Get the family together, because it's time to prepare for one final ride! Up to this point, we haven't learned much about the upcoming Fast and Furious 11. However, recently, the film’s director Louis Leterrier opened up about the release date for the Fast and Furious franchise’s finale and where it'll take place. Let's just say, I'm very here for this plan!

Leterrier, who is returning for Fast 11 after directing Fast X, explained to Collider that pre-production on the upcoming movie is happening soon, and he clarified that filming should start in early 2025. This makes the projected release year for the film 2026 -- which would be 25 years since the release of 2001’s The Fast and The Furious. The director said:

It can be assumed that this movie will come out in the summer of 2026. However, the exact release date hasn’t been announced yet. The Fast and The Furious came out on June 22, 2001, so if the eleventh film’s premiere happens “exactly to the day” as the director said, we can predict that the release date will be in late June 2026.

Along with this exciting update that places Fast 11's release window in a very special year, the director explained that the setting will also pay homage to the movie that started this whole adventure. While quite a few of the Fast movies have included Los Angeles as a location, Leterrier dished that it will be the primary setting for the eleventh movie in the franchise. Going into detail about this choice, he said:

Overall, I love that the franchise is playing into the nostalgia, and it's going to come full circle on such a special anniversary year. Leterrier has said that they know where the Fast franchise will end, and I’m thrilled that part of that ending will include the city where all of this started.

Hopefully, this also means they’ll scale down the story a bit to mirror the first few Fast and Furious films too. I’d love to see Dom and co. pulling off heists like they did back in 2001.

Along with knowing the release year and the setting for Fast 11, we know that Dwayne Johnson is returning to the franchise after his cameo at the end of Fast X.  We’re also aware that a few changes will be made to Jason Momoa’s villain from Fast X. On top of that, it’s expected that the majority of the FF Family will be back – including, but not limited to, Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Sung Kang, Tyrese Gibson, Jason Statham, Ludacris, Charlize Theron and even Gal Gadot – considering all the cliffhangers we were left on at the end of Fast X that need to be resolved. 

As we learn more about the family’s final outing in Fast and Furious 11, we’ll be sure to keep you posted. In the meantime, while we count down the days to 2026, check out the 2024 movie schedule to see what other action-packed flicks are coming to theaters in the next year.  

In June 2008, one month after Iron Man launched the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Incredible Hulk, the second of the Marvel movies in order, arrived, which marked the Green Goliath’s return to the big screen five years after Ann Lee’s Hulk. Just like in that 2003 movie and so many Hulk stories from the comics, Edward Norton’s Bruce Banner was on the run from William Hurt’s Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross. In real life, though Hurt evidently clashed quite a bit with director Louis Leterrier. This included one point where the latter recalled the former once saying that he didn’t “know anything about actors.”

Leterrier reflected on his experience making The Incredible Hulk while doing a Watchalong video for Josh Horowitz’s Happy Sad Confused podcast. When they got to the sequence when Ross, Tim Roth’s Emil Blonsky and their special forces team were hunting Banner down in the bottling factory, Horowitz asked Letterier if Hurt, who passed away in 2022, was “tough” to get on Leterrier’s “side,” and the filmmaker started off by saying it was difficult to convince him that they weren’t just making a “paint by the numbers” comic book movie. He then stated about the late actor:

William Hurt was the second actor to play Thunderbolt Ross in live-action (following Sam Elliot’s outing as the character in Hulk), and as Louis Leterrier explained, he fell into the category of actors who aren’t just going to take direction without voicing their opinions. Hurt didn’t shy away from doing that on The Incredible Hulk, including about that glorious mustache. He even went so far as to critique Leterrier about his dynamic with actors, albiet not quite to his face. The director continued:

So even though Leterrier and Hurt clashed while working on The Incredible Hulk, following the helicopter incident, they were evidently on good terms with one another by the end of production. And clearly Hurt enjoyed the experience enough that he was willing to reprise Thunderbolt Ross eight years later for Captain America: Civil War, at which point the character had become the United States’ Secretary of State. Hurt then made minor appearances in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame and Black Widow.

While William Hurt is no longer with us, Thunderbolt Ross is set to appear in several upcoming Marvel movies, with Harrison Ford taking over the role. His first outing as the character will be in Captain America: Brave New World, where Ross is now president of the United States, and then he’ll return in Thunderbolts. If you’re interested in rewatching The Incredible Hulk, like nearly all MCU content, it can be streamed with a Disney+ subscription.

As Lucasfilm has plotted out what it what’s to do with upcoming Star Wars movies, the Disney-owned company has been satiating fans’ appetites with TV shows set in the galaxy far, far away. The production that launched this new phase in the franchise’s history is The Mandalorian, which was met with acclaim and high viewership when it debuted for Disney+ subscribers in 2019. It was back in 2017 that the show was announced to be in the works, and it was eventually confirmed that Jon Favreau would spearhead it. As it turns out though, a series with a similar vibe was apparently pitched years ago by a different director. And the show would’ve differed from Din Djarin and Grogu’s adventures in a few key ways. 

There are plenty of filmmakers who would love the opportunity to play in George Lucas’ cosmic sandbox, and Louis Leterrier is one of them. The French filmmaker recently appeared on the Happy Sad Confused podcast for a rewatch of his 2008 superhero film The Incredible Hulk. During the conversation, he revealed to host Josh Horowitz that he once approached Lucasfilm with two ideas. And interestingly enough, one of them was apparently a TV series with a “lone wolf and cub” vibe. Sound familiar? Letterier recalled pitching the idea and how the powers that be responded: 

What should be noted here, of course, is that we don’t know exactly when the Fast X director went to the company with this idea. It’s very possible that the producers already had a similar concept in mind and were maybe deflecting as to keep plans under wraps. Still, based on what the filmmaker said, the execs didn’t seem too keen on the story at the time. What’s even more surprising about that is his idea involved two of the most famous characters from the Skywalker Saga: 

That information adds a bit of additional irony to this situation, if you ask me. That specific gap of time and elements of that idea were covered in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series last year. It goes without saying that these are very wild coincidences, and I’d love more information on the exact timeline of Louis Leterrier’s meeting with Lucasfilm. It’s interesting to think about what his show would’ve looked like, and the same is true of the Boba Fett project he wanted to make. (And Fett was later re-introduced for his own show.)

Nevertheless, I’m incredibly pleased with The Mandalorian and how its creators have used it to expand the franchise’s lore. Louis Leterrier probably could’ve brought something unique to the table, though Jon Favreau and Dave Filoni deserve a lot of credit for their work. It sounds like Leterrier would’ve been eager to put his own stamp on Star Wars. Yet in the grand scheme of things, his career has worked out just fine, especially when you consider the other massive productions he’s gotten to work on. 

All three seasons of The Mandalorian are available to stream now along with Obi-Wan Kenobi. And while you look over what’s been said about Mando Season 4, take a look at the 2023 TV schedule for more immediate viewing options.

If you missed the high octane spectacle/soap opera that is known as Fast X in theaters, you’re in luck! This weekend marks the debut of director Louis Leterrier’s contribution to the Fast Saga on the Peacock platform, so you can stream its gigantic thrills in the comforts of home. But even if you’ve seen the movie a couple times by now, Leterrier has a special request for fans who are looking for clues towards what might be happening in the future. 

