While being involved in Hollywood is a dream for countless hopefuls, the reality of the business is something else entirely. I mean, just look at the ongoing WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Filmmaker David Ayer has been open about the reality of the business, especially related to how his cut of Suicide Squad was ‘eviscerated’ by the studio. And Ayer is also not happy with what happened with the Fast and the Furious after he worked on the movie, even being quoted saying “fuck the middleman.” Let’s break down his comments.
The first Fast and the Furious movie hit theaters back in 2001, and David Ayer was one of the three writers credited for the screenplay. What started as a street racing film grew into one of the biggest action franchises in the business, with the Fast crew even going to space. The Sucide Squad filmmaker helped to create the property, and recently appeared on Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast (via Deadline), where he didn’t hold back his feelings about Fast and Furious. As he put it,
Biggest franchise in Hollywood, and I don’t have any of it. I got nothing to show for it, nothing, because of the way the business works.
Well, that was honest. Despite the billions of dollars that the Fast movies have made over the last two decades, the OG writer seemingly wasn’t entitled to any of those profits. This is a peek behind the curtain related to how the business works, and might be surprising for casual fans of the movies. Of course, that’s not all Ayer said about the situation.
Later in that same interview, David Ayer explained how his vision for The Fast and the Furious shaped the franchise as a whole (see the Fast timeline explained here). It sounds like his vision is what got so many of the iconic actors of the franchise involved, and why the story went from New York to L.A.. As he put it,
When I got that script, that shit was set in New York, it was all Italian kids, right? I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m not gonna take it unless I can set it in L.A. and make it look like the people I know in L.A., right?’ So then I started, like, writing in people of color, and writing in the street stuff, and writing in the culture, and no one knew shit about street racing at the time.
It’s fascinating to see how the sausage gets made. The Fast and Furious franchise is so clearly defined at this point, and it’s almost impossible to imagine the franchise starting in New York and featuring mostly Italian characters. It sounds like Vin Diesel and company have Ayer to thank for how the story and characters were ultimately handled.
Also in that interview Davi Ayer spoke about the film industry as a whole, and feeling like an outsider within the business despite his resume. In his words:
It’s like people hijack narratives, control narratives, create narratives to empower themselves, right? And because I was always an outsider and because, like, I don’t go to the fucking parties. I don’t go to the meals, I don’t do any of that stuff. The people that did were able to control and manage narratives because they’re socialized in that part of the problem.
If Ayer’s comments are to be believed, that’s why his name isn’t closely associated with the Fast and the Furious franchise, despite how much work he put into its inception. Indeed, he never returned to write and direct any of the sequels that have been produced over the last two decades.
The Fast and the Furious franchise is expected to wrap up after the upcoming 11th movie in the series. Fast X will arrive on Peacock on September 15th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
