If you’ve been to the cinemas to watch the latest installment in the Fast and the Furious franchise or even just watched the trailer for F9: The Fast Saga, the stunts probably made you wonder, “Hold on… Is this really possible?”
Yes in fact, it is, and the least expected one at that, the space one. It turns out that the team had a bit of help from NASA for the space stunts.
Director/co-writer Justin Lin revealed in an interview with Vulture that they consulted NASA when Tej and Roman had to take the chase into space.
Lin said that he had many conversations with actual NASA scientists ahead of the space scenes. According to Lin, the rocket car is actually one of the few probable action sequences in the Fast and Furious franchise.
Going to space was not something I took for granted or I was very flippant about… It is something that I did have a lot of conversations about. A lot of conversations. And it went from rocket scientists laughing, going, ‘What the fuck?’ to us saying, ‘Well, can this really happen?
If other rocket scientists have to get up there and the capsules are coated with these polymers? Blah blah blah.’ This is something that was thought out. If anything — logistically, scientifically — it’s one of the most sound action set pieces in our franchise.
Justin Lin
Lin spent a lot of time trying to figure out the best way to send the characters out into space and he “got on the phone with NASA scientists to pick their brains how to do it.”
Executive producer Josh Henson explained that it started as a joke and the team made a pitch about Dom and his fam going up to space and racing cars on the moon.
Kind of as a joke, we put together a pitch that looks like, ‘Okay, Dom and the gang go to the moon, and they race cars; they’re racing cool rovers on the moon and Dom wrecks his rover. And the bad guy’s about to get away, but he’s just at the Apollo 11 site. And he finds the original moon rover, and he’s racing.’ We kind of did it as a joke, and we pitched it to Justin, and we had a good laugh. But then Justin’s like, ‘Well, maybe there’s something there.’
Josh Henson
Now that the sequence seems a bit plausible, you can rest easy knowing you don’t have to worry about the physics of it all and just enjoy the film.
After being delayed for about a year due to pandemic related issues, F9: The Fast Saga is out in cinemas.
| Cast | Character |
| Vin Diesel | Dominic Toretto |
| Michelle Rodriguez | Letty |
| Jordana Brewster | Mia |
| Tyrese Gibson | Roman |
| Ludacris | Tej |
| Nathalie Emmanuel | Ramsey |
| Charlize Theron | Cipher |
| John Cena | Jakob |
| Finn Cole | Young Jakob |
| Sung Kang | Han |
| Anna Sawai | Elle |
| Helen Mirren | Queenie |
| Kurt Russell | Mr. Nobody |
| Lucas Black | Sean |
| Shad Moss | Twinkie |
| Vinnie Bennett | Young Dom |
About Fast and Furious 9
Fast and Furious 9 (or F9) is an American action film directed by Justin Lin. The film is a sequel to 2017’s The Fast and Furious and the ninth instalment in the Fast and Furious franchise.
The film will star Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris “Ludacris” Bridges, Nathalie Emmanuel, Helen Mirren and John Cena, among others. The film was delayed for over a year due to the pandemic in March 2020. It is scheduled to release in the United States on June 25, 2021.
Dominic Toretto is leading a quiet life off the grid with Letty and his son, little Brian. But they know that danger always lurks just over their peaceful horizon. This time, the threat will force Dom to confront the sins of his past. His crew joins together to stop a world-shattering plot led by the most skilled assassin and high-performance driver ever seen: a man who also happens to be Dom’s forsaken brother, Jakob.
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