Louis Leterrier’s Fast X Recommendation

As we celebrated the home entertainment release of Universal’s summer blockbuster, Leterrier and I got to talking about how Fast X fans could start to get an inkling for what may happen in Fast & Furious 11. Seeing as the picture’s now available to any one with a Peacock subscription, it’s a good time to reveal what the Transporter franchise vet wants fans to pay closer attention to. 

It’s with that intent in mind that Louis Leterrier shared with CinemaBlend a couple of key tips. The first of which is the following recommendation on what to look out for throughout his action opus: 

Unfortunately, most of those scenes are still pretty secret, as Leterrier didn’t give away all of his Fast X secrets. That being said, I did manage to get him to reveal one moment he feels is particularly important. So if you haven’t seen the movie yet, this isn’t exactly a spoiler, but it is a tip-off towards what we might expect from Fast & Furious 11. Tread with caution into what I’m about to reveal, just to be on the safe side.

The First Fast X Scene That Acts As A Clue Towards Fast And Furious 11’s Story

To get to the first supposed seed to the future of the Fast Saga, you only need to wait roughly until 15 minutes and 48 seconds into the film. It’s not too long, and this moment starts when that sweet new electric DeLorean creeps into frame. No, it’s not a multiversal Doc Brown coming to warn Dom and Letty that something’s gotta be done about their kids. Rather, it’s the following moment that Louis Leterrier revealed when pressed for more information:

What that scene says, and how it informs the post-Fast X future is yet to be determined. Then again, with the next chapter being pushed into 2025 and all work being suspended until the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes conclude, there’s still a chance that whatever this moment connects to could change. At the very least, Louis Leterrier knows how the Fast Saga ends, so there surely couldn’t be too much changing at this point, could there?

Fast X viewers now have a lot of fun in store for themselves, as anything could be a hint towards how it’s all going to close out. But while you’re scouring for threads to the future, don’t forget to be in the present. Enjoy the latest points on the Fast & Furious timeline presented in this sequel, and don’t forget to have fun with Jason Momoa being a totally bicon as Dante Reyes. Who knows if those Fast & Furious 11 changes will make him less fun in the next outing?

The Fast & Furious franchise is nearing its end and while it now seems clear that we will be getting at least two more movies before it’s all said and done, just what those movies will entail is far less clear. The Fast X ending left us on a serious cliffhanger with Jason Momoa’s Dante with the clear upper hand. So we know we’ll be seeing him again, but it sounds like when we do, he may not be quite the same character that he was before.

Jason Momoa’s Dante was widely seen as the best part of Fast X so we can be sure fans of that film will be looking forward to seeing him again. When that happens, however, it sounds like we’ll be seeing something new. Speaking with Empire director Louis Leterrier says that Dante will “evolve” in the next film. He explained… 

Jason Momoa walked a fine line in Fast X that saw Dante balance malice with humor in a way that certainly appeared to audiences. Momoa stole almost every scene he was in. And while it seems likely a lot of people would just be happy with more of that, it appears the goal will be to not try and repeat the past, but instead try and do something new.

Certainly seeing a massive character shift for Dante would be unlikely. He still has to come across as the same character, especially considering we expect the next Fast & Furious movie to pick up right where the last film left off. But it’s not hard to see that perhaps Dante’s plan, having reached a certain point of either success or failure by the next time we see him, could be undergoing a change-- maybe giving in to one side or the other of his dual personality.

When exactly we’ll see this evolution for Dante is a little less clear. The Fast & Furious franchise situation at this point, as far as we know it, is that there will be two more movies. The next film is being called a spinoff that will star Dwayne Johnson’s Hobbs, who returned in the Fast X mid-credits scene. The film is supposed to bridge the gap between Fast X and the final movie, which is either Fast X Part 2 or Fast 11 depending on how you want to count.

Comments made by Jason Momoa certainly indicate he expects to appear in the Dwayne Johnson movie, so depending on exactly where in the timeline it fits, perhaps we could see Dante’s evolution begin there. Or perhaps it will be that movie that starts the change in the character and leads to whatever it is we will see in the final movie. 

Working with Vin Diesel is an experience that’s generated plenty of stories throughout the entertainment landscape. But what’s it like to really work closely with Dominic Toretto himself? Well, Fast X director Louis Leterrier has his own stories to contribute, and they include a sweet text message ahead of the 11th installation in the long-running and "family"- oriented franchise. 

Louis Leterrier And Vin Diesel’s Long Days On Fast X

Leterrier's fandom in regards to the entire series was pretty clear when I sat down with him as part of the promotion of Fast X’s recent home entertainment release from Universal. Of course, merely being an admirer of this franchise isn’t enough to plot a true course in crafting its narrative. With the abrupt nature of hiring the director to step in for previous co-writer/director Justin Lin came a rapid course of action that needed non-stop movement.

Luckily, working with Vin Diesel helped the Transporter series veteran hit the ground running. Speaking with CinemaBlend, Louis Leterrier revealed just how much he and his Fast X star put their heads together as follows: 

This story is a welcomed contrast to the stories about behind-the-scenes beef between Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson, which have famously made headlines from time to time. (Though that disagreement may have found a resolution, as Johnson’s return in Fast X’s mid-credits tease shocked the world after all that was reported.)

Although it shouldn’t be surprising to anyone who’s followed the production of the ninth sequel in the Fast and Furious timeline. Louis Leterrier’s story about some extreme Jason Momoa improv that made it into the finished film can attest to the how much he relishes working with his actors and giving them space to try things. 

If there’s anything that both sides can say about Vin Diesel’s approach to the Fast Saga, it’s that he’s definitely a man with a vision. That sort of planning is extremely important when you’re about to end a series, which may or may not result in the expansion into a trilogy teased by Diesel during Fast X’s premiere. 

To be fair, that prospect has not been confirmed or denied yet, as Louis Leterrier’s recent update on the end of Fast  was made pretty clear. Though while there’s no work allowed on the development of Fast & Furious 11 as part of the ongoing 2023 strike actions on behalf of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, that doesn’t mean the subject has escaped the minds of either collaborator. 

The Sweet Text Vin Diesel Sent Louis Leterrier

Based on what we know about Fast & Furious 11, the literally explosive cliffhanger to Fast X is set to be resolved at some point in 2025. That may not feel like it’s too close for comfort, but considering that there may be a third part in the works, and there’s more than likely no script for the immediate follow-up, that’s a lot of pressure. Though neither Louis Leterrier nor Vin Diesel sound like they're feeling the crunch in the moment.

Further reflecting on Vin’s dedication to the franchise, Louis admits he didn’t think their partnership would still be going. But as you’ll read below, this pair of Fast friends is just waiting to get back to work: 

Who knows when the twin strike actions in Hollywood will be resolved, allowing major productions to resume development and production? Those negotiations will play out in due time, with a hopeful resolution that pleases all sides involved. When that day comes, you’ll probably be able to smell the rubber that the Fast Saga family are about to burn from wherever you’re standing.

With such a strong spirit of cooperation between Louis Leterrier and Vin Diesel at work, all things are possible, like a ‘69 Dodge Charger escaping an exploding dam. Whether you’re shocked by that statement or reliving it in your head right at this moment, Fast X will allow you to experience it in the comfort of your own home. Thanks to digital and physical versions now being available for rental or purchase, family’s just a click away. 

In the flurry of activity that saw Fast X come to life on set, director Louis Leterrier developed a pretty keen relationship with two of the film’s major leads. Thanks to his bonding with star Vin Diesel, the Transporter franchise veteran was given inspiration for the serious and grounded side of this major film equation. Meanwhile, Leterrier and his work with on-screen villain Jason Momoa helped create a moment that fans are still talking about, thanks to Dante Reyes having a spa day with some pretty un-lively company. 

