Before it was a household name, the original The Fast and the Furious was a B-movie not many would peg as the start of the multibillion-dollar dynasty it is today. With no real big names, niche subject matter, and some, uh, questionable writing, the 2001 action-drama apparently did not inspire faith within Universal Studios. Until, of course, they showed it to some actual car people.
In an Instagram video recounting several interesting anecdotes about the first FF movie’s production, composer BT said the studio saw a rough cut and concluded, “This is terrible, no one’s gonna go watch this.” It changed its tune, however, after three pre-screenings (notably filled with car enthusiasts) in which the movie—then tentatively titled Redline—screened 100, 100, and 99.
“The studio actually did not believe that the numbers weren’t played around with,” said BT. “So they made us re-screen the film. We screened it three times. All three times, it scored 100, 100, and 99, and they were like, ‘Wait a minute, maybe this movie doesn’t suck as bad as we thought.'”
Nine sequels and a Rock-led spinoff later, we all know how misguided that attitude was, but even if you isolate just that first movie, it still did pretty well. According to Box Office Mojo, The Fast and the Furious made $207 million against a budget of $38 million. Conventional Hollywood wisdom says a movie has to make 2 to 2.5 times its production budget to break even after accounting for distribution and marketing costs.
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BT—not to be confused with Brian Tyler, who did help out with one track on this first movie but went on to score most of the Fast sequels—also says he used car parts as percussion instruments when putting together the background music for the original.
Good luck rewatching this scene ever again without imagining some studio drummer just going ham on a set of smashed up TE37s.
[Ed note: As the resident F&TF defender around here, I have to once again remind everyone that many of these movies are actually good! There’s definitely a range (Tokyo Drift and the original at the top, FF9 on the Rocket Fiero near the bottom), but if I have to sit through the 19th Avengers movie, you can enjoy sweet, sweet drifts and Ludacris quips. The original has a ton of memorable lines, some extremely silly car moments, but also it’s a ton of fun! – MH]
Top screengrab: Universal Studios
It wasn’t supposed to be a comedy, but it’s hilarious.
Ever since one of my employees bought an orange WRX, roughly half of what I say to him is quotes from this movie. He is too young to understand, so he just nervously laughs.
Hollywood makes a lot more sense once you realize execs have no idea what entertainment is like. Their failure to understand movies and audiences at a subjective level causes huge problems at an objective level too. You can’t design tests if you don’t have a feel for what you’re testing.
The estate of Roger Corman would like to correct you all about “The First F&F”.
If you’re old enough you can remember that nobody called nitrous “naahs” before the first movie. NOS, the brand name, had always been en-oh-ess.
(/yellsatcloud)
I remember someone calling it “naws” prior to the films getting made fun of. When the movie was out, hearing it called that was one of the things that marked it out for me as something made for a group as a money grab by someone who was clueless. Funny that the non car execs thought it sucked and the car guys loved it. Not this car guy, but they didn’t invite me to the screenings.
My dad and sister had a knock out drag out argument about that one after she saw the movie. He was having none of it. He had an old tank showed her then took her to his racing buddies show her. She was convinced that’s just how it was in California. Funny times.
My wife before the original movie, “A car movie? ok I guess I’ll go.”
My wife after the first move, “Holy s**t! That’s not what I expected! Vin Diesel!” And she hasn’t missed one since
The first one was OK, though I can’t say I loved it. I saw a couple others and they didn’t do anything for me, but I didn’t know/remember BT did the soundtrack for the first one.
Same – I only know BT from his EDM/Trance/Progressive House music.
I loved the first movie when it came out for all the fun reasons. I remember using my little brother’s employment to get my hands on a DVD copy before the formal release, which felt appropriate, given the early movie heist. I also stayed up too late watching Fast 5 on a hotel TV the night before I took the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. Maybe there’s some value in occasionally checking one’s brain at the door because I ended up passing. Years later, I didn’t repeat the method for the Professional Engineering exam, but I told myself it was for my family. I passed again. I credit my professional success to these movies, even if I’ve only watched three of them. (https://www.reddit.com/r/fastandfurious/s/JbNSwxIxeC)
It was not a good movie. It was a FUN movie, though, and that works.
Funnily enough, I feel the same thing about Sung Kang’s Drift movie he’s directing.
I really don’t have faith it’ll be a good movie; it’ll be more like a long Gymkhana, I think.
Like the Crank movies just drop your brain in the popcorn bucket before the movie begins and enjoy.
“…he used car parts as percussion instruments when putting together the background music for the original.”
There’s a reason why I save all the pots and pans my wife wants to throw out. Found percussion is often more fun than the real thing. Just ask either Stomp or Blue Man Group.
I’ll grudgingly admit that I also find the F&F movies fun. Sometimes all my brain needs is a good ol’ fashioned silly/unrealistic action movie.
And it’s also the best of the series. It’s a great example of exploring a novel, niche subculture via tapping a genre that the audience would already know well, in this case, crime dramas. That approach of the unfamiliar and the familiar well balanced makes for compelling viewing.
The later ones then tuned the concept of the first into an adrenaline-forward visual amusement park ride, which they do very well, but they’re all basically paint by numbers filmmaking.
The Mission: Impossible series did a similar thing. Watch Brian DaPalma’s orginal and contrast it with the latest entry.
I think it gets a lifetime achievement award just for giving us “Warning!!! Danger to Manifold” and “I live my life a quarter-mile at a time”.
I like the tuna here.
I use “overnight parts from Japan” for a laugh whenever situationally appropriate. Thanks F&TF!!
Saw the movie first run in theatres. Great crowd full of car people. And, yes, even though the final race scene had a quite unrealistic wheelie from the Charger, the audience still gasped when it happened… Then there was an even bigger crowd reaction when Dom crashed into the semi. No one saw that coming!
I drove my 1994 Taurus SHO to the film, and let’s just say, when the movie ended, there was more than a little revving and burnout action from the attendees in the theatre parking lot. Good times!
Same. The build of the movie vis a vis the Charger is fantastic. It only comes into play at the very end, which makes its use so much more impactful than the near constant car porn of the later ones.