Fast X director Louis Leterrier admitted he rewrote the entire film’s script while on a flight to the film’s set.
Speaking with Variety at a party for the film’s trailer premiere, Leterrier first detailed how he landed the role as director.
He explained, “Well, the studio calls me and I think it’s a pocket call. I think it’s a misdial and I tell them, ‘I think you made a mistake.’ I didn’t know. I didn’t know anything that was happening. And they said, ‘Can you call us back. Can you call us back right now. Can you read this script?’ Wait. ‘What’s the script?’ It’s Fast X. My heart stops.”
However, he said he initially declined, “And I say no. I can’t. It’s too big. It’s too messy.”
#FastX director Louis Leterrier said “no” to directing the film at first because he was such a big fan of the franchise: “It’s too big, how can I?” https://t.co/dDZbcvtGB9 pic.twitter.com/vIuS2WHCi6
— Variety (@Variety) February 10, 2023
When asked if he read the script and then said no, he responded, “I said no. I can’t it’s too big. How can I? I’m a fan. I’m the biggest fan of the franchise. How can I? It won’t work. I read the script. It was so good. I called them back and I said, ‘Can I? Can I?’ And they said yes, it’s still open.”
Despite claiming the script was so good. Leterrier also revealed he rewrote it during a flight to the set, “I read the script four times on the plane, and I said I had some ideas, and they said, ‘Great, because the whole third act is changing. Can you rewrite it tonight?”
He added, “I was literally on no sleep. I’d been on no sleep for days.”
“I was literally on no sleep. I’d been on no sleep for days.” Leterrier elaborated.
He then revealed, “But I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’ve got some ideas,’ and started writing. And obviously, since the third act was changing, I needed to change the first act. And when you rewrite the third act, and the first act, the second act has to go. So basically I had to on the fly rebuild the airplane.”
The official synopsis declares, “Over many missions and against impossible odds, Dom Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his family have outsmarted, out-nerved and outdriven every foe in their path. Now, they confront the most lethal opponent they’ve ever faced: A terrifying threat emerging from the shadows of the past who’s fueled by blood revenge, and who is determined to shatter this family and destroy everything—and everyone—that Dom loves, forever.”
It continuees, “In 2011’s Fast Five, Dom and his crew took out nefarious Brazilian drug kingpin Hernan Reyes and decapitated his empire on a bridge in Rio De Janeiro. What they didn’t know was that Reyes’ son, Dante (Aquaman’s Jason Momoa), witnessed it all and has spent the last 12 years masterminding a plan to make Dom pay the ultimate price.
Dante’s plot will scatter Dom’s family from Los Angeles to the catacombs of Rome, from Brazil to London and from Portugal to Antarctica. New allies will be forged and old enemies will resurface. But everything changes when Dom discovers that his own 8-year-old son (Leo Abelo Perry, Black-ish) is the ultimate target of Dante’s vengeance.
Fast X is expected to hit theaters on May 19, 2023. The film stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Jason Momoa, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, John Cena, Jason Statham, Sung Kang, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior, Scott Eastwood, Helen Mirren, Charlize Theron, Brie Larson, and Rita Moreno.
What do you make of Leterrier’s confession that he rewrote the entire script on the plane to the set?