he was doing
demolition derbies.

This is all while
we were walking to our cars.

NARRATOR:
But the idea is flowing.

They knew they were in.

And then we said, "Well,
we're not gonna do it, right?

"No, of course we're not gonna
do it." And we drove off.

I called him from the 405,

and I was like,
"Dude, I'm going 100."

He's like, "Me, too."

It was the adrenaline
and the excitement

that you came out
of the theater with.

NARRATOR: And that's
when they knew they were in.

And next thing you know,
we were on the phone

with Neal Moritz the next day,
talking about what it could be

and a year later,
we're in Miami

shooting the movie.

NARRATOR: And as for
Gary Scott Thompson's
treatment...

By that point,

I was in the middle of
a first season of a TV series

that had become a hit,
and it was like 24/7 for me.

I didn't give it
much thought, actually.

NARRATOR: So Gary was out
and the new writers were in.

But the clock was ticking

as Universal wanted a draft
as soon as possible.

"We can't screw around.
Write the movie now."

That was kind of
the marching order.

NARRATOR: But there's
an old adage in Hollywood,

"Write what you know."

[ENGINE REVVING]

So, step one
was to hit the streets

to get some much-needed
first-hand experience.

-[ENGINE ROARING]
-[WOMAN STARTLES]

We went to San Diego

and we rode with
some of the street racers.

-[ENGINE REVVING]
-[TIRES SCREECHING]

And they're all
on walkie-talkies.

Sure enough, the cops showed up.

-We got cops, cops, cops, cops!
-[INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER]

Boom, they all disappeared.

It was really fun.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

-[SIREN WAILING]
-I could see

doing a good version
of the movie.

NARRATOR:
Even though the writers

were ready to start
burning rubber on the script,

as we know,
The Fast and the Furious

and car culture itself
isn't just about cars.

-It's about...
-Family.

But would they
be able to reunite

the one from the first movie?

The only person
that was really attached

was Paul Walker.

NARRATOR:
And although they couldn't
bring back Jesse...

I always die. Always.

...surely, there couldn't be
a Fast and the Furious sequel

without Vin Diesel.

We conceived
and wrote the script

for Vin Diesel.

NARRATOR: But long before
there was a slew

ofxXx movies
and Riddick projects,

there was a time that
Vin Diesel held himself

to a higher standard,

and had no interest
in ever doing a sequel.

This was still, to him,
a time where

you don't make sequels.

Sequels are a bad idea.

NARRATOR:
While the future of Dom
was in Vin Diesel's hands,

Universal held the keys
toThe Fast and the Furious

and were prepared
to hit the road

with or without Dom.

Neal, Rob and Vin
got the offer to reteam.

NARRATOR: Only, it wasn't
for The Fast and the Furious.

Instead, the offer was...

-To go do xXx.
-[GRUNTS]

NARRATOR: And after
butting heads with Universal,

Brandt and Haas got the news.

We found out that Vin

and Rob Cohen, the original
director, were dropping out.

NARRATOR:
Universal saw Paul Walker

as the film's leading man,

locking him into a sequel
early on.

Unfortunately, the same
foresight wasn't applied

to Vin Diesel's deal.

Suddenly, everyone involved
with the movie is in demand.

Revolution,
who was behindxXx,

predicted that
maybe there was gonna be

some success with Fast

and kind of
got ahead of the game

in getting in
the Vin Diesel business.

I think we start shooting
in August

and I think it was June,

it was kind of...

solidified for us that
he wasn't gonna do it

and we had to figure out
what we were doing.

It was scramble mode.

NARRATOR:
This was as bad as wheels
falling off a race car.

Traditionally, a setback
of that magnitude

would call for a stop down.

But the studio was relentless.

As long as there were
cameras and cars,

there would be
a Fast and the Furious 2.

You just move on.
So, yeah, there are...

There was disappointment.

There was also more of the,

"Okay, we got to
roll our sleeves up
and figure this out

"'cause we're making
the movie without him."

NARRATOR: But without Dom,

they would have to come up
with a new character

to replace him.

And the prospect of a Fast
movie without Dom, well...

Scares the shit out of me.

Once we moved
past the Dom character

and wrote a draft
for Roman Pearce,

it didn't change
very much at all.

I remember saying,
"Brian put Roman in jail."

I did three years in jail.

In our minds,
it could be Brian's friend

from growing up,

and we would just move
the demolition derby to Barstow.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

NARRATOR: And just like that,
they had their story.

2 Fast 2 Furious would tell
the tale of Brian O'Conner

reunited with his childhood
friend, Roman Pearce,

as they head to Miami

to take down a drug lord
for the FBI

along with all the racing
that would entail. Naturally.

I think 95% of the story

that we originally pitched
was in that first draft.

NARRATOR: But there was still
the matter of casting Roman.