How Dante Reyes’ Beauty Skills Found Their Way Into Fast X

As another exciting story from my interview with Louis Leterrier, this further examination into one of the Fast Saga’s latest memorable moments came at the perfect time. Celebrating the home entertainment release of Fast X, we dug into the the details of the 9th sequel to The Fast and the Furious; which included some more background information regarding that moment where Dante painted the nails of two dudes who went from helpful to dead. 

This part of our conversation was inspired by Jason Momoa’s hopes that Leterrier used his “safer” Fast X takes in the finished film. Knowing that the Aquaman lead was putting in some extreme takes, I was curious as to how many of those 11 moments wound up in play for the finished product. It was that inquiry that led Louis Leterrier to share with CinemaBlend the following story on the Momoa work ethic and how those corpse makeovers came to pass: 

It’s roughly at the halfway point of the latest Fast Saga chapter when we see Dante opening up to two dead henchmen that he more than likely claimed on his road to revenge. Painting the toes of those men, while lounging around in a pink Versace robe and pearls, Momoa’s latest villain made dying for two minutes sound both horrifying and hilarious. 

The spontaneous moment managed to put him back into the movie just enough before taking him out for another stretch. According to Jason Momoa’s story of how this self care day from hell came together, that was exactly the point of this exercise in letting loose. 

As such a tight deadline loomed over losing the film’s villain to another commitment, there was a perceived need to see more of this dastardly funster at work. One day of brainstorming and improv later, Louis Leterrier had another prime example of Momoa as the metaphorical devil on his shoulder. Which, as it turns out, helped counterbalance the sort of energy that Vin Diesel was bringing to Fast X.

Why Vin Diesel And Jason Momoa Are The Angel And Devil Of Fast X

It must also be noted that Louis Leterrier was pretty close with Vin Diesel during Fast X's production. In a partnership he thought would only be a short term arrangement, the director and star became equally invested in talking out how to shape the story they were telling. 

Even during our interview, Leterrier admitted that while they couldn’t work on anything involving what happens after Fast X’s cliffhanger ending, he and Diesel are still texting and amping each other up for when the time will eventually come. In that respect, Vin Diesel’s energy as a collaborator is the angel on Louis Leterrier’s shoulder. 

He laid it out as much when describing to CinemaBlend how he valued the sun and the moon that is his relationship with the Diesel/Momoa duality: 

If you’re trying to remember where those Princess Leia buns came into play, it’s that same spa day scene that we’ve been talking about this whole time. While we probably won’t see the swearing that ensued in some of those “11” style takes, it’s good to know that some of the most outrageous contributions from Jason Momoa’s wild imagination led to such entertaining results.

Here’s hoping that Fast & Furious 11 ends up allowing Jason Momoa to push the envelope further, as it sounds like Louis Leterrier is still up for some craziness in the near cinematic future. Just as one can hope that Mr. Momoa can keep the insane energy flowing through Fast & Furious 11, Mr. Diesel's keen eye on story is just as important. With at least one sequel planned to close out this pop culture phenomenon, both sides will be important in the name of giving the public what they want.

In their own respects, both men know how to polish what's in front of them, and Louis Leterrier knows it. If you haven’t caught up with the ridiculously fun energy of Fast X, the film is currently available for rental or purchase on both physical and digital formats. If you want to make it a true marathon though, you can catch the first five installments of the Fast Saga streaming through your Netflix subscription, and then jump right in after that point to enhance Dante Reyes’ story.

All of the bonkers decisions pertaining to Fast X’s Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes come from a chaotic, but truly exciting place. One such choice even introduced a moment where director and Fast Saga superfan Louis Leterrier didn’t know how Vin Diesel was going to react. You see, it sounds like the infamous “Dommy” nickname that Dante gave his foe in this latest entry sounds like it was an improvisation choice that had even Leterrier lost in the moment. 

Thanks to my recent interview with the writer/director on behalf of Fast X now being available for rental or purchase on digital and physical media, all sorts of fun stories like these were shared. As Universal was gracious enough to set up this press day, digging into all things Toretto v. Reyes was an easy feat that led to a lot of enthusiasm. 

Of course, knowing that Louis Leterrier’s Fast fandom inspired specific choices for this ninth sequel already made the case that the Incredible Hulk director was the perfect choice to step in when previous director Justin Lin departed. Even with the series lore and formula firm in his mind, Leterrier shared with CinemaBlend his recollection of that moment, through this anecdote:

The scene in question harkens back to what Louis Leterrier wanted to bring back to the Fast movies: quarter-mile racing action. Using Dante Reyes as the villain of Fast X was a perfect vehicle for such a wish, as that 2011 entry in the Fast and Furious movies in order was the fork in the road that led to more espionage-flavored adventures like Furious 7. 

With his unique understanding of a series he’s loved since his time making The Transporter, Louis is deep in the paint that is Fast X’s backstory. And when you’re that much of a fan, it tends to make for engrossing cinema. The only problem with that sort of love is, as you’ll read below, it can be a bit distracting while watching Jason Momoa call Vin Diesel made up nicknames: 

To be fair, Louis Leterrier could have blown it big time when filming Fast X and the return to street racing in Brazil. As he previously admitted, it was hard to keep it together when watching Jason Momoa initially coin the name “Dommy.” So while he forgot to call time on a decent number of takes, at least he didn’t ruin any with untimely laughter. It’s always easier to trim some dead air than to cover up another more vocal form of enthusiasm. 

Excitement is something that is definitely in the air for Fast X thanks to that film now being available for your home enjoyment. At the moment, digital and physical versions are on the market, whether you want to rent or own this latest joyride for your own. While we don’t know when it’ll be making its streaming debut, odds are you’ll want to have an active Peacock subscription when that time comes, as that’s the presumed finish line for this future streaming title.

Back in 2020, it was announced that the main Fast & Furious film series would conclude after two more movies, with that penultimate installment, Fast X, hitting theaters this past May. However, shortly before the public was able to see the movie, Vin Diesel teased at the Fast X world premiere that the Fast Saga would instead wrap up with a trilogy rather than a duology. That has yet to be officially confirmed though, and now director Louis Leterrier has shared an update on the Dominic Toretto actor’s recent comments.

Leterrier was tapped to replace Justin Lin one week into Fast X’s production, and he even went so far as to rewrite the whole movie overnight. The end result has made over $719 million worldwide and ranks as the fourth highest-grossing movie of 2023 so far, but even before the movie came out, Leterrier was officially announced to be helming Fast 11, a.k.a. Fast X: Part II. However, on the subject of whether Fast 12 is truly in the cards or not, the filmmaker started off by saying the following to Total Film:

So right off the bat, Louis Leterrier attributed what Diesel had to say at the Fast X press line several months ago as just something to get out of still being interviewed. And to be fair, considering that F9 saw Roman Pearce and Tej Parker traveling into outer space, the Fast & Furious franchise placing an action set piece on the Moon isn’t that farfetched. Still, if we were working off the above statement alone, it might come across as Leterrier saying that we shouldn’t get our hopes up about Fast 12 happening.

