F9 director Justin Lin explained how fans helped to bring him back to the franchise after all these years.
Lin appeared on the latest episode of IMDb's Movies That Changed My Life to talk F9, his film Better Luck Tomorrow and his love of Do The Right Thing. When asked about rejoining the Fast franchise after last directing 2013's Fast & Furious 6, Lin revealed how staying in touch with star Vin Diesel and Universal Pictures helped keep him in the loop.
"It’s interesting. When I left, I thought that was it," Lin said. "I did everything I wanted to do. I give the studio and Vin (Diesel) all the credit, you know? While I was gone, I remember I was in the Star Trek editing room and I got a call from Vin. He wanted to talk about the state of Dom. I was like, 'Ok... cool, but I’ve bowed out.' He was kind of keeping track and talking about Dom’s evolution. It became very organic and the studio was always like 'Hey man, you know if you ever feel like you want to come back...'"
While the door was always open for Lin to return, it was actually fans who helped spur the director's interest in tackling another installment.
"One day, I was on the way back home and was stopped by these Fast fans. They were talking to me about what they like and what they didn't like about the recent Fast movie," Lin said. "And I'm like, 'Great, great, thank you. I haven't been a part of Fast for a while now.' Every single stop on my way home someone would stop me. Now, looking back, I think something happened because a couple of months after that, I woke up and had this idea of, 'Wow, there’s still something about family that we haven't explored.' That became the inspiration for this final chapter. I called up Vin and the studio and said, 'Let's do it!' It was very organic."
F9 will see Dom and friends confront John Cena's Jakob, the long-lost brother to Diesel's hero. Where he's been the whole time and how exactly Dom, a man defined by his love of family, could have failed to mention him will be revealed when the film premieres later this month.
Directed by Justin Lin, F9 stars Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Helen Mirren, Kurt Russell and Charlize Theron. The film arrives in theaters June 25.
Source: IMDb
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