THE FAST AND FURIOUS FRANCHISE ZOOMS ON, ITS HIGH-SPEED HIGH JINKS HIttING THE UK FOR THE SIXTH EPISODE. EMPIRE JOINS ITS HARD-DRIVING ENSEMBLE ON SET Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx WORDS NICK DE SEMLYEN 262 EMPIRE EMPIRE APRIL APRIL 2013 2013 empireonline.com subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub APRILAPRIL 2013 2013 EMPIRE EMPIRE 63 3 BRIEFING FAST & THE WIT AND FURIOUS 6* RELEASED: May 24 THE WISDOM DIRECTOR: Justin Lin OF THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS STARRING: Dwayne Johnson, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, The out-sized series’ most Jordana Brewster And… Luke Evans, epic one-liners Gina Carano, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Gal Gadot NOT FORGETTING: Ludacris “i live my life STORY: Dominic (Diesel) and his crew of car-driving a quaRteR- thieves are roused out of retirement when a rival mile at a time.” car-driving thief crew start dominic toretto (vin diesel), causing global mayhem. the fast and the furious Among them: Dominic’s presumed-dead girlfriend, Letty (Rodriguez). Vroom! * Title at the time of writing. May yet change “one caR in to Fast Six: London Heist, The Fast And The Furious exchange foR Episode VI: Return Of The • Here: Vin Diesel refuses knowing what Letty, or Fa6t & Furiou6. to sit down until the seat has warmed up. Below a man’S made of. left: Sung Kang, Gina Carano, Gal Gadot and that’S a pRice Tyrese Gibson do the moody i can live with.” action walk-to-camera. han (Sung kang), the fast and the furious: tokyo drift ust after midnight, 2 Furious, The Fast And The Furious: cast, dwarfed by most of the stars but Forces villain Shaw, isn’t on set; his on the second floor Tokyo Drift, Fast & Furious). There was exuding confidence. character is off-screen launching an “maybe you’Re of a Middlesex car the odd memorable stunt or zinger, but “I feel like we’re going into Bond attack on Interpol HQ. And neither, not the good guy park, heavy shit is also a sense that it was all running on territory,” he tells Empire as he eyeballs sadly, is his gang, who sound like they’re pRetending to be going down. Dwayne fumes. Then, in 2011, came Fast Five. a prop Uzi. “We have an antagonist for straight out of Wacky Races. “There’s an the bad guy. maybe Johnson, clad in a Set in Rio, it brought back all the the first time; the dude’s formidable. evil version of each of us,” grins Sung you’Re the bad guy black T-shirt, fingerless principals from previous entries — from Basically, it’s Heat on steroids. Super-Heat!” Kang, aka Korean racer Han Seoul-Oh gloves and military noble felon Dominic Toretto (Diesel) to (say it out loud). “Doppelgängers of us pRetending to be boots, flexes his mighty motormouthed hustler Roman Pearce who want to destroy the world!” the good guy.” digits. Ludacris stands (Tyrese Gibson) — and set hulking crook- TONIGHT MAY BE Or, as Ludacris (tech expert Tej) puts it: mia (Jordana brewster), beside a table loaded hunter Hobbs (Johnson) on their trail. pure dialogue, but Johnson still pumps “The plot thickens, man. It’s the Legion fast & furious with automatic weapons. Paul Walker, The result is a Looney Tunes heist movie himself up like he’s about to leap off a roof. Of Doom up against our Justice League.” Tyrese Gibson and Gina Carano hang tight that blows a raspberry in the face of logic. He looks out towards what will be a city If we’re to run with that analogy — near a row of sleek, dark BMWs, licence Stuffed with bruising practical stunts, vista (currently two stubbly grips in a cherry and frankly, when Ludacris offers an plates removed. And in front of them its many daft wonders include a fist fight picker) and delivers his big line: “I had analogy it’s always best to run — that “$11 million? all is Vin Diesel: statue-still, leaning on with a three-act structure, Diesel snapping a therapy session with one of Shaw’s men. makes Gina Carano Wonder Woman. The SoundS like a railing, peering through binoculars into cuffs with his bare hands and a finale in He gave up their hideout.” Then, when Lin Haywire star joins the series as Hobbs’ a whole lot the darkness of the September night. which the gang break Brazil with a giant yells, “Cut!”, he toggles between jogging sidekick, Riley. “It’s a different look on me,” of vaginal He blinks. He waits. Then he speaks. safe. A surprise smash hit, it grossed more on the spot, prowling in a circle, or pushing says the surprisingly giggly former MMA