However, as you’ll see in his below remarks, a Fast X trilogy isn’t necessarily off the table. For now, only Fast 11 is a sure thing, and Leterrier is content enough with that and Fast X being so successful. As he laid out:

Needless to say that if Fast 12 is officially announced by Universal Pictures to extend the grand Fast Saga finale, we’ll inform you about it. Having said that, while only one more main Fast & Furious installment is officially on the books right now, there is another spinoff on the way following 2019’s Hobbs & Shaw. Fast X’s end-credits scene featured a cameo from Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs, and a few weeks after the movie’s release, it was announced The Rock will reprise the role for a “mid-quel” set between Fast X and Fast 11. Additionally, there’s still talk about potentially making a female-led Fast & Furious spinoff, with Jordana Brewster sharing her enthusiasm for the idea during the Fast X press circuit.

While we wait for more news on what the Fast Saga’s future holds in store, Fast X can now be purchased digitally or on physical media, and it’s a good bet it’ll be made available to stream with a Peacock subscription pretty soon. Check out the 2023 movie release schedule to learn what movies are left to come out this year.

Fast X, one of this summer's biggest films, marks the beginning of the end for Dominic Toretto and his family. It's the first in a potential trilogy of entries that close out the Fast Saga, and writer/director Louis Leterrier’s status as a fan led him to a very specific direction while taking on the cinematic feat. His wishes came down to one element that was part of this franchise’s bedrock but had also taken a backseat to some of the more action-intense storylines presented in recent years. The filmmaker wanted to see cars racing again, and there was one vehicle he knew had to be in his movie as a result. 

Who better to reveal this fact than Louis Leterrier himself, which is exactly what he did when I had the pleasure of speaking with him for Fast X’s home entertainment release. Considering that Universal’s 2023 movie release is now currently available for digital and physical rental or purchase, it was the right time to dig into his admiration for the series he’s been following since 2001’s The Fast and the Furious. Leterrier’s love for this franchise was on full display, and part of that fandom shone brightest when he was discussing the moment he stepped in after previous director Justin Lin surprisingly departed.

While speaking with CinemaBlend, here's what the Incredible Hulk helmer thought was his first priority when he first got the keys to the Fast Saga: 

If you've followed the Fast and Furious timeline, then you can probably see how the handling of the vehicles began changing with 2011’s Fast Five. That crucial installment saw the drama of street racing and underground criminal activity make way for larger-scale capers. While personal grudges would continue to pop up, the threats became more global, with villains like Cipher (Charlize Theron) and Owen Shaw (Luke Evans) joining the fray. 

The days of racing for pinks and literally watching chemicals course through a car's vital systems seemed to be gone the moment macguffins like God’s Eye, or any other objects of remarkable and insane Fast Saga tech, came into frame. However, Fast X’s Dante Reyes (Jason Momoa) symbolizes a unification of the two eras, conveying that attitude of evolution in a destructively entertaining way. 

Reyes' conception might even be the one element that shows the Transporter franchise veteran’s full grasp of all things Fast. Linked to a crucial point in the series' narrative, Dante is up with all of the high-tech toys that have become endemic to the Fast Saga -- but isn’t above killing a quarter mile at a time. 

As for that one car Louis Leterrier saw as the ultimate symbol of the series, it was none other than Dom’s 1969 Dodge Charger. While it wasn’t likely that the iconic muscle car would be absent from Fast X, that didn’t stop Leterrier from falling in love with it all over again. Once again talking the evolution of this cinematic crowd-pleaser, the director opened up about these feelings that engulfed him when first seeing that automotive beast on set: 

While the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes have relegated any production on Fast and Furious 11 to the starting line, Louis Leterrier admits the Fast Saga’s ending is already plotted out. The moment negotiations allow everyone to return to work with a mutually beneficial deal, you can bet Leterrier and his Fast family will jump into action at a moment’s notice. As a fan of the series, and its current steward, that responsibility is something he obviously takes great pride in; with the franchise’s future being all the more promising as a result. 

If you want to catch up on the first five Fast Saga installments, you can use your Netflix subscription to return to those early days of street races and vault chases. But don’t forget to also check out Fast X, which is currently available for rental or purchase on Digital HD and physical media. 

Love them or hate them, the Fast & Furious franchise has a long history of great villains that have pushed Dom Toretto and company to their breaking points on more than one occasion. And while it always seemed like Charlize Theron’s Cipher was the epitome of pure evil with her introduction in Fate of the Furious, the cunning and dangerous cyber-terrorist more than met her match in Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes in Fast X.

In an exclusive clip for the Universal Pictures Home Entertainment release of Fast X, director Louis Leterrier opened up about the Fast X villain and why his character topped everything that Cipher pulled off in the franchise’s previous two installments:

Leterrier, who jumped into the director’s chair after Justin Lin’s shocking departure from the project in April 2022, wasn’t alone in thinking that Dante was a dynamic and dangerous foe for the Toretto crew. Later in the clip, Charlize Theron revealed what kind of impression Jason Momoa made during their first scene together during the Fast X shoot, saying:

Theron, who knows a thing or two about playing evil and charismatic characters in and out of the “Fast Saga,” seems to have been taken aback by Momoa’s performance and over-the-top appearance, which is actually something that the Game of Thrones star pitched himself:

Watching the clip only reiterates the fact that the stand-out member of the Fast X cast was also the actor having the most fun making the 2023 action spectacle. From bringing destruction to Rome to blowing up a dam to being a part of one of the franchise’s most disturbing scenes, Momoa was firing on all cylinders in his debut. 

While the latest entry isn’t the best Fast & Furious movie, Momoa was a highlight of the movie, as pointed out in CinemaBlend’s official Fast X review. It’s going to be great to see how the character is further developed in the upcoming Fast & Furious 11 (or whatever it ends up being called).

You can go back and relive Jason Momoa’s absurdly fun performance as Dante Reyes, especially in the whole spa day scene, by grabbing a copy of Fast X on 4K, Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital at online retailers like Amazon. After doing that, make sure to check out our breakdown of the Fast X ending to see what’s in store when the franchise picks up in the near future. Also, don't forget to check out the other great 2023 DVD releases set for release in the coming weeks and months.

Spoilers for Fast X are ahead. If you haven’t seen the 2023 movie schedule entry, you can buy it online now.  

While there are a ton of sick car stunts and set pieces throughout Fast X, one of the most epic fights of the film happens when Michelle Rodriguez’s Letty and Charlize Theron’s Cipher brawl while trying to escape from the black site prison. Considering the two women have been in the Fast and Furious franchise for a while, seeing them go head-to-head was legendary. Now, a new video has shown how the fight came together, making it an even cooler action sequence from the latest Fast film. 

Louis Leterrier, the director, Oliver Schneider, the supervising stunt coordinator, Rodriguez and Theron all spoke about the making of this sequence in a new BTS video shared by Collider. It shows the scene and the crew talking about how they made it, and as Samantha Vincent, a producer of Fast X put it, this fight was a “battle royale.” Check it out:

Seeing one of Fast and Furious’ iconic villains go up against Letty, who is an OG and a total badass, was a highlight of the movie. However, learning that this was done practically, made it even better. Louis Leterrier broke down the fight a bit further in the above video, saying:

Michelle Rodriguez gave some insight into Letty’s feelings in that moment, noting she was “pretty angry” about it all, which is understandable. Considering Cipher was responsible for the death of Little B's biological mom, and she caused a lot of other damage to the family in The Fate of the Furious, it does make sense that this fight happened. There was a lot of pent-up anger, and Letty finally got her chance at payback. 

