When you think of fast cars, statistically, the only things you can and should think of are “Fast Car” by Tracy Chapman, Gran Turismo, and the Fast and Furious franchise. It just makes sense. But back when The Fast and Furious first came out, nobody knew what a staple it would become.
David Ayer, who wrote the movie back in 2001, says that he has “nothing” to show for penning the film, which spawned almost a dozen sequels, various spinoffs, and a stunt show at Universal that people love to visit when the VelociCoaster is down for the day.
Ayer appeared on Jon Bernthal’s Real Ones podcast where he said, “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.”
The writer, who also directed Suicide Squad, so he has had some critiques under his belt, said that he was the one who took the initial script and made it into the Vin Diesel masterpiece it turned out to be. “When I got that script, that s*** was set in New York, it was all Italian kids, right?” he told Bernthal. “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 s*** about street racing at the time.”
Ayer implied that he didn’t get the recognition because he was an “outsider” in Hollywood at the time. “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 f****ng 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.” Instead of hijacking narratives, people should stick to just hijacking cars.
Meanwhile, Vin Diesel is out here creating a Fast empire. Maybe Ayer can attend one of those family meals for once.