The Fast & Furious saga has been nearly everywhere at this point. From its street racing roots, the series has risen into a world of international action even slipping the bonds of Earth to enter orbit in F9. Would the franchise ever go back in time though? Perhaps not, but director Louis Leterrier and the team behind Fast X still brought in a vehicle famous for its time travel capabilities — the DeLorean. Speaking to Collider's Steve Weintraub, Leterrier explained how they managed to secure a DeLorean prototype for the film and why the idea came about in the first place.
Moviegoers will be most familiar with the DeLorean from its unforgettable role in the Back to the Future franchise where Doc Brown outfits the vehicle with a flux capacitor to help it travel through time upon hitting 88 miles per hour. Fast & Furious is the franchise for all the coolest cars, so a modernized DeLorean was never out of the question. Specifically, the DeLorean Alpha 5 prototype appeared on-screen for the film, and though it's not the same model that Doc and Marty McFly use, Leterrier was still eager to play with expectations by having the car involved.
Referencing Jakob Toretto's (John Cena) Cannon car, he explained how he wanted to have fun with the audience and poke fun at the time travel concept:
"Tough to pull off, yes. It ended up in the movie because – I don't know if you remember, maybe you didn't follow, but at one point there was a leaked image of the Cannon car that went on the internet, and then people went crazy, and they thought that after going to space, we're going to do time travel. [Laughs] So like, after space travel was going to be time travel. And then I was like, “Oh, I will have people go crazy by having the DeLorean pull up with shoes that look like futuristic shoes come out,” and then I was like, “Oh yeah, let's have fun with it all.”
Leterrier Had to Pull a Few Strings to Get the DeLorean On Board Fast X
Landing such a vehicle for the high-speed action of Fast X still wasn't a cakewalk for Leterrier. Fast & Furious may be the premiere movie when it comes to cool cars, but it doesn't mean that those vehicles come easy. When it all came together though, Leterrier felt like a kid in a candy store. The selection of cars at the disposal of Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), his family, and his new nemesis Dante (Jason Momoa) are enough to rival a museum. Leterrier describes seeing the DeLorean roll in, adding:
"I mean, it's Fast & Furious, so, you know, it's the car movie. You have to call a few people. The DeLorean is complex, it's finding who are the right– there's like two DeLorean companies, so we got the one and they were, you know, it was great. That car is gonna be amazing, it’ll be absolutely amazing. It was incredible. That street, you know, the street in downtown L.A., when we parked all these cars it was a museum of incredible cars. Even the Petersen Museum didn't have as many amazing cars, between the Pagani and then the Hellcat, the electric Hellcat, and then the DeLorean pulling in. I was like, 'Ahh, I’m having fun today.'"
Fast X will begin to close out this saga of fast cars and family as Dom faces his most dangerous threat yet in Dante. After the death of his father Hernan Reyes in Fast Five, Dante wants to make Dom suffer in the same way, becoming obsessed with undoing him and teaching him the pain of loss. With an eight-year-old son and a tight-knit family, Dom has everything to lose to this foe who is equal parts cunning and maniacal. Everyone is scattered across the globe in this fight for survival, forcing Dom to choose who to save.
Fast X is currently in theaters. Check out the latest trailer below and look out for our full interview with Leterrier later this week.