So, to show that anger, and to give these two women an epic fight scene, they worked to create a practical battle. Oliver Schneider, the second unit director and supervising stunt coordinator, noted this as he said:

On top of all this, the two actresses shot their fight in Fast X without a director. Rodriguez explained that they “nailed it,” and she complimented Theron’s performance, saying she was a “monster.” She also noted that after Justin Lin left they continued shooting, saying they “kept that train running.” Then, Leterrier took over, and she noted that he “saved our ass.” 

Along with the sick battle between Letty and Cipher, they also broke down Charlize Theron’s fight toward the beginning of the film. The Oscar winner said she was “thoroughly excited about it.” She also noted that since her villain had to take on guards she had trained to escape, it made the entire scene an “amazing challenge.” 

Overall, seeing these women get such epic action sequences was incredible, and hopefully, there is more of it in the movies to come. After Fast X’s ending, we know Gal Gadot’s Gisele will be making a return, and she’ll be paired with the two women since she saved them. So, I think it’s safe to say there are more phenomenal fight scenes like the one between Letty and Cipher in the near future. 

To borrow a metaphor from the franchise, the finish line for the Fast And Furious series has never really been in sight. A devastating emotional blow was dealt during the making of Furious 7 when Paul Walker died in an off-set car crash, but his co-stars have kept the legacy of Brian O'Conner alive with three more sequels since then, and each installment continues to make hundreds of million dollars globally. Star Vin Diesel has contributed to confusion about the plans to wrap things up, saying a few months ago that plans for a final duology might actually be a full trilogy – but Fast X director Louis Leterrier has assured fans that the grand finale is legitimately in sight. 

Exactly how the Fast & Furious series will conclude remains a mystery maintained by the filmmaker, but he recently told Collider that there is a plan for the way things will end. Elements that take place between the end of the most recent sequel and the big endgame may change as further work is done developing the untitled Fast & Furious 11 (not to mention the Dwayne Johnson's upcoming Hobbs-centric feature that is in the works), but there is a specific vision for where the last movie leaves Dominic Toretto and his family. Said Leterrier,

After watching the most recent installment of the Fast & Furious franchise, "truly surprising" is actually believable. Jason Momoa's Dante is one of the most chaotic big screen villains we've seen in a while, and the end of Fast X specifically veers away from tired tropes and cliches that weighed down Fate Of The Furious and F9. It's unclear which members of Dom's family are going to live and who is going to die, and that uncertainty makes for a terrific foundation for a big surprise. 

Continuing, Louis Leterrier addressed the fact that delivering an ending that is going to satisfy the fans is a complicated endeavor, but the idea is to ride a particular line:

Simply put, the desires of fans can be oxymoronic or paradoxical. On the one hand, audiences want to see events and conclusions that they've pictured in their own minds for years and years, and on the other, they want to witness events and conclusions that they never could have imagined. Doing both is impossible, and yet it's constantly asked of franchise filmmakers.

What we will see at the end of the franchise is one of many questions swirling around Fast & Furious 11 – but another one of them unfortunately is "when will it get made?" It looks as though fans are going to be dangling on Fast X's cliffhanger for a while now, as the sequel isn't expected before 2025, and work isn't presently being done developing the script due to the on-going WGA strike. Stay tuned for more updates about the project here on CinemaBlend, and learn about all of the other exciting films on the way to theaters in the coming months with our 2023 Movie Release Calendar.

Louis Leterrier woke up one morning while on location in Rome, turned on the television set, and was shocked by the report leading the broadcast. Leterrier and his Fast X stunt crew had just completed a spectacular stunt sequence that involved rolling a one-ton ball through the streets of Rome… using far more practical effects than many would expect. But even though the Mayor of Rome had given Leterrier the keys to the city and encouraged them to film wherever they needed to, there was one set of Spanish steps the crew could not use. They were too fragile for a Hollywood close up, prompting the director and his team to recreate the steps on a backlot in London in order to get the footage that they needed. 

So imagine Louis Leterrier’s shock when he turned on the news in Rome to find out that the very next day after they’d completed filming, someone drove a car down those same Spanish steps, creating all sorts of damage. The director, replaying this story to CinemaBlend’s official ReelBlend podcast, was very quick to deflect any blame, explaining:

Sometimes, even in the world of The Fast and Furious franchise, life imitates art. Granted, no one is likely to try and match any of the greatest Fast & Furious stunt sequences that we have compiled. And you likely won’t be going to space any time soon. But the Maserati experience was just another indicator to Leterrier that Fast X, and all the films that came before it, have a tremendous influence over moviegoers… and that should continue for two more films. 

Louis Leterrier trained for this moment.

Louis Leterrier wasn’t supposed to direct Fast X. He received the call after original director Justin Lin jumped ship due to “creative differences.” Less than one week after receiving the call with the invitation to take over the Fast sequel, Leterrier was on set, calling “Action” on the massive summer tentpole.

To his credit, he has been preparing for this moment all of his life. Leterrier’s film credits include The Incredible Hulk with Edward Norton, Clash of the Titans, and the magic franchise, Now You See Me. But he’s been around the industry all of his life. His father was a director. His mother was a costume designer. He grew up on movie sets, studying Robert Altman, Brian De Palma, John McTiernan and more as they worked. He credits Luc Besson (The Fifth Element) with identifying him as a budding filmmaker. And he claims to have been thrown into the deep end of the pool when he received his first gig directing a feature film: 2002’s The Transporter, starring Fast X co-star Jason Statham.

Not as weird as it is following Fast X. For anyone who has seen that sequel, they know that Jason Momoa steals most of the movie as Dante, a villain seeking revenge on Dominic Toretto. And Louis Leterrier collaborated with Momoa on the movie’s most bizarre sequence involving Dante painting the toe nails of two corpses as he speaks to them as if they are still alive. It shows a dark and deranged side of the character, which Leterrier tells ReelBlend is by design.

And from the sound of it, Leterrier is just getting started. 

On to Fast 11… and Fast 12?

Because Leterrier stepped into Fast X when he did, he wasn’t able to fully prep the production the way he might have if he’d been on the movie since day one. He was able to bring some of his opinions to the material, and spoke to us about an effort to ground the action in less of the spy stuff that we see being executed in the Mission: Impossible series, or even James Bond.

This is what puts Dom (Vin Diesel) on a collision course with Dante. And it’s what is going to pull The Rock’s character, Hobbs, back into the fold. We saw the beefy hero teased in the post-credits scene, and we know he and Dante are going to mix it up. We have even speculated on CinemaBlend that Fast 11 might as well just become a backdoor Hobbs and Shaw sequel, focusing on The Rock and Jason Statham versus Jason Momoa. Who doesn’t want to see that?

For Leterrier, he’s just happy to be working on a Fast movie from the starting line. He tells ReelBlend:

Fast X is in theaters as we speak.

The following contains minor spoilers for Fast X, as revealed to CinemaBlend's Reelblend podcast.

These days digital effects in movies have become so good that literally, anything can happen. It can often be difficult to tell what in a movie was done digitally versus practically, but a good rule of thumb is that the more difficult something would have been to do practically, the more likely it wasn’t. Of course, all bets are off when it comes to the Fast & Furious franchise. It turns out that Fast X actually did roll a flaming ball of death down the streets of Rome, as director Louis Letterier revealed to us. 

The first significant action set piece, which can also be seen in the Fast X trailer, takes place in Rome when Dominic Toretto and company have to race to prevent a giant bomb from exploding and destroying the Vatican. Because this franchise is not subtle. The bomb gets loose and starts to roll through the streets and the family chases after it trying to use their cars to stop it. 

