When The Fast and the

Furious was released in 2001, no one could anticipate the worldwide

phenomenon it would eventually become, spawning six sequels (plus two short

films), grossing over $2.38 billion, and making international stars out of Paul

Walker, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster.

Of course, with that many films and, at one point, 13

characters in just one film, there’s a lot of backstory and mythology

surrounding the Fast & Furious

franchise.

NEWS: How 'Furious 7' Honors Paul Walker's Legacy (Even If It's Hard to Watch)

So ahead of the debut of Furious

7, take a look back at all the fun facts surrounding the making of the

movie, including who originally wanted out of the first film, the actor who asked

for a role in the franchise after it became a big hit, and the Easter egg that

connects the worlds of Fast & Furious

and Herbie.

Universal Pictures

STORY

1. The film series was inspired by a 1998

May Vibe article on street

racing, “Racer X,” which chronicled the story of Rafael “Racer X” Estevez and

illegal street-racing in New York.

2. The plot of The

Fast and the Furious is considered to be an unofficial

remake of Pointe Break starring

Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves.

3. The Fast & Furious

franchise exists in the same universe as Herbie:

Fully Loaded thanks to an Easter egg shot of Dom’s

rolled-over Charger in a junkyard scene from the Lindsay Lohan film.

4. Fast & Furious,

Fast Five, and Fast & Furious 6 were designed as an internal

trilogy.

5. Starting with Fast

Five, Universal Studios and longtime screenwriter Chris Morgan transformed

the franchise into a heist

series rather than films about racing in order to keep making sequels.

6. The sixth and seventh sequels were originally supposed to

be written

and filmed simultaneously while also addressing Eva Mendes cameo as Monica

Fuentes at the end of Fast Five.

7. Diesel’s love for Dungeons

& Dragons led to director Justin Lin to incorporate more of a mythology into the

series.

8. Han Seoul-Oh’s death in the third film means that Furious 7 is a direct

sequel to The Fast and the Furious:

Tokyo Drift and four through six are prequels. The story order goes:

The Fast and the

Furious – June 22, 2001

2 Fast 2 Furious – June 6, 2003

Fast & Furious – April 3, 2009

Fast Five – April 20, 2011

Fast & Furious 6 – May 24, 2013

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

– June 16, 2006

Furious 7 – April 3, 2015

Universal Pictures

CAST

9. Christian Bale, Eminem, and Mark Wahlberg were all

considered before Walker was cast as the franchise’s main protagonist, Brian O’Conner.



10. Rodriguez almost quit

the first film because her character, Letty Ortiz, was supposed to cheat on

Dom with Brian.

11. It has been rumored that Bijou

Phillips, Jessica Biel, Kirsten Dunst, Natalie Portman, and Sarah Michelle

Gellar auditioned for the role of Mia, which was reportedly written for Eliza

Dushku. The part went to Brewster.

12. Both Brewster and Rodriguez didn’t know how

to drive prior to joining the first film. Both actresses had to get their

licenses in order to join the cast.

13. Tej Parker, who was introduced in 2 Fast 2 Furious, was supposed to be played

by Redman. Ludacris replaced the rapper after scheduling conflicts forced him

to pull out.

14. While Han Seoul-Oh (played by Sung Kang) makes his first

appearance in The Fast and the Furious:

Tokyo Drift, the character actually originated

in the Asian American indie-drama, Better

Luck Tomorrow.

15. Diesel only agreed to make a cameo at the end of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift in

exchange for ownership

rights of the Chronicles of Riddick

franchise.

16. Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson approached Universal, asking

to be a part of the Fast & Furious

franchise. He joined as Luke Hobbs in Fast

Five.

17. The Luke Hobbs character was originally written for Tommy Lee

Jones or Josh Brolin.

18. Tyrese Gibson (who plays Roman Pearce) filmed Fast Five and Transformers: Dark of

the Moon at the same time, forcing him to fly between Atlanta and

Puerto Rico to complete both.

19. Rodriguez had no idea her character was still alive

until she saw the twist ending during a screening

of Fast Five.

20. The characters Letty and Brian don’t actually speak

to each other until Fast &

Furious 6.

21. Denzel Washington turned down an unspecified, “big

part” in Furious 7.

22. Dame Helen Mirren wants to be a “mad

driver” in the Fast & Furious

franchise.

23. A number of cameos have been made by rappers and singers,

including Ja Rule (The Fast and the Furious),

Bow Wow (Tokyo Drift), Don Omar and Tego Calderon (Fast & Furious, Fast Five) Rita Ora (Fast & Furious 6), and Iggy Azalea (Furious 7).

Universal Pictures

FILMING

24. 2 Fast 2 Furious

was directed by John Singleton, the Oscar-nominated director behind Boyz n the Hood and, most recently, an

episode of Empire.

25. The Skyline GT-R

featured in 2 Fast 2 Furious was

actually Walker’s own car.

26. Lin -- director of Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, Fast Five,

and Fast & Furious 6 -- says that

Robert

Altman, who has directed a number of ensemble features, inspired the sixth

film, which featured 13 characters.

27. Rio de Janeiro’s car chase scenes in Fast Five were actually shot in Puerto

Rico.

28. The scene with Dom smashing

his car through the nose of a cargo aircraft was originally conceived for Fast & Furious but didn’t make it

into the movie until Fast & Furious 6.



29. Vulture

estimates that the runway in the film had to be 28.829 miles long in order to accommodate

the whole scene. (The longest real-life runway is 7.5 miles long.)

As for the fact that Mirren wants to join the franchise, Diesel has a few ideas of who she could play: