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Fast and Furious cars have to audition for movies, says Vin Diesel

F9, the ninth movie in the Fast and Furious Franchise, was a labour of love for Vin Diesel and the rest of the team — even the cars had to audition

f9 car audition

At the heart of the Fast and Furious franchise is, of course, its cars. Underpinning the characters, stunts, and storylines across the ten Fast and Furious movies and its various spin-offs is street racing, so it’s no surprise that when it comes to choosing the cars that make the cut, Vin Diesel is… picky.

When doing the rounds promoting F9 last year, Vin Diesel – who, as well as playing Dom Toretto, acts as producer for the fast-paced thriller movies — revealed that they don’t just select cars for the films: they audition them, too.

You might be wondering how auditioning an inanimate object works, but Diesel explained (kind of) during an appearance on Entertainment Weekly‘s podcast in June 2021. “Part of the process of Fast is we’ve always auditioned our cars,” the action movie actor said. “The cars have really been such a significant part and representation of our characters, that there is a process of casting, right? Of casting the exact vehicle for the state of mind that the character is in, or the journey that the character is going through.”

If I’m being honest, I have no idea how judging a vehicle’s “state of mind” would even work — but it’s clear that whatever they’re doing down there, it’s working.

Despite facing delays, F9 broke several pandemic box office records when it was released in theatres. It grossed a total of $726 million worldwide and became the fifth-highest grossing movie of 2021 as a whole.

A follow-up, Fast X, is set to be released in May 2023 — but the film had a rocky start when Justin Lin, longtime director of the movies, announced that he was stepping down as director. Nonetheless, production on the film is speeding on — and they’re probably auditioning the next fleet of cats right now.