Here's How The Fast X Team Incorporated Jason Momoa Into Those Fast Five Flashbacks
Buoyed by over-the-top stunts, the "Fast & Furious" franchise has never been subtle about much of anything, and this is especially true for retcons. Over the course of ten popcorn flicks, the series has introduced more than one long-lost #family member. In "Fast & Furious 6," Jason Statham's Deckard Shaw (first known as Ian Shaw) materialized as the brother of Luke Evans' villain, Owen Shaw. Just two years ago, "F9" revealed that the head of the family, Vin Diesel's Dom Toretto, had his own long-lost brother, Jakob (John Cena).
The trend continues in "Fast X," which, as others have pointed out, really missed out on the chance to call itself "Fast10 Your Seatbelts." The tenth "Fast & Furious" film has earned praise for the way it seamlessly integrates Jason Momoa's Dante Reyes — a contender for the franchise's best baddie, writes /Film's Rafael Motamayor — into footage from "Fast Five." Dante is the son of that film's dastardly crime lord, Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), but we're only just now meeting him.
"Fast X" reunites Statham with Louis Letterier, director of "The Transporter," and in a spoiler-filled interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Letterier explained how they were able to incorporate Momoa into a recurring "Fast Five" flashback. He even drew an unlikely Akira Kurosawa comparison, saying:
"Since we had to 'Rashomon' that 'Fast Five' scene, it was completely essential that we looked at all the dailies, and that's what we did. Universal Studios has an amazing archival department, and so we dug it all out and looked at everything. Our movie was shot digitally, because most movies are shot digitally now, but 'Fast Five' was shot on 35 mm. So we transferred all the footage and realized afterwards what unused footage that we could use and tweak."
'Every shot is a hybrid'
After transferring the 35 mm "Fast Five" footage to digital, Letterier said they utilized computer-generated imagery and even dusted off some old cameras to make the insertion of Jason Momoa into that movie via flashbacks happen. It's certainly not the first time the "Aquaman" star has appeared underwater via CG. In this case, however, the process was aided by the fact that Leterrier was working with the same director of photography as "Fast Five":
"We put our characters into pre-existing footage through motion control and CG, and then we also shot new bits with the same film stock and cameras as 'Fast Five.' Stephen Windon was our DP, and he has shot most of the 'Fast' movies since ['Fast & Furious' (2009)]. So he also shot 'Fast Five,' and he remembered exactly what he did and what his light meter read back then. So it looks and feels seamless. You cannot really tell what's new and what's old, because every shot is a hybrid."
Though it's made a name for itself with platitudes about family, "Fast & Furious" is hardly the first blockbuster franchise to get loose with some family-related retcons. Next week marks the 40th anniversary of "Return of the Jedi," a film that famously retconned Princess Leia as Luke Skywalker's sister, thereby rendering awkward their kiss on the mouth in "The Empire Strikes Back."
As it "violates the laws of God and gravity," at least "Fast X" had the decency to be artful about its retconning. At the rate it's going, we can probably expect to meet another long-lost family member or two before the "Fast & Furious" series races across the finish line.
"Fast X," which could be the start of a trilogy that ends the franchise, is in theaters now.