Questions lingered

whether any actor could
truly fill Vin Diesel's shoes.

Having lost Vin Diesel,

Dominic Toretto was dropped

fromThe Fast and the Furious
sequel,

and a new character
was written to take his place.

But before casting the role,

Universal surprised everyone

when they hired
an Academy Award nominee

as the director.

I just loved that Johnson
directed the Fastmovie.

NARRATOR: John Singleton
would be a game changer.

I'd done a couple of films
already with John Singleton.

I loved working with him.

He's such a film auteur.

He was this legend who had done,

you know, Boyz in the Hood

and was up for an Oscar
at a very young age.

John Singleton is both
the first African American

to be ever nominated
for the best director Oscar,

and he is now,
and still, the youngest.

That was the record
up until that point

that had been held
by Orson Welles.

NARRATOR: John would go on

to make a series
of highly respected films

that continue to challenge
Hollywood stereotypes.

But one of his most
beloved films

also marked his return
to South Central.

Baby Boy was a movie, actually,

that was supposed to be
done with Tupac.

NARRATOR: But tragically...

Tupac died before the film
could be materialized.

NARRATOR: John set out
to do the impossible,

fill Tupac's shoes.

John came to me

to find a replacement for Pac.

I was like, "[HESITANTLY] Okay."

So I started
the auditioning process.

I thought about Tyrese.

NARRATOR: The first time
Kim cast Tyrese,

she knew
she had the real thing.

[SINGING] ♪ Always Coca Cola

♪ Yeah ♪

Tyrese got very popular from
those Coca Cola commercials

where he was on the bus
and singing.

That gave him a record deal.

[SINGING]
♪ God will understand

♪ This is just
the way I live... ♪

NARRATOR: Tyrese's
debut album was a hit,

selling over a million copies.

You know, here's John knowing
about Tyrese's presence

in the music world
and pulling him into that space.

He just kept saying,

"You remind me of Tupac,
you know.

"I'mma put you in the movie.
You're an actor. You're a star."

I mean, in my mind,

I was a singer, man, you know?

NARRATOR:
But Tyrese had the charisma

John Singleton wanted
for the lead in his new film

and invited him
to audition for the role.

And I said,

"I think we need to do
a screen test with him

"with some other actresses."

Walk, bitch! Go get that
broke damn bike you got!

I got the keys
right here. Take it.

Now that screen test is running
in the Academy Museum.

NARRATOR:
Even before its release,

people were buzzing about
Tyrese's performance
in Baby Boy.

Stacey Snider, who was
running Universal at the time,

had seenBaby Boy,

and was like, "Who is this guy?
We got to work with this guy."

NARRATOR: Universal Studios'
Chairwoman Stacey Snider

reached out to John Singleton,

who was quick
to praise the rising star.

He said,
"You better watch this kid.

"This kid's gonna be a star.

"I'm telling you, I know it.

NARRATOR: Stacey had just
one more question for John.

"So if we put him
in 2 Fast 2 Furious,

"will you direct it?"
And John says, "Yes."

NARRATOR:
And with that one question,

Stacey Snider had locked
the film's director and star.

Or was it the other way around?

I actually got
John Singleton the gig

to direct 2 Fast 2 Furious.

People don't know that.

NARRATOR:
According to Tyrese...

Stacey Snider and Scott Stuber
met with me

after they watched
the movie Baby Boy.

"You know, you think you can
do something like this?"

NARRATOR:
And naturally, he said yes.

Then they made a pivot into,

"Hey, man, what do you think
about John Singleton?"

I said, "I love him."

"I mean, what can he do?"

NARRATOR: It was the question
Tyrese was ready for.

"You know, he knows how to pull
performances out of people,

"you know, he can do action,
he could do drama."

Like, I was in there,
literally pitching

and selling the shit
out of my brother.

NARRATOR: And it must have
had an impact

because ultimately,
no matter who was responsible.

Universal decided
to pair the two together

with John directing
and Tyrese set to play

a brand-new character,
Roman Pearce.

"This is too good to be true.

"Am I being punked right now?"

He turned out to be
the perfect Roman Pearce.

He was kind of the anti-Dom.

I got to get you racing again

so I can make some money
off your ass.

I mean, Dom's cool.

Dom's cool
in a totally different way.

And Roman is just out there.

This is done. [LAUGHS]

NARRATOR:
To ensure he wouldn't mimic

any of Vin's acting choices,

Tyrese will admit...

I've never seen
The Fast and the Furious 1.

NARRATOR:
Which may seem shocking,

but he had his reasons.

I did not have a deep voice
at the time.

What are you smiling about?

I did not have
those type of muscles.

I did not have any of the things

that Vin Diesel had.

So, in order for me
to step into a role

and bring my own thing to it,

I said, "Man, I'm not...