Considering the scale of the sequence, and the fact that we’re talking about a classical city with a lot of history, I certainly assumed a lot of this was done with CGI, but director Louis Letterier told our own Reelblend Podcast that a great deal of the sequence was done practically. He explained…

The simple fact that the stunt had to be executed so perfectly is usually precisely the sort of reason that a film might instead choose to go the CGI route. Things can be much more forgiving, and there’s no chance of accidentally breaking things in an ancient city if you do it all in a computer. Instead, Fast X opted to go the practical route and from what the director told us, he seemingly has no regrets. 

To note, the Fast & Furious franchise certainly hasn’t been afraid to use CGI when necessary, and with some of the more outrageous sequences, it becomes clear that’s what is happening. I'm fairly certain they didn't really go to space in F9. But considering the street racing origins of the series, a lot of what was done in the early films was done practically, and it’s nice to see them continuing to make things “real” whenever possible.

With at least one more Fast & Furious movie on the way, and possibly two more Fast X sequels according to Vin Diesel, we can look forward to a lot more action of both the practical and CGI variety. Louis Letterier is set to return for Fast & Furious 11, so we can guess that his desire to do practical action will as well. If we can't tell the difference, then that means everything worked out.

Warning: SPOILERS for Fast X are ahead!

As CinemaBlend’s own Eric Eisenberg pointed out in his Fast X review, Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is essentially the Fast & Furious franchise’s version of The Joker. This man with a few screws loose thrives on chaos and won’t hesitate to kill, whether his victims are planned targets or even people helping him out. Case in point with the latter, arguably the most disturbing scene in Fast X is when Dante is chatting with some of his goons while painting their toenails, only for the audience to learn that they’ve both been murdered at his hands. While the moment was pretty grim, it turns out Universal Pictures had no problems including it in this 2023 new movie release.

Director Louis Leterrier shared this information while appearing on ReelBlend after host Sean O’Connell asked if the studio had any kind of “pushback” for that specific Fast X scene. As it turns out, the filmmaker hadn’t even intended for the scene to be included in the movie’s final cut, but rather as an additional piece of content to be shown at a later date. Leterrier recalled:

After flashing back to the events of Fast Five to show what Dante Reyes was up to during that movie’s climax, Fast X brought the villain into the present day narrative by having him show up at Cipher’s base and blackmail her minions into serving him by threatening their loved ones. Unfortunately for two of them, rather than dying while trying take our Dominic Toretto and his allies, Dante decided to kill them himself, as we see their corpses taped to lawn chairs, with their eyes forced open and frozen drinks in their hand while Dante, dressed in a brightly-colored robe, monologues about the next stage of his plans while painting their toes. After he’s done, Momoa’s character heads off to make new preparations while his “friends” stay for the rest of the “party.”

The Fast & Furious franchise is no stranger to violence, but this felt like it was ripped straight from a horror movie, and it reminded viewers that Dante has more than a few screws loose. Louis Leterrier would have been more than comfortable just having this be a deleted scene for Fast X’s home media release, but as he said below, Universal was insistent this be widely seen:

Dante Reyes is sitting comfortably in the final minutes of Fast X, with Dom and his son Brian surrounded by explosives, and Dante’s surprise ally, Alan Ritchson’s Aimes, having shot down the plane carrying Dom’s team. So it’ll be interesting to see how Fast & Furious 11 (which Louis Leterrier is returning to direct) gets our heroes of their sticky situation, but however it happens, we can undoubtedly count on Jason Momoa’s baddie casting more trouble afterwards. Who knows, maybe he’ll even be back for Fast & Furious 12, assuming this franchise’s finale does indeed get extended into a trilogy like Vin Diesel indicated.

Fast X is playing now in theaters, and along with quite the cliffhanger-y ending, the mid-credits scene also leaves some big takeaways and theories to consider for the next couple years. Keep checking back with CinemaBlend for news regarding what we can expect from Fast & Furious 11.

SPOILER WARNING: The following article contains mild spoilers for Fast X. If you have not yet seen the film, proceed at your own risk!

Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes in Fast X is far and away the most charismatic and thrilling villain we’ve seen thus far in the Fast & Furious franchise, and that’s primarily because he is completely out of his mind. His motives are familiar (he wants revenge against the protagonists for the death of his father), but he doesn’t just aim to kill Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his family; as a flamboyant sadist, he wants to make them all suffer and have fun while doing it. It’s clear that the guy has a screw loose from his first non-flashback scene in the new blockbuster – but no part of the film sums up the character’s personality than watching him raid the bank accounts of the heroes while hanging out in the sun painting the toenails of a pair of corpses.

It’s the best scene in the film and among the wildest in the history of the Fast & Furious franchise – and what only makes it better is knowing its origins. During a press roundtable earlier this month with Jason Momoa, he revealed how the moment became a part of the movie, and explained that it happened during his last day on set. But in setting up how it came to be, he first dug into the first conversations he had about making Fast X.

How Jason Momoa’s Journey Began With Dante Reyes and Fast X

At this point in the Fast & Furious franchise, one of the staples has become sequels with high profile stars playing the principal villains. Fast & Furious 6 brought in Luke Evans, Furious 7 handed the ball to Jason Statham, The Fate Of The Furious brought in Charlize Theron, and F9 introduced John Cena to the canon. In the making of Fast X, the producers sought Jason Momoa to play the new A-list heavy… but he had some guidelines about what he wanted to do with the character.

Discussing the start of his involvement with the blockbuster (and seemingly referencing reports that some actors won’t lose fights on screen), Jason Momoa said,

Continuing, Momoa noted that while he was open to a lot of things in becoming part of the Fast & Furious universe, he also had his own specific ideas about what he wanted to do with the franchise’s new big bad. He wanted the character to be pastel colored and fun, but also horrific and vicious:

It was in that “even more” discussion that the amazing toe-painting scene came up in discussion.

Painting The Toenails Of Corpses Was Jason Momoa’s Last Day On The Fast X Set And Heavily Improvised

Like many stories of history’s greatest moments of inspiration, this one can be traced back to a problem. In the aftermath of Fast X’s big action set piece in Rome at the start of the second act, all of the heroes are scattered, launching multiple plot threads… and director Louis Leterrier realized that the focus on the protagonists meant that the film had lost track of Dante Reyes.

Jason Momoa hadn’t seen the finished cut of Fast X when we were doing the interview, but he recalled how the special sequence came together on his last day on the set of the blockbuster and how he and the filmmakers were basically flying by the seats of their pants. Said Momoa,

In the scene, Dante – with his hair done up in a pair of pom-poms – sits in the sunshine with the dead bodies of the tech guys he “stole” from Charlize Theron’s Cypher. Not only does he paint their toenails and casually chat with them, but he has taken a roll of transparent tape and fixed ghoulish smiles on their faces. With a laptop in hand, he executes the plot point mentioned above: he leaves all of the heroes penniless.

Momoa explained that Louis Leterrier taped up the faces of the actors himself, and that he brought his own fashion and hairdressing choices to the mix:

Obviously it got enough “yeses” to be included in the final cut of Fast X – but Jason Momoa wasn’t always sure that it would.

Jason Momoa Wasn’t Sure Fast X’s Nuttiest Scene Would Work – But It Did, And There’s More Being Cooked Up For Fast & Furious 11

Dante Reyes exhibits a whole lot of extreme behavior in Fast X, but the scene in question here is a step beyond everything else. Despite evidently having a heavy creative hand in the making of the sequence, Momoa admitted during the roundtable that he wasn’t sure the whole thing would actually fit into the movie that was being made.

