Movies - TV
The Entire Fast & Furious Franchise Started With A Story In A Magazine
By JEFF KELLY
In the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Dom and the gang have swung across chasms in cars, raced submarines in cars, parachuted out of planes in cars, and even launched themselves out of Abu Dhabi's Etihad Towers in cars. It seems inconceivable that the films were grounded in any reality; however, the original film that became a huge franchise was inspired by actual events.
2001’s “The Fast and the Furious” was based on a 1998 article in Vibe called “Racer X,” written by journalist Ken Li. After witnessing a car being stolen, Li became inspired to write about the world of underground street racing. The character of Dominic Toretto was loosely inspired by a man named Rafael Estevez, who drove in illegal street races all over New York City.
Nothing carried over from Li’s article to the films, but as Li told Yahoo, “I was trying to uncover some car theft ring, and edited that part out of the story. Oddly, they ended up taking my story, which had nothing to do with a theft ring, and then they ended up making a movie about that.” Li made “six figures” selling the rights to Universal but nothing more off this huge franchise.