activity to me.” “Sometimes a little distance,” Diesel “bASICALLY FAST SIX than $600 million at the box office. And against a pillar to beef up his arms. In star, who’s been watching Jane Austen Roman (tyrese gibson), fast five growls, “lets you see things real clear.” many who had previously spurned the contrast, Diesel rarely moves, except to films in her trailer. “She’s Dwayne’s left- Yes, we’re back in the weird and series, including Empire, snapped to shiver — despite the chill, he’s wearing a hand woman and she plays it cool. The wonderful world of Fast And Furious, IS HEAT ON STEROIDS attention. Was this a fluke? Or could the short-sleeved polo shirt that later prompts complete opposite of me: I’m a dork!” the Hollywood franchise which gives you follow-up (titled Fast & Furious 6 at the him to say: “I fucked up, I know!” “Gina puts boots to asses,” disagrees primal thrills and philosophical nutrition. time of writing, although it was Fast Six Fast And Furiologists will at this point Johnson, when he rumbles across the car “give me the The history of the series is in itself on the call sheet) perfect the formula? be wondering why the two stars are sharing park to Empire at 4am. “You know she damn veggieS!” a curious tale. It began in 2001 with The — super-heaT!”JUSTIN LIN The answer lies in the hands of a scene at all. When last we saw them, Hobbs can legitimately take you down. And hobbs (the Rock), fast five Fast And The Furious, a moderately Taiwanese director Justin Lin, who oversaw was in pursuit of Toretto’s gang, despite there’s nothing like a badass hot chick vérité flick about LA street-racers. Three the last three in the series, as well as two having already caught them and let them go who kicks ass.” so-so sequels flitted about the world brilliant paintball-themed episodes of (it’s complicated). The answer is that a Big The Artist Formerly Known As The (Miami, Tokyo, Mexico), actors hopping Community. Tonight, at Shepperton Bad has emerged, so dastardly that lawman Rock is already a larger-than-life-character on and off the merry-go-round, titles Studios, early on in the Fast Six shoot, and fugitives must unite to stop him. — one who uses the word “ass” a lot. The becoming ever more indistinct (2 Fast Lin zips between his monitors and his Luke Evans, who plays ex-Special Fast franchise just pushes him further, > 64 EMPIRE APRIL 2013 empireonline.com subscribe at www.empireonline.com/sub APRIL 2013 EMPIRE 65 now shooting in a giant hangar in Now he has clout enough to be given what Longcross Studios, Surrey, and is firmly he describes as “a blank page and a blank in the running-and-gunning phase. Inside cheque” by Universal. The missing link the carcass of an Antonov cargo plane, between Edgar Wright and Michael Bay, mounted on hydraulics and juddering he’s got ambition to burn and a witty eye. every five seconds, Luke Evans and So Fast & Furious 6 will include such moto Paul Walker are locked in a violent madness as a car chase through Piccadilly brawl. Or rather, Luke Evans and Paul Circus and — as a VFX crew member Walker’s stunt double are, since Walker previews in half-rendered form on his has injured his knee and is watching from laptop — a tank screeching along a road a chair on the sidelines. His face will be on its side while one of our heroes dives digitally pasted, if necessary, onto the off it into a moving car. The production’s double’s body. visited the Canary Islands, Israel and It’s November and several of the Hong Kong, beating Fast Five’s score crew are sporting wacky facial hair for of 250 trashed cars in the process. And, Movember (a knocked-up poster reads tank aside, most of it was done for real. “The Fast And The Furrious”). With “This stuff we’re doing, it’s mind- only a few weeks to go before the film blowing,” exhales Evans, on a break and wraps, on the schedule are various bits hovering near Shaw’s signature vehicle, and pieces for the massive Spain-set finale, a nitro-fitted nightmare called the ‘flip Diesel won’t confirm it, but odds are • Above: Paul Walker which will intercut multiple fights between car’ which flings anything in its path into she’s the “character who’s lost their takes out the pigeon goodies and baddies. “We’re making an the air. “The third act just keeps going that pooped on his car. memory”; signs point towards her Below: Gibson takes action version of an Altman movie!” and going. In script form, it’s just bullet having turned bad and joined Shaw’s things up a level.