At this week’s press day for the upcoming return of the drama series Dallas, premiering on TNT on June 13^th – and starring original cast members Larry Hagman, Patrick Duffy and Linda Grey, along with a whole new line-up of actors – Jordana Brewster took some time to speak with Collider about what drew her to television and this show and character, in particular.

While we’ll post what she had to say about being a part of Dallas closer to the show’s premiere, we did want to share what she had to say about her involvement in the Fast and Furious franchise.  Although she hasn’t yet gotten to read the script for the next installment (tentatively called Fast and Furious 6) , she was able to speculate a bit about how Mia might deal with motherhood, possibly getting to shoot the film in the UK, her hopes that she’ll get to be more active, and that even though there is pressure for each film to be as good as the one before, she trusts the filmmakers because they don’t take the fans or their expectations for granted.  Check out what she had to say after the jump.

Gina Carano gave a great physical performance in Steven Soderbergh‘s Haywire, and while she may not have the acting prowess of A-list leading ladies, the MMA brawler has them licked when it comes to fighting.  Last week, we reported that Carano was in talks to join Fast and Furious 6, and she’s also set to star in the John Stockwell action flick In the Blood.  In a recent interview, Carano provided brief updates on where she’s at with both pictures.

Hit the jump for Carano’s comments.  Haywire hits DVD and Blu-ray tomorrow, and you should definitely check it out if you missed it in theaters.  Click here for my review.

Production is slated to begin on Fast and Furious 6 (that’s the working title for now) soon, and director Justin Lin looks to be adding a strong female presence for his Fast Five follow-up.  We learned last week that MMA fighter/Haywire star Gina Carano has entered talks to join the car-enthusiast ensemble, and now The Daily Mail claims that Rihanna is set to take on a villainous role in the pic.  It’s important to note that The Sun is a somewhat less-than-reputable source, so this casting news should be taken with a grain of salt for the time-being.

The artist stars in this summer’s Battleship, but we haven’t seen much of her acting ability in the trailers so it’s hard to judge this casting choice, should it turnout to be true.  Remember Samantha Mumba in The Time Machine?  Oh, you don’t?  Dwayne Johnson told Steve that they’ll be filming Fast and Furious 6 in London and Berlin, so we can look forward to an international vibe for the upcoming actioner.  The film is slated to open on May 24th, 2013.

How does a Gina Carano/Dwayne Johnson team-up sound? After kicking much ass earlier this year in Steven Soderbergh’s actioner Haywire, MMA athlete Gina Carano is now poised to join the next installment of the Fast and Furious franchise.  Though plot details are under wraps, Carano will apparently star in Fast 6 as a member of Johnson’s team.  As you’ll recall, “The Rock” played a toughened Diplomatic Security Service agent in director Justin Lin’s smash hit Fast Five.  Hit the jump for more.

Apparently Jason Statham is able to turn down movie offers.  The star of two Crank films and The Bank Job has apparently turned down an offer to star in the upcoming sixth entry in the Fast and Furious franchise.  Director Justin Lin is returning to the director’s chair in the apparently globe-spanning Fast Six, but Twitch reports that Statham was unable to work out a deal with Universal to join the testosterone-fuel cast.  Dwayne Johnson is reprising his role from the surprisingly great Fast Five, and Vin Diesel and Co. are expected to return as well.

Johnson recently revealed that Fast Six will not be shot concurrently with Fast Seven, but both films will be shot separately in the UK and Germany so we’re in for some international racing this time around.  I loved the hell out of Fast Five, so I’m excited to see where Lin takes the series now.  Production on Fast Six begins next month

After the smashing success of Justin Lin’s Fast Five, Universal got moving on not only a sixth film but also a seventh installment in the surprisingly long-legged franchise. While initially only one sequel was conceived, we learned in October that the studio was hoping to shoot a sixth and seventh film back-to-back. The two sequels would act as a “Part 1” and a “Part 2”, so presumably it’s one story split in half. Lin is back in the director’s chair for the films, and last we heard Chris Morgan was working on one giant script to link the two movies together. Star Vin Diesel recently opened up a bit about the projects, explaining how it became two sequels in the wake of Fast Five. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

The runaway success of The Fast and the Furious franchise has prompted Universal Pictures to maximize profits and limit time between releases by shooting the next two installments back-to-back. It’s a sound tactic financially as it’s essentially forming two separate pictures into a single, massive production. This seems to be a new trend in big budget franchises with both Twilight and Harry Potter filming the last chapter back-to-back and releasing it in two parts. Recent reports also suggest that Paramount and Hasbro are considering the same strategy for Transformers 4 and 5. Hit the jump for more on the next installments in The Fast and the Furious franchise.

Two weeks ago we brought you the news that Justin Lin would not be helming a Terminator reboot in the immediate future due to a scheduling conflict with The Fast and the Furious 6 (Fast Six?). While that remains the case, Lin has certainly been vocal in his reverence for both franchises. After the runaway success of Fast Five (which has currently brought in over $616 million), Lin plans to finish up his involvement with that franchise in two more installments before moving on to the Terminator reboot:

“Creatively, I’ve had to put some stuff on hold and walk away from some projects that I’d really love to do, but this is an opportunity for me and for us to close out the franchise the right way. It comes with a price but it’s something that I look forward to.”

