The “Fast X” director rewrote the third act of the script on the plane

February 12, 2023

When Louis Leterrier stepped in at the last minute to replace Justin Lin, he knew his writing process had to be… fast and furious.

Everything in the “Fast and Furious” franchise moves fast — even the rewrites.

The upcoming tenth film in the series, ‘Fast X’, has had a famously hectic production process. Original director Justin Lin, who directed five of the films, including “F9: The Fast Saga,” left the project after filming had begun due to creative differences. His exit is said to be the result of disagreements with Vin Diesel and the franchise’s unique writing process, which gives Diesel veto power over action scenes. After Lin left and “Now You See Me” director Louis Leterrier replaced him, the film’s creative overhaul began immediately.

comment Species on the red carpet of the film’s premiere, Leterrier explained that he had to rewrite the entire third act of the film on the flight to the location.

“I read the script four times on the machine and said I have some ideas, and they said, ‘Great, because the whole third act changes. Would you transcribe it tonight?” Leterrier asked. “I literally didn’t sleep. I haven’t slept in days.”

Of course, it’s nearly impossible to thoroughly fix a movie’s ending without making a ton of other changes. Leterrier soon realized that the third act rewrite he agreed to would result in an entirely new script.

“Obviously, this is not going to be set in stone,” he said. “But I was like, ‘OK, yeah, I’ve got some ideas,’ and I started writing. And obviously, since the third act was changing, I had to change the first act as well. And when you rewrite the third act and the first act, the second act has to go. So basically the aircraft had to be rebuilt on the fly.”

Still, the director said he realized all the chaos was worth it when he had the surreal experience of meeting Diesel on set.

“You see this mountain of a man, with a bald head and muscles,” he said. “You hear the voice, it turns to you, looks right into your soul, and says, Welcome to the family, brother.”

“Fast X” opens Friday, May 19, only in theaters.

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