"I'm not finna go
study Michael Jordan

"before I replace him
on the basketball team."

And that was kind of it.

NARRATOR: So,
with a fresh new character

and a fresh point of view,

Tyrese was officially on board,

firmly aware that
the success of the film

would rest on his
and Paul's shoulders.

You know,
there was no Vin Diesel.

There was no
Michelle Rodriguez. Nobody.

NARRATOR: But it wouldn't be
all newcomers.

Aside from Paul,

there'd be at least one other
returning cast member

as actor Thom Barry
was set to reprise

his role as Agent Bilkins.

I hope we can make this
all go away

in the interest of justice.

I... I was excited about it.

I mean,
being a part of a sequel.

And Paul and I
were the only ones back
from the first one,

so that was...
That was kind of neat.

NARRATOR:
The Fast and the Furious
had linked tuner culture

with the world of hip-hop,

and 2 Fast 2 Furious
would be no exception.

It was always important
for both John and the studio

to have a music artist element.

NARRATOR: So they'd
once again turned to Ja Rule...

Too slow to make away
with the money, man.

...who made a huge mistake.

Ja Rule told John Singleton

he thought he was too big
for the role.

NARRATOR: With Ja Rule out,

there was a hip-hop size hole

left to fill in the sequel.

Luckily, the writers
had a solution.

We knew we wanted to
have a character

who was the mastermind
of street racing in Miami,

NARRATOR:
To fill this new role,

Kim started holding
backstage auditions,

starting with Ludacris.

He was going to be
in San Diego,
opening for Eminem.

I got my camera equipment
and I went to San Diego.

And so Ludacris ends up
being put in this role,

and this is
Ludacris's first film.

NARRATOR: And while Singleton
was sold on Ludacris,

Michael Brandt
still had his doubts.

We did a table read

and he was super mellow.

I was a little concerned about,

"Is this his
energy level normally?"

NARRATOR:
And even with Michael Brandt
questioning Luda's chops,

it seemed no one
had any questions

about the role of
Fire Brand racer, Suki.

Bend over, boy.

[TIRES SCREECHING]

Devon Aoki was one of
my mini auditions that I had.

We gravitated to her
pretty early on.

I don't think I saw a whole
lot of people for that role.

NARRATOR:
The character of Suki

needed to keep pace
with Paul Walker,

and Devon was off
to a great start.

It was important to us
in that first race

where Brian's kind of
leaving everybody behind,

he's going to beat her,
obviously,

but it was with, like,
this respect.

NARRATOR:
And while Devon Aoki

earned the cast
and crew's respect,

she still had to earn
the respect of Universal.

We had to approve her costume,

-and right as
we're taking pictures...
-[CAMERA SHUTTER CLICKING]

There's a busload of kids
driving by.

-And these kids are...
-...hanging out the windows

like yelling and screaming.

And here's Suki in front of
this pink convertible,

you know, wearing the outfit
that she was gonna wear.

That sold the studio.

NARRATOR: And while the studio
was sold on Devon Aoki,

John Singleton was sold
on actress, Eva Mendes,

for the role of undercover cop,
Monica Fuentes.

She was great.

She was always up for everything

and wanted to do the stunts
with the guys.

Both you girlies shut up.

NARRATOR: And for
the villain of the film,

Kim Hardin had
a surprising choice in mind.

Idris Elba, aye-yai-yai.

I had only seen him
in the pilot of The Wire.

What do you think?

I brought Idris in

and he started talking
with this British accent.

I was like, "Oh, I didn't know
you were British."

I sent the tape to John
and he laughed at me.

NARRATOR:
He ultimately went with
Cole Hauser for the villain.

You got balls, kid.

But there's no way
he'd miss out

on any other future superstars.

I had brought in
Channing Tatum to audition,

and John was just like,
"Okay, fine.

"You can cast him. He's a gun."

NARRATOR: Kim gave Channing
his first big break,

then took it back.

And John calls me and says,
"Wait, wait, Hold up.

"I think the studio wants to
go in another direction.

"They want to kind of see

"what roles we can bring in
some more agents."

And I had to find another actor.

NARRATOR: With a diverse cast
led by Paul Walker,

the sequel to
Fast and the Furious

looks ready to go.

That was until they saw
what they were driving.

When Tyrese saw it,
paraphrasing,

"Oh, hell no,
I ain't driving no..."

NARRATOR: With the cast
for The Fast and the Furious
sequel in place,

it was time for
the real casting: the cars.

What are we driving?

They wanted to see
the Nissan Skylines,

and it wound up
being Paul Walker's car.

NARRATOR: But 2 Fast 2 Furious

would need a lot more
than Paul's Skyline.

Craig had a lot of credit
and contacts

in the tuner world,
and he would need all of them.

We did a casting call
in Santa Monica initially

and we were expecting
about 150 cars.

