Fast X Director Explains How He Ended A Major Behind-The-Scenes Franchise Feud

gamespot.com:

Warning: This article contains some major spoilers for the ending of Fast X.

Fast X is one of the most expensive movies of all time, and it's certainly got a cast large enough to match its massive budget. But for director Louis Leterrier, who took over behind the camera a week into production after franchise stalwart Justin Lin quit, the cast wasn't quite big enough.

The issue, as far as Leterrier was concerned, wasn't about how many people they had in the Fast & Furious #family, but rather who was missing from it.

Namely: Agent Hobbs, played by Dwayne «The Rock» Johnson in four main series movies and one spin-off, and Gisele (Gal Gadot), who has been thought dead since Fast & Furious 6--both make very brief returns at the end of the film.

While Gadot left the series in a normal way when her character apparently died, Johnson's exit was due to real-life drama. Johnson swore he'd never return to the core franchise over his long-term feud with Vin Diesel. But things change--and now Hobbs is back, announcing his return in the Fast X mid-credits scene.

How did this happen? Well, Leterrier told The Hollywood Reporter that it was the movie itself that sold Johnson on the return.

«I didn’t know Dwayne, personally, but we reached out to Dwayne and Dwayne’s team. We sort of looked at each other from across the room and winked a few months back, saying, 'We should work together,'» Leterrier said. «And then I had this idea and I presented it to the producers and the studio. And then we reached out to Dwayne and his team and said, 'Just come and watch the movie. You have to love the movie first.'

»So he came to see the movie and really loved it, and then we started talking. It was very smooth, and frankly, as a fan, I could not