A Lack Of A License Didn't Stop Devon Aoki From Stunt Driving In 2 Fast 2 Furious
Despite the 10 films under the "Fast & Furious" banner — each at varying levels of quality — the franchise's first sequel, "2 Fast 2 Furious," is still something of a black sheep within the saga. A lot of it has to do with the wild change in locale, which pivoted from Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) NOS-fueled thieving in Los Angeles to follow the street racing scene in Miami with Brian O'Conner (Paul Walker). Compared to the grounded thrills of its predecessor — and the American muscle that supported a lot of that action — "2 Fast" felt like a completely different world. Fortunately, director John Singleton (yes, that John Singleton) wasted absolutely no time immersing us in that world and introducing audiences to the custom-painted imports, campy Y2K threads, and memorable characters that lived in it.
Devon Aoki's Suki was one of the best things to come out of "2 Fast 2 Furious." The franchise still had a long way to go in terms of female representation, but Singleton and co. definitely knew what they had with a fearless actor like Aoki. Watching her zip through Miami streets in her hot pink Honda S2000 (and beat established speed demons in the race that opens the film) will never not be a gratifying experience. It becomes all the more satisfying with the knowledge that Aoki had never driven prior to "2 Fast 2 Furious," and only had a short time to learn before the cameras started rolling.
Aoki had to start from scratch
When Devon Aoki first arrived in Miami, she had never been in the driver's seat of a moving car, nor did she have a license. "I had driven a golf cart around of course, but that was the extent of my driving experience," she admitted in a behind-the-scenes featurette for the film. "It was crazy, because when I got here they were like, 'So, you know how to drive, this will be easy' [...] and I was like, 'Umm, well, not really.'"
"She had to learn how to drive, period," John Singleton added, "and then she had to learn how to drive stunts to make it seem as though she's a professional driving in the picture." It was up to stunt coordinator Artie Malesci and his team to give Aoki a crash course in speed racing.
"She had to start from scratch and learn to drive a stick-shift and actually take it around the corners pretty fast," Malesci explained. Luckily, Aoki was a fast learner; after a few days of drills in a Mustang Selene, she'd more or less gotten the hang of it. "It's quite an accomplishment."
"You know, you look at her in the film, you believe she's a street racer," Singleton remarked. "As pretty and cute as she is, it's phenomenal to see her face, she's just going for hers. She's hanging with the dudes." It might be an installment that most fans and critics would like to forget, but "2 Fast" was still a pretty fun ride from start to finish and a lot of that has to do with the street racing throughout the film. It's great to know that the cast was so committed to making the action feel immersive and real, whether they were licensed or not.