700 cars showed up,

and we were walking blocks
to see cars.

CUNNINGHAM:
The cars are just as much
a character in these films

as the people themselves.

Auditioning the cars and making
sure the right ones on there,

that was very important
to John Singleton.

This could get addicting.
[CHUCKLES]

NARRATOR: Preparing the driver
and car was key,

and for the lead actors,

they would hold sway
in the decision.

ROMAN: Don't even think
about taking the convertibles,

The production designer

had a car that
he painted purple.

LIEBERMAN:
They did a yellow interior.

When Tyrese saw it,
paraphrasing,

"Oh, hell no. I ain't
driving no Lakers car."

NARRATOR: But after
the success of the first film,

Universal wasn't taking
any chances with the sequel.

Any decision
had to go through them.

They were
changing things so fast.

I needed a body shop,
a paint shop.

NARRATOR:
So David Marder took
matters into his own hands.

David Marder
found a Ford dealership

that had just closed down.

And so I leased it,

and I hired all the painters
that were getting pink slips,

and I had my own
body shop, a paint shop.

NARRATOR: It was a far cry

from the duct tape
and chewing gum approach
of the first film.

The first one was, "Hey,
this is what you can have

"because this is what
we can get for cheap."

2 Fast 2 Furious, I call up
Nitrous Express, I say,

"I need 34 carbon fiber
nitrous oxide bottles here

"in two days." "No problem."

And a truck backs up.

[TIRES SCREECH]

NARRATOR: Lastly, they
would need some cop cars...

Cops.

...which came with its own
unique set of challenges.

We bought a whole fleet
of 40 Miami police cars.

We find bullets in them,
we find drugs in them,

we find all kinds of stuff.

NARRATOR:
The cast, the crew, the cars

were set to take Miami
by storm.

Miami has this reputation,
right, of being sexy,

the club scene
and the nightlife scene.

If you took this movie
out of Miami

and you put it someplace else,

it wouldn't resonate
the same way.

NARRATOR:
For writers Brandt and Haas,

it was an especially
momentous occasion

as it was only their second
film to enter production.

My film school

was getting to watch
a $90 million sequel hit

made in Miami, Florida.

NARRATOR: Before
principal photography began,

Brandt and Haas
got the opportunity

to watch Singleton
in his element.

John had almost
a week scheduled

where we were
watching the actors

kind of imbue their parts.

He put them through boot camps,

you know, having them
live that character.

And we're just
listening, watching.

John Singleton
forced me to watch

at least 15 movies

before I did Baby Boy.

We never watched anything
before 2 Fast 2 Furious.

NARRATOR:
John wanted his actors
to know their characters,

but to be raw
and prepared for anything.

I do improv,

and I do it all day, every day.

It drives
a lot of directors crazy

because I'm like, "Yo, this...

"This dialogue
don't make no sense."

NARRATOR: But not John,
who told Tyrese...

"You funny as hell.

"And we're finally gonna
put your funny to use."

And I was like, "Cool."

NARRATOR: The cast and crew
was now ready for anything.

But as production kicked off,

there was one thing
they hadn't accounted for.

The first thing we shot was

we were on top of
the Miami Herald building.

The roof was tar,

and so it's just the sun,
unabated, beating down.

It was a scene where Bilkins

is first questioning
Brian O'Conner.

NARRATOR:
And Thom would, very quickly,

have problems to deal with.

BARRY: Something happened
on that rooftop, man.

I was allergic to something,

and my eyes were like
just bloodshot.

I mean, you'd think like,
"Oh, this guy's got something.

"Get away from him," you know.

NARRATOR:
Fortunately for Thom,

back in the edit suite,

John reconsidered
the need for the scene.

I wasn't surprised
when they didn't keep the shot.

NARRATOR: But Thom would
remain a big part of the movie,

going on to play a pivotal role
in the fight sequence

that introduces Tyrese Gibson's
character, Roman Pearce.

Rome!

I love when Bilkins
is eating the popcorn

watching the two of them
fight in the dirt

at the demolition derby.

-What the hell
are you doing here?
-BRIAN: I'm gonna choke you.

I told you to stay away...

I went over, sat down
and just watched 'em fight.

Yeah. Yeah, right. All right.

NARRATOR: The scene played
into the bigger theme of family

emerging in the franchise.

The two had known each other
since they were kids

and had gone down
separate paths

with bad blood spilt.

It really doesn't come across
so much as a fist fight

as it comes across
as two old friends

getting past whatever it is
that's been in the way.

NARRATOR: A sign
of the genuine friendship

that was brewing
on and off camera.

I'm almost sure he wanted
to do the second movie

with Vin Diesel.

But that man made me
feel completely warm,

welcomed and amazing.

NARRATOR: But John Singleton
wasn't interested

in directing
for the Hallmark Channel.

