The Fast and the Furious could have been very different.
While Vin Diesel has starred in the franchise for more than 15 years, he wasn’t the first choice to play Dom Toretto.
Producer Neil H. Moritz has revealed that Justified and Santa Clarita Diet star Timothy Olyphant was the studio’s original pick, but he turned down the role.
First choice: Timothy Olyphant was originally asked to play Dom Toretto in The Fast and the Furious | FX
“I had been working with Paul Walker on another movie, Skulls, and I gave him the [Fast and the Furious] script,” Neil said on The Bill Simmons podcast.
“Rob Cohen, who I had made The Rat Pack with, we gave him the script. The two of them liked the idea. And then we had to look for Dom Toretto. The studio said, ‘If you can get Timothy Olyphant to play that role we will greenlight the movie.’
Neil added: “The luckiest thing that ever happened to us is Tim Olyphant turned us down. He’s a great actor. In fact, I’m curious to see what that movie would have been.”
Huge hit: Vin Diesel has now played the character in the franchise for more than 15 years | Universal
The producer ended up meeting with Vin Diesel at a restaurant to discuss him potentially joining the franchise, and the rest is history.
“I went and met him at Kate Mantilini and he wasn’t a star yet, but the great thing about Vin is he always believed he was a star,” he recalled.
“And I was going in there to think he’s coming to me to want the role and I’m the one there now having to convince him to do the role! Lucky for both of us that happened. And then we started to make the movie.”
The eighth Fast and the Furious movie, The Fate of the Furious, is out on April 12th in the UK and Ireland and April 14th in the US, and will see Charlize Theron, Helen Mirren and Scott Eastwood joining the cast.
