The Real-Life Inspiration Behind The Fast & Furious Franchise
The Fast & Furious saga has grown steadily grown into one of the biggest movie franchises of all time, but its story and characters were actually inspired by a little-known article about real-life street racers. Beginning in 2001 with Rob Cohen's The Fast & the Furious, thefranchise has ballooned in size and scope over more than two decades, with Fast X teased to be the biggest entry yet. The majority of the films follow Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and an ever-shifting ensemble cast of heroes and villains as they engage in what appears to be a perpetually escalating series of high-octane stunts.
The first film in the franchise was a much more grounded affair, with Paul Walker's Brian O'Conner investigating a group of street-racing criminals he believes to be responsible for a series of vehicular heists. After getting himself in deep with Dominic Toretto and his family, O'Conner finds himself torn between his career, his friends, and his love for racing. Though subsequent movies have moved away from the street-racing angle, the characters' love of cars remains the most consistent aspect of the Fast & Furious movies.
Related: Jason Momoa's Fast X Update Should Ease Some Fan Concerns
The basis for the first film and the enigmatic street-racing rogue Dominic Toretto was actually an article written in 1998. Originally published in Vibe, «Racer X» was written by Kenneth Li as an account of his experience of the then-rampant street racer culture in New York in the late 1990s. The article specifically focuses on a racer named Rafael Estevez, a man whose personal philosophy directly inspired the now-iconic character of Dominic Toretto.
«Racer X» contains an account of an actual race won by Estevez, as well as an analysis of the
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