He knew this film needed guts.

Luckily, the writers
had just the solution.

There's the scene
where they put the rat

on the guy's chest

and they put the bucket over.

Get it off me!

We met this army general.

HAAS: We asked him,

"What's the worst torture
you had heard of?"

And he was like, "Oh, they..."
You put a rat on someone,

they put a bucket on him,

and then they heat up
the bucket.

The rat only has
one way to go, right?

When we were shooting,
he's like, "I got a great idea.

"One of the bad guys
is gonna take the rat

"and put it in the alley
when the scene's over.

"You... Don't you get it?
It's an alley rat."

And I'm like, "Yeah.

"That's the worst part,
it's an alley rat."

NARRATOR:
The difference in humor aside,

the scene would not have been
nearly as effective.

had John not brought
his unique eye to the shoot.

I think John handles it

in a very interesting way
in the film,

and I think it's also to see
that Eva Mendes character

who having registered
such disgust and disdain
for doing that,

but having to
play along with it.

John balances that so well.

NARRATOR: And while John nailed
the drama of the rat scene,

he would offer the two
young writers opportunities

to leave their mark
during production as well.

Everyone has input, you know.
That's the way John works.

I think that has
everything to do

with the fact that John himself
is a screenwriter

and knows what it means
to film your work.

NARRATOR: When the young
writers approached John,

he took what they said
to heart.

And right now,
they were saying...

"Man, we don't have enough
racing in this movie."

And this is after
we started shooting.

NARRATOR: Production on
Fast and the Furious 2

was well underway

when the writers
noticed a little problem.

We realized, "Man, we don't have
enough racing in this movie."

NARRATOR: And for a sequel
to a race film,

this was indeed a misstep.

So we, John, Michael,
and I, got on the phone

and we were like,
"I think we should write

"you know, a new sequence."

I mean, we're gonna have to
pull something out of our ass.

NARRATOR: John agreed,

but when the trio
approached Universal

with their new street race,

they got
an unexpected reaction.

"We can't pull off
what you guys have written.

"We don't have the money for it.

"We have to shoot it
in one night."

And I think what we had written
was three or four nights.

NARRATOR: But luckily...

I'm like, "I have an idea.

"And I'm gonna go to
the trailer and I'll be back."

NARRATOR: Michael's idea,

a combination
of tag and chicken,

two childhood games with
a distinctively adult twist.

We wrote that in one night,

we... We got it all boarded,

and I think we shot it
like four weeks later.

NARRATOR: But bringing
the page to screen

wasn't always writing scenes
in a night.

Sometimes it involves
tossing the script entirely.

They had a long dialogue scene.

So, you used to be a cop?

It didn't work.

I remember saying,

"You know, maybe we should
just cut the dialogue."

[ENGINE REVVING]

And that turned
into the staring drive

and that all kind of
happened that day.

NARRATOR:
But what is now remembered
as aFast and Furious classic

wasn't just as easy

as stopping actors talking,

which isn't easy, anyway.

Where Tyrese was coming in
for a landing and parking,

and where Brian and Eva Mendes
were parking,

it just kept not lining up.

NARRATOR:
Luckily, Tyrese knowing

he had his director's trust,

decided to add
a little something.

He did the staring drive
on you, didn't he?

-He got that from me.
-[ENGINE REVVING]

All I did
at the end of the scene

was put a button on it.

John encouraged them

to speak as the characters,

to say things
the characters would say.

I think all of that
really speaks

to John's narrative influence,

because you can
see that, though,

the kind of relaxed nature,
uh, that Tyrese has.

[LAUGHS RELUCTANTLY]

I am king of finding the joke.

What is the joke?

How do you land it?

How do you make sure
that your voice

is getting you
all that you need?

NARRATOR: And Tyrese wasn't
the only thing to be unleashed,

especially when it came
to Ludacris's first scene,

which, if you recall, Michael
had some doubts about.

[ECHOING] "Is this
his energy level normally?"

NARRATOR: But those concerns
were quickly put to bed.

There's a big shot
of him walking out

and then you see
the whole world.

They call, "Action."

And I'm looking at the monitor
and I see the Afro.

All right, all right, all right.

-Fire 'em up!
-[ENGINES REVVING]

And I'm like, "Oh,
this is not the same dude

"from the table read."

That's what
I'm talking about, man.

NARRATOR:
But performances from actors

was far from the only thing
on Universal's mind.

They wanted the sequel
to be bigger
and more thrilling.

The races were faster,

the villains
were more sinister,

and the stunts were bigger.

Boom!

Boom!

-Oh!
-Boom!

Boom!

[GLASS BREAKING]

I did stunts
on Fast and Furious 2,

and the people
I was working with

are some of the best
vehicular stuntmen out there.