Fortunately, those doubts were erased by enthusiastic responses. Momoa continued,

The fun isn’t stopping anytime soon, either. While Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes unleashed a lot of hell in Fast X, he isn’t done yet, and the actor is set to come back for the untitled sequel (for now known as Fast & Furious 11). The follow-up doesn’t have a set release date yet, but Momoa is already fighting for the opportunity to do more actual driving on set, and he’s cooking up some “pretty fun” ideas with Louis Leterrier, who will be back in the director’s chair. Added Momoa,

Fast X, featuring an outstanding ensemble also including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, John Cena, Nathalie Emmanuel, Jordana Brewster, Sung Kang, Scott Eastwood, Daniela Melchior, Brie Larson, Jason Statham, and Charlize Theron, is now playing in theaters everywhere.

Fast X, starring Vin Diesel, Jason Momoa, and Brie Larson, is finally hitting theaters this week. Director Louis Leterrier joins the show to discuss taking over production after Justin Lin left, being welcomed into the well-oiled Fast “family” machine, his excitement for working on Fast 11, and more. 

Stick around through the interview of your thoughts on the new trailer for Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part I, as well as the new clip from Indiana Jones and The Dial of Destiny. Finally, we dig in on the Fast franchise’s latest with our spoiler-free review of Fast X. 

Timestamps (approx. only)

00:00:00 - Intro
00:06:34 - Louis Leterrier Talks Directing ‘Fast X’ 
00:35:50 - ‘Mission Impossible’ Trailer Reaction
00:45:08 - ‘Indiana Jones 5’ Clip Reaction
00:54:06 - Michael J. Fox’s ‘Still’
00:58:35 - ‘Fast X’ Review (Spoiler-Free)
01:09:24 - Our Favorite ‘Fast & Furious’ Movie

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When interviewing actors about antagonist roles, you often hear a lot of the same sentiments shared. “I don't view [insert character name] as a villain,” they say. They explain that nobody in real life views themselves as a villain. They are dedicated to expressing a reasonable perspective that justifies their character's actions. They denounce mustache-twirling, instead aiming to ground their performance in reality.

This is a standard acting method… and a playbook that Fast X's Jason Momoa sets on fire and gleefully runs over with a steamroller while wearing a pastel suit and hair done up in pom-poms. As Dante Reyes, the Aquaman star is the latest foe to go toe-to-toe with the found family of Vin Diesel's Dominic Toretto in the long-running Fast & Furious franchise, and he not only wins you over with his psychotic, merciless, and cartoony antics, but provides a breath of fresh air into a blockbuster series that has grown stale in the last few years. Dante is the best villain to be unleashed in these movies, and it's because of both his special personality and how his presence shakes everything up.

Looping the story back to the events of Fast Five, the new sequel introduces Dante Reyes as the son of Hernan Reyes (Joaquim de Almeida), the corrupt politician/businessman whom Dom Toretto and his friends robbed in a heist that saw Hernan's giant safe being towed and dragged around the streets of Rio de Janeiro. Dante was nearly killed in the chase that followed, but he survived, and he makes plans to kill all of the Fast & Furious heroes in an act of vengeance – but not before causing them immense suffering.

Setting up a bogus mission in Rome that's actually a trap, Dante successfully gets the family's handlers at The Agency to turn on them and declare them terrorists. This has the effect of putting the heroes on the run and forcing them to split up. While Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is captured and thrown in an Agency black site, Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Tej (Chris “Ludacris” Bridges), Ramsay (Nathalie Emmanuel) and Han (Sung Kang) head to London to recruit some help, and Dom goes to Brazil via Naples to try and find Dante and stop him before he can fully execute his big plan.

Jason Momoa is the best thing to happen to Fast & Furious since Dwayne Johnson's arrival in Fast Five.

The Fast & Furious movies have rolled out some high profile stars as villains, with the last three respectively unleashing Jason Statham, Charlize Theron and John Cena as the main heavies, but none of them leave a mark quite like what Jason Momoa does in Fast X – his personality outshining everyone else in the talented ensemble. He is the franchise's version of The Joker, blending flamboyance with sadism and a smile, and while the plotting at which he is the center is ridiculous, it's made digestible by the character's ludicrousness. You do wonder why Dante waited so long to execute his bloodthirsty plan and how he is able to get oh so many bombs everywhere he needs them to be, but the totality of the chaos he unleashes ends up being satisfying enough for one to look past those queries.

The guy is operating on a magical level pretty much from the beginning, his post-flashback entrance into the film having him slice up a guy with a knife and lick the blade clean. But his whole vibe is really summed up in a second act scene where he hangs out in the sun and makes moves to drain the bank accounts of the protagonists: before fiddling around on a computer and initiating the next step in his complicated plan, he paints the toes of a couple of corpses whose faces are wrapped up in tape to form grotesque smiles. It's demented, but it's a much-needed lightning bolt bringing a fresh, bold energy to what has become a threadbare franchise.

Fast X makes a point of avoiding the plot pitfalls in which the last two movies got trapped.

Momoa's Dante is by himself a much needed new flavor for these movies, but what's also exciting to see is that his presence cascades some other much changes into the proceedings of this franchise. Fun and exciting as it was to see the main Fast & Furious characters evolve into becoming super spies over the course of Fast Five, Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7, the last two movies rendered the brand exhausting and tired. Fans were given the satisfaction of seeing characters go into space in F9 (a long awaited plot development), but larger experience was rendered unsatisfying by non-existent stakes and recycled plotting.

With Jason Momoa's performance as the film's backbone, Fast X doesn't make the mistake of once again reprising those issues. Dante's mission and drive proves to be a true threat that imperils the lives of the main characters, and (without giving too much away) there are specific moves made to first highlight one of the franchise's central clichés and then upend it in hardcore fashion. The filmmakers have heard the criticisms about these movies, and they have made moves to address them.

Fast X is better than The Fate Of The Furious and F9, but still has a whole lot of dumb.

Of course, while Fast X is an overall improvement for the trajectory of the series, there is also plenty about the film that is either straight-up stupid or just comes across as lazy. There are a number of eye-popping and thrilling set pieces – the standouts being the race to contain a giant bomb that is rolling toward Vatican City and a third act pursuit on a highway in Portugal – but far too often action unfolds simply for the sake of action (be it Brie Larson’s Tess randomly kicking the asses of a bunch of patrons in a bar prior to a secretive meeting with Dom, or Agency mercenaries showing up at a secret location in London so that Han and Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw can fight side-by-side). Multiple plot threads feel like they are included just for the sake of keeping key characters in the game, and some end up being forgotten about completely by the time the third act rolls around.

The script, credited to Dan Mazeau and Justin Lin, is shoddy – but Jason Momoa is the Kintsugi glue that holds it all together and lets it work. The Fast & Furious movies may be past their prime era (which came to an end with Furious 7), but Fast X at the very least makes efforts to deviate from formula and successfully leaves you wondering what’s going to happen next in Fast & Furious 11.

The 10th installment in the ridiculously popular Fast & Furious saga is finally upon us. Fans last caught up with Vin Diesel’s Dom Toretto and the crew in 2021’s F9, and in Fast X — the first movie of a two-part finale (or possibly a trilogy, per Diesel) — the family will be confronted with their past. Jason Momoa joins the franchise as the son of Hernan Reyes from Fast Five, and he’s seeking revenge against Dom’s family for their role in his father’s death. With just a week until the blockbuster hits theaters, some have had the opportunity to attend an early screening, and they’re hitting social media with their first reactions.

