Director Louis Leterrier's Wanted Fast X To Be Grounded In Reality, Because He Couldn't Top Cars In Space

When you think about the "Fast & Furious" franchise, there are two immediate things that come to mind. The first is fambly (sometimes rendered as #family) and the second is, without a doubt, the idea of practical stunts grounded in reality.

Okay, so maybe we're being a little sarcastic about that second one. Yet the fact remains, director Louis Leterrier ("The Incredible Hulk") wanted to bring the franchise back down to earth in "Fast X," while still recognizing the need for over-the-top set pieces in any "Fast & Furious" film.

Just two years ago, the ninth installment in the long-running action film series, "F9," put Chris "Ludacris" Bridges and Tyrese Gibson behind the wheel of a car in deep-sea diving suits and rocketed them into space. To their credit, the filmmakers consulted actual NASA rocket scientists to ensure the scene would be "logistically, scientifically" sound. That doesn't change the fact that the "Fast & Furious" franchise started out as a simple street-racing riff on "Point Break," and somewhere along the way, it switched gears to become sillier and more spacefaring.

In a new interview with Esquire, Leterrier discussed stepping up the stunts in "Fast X" while also returning the franchise to its roots in the streets:

"What I wanted to do on this one, because it's very much my style, was to ground it more in reality. I wanted to — no pun intended — land it back on Earth. They went into space in number nine, and I was like, 'okay, they went to space, there's no way I can top that.' But what I can do is do stuff that we've never done before practically, such as rolling a one-ton bomb — an actual one ton metal ball in the streets of Rome, and hope not to destroy the Colosseum."

We've already ranked the 5 most ridiculous moments in the new "Fast X" trailer, and indeed, the ball bomb's rampage through the streets of Rome was one of those moments. In its quest to destroy public property, the ball bomb bowls through a city bus — cutting it in half — and just generally acts like the out-of-control, 21st-century son of the boulder that chased Indiana Jones in "Raiders of Lost Ark."

The Roman Colosseum could not be reached for comment on whether it's still standing. However, Louis Letterier indicated that movie magic might have helped mitigate the dangers of the ball bomb in Italy's capital:

"Obviously we had visual effects help, but we just needed to keep everything grounded in the practical. The visual effects were mainly for safety and scope, but we needed the basis to stay in our reality. Without that, it would become too much. I wanted it to feel like Fast 1, Fast 3, and Fast 5 — movies that feel grounded. That is my style, and everyone accepted that, so everyone was really on board. Everyone was excited to re-explore physical stunts."

Technically, Letterier is giving a very accurate description of "Fast X" as "grounded," in that it's no longer floating cars through space. There's another moment in the trailer where two helicopters try to airlift the head of the fambly, Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), away in his signature Dodge Charger. Dom promptly puts his wheels back down on the road, as if to say, "No! You will not lift this car off the ground. You will never be able to break my family." And of course, both helicopters come crashing down, sending up fireballs and driving up ticket sales.

"Fast X" races into earthbound theaters on May 19, 2023.