This is where we see John
at his "most auteur."

He's really playing
with camera angles

and giving us these
wonderful shots of these cars.

You can tell that he's having
a lot of fun doing it.

NARRATOR: And the man
behind the stunts

that fueled said fun,

who can explain how they did it

is stunt legend, Terry Leonard.

Our success is our anonymity.

You don't tell people
what we do.

NARRATOR: Unless
you're being interviewed

for Icons Unearthed.

When you're on the set
with Terry,

you're going to do
some stunts that are hairy

and you'd better sell it.

You do it, you take the hit,
you hit hard.

If it hurts, you hide it.

NARRATOR: Sammy and Terry
and the stunt team

were very busy

handling all manner
of dangerous stunts.

But for some stunts,

even the guys
who concocted them

didn't really think
they were possible.

-Oh!
-Whoa! [CHUCKLES]

I remember having the idea

that one car could
jump over another.

And there were
other people saying,

"Well, no, that's
physically not possible."

And we have
matchbox cars out

and, like,
a piece of cardboard.

I was demonstrating
how I thought it could work.

It seemed ridiculous
'cause in the first movie,

they just raced
straight down the street.

And now we're talking about
jumping over a bridge.

The idea that the bridge jump,

that one car
could jump over another,

I fought for it.

NARRATOR:
Fighting for it paid off.

While the stunt team agreed
to try Michael Brandt's idea,

not all the stunt drivers
were cleared for take-off.

I wanted to do it,

but of course they said no.

Because it was a convertible,

they couldn't put me
in a hang harness.

That kind of a hit
in that kind of a car,

I would have probably
broken my back.

NARRATOR:
But without a stunt driver,

the team would have to get
a little more creative

for Suki's convertible.

Suki's S2000 was piloted
by remote control system.

They rigged up a system

so they could push in
the clutch pedal

and then launch the car
in second gear.

NARRATOR: And as for the car
holding the camera...

LIEBERMAN:
They had this Dodge Durango
as the chase car.

NARRATOR: With the ramps
set up for the jump

and remotely controlling
Suki's convertible,

they'd send it over.

As for the camera car,

it would safely come to a stop
at the top of the ramp.

The problem is, the brakes
on a 5,000-lbs Dodge Durango

are not as good as the brakes
on a Honda S2000.

Whoo! Smack that ass!

S2000 goes up the ramp,
it sails off

and lands on the other side,

and they jam on the brakes

to get this car to stop
and it just goes off the edge.

And I remember
being with Neal Moritz

and his phone blew up,

and he said,
"There was an accident."

HAAS: So we were shooting
in downtown Miami.

While that's going on,

Stunts is doing the jump
the bridge sequence.

NARRATOR:
When the unexpected occurs.

And I remember
being with Neal Moritz

and his phone blew up,

and he said,
"There was an accident."

What we heard was
a car went over the bridge,

and we had no idea
how bad this was.

And then we raced over there.

And, yes, some car had not
cleared it all the way.

And the accident
could have been a lot worse.

If that drawbridge
had been open to the sea,

meaning that there was
nothing underneath it,

they would have
probably wound up

upside down in the canal.

That could have been bad.

Wow, I guess
they kept that under wraps.

I didn't hear about it either
until now.

NARRATOR: Brandt and Haas
took a valuable lesson

from the experience.

And I remember that being,
like, a really scary moment.

I was like, "Okay,
let's remind ourselves here

"that there are people
doing these things."

NARRATOR: And so logically,
the next step would be

for Brandt
to ask the stunt team

to run over a car
with an 18-wheeler.

Terry Leonard said,

"We can do this
car-going-under-a-semi gig."

"There's no way. Like, how
are you going to pull that off?"

NARRATOR: Well, here's how.

He brings a chalkboard,

he's got all the drivers,
he brings his little cars

and he makes us
go through that sequence

over and over again
till we understand it.

"Hire the right people.

"And make sure that the scene

"does not overmatch

"the abilities
of everybody you have,"

And that's why they hired
guys like myself

to make that judgment.

NARRATOR:
And Terry's judgment

led him right
to Sammy Maloof.

I was the cat
in the convertible Corvette.

The Mustang went through
the other two trucks
and they banged.

Then what they did is,
they took this Mustang

and they cabled it

to the back of the 18-wheeler.

I'm doing 55 mph.

The next thing
we're supposed to hear

is, "We're releasing the car."

I don't get that message.

Boom! And I heard the car fall.

And I throttled down
in the Corvette.

-[GRUNTS]
-[TIRES SCREECHING]

[CRASHES]

And Sammy ends up
turning the Corvette over.

That was a happy accident.

It was really
never supposed to flip.

NARRATOR: But for guys
like Sammy and Terry...

LEONARD:
I call it a happy accident.

...it's just another day
at the office.