I’ll translate that into: I can make a boat-load of money on this sure thing first before taking chances with a problem-riddled franchise. Hit the jump for more quotes from Lin.

Please read this article with a grain of salt.  The concentration of cool is so high, though, that it’s worth reporting in case it turns out.  We know the next film in the Fast and Furious series (let’s call it Fast 6) will be director Justin Lin’s next project, and he’s already made headway with a pre-vised 12-minute final sequence.  Universal must like what they see, because the studio is reportedly ready to double down on their most reliable franchise.  Twitch hears Universal is looking into shooting Fast 6 and Fast 7 back to back in Europe in 2012.  Cool news in itself, but there’s more.  After the jump.

Justin Lin has found tremendous success after this year’s Fast Five.  In addition to Fast and Furious 6 (which is May 24, 2013 unless Universal chickens out again and moves it to April), he’s signed to do the next Terminator film, the Western Brigands of Rattleborge, and the psychological drama We Disappear.  And now THR reports that Lin has set up a two-year development deal with Universal that will have him producing and possibly directing three more movies for the studio in addition to Fast 6.  Through his new production company Barnstorm Pictures, Lin will be developing the action-spy flick Leading Man, “an untitled project about a WWII Japanese American battalion that is the most decorated unit in American history”, and the sci-fi thriller we reported on back in June.  If that weren’t enough to keep him busy, he’s also developing an adaptation of Lone Wolf and Cub with Marissa McMahon and 1212 Entertainment.

Lin knows how to direct action although he’s not on my top-tier of action directors.  However, he does get a bit of a pass for directing the Community episode “Modern Warfare”, and since he’s clearly got a lot of films ahead of him, I’m hoping he makes some good ones (but I’m not holding out much hope for Fast & Furious 6).

In case you haven’t had your fill of Justin Lin stories for the week, we’ve got one more for you. Yesterday we reported that Fast Six will be the director’s next film, and he’s no longer attached to direct the Highlander reboot. Today word comes that he’s already got the final scene from Fast Six done. Before he was even finished with Fast Five, the director storyboarded, pre-vised and cut the 12-minute final sequence for the next installment in the Fast and Furious franchise. Hit the jump to see what he had to say.

Following the (surprising) critical and (not so surprising) commercial success of Fast Five, director Justin Lin has been mentioned among many director shortlists for some of Hollywood’s biggest projects, and recently found himself attached to the next film in the Terminator franchise. While one might surmise that Lin would strike while the iron’s hot and move on to another high profile franchise, looks as though the director’s follow-up to Fast Five will actually be the sixth installment in the Fast & Furious franchise (which just recently got a release date of May 2013).

Terminator fans need not fret though, as Lin is still working on Arnold Schwarzenegger-starred film. In fact, the director just recently met with  Schwarzenegger and James Cameron to talk a bit about the franchise. Hit the jump for more details, including why Lin turned down the directing job of Die Hard 5.

After driving off with $33.2 million on Friday, a record debut for April, Universal’s Fast Five went on to an incredible weekend estimate of $83.6 million from 3,644 locations.  And, as on Friday, that was also good enough to break all kinds of records.

Now we’re talking.  Though April showed signs of life with Hop and Rio, it looks like 2011 has its first real blockbuster on its hands with Fast Five.  And not a moment too soon!  If I had to write one more box office report which parsed out the relative merits of a $15 million opening weekend I was going to have to slap myself.  After earning a reported $3.8 million in its midnight debut, Fast Five went on to take in a Friday total estimated at $33.2 million.  Most projections now have the action sequel earning over $70 million for the weekend.  Not only would that make Fast Five, easily, the highest debut of 2011, it would also pace the $71 million debut of the franchise’s last installment, Fast and Furious, which has held the record for the highest April debut of all-time since 2009.  So for once the trailers were right: summer really did start early this year!  For the rest of the top ten, it appears to be perpetual January, with both Disney’s Prom and TWC’s Hoodwinked Too! underwhelming in their debuts.  Full details tomorrow.

The Fast and the Furious series is one of the major gaps in my male cinematic knowledge.  I am too effeminate, too pretentious.  However, I have much respect for the continued success of the franchise after the 2009 surge to a series-best $353 million worldwide box office with Fast & Furious.  Fast Five opens this Friday, and the smart money is on “Major Hit.”  The producers wisely tapped into the core appeal of the films and secured virtually every major player in the series — including Vin Diesel, Paul Walker,  Jordana Brewster, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Tyrese Gibson, Sung Kang — and upped the ante by casting potential action god Dwayne Johnson.

Pretend you’re a studio executive for a second.  At this point, you wouldn’t reinvent the market’s premier car movie brand to cater to someone like this silly writer, right?  And yet, Universal chairman Adam Fogelson is discussing just such a shift.

Chris Morgan — screenwriter on Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious, and Fast Five — was previously hired to start work on a sixth film.  Deadline reports the sequel is set up to revolve around a robbery: “Universal’s intent is to transform this street racing franchise into a series of heist films.”  More after the jump.