The best action movie franchises are a lot like tabletop RPGs, with intertwined character arcs, elaborate mythology, and directors, writers, and producers acting as Dungeon Masters. The Fast and Furious movies are very much made this way, according to Michelle Rodriguez, who took a chance to highlight how much of a DnD fan Vin Diesel is.
“He’s a Dungeon Master,” she told Entertainment Weekly, while promoting Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. “If you ever took a look at his closet, he’s got all the paraphernalia of a Dungeons and Dragons fiend.” Diesel is a well-documented fan of DnD, participating in live-streams related to the game and such.
Rodriguez says it’s something that pours into every aspect of his life, including filmmaking. “He puts a lot of his Dungeon Master techniques into making movies and producing them,” she says. Diesel himself has made this comparison before, posting on Instagram that sculpting the lore of Fast and Furious is like a DnD campaign. To be honest, this just makes us want a special campaign book for life a quarter mile at a time.
This all adds to the buzz around Fast and Furious 10, the first in a two-parter conclusion to the mainline films. Several older Fast and Furious characters returned in Fast 9, pushing out the party for this last, epic stand-off.
See, it all sounds like DnD when you say it out loud, doesn’t it? Charlize Theron’s the antagonist, as Cypher the cyber-terrorist. Much of any given Fast movie is composed of the party talking to and rallying each other, trying to figure out the best solution to a conundrum. Everyone has a particular skillset, sometimes right down to their cars of choice.
This isn’t one-to-one, but all we’re saying is there’s more DnD influence than you might expect. Fast and Furious 10 arrives in theatres May 19, 2023, while the new live-action DnD movie, Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, comes out March 3, 2023.