Yeah, there was a lot of
stunt guys crashing cars.

NARRATOR: And sometimes,

not just the stunt guys
crashing.

It's safe to say that
Paul Walker was a big fan

of driving the Skyline.

Paul was a hell of a driver.

NARRATOR: But to be safe,

they trained him
in a touch more ability.

They set up a road course
in a parking lot,

and they had
professional drivers

teaching him how to drive.

NARRATOR:
With his training complete...

One night,
Paul Walker decided that

he would like to do this stunt.

NARRATOR:
Oh, but not just any stunt.

He wanted to do something
called e-brake turn.

It's... It's a rite of passage
among all young men.

Get going real fast,
grab the e-brake

and then turn the car sideways.

It wasn't a big stunt,

but you kind of
slide the car in.

NARRATOR:
But for a stunt like this,

Paul Walker
would need permission.

I can tell you horror stories
about movies

that have been shut down
'cause they had...
The lead actor got hurt.

You can't let that happen.

And he talked
John Singleton into doing it.
It was a simple stunt.

He can drift the car
and it'd go up,

and he'd smile
right to the camera.

NARRATOR:
And so, to no one's surprise,

-when the big day came...
-[TIRES SCREECHING]

LIEBERMAN: He nailed it.

Everyone's cheering for him
and all that kind of stuff.

NARRATOR: But it was
a short-lived celebration.

Next thing, he's got to take off
'cause the cops are coming,

goes around the corner
a little too fast.

Paul slid the car in

and took out
a, uh, parking meter,

which also took out
all the front end suspension

on the Skyline.

Things like that happen.

NARRATOR: And a quick-thinking
John Singleton

happened to know
exactly what to do.

That was an accident,

but they were shooting it,
and so it stayed in the film.

Singleton pivoted and, you know,
changed the scene so that...

Yep, he crashes.
That's why the cops catch him.

Let me see your hands!
Put 'em up!

MALOOF:
That was a happy accident.

NARRATOR:
Paul Walker's terrible parking

created not only a great
new ending for the scene,

but it also created
a major problem.

Damn!

Now, remember,
there are no parts for this car

in the United States.

So what do you do?

NARRATOR: The crew
had five prop versions

of the Japanese super sedan,

but to turn them
into real cars,

they'd need spare parts.

This was on a Friday night,

and Monday, all five cars
had to be operational.

We called England,
which was the closest parts,

the Skyline guy
got the parts to FedEx,

and then I get a phone call
from Nigel from FedEx

that you missed
the last flight to the States.

NARRATOR: And so, with Nigel
from FedEx in his ear

and a deep desire
to avoid a costly failure.

David made an offer
to Nigel the FedEx guy.

MARDER: I needed the parts.

I gave him round-trip tickets.

He flew to Miami.

NARRATOR: So,
with Nigel delivering parts,

David gave Nigel a part.

I put him in the movie.

He saw the Dallas Cowboy
cheerleaders.

He stayed in South Beach.

All that was cheaper
than not having the car.

NARRATOR:
And all of that because

Paul Walker wanted to do
a very easy stunt

of which, on this movie,
there were few.

When it was time for

the professional
stunt drivers to go to work,

they asked questions like...

It's a multimillion-dollar
yacht.

How do you
jump a Camaro on it?

NARRATOR: Well, the script
writers had some ideas.

We were saying it would
be cool if the boat thinks

it's got a clean exit

and then out of nowhere
comes the car.

NARRATOR: And to this,
Terry Leonard said...

Whoa! We can't do it here.

That's when
the arguments start.

NARRATOR: Therefore,
production briefly paused

to ponder a pivotal question.

Well, can a car
take down a boat?

-NARRATOR: Also...
-And how ridiculous is that

for a car to take down a boat.

Super expensive shot.

It's a multimillion-dollar
yacht.

How do you jump a Camaro on it?

BRANDT: We were saying

it would be cool if the boat
thinks it's got a clean exit,

and there's nothing but trees.

Kind of like
in Apocalypse Now

when the lion
comes out of the trees

and scares the hell out
of everybody,

[TIGER ROARS]

NARRATOR: Well, in fact,
it was a tiger, not a lion.

And someone on set
knew that.

Terry Leonard said,

"I was the one standing there
when the tiger came out."

I'm like, "Whoa!
You were on Apocalypse Now?

"You were the guy
holding the lion?"

He was like, "You're goddamn
right, I was holding the...

"I was holding the chain

"and it was dragging me
through the dirt."

I was like, "Well,
I guess we should do it."

NARRATOR: And so,
Terry Leonard set about

planning
this action-packed stunt.

I think one of the most
memorable scene,

it's got to be the car
on the boat scene.

I mean,
because it's preposterous.

NARRATOR:
But the key to landing
this stunt, if you will,

wasn't quite as simple

as flying a car through the sky

and landing it on a boat.

Or maybe it was.

We jumped that Camaro
140 ft out into the ocean.

I'm watching that Camaro
fly through the air and going,

-"Wow!"
-And then it lands on the boat.

NARRATOR:
Right. But Terry's plan

could only really come
together in the edit bay.

LEONARD:
So you can't tell
too much of it

'cause it'd give away
that it's a cheat.

But you look at it
in the movie

and the sequence
of how they edit it together,

-you say, "Wow!"
-ROMAN: Shit!

I'm sure we ruined that boat.

We probably ruined the car, too.

NARRATOR:
But unlike the '69 Camaro,

this movie had to float
above water.

And with production ending,

Universal have one question
on their mind.

"Would audiences
turn up for a sequel

"without Vin Diesel?"

NARRATOR: Production on
The Fast and the Furious
sequel had wrapped.

And while the edit
came together,

there was still the not
so small matter of a title.

But that was news
to Derek Haas.

For the longest time,

this movie was
The Fast and Furious 2.

We learned about it
a month ahead of time,

The poster comes out,
and it says,
"2 Fast 2 Furious."

I love that that became
its own meme pre-memes.

NARRATOR: Memes or otherwise,

John made it a point
to set a tone for the film

right from the title.

John brought in the neon look

and just the excitement

that a main title can do
to start the audience off.

Even Universal
got in on the fun.

CUNNINGHAM:
Right when the movie comes on,

the Universal logo
does a hydraulic drop.

It completely sets the stage
for that film.

NARRATOR:
But with the title in hand,

an opening weekend
around the corner,

pressure started to mount.

Well, there's always more
pressure on a sequel,
without question.

"We already saw it, so why
do we want to see it again?"

So many movie "franchises"
die at the sequel.

What was great was it went
in a different direction.

NARRATOR: But the question
everybody wanted to know

when2 Fast 2 Furious
premiered

on June 6th, 2003, was...

"Which direction would
the box office figures go?"

Friday night, it comes out.
By Saturday morning,

you check the Internet

and you see whether or not
it's gonna be a hit

or whether
you fell on your face.

NARRATOR:
But they knew right away

that like a car
launching towards a boat,

2 Fast 2 Furious landed
with an astounding impact.

NARRATOR:
And its opening weekend

was huge.

That film changed my life, man.

It was our, uh, first
50 million opening weekend.

NARRATOR: And this sequel

that many thought
should never be made,

not only made money,
it made history...

At the time,

that was the highest grossing
film for a Black director.

Everything was white
in Hollywood.

The Fast and the Furious
was the only film

that had a cast

that literally
disrupted Hollywood.

NARRATOR:
...forging a new path

for Fast and Furious movies
to come.

I think it becomes
so important to have

two Black characters
in this film

that are not on the periphery,
that are not in the background,

that are very much so
a part of the narrative.

GIBSON:
There is no better director
for 2 Fast 2 Furious.

Without John Singleton,

there would be no Roman Pearce.

Funny, humor,
would have never happened.

It gave everybody an opportunity

to see a new avenue

that The Fast and Furious
can go down.

NARRATOR: And thanks
to John Singleton,

with Michael and Derek,
a family reunion

inFast 3 was looking
more and more likely.

The second one went so well,

there was definitely
interest from Universal

and Neal for us to keep going.

NARRATOR: Whichever way
you looked at it,

2 Fast 2 Furious
was a roaring success.

I thought we kicked ass.

I said, "This is gonna do
better than the first one."

NARRATOR:
And in every way,

2 Fast 2 Furious did.

That is, until
you compare the budgets

of the first and second movie.

On the second one,
our budget went to 80 million.

NARRATOR: Then things
looked a little bit different.

It didn't completely lose money.

First one did 211.

2 Fast 2 Furious
did $236 million.

NARRATOR:
Which is more, of course,

And although2 Fast 2 Furious

did build on the movie's
first audience,

it didn't double it.

And to be fair,

it wasn't exactly
loved by everyone.

As soon as we saw 2,
we went, "Oh, that's too bad."

It, uh, definitely
didn't do as well critically

as the first one.

NARRATOR: And so,
after crunching the numbers,

Universal started to wonder,

"Was it such a successful
sequel after all?"

You don't greenlight
a third movie

if you're losing money,
that wouldn't make sense.

NARRATOR:
But one thing was for sure.

If there was going to be
a third Fast and Furious movie,

the bar had been
set high, very high.

Topping this
would be very expensive.

So any de-escalation
of action and/or quality

might have
the fledgling franchise

heading straight
into a dead end,

and The Fast and the Furious 3
heading straight to DVD.

Actually, we're looking at this
as like a $10 million

straight-to-DVD type movie.

[THEME MUSIC PLAYING]

[MUSIC STOPS]