In addition to Jason Momoa’s “flamboyant bad boy” Dante, others joining the Fast & Furious universe include Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson, Daniela Melchior and Rita Moreno. The Fast X cast also returns a lot of our favorites from the past two decades, including Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris, Jordana Brewster, Cardi B, Charlize Theron, John Cena, Jason Statham, Helen Mirren and more. So let’s see what people are saying about the epic 10th film, starting with CinemaBlend’s Eric Eisenberg, who praises Momoa’s “gleeful psychopath,” tweeting: 

KIrsten Acuna of Insider is one of several people saying this feels like the franchise’s Infinity War, with Dante as Thanos. In her tweet thread, she says she ranks it about in the middle of the Fast & Furious movies and definitely has some quibbles, but overall can’t wait to see it again. Acuna’s full breakdown: 

Liam Crowley of Comicbook.com calls the film “utterly ridiculous,” but surely he means it in the very best way. Be sure to make it to the theater to see this one on the big screen, Crowley tweets: 

Jason Momoa is the subject of many of the first reactions, including that of ScreenRant’s Joseph Deckelmeier, who says the actor oozes charisma as Dante:

Even Germain Lussier of Gizmodo, who calls Fast X the “worst Fast yet,” concedes that the Aquaman star is “God-Level” in his franchise introduction. His performance alone is worth the price of admission, Lussier says: 

In addition to Jason Momoa, who film critic Simon Thompson calls “decadent,” Alan Ritchson is another standout. Despite the large cast, somehow Fast X doesn’t feel like it’s got too many cooks in the kitchen. Thompson continues: 

The impending release of Fast X has also brought about news regarding Dwayne Johnson’s future with the Fast & Furious franchise, after he was absent from F9. I’ll avoid saying anything more here, but fans who are invested in what’s going on with Luke Hobbs can click that link.

Overall, it sounds like audiences are in for another wild ride — and we’ve come to expect nothing less from these movies — and Jason Momoa sounds like a thrilling addition to an already stacked cast. If you need to relive any of the previous installments ahead of Fast X’s release to theaters on Friday, May 19, check out how to watch the first nine Fast and Furious movies. Also be sure to see what else is hitting the big screen soon with our 2023 movie release schedule. 

The end of the road is approaching for Dominic Toretto and his family after more than two decades of street races, heists and saving the world. We’ve known for a few years now that there are only two movies left in the main Fast & Furious film series, and the penultimate entry, the highly anticipated Fast X, comes out in a month. But before the arrival of that 2023 new movie release, it’s been revealed that a key talent from this installment will be back for Fast & Furious 11: director Louis Leterrier.

After being brought in to succeed Justin Lin as Fast X’s director after Lin exited the production just a week into principal photography, Leterrier will resume his filming duties for Fast & Furious 11, which will bring The Fast Saga to a close and is described as a “companion film” to its predecessor. Evidently he got along with Vin Diesel and the rest of the cast and crew splendidly, because Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer had the following to say to Variety about the filmmaker returning for one last ride in this world:

Prior to joining the Fast & Furious franchise, Louis Leterrier’s notable film credits included Transporter 2, The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans and Now You See Me, and he also helmed (and executive produced) all 10 episodes of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, which can be viewed with a Netflix subscription. He had to “change everything” so that he could come aboard Fast X, but it resulted in “the thrill of a lifetime.” And he didn’t just do directing work on the movie; he ended up rewriting the Fast X script overnight after read the prior draft four times. Leterrier has also kindly clarified that the movie is pronounced as ‘Fast Ten,’ i.e. the X is Roman numeral-style. 

The penultimate Fast & Furious movie will see Dom and the gang going up against Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes, the son of Fast Five’s main villain Hernan Reyes. As Leterrier explained after Momoa’s character was finally identified, he decided to connect Dante back to Fast Five in order to demonstrate that there’s a “price to Doom’s life choices,” adding that the franchise’s fifth entry was the last one “that truly dealt with human stakes.” Other newcomers who’ve been added to Fast X’s cast include Brie Larson as Tess, the daughter or Mr. Nobody; Rita Moreno as Abuelita, Dom, Mia and Jakob Toretto’s grandmother; Alan Ritchson as Agent Aides, who’s now leading the government agency Nobody previously supervised; and Daniela Melchior as Isabel, a Brazilian street racer who has a history with Dom. It’s unclear how many of those individuals will be back for Fast & Furious 11.

Since we don’t what will go down in Fast X, it’s hard to say what Louis Leterrier has in store for Fast & Furious 11, but with these movies being so closely tied together, it makes sense that he’ll be sitting back in the director’s chair for this last outing. Fast X hits theaters on May 19, and once it’s announced when the follow-up is dated, we’ll let you know.

Last April, Fast X , which we know quite a bit about at this point, hit a major and surprising setback just as it began filming. Director Justin Lin made the “difficult decision” to step away from the film after having previously helmed the bulk of the movies in the long-running movie series. Thankfully for Universal (and its wallet), just a week later, it found a replacement in Louis Leterrier, as rumors involving leading man Vin Diesel began to swirl. Now, franchise veteran Michelle Rodriguez has recalled that in the time when the production was between directors, she and Charlize Theron actually managed to get a major scene together shot. 

Ahead of Fast X's nearly imminent release, Michelle Rodriguez is on the big screen once more as one of the stars of this weekend’s latest big-budget, Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves. While teasing her next project, in which she’ll once again reprise her role as the resurrected Letty, she revealed Lin’s exit did not disrupt her and Charlize Theron’s aim to shoot a serious scene teased in the trailer. In her words: 

During an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress shared that she and Charlize Theron, who is returning as Cipher in the latest installment, straight-up shot that fight sequence together -- without a director in place for the movie. A second unit helmer was there to help call the shots but, otherwise, the pair of badass actors took it upon themselves to get some filming amid the Fast & Furious film's filmmaker snafu. 

While revealing this detail, Michelle Rodriguez also tipped her proverbial hat to her fellow action star co-star for an incredible “work ethic” and being an all-around great scene partner. The two of them clearly train unbelievably hard for their action scenes in movies, and they’ll be having a big showdown in Fast X. Charlize Theron and Rodriguez have long histories of doing their own stunts for movies, with Rodriguez recently doing stunts for the D&D movie and Theron learning how to sword fight for The Old Guard 2 (and unfortunately having to take a shoulder injury like a champ). 

After Justin Lin’s exit from Fast X, Louis Leterrier had a whirlwind journey to the director’s chair which included him rewriting a ton of the script and heading to set just four days after getting the call from Universal to replace Lin. As Michelle Rodriguez explained, she and her co-star were able to keep “the train running” in the meantime. I imagine that was a pretty stressful time, but it's downright awesome to hear that the stars kept their heads and were able to keep things going.

You can see Michelle Rodriguez in Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves now by heading to your local theater, and look forward to her return as Letty in Fast X, which arrives in cinemas on May 19 as part of the schedule of 2023 new movie releases.

The Fast & Furious franchise has been cranking out movies for over two decades, even spawning the Hobbs & Shaw spinoff movie, as well as the animated series Spy Racers. The upcoming Fast X film is set to be the penultimate in the main series, and will definitely start to close some chapters in the long-running franchise. But before it comes to a close, director Louis Leterrier is clearing the air about a very popular question that has been brought up since Fast X’s announcement.

With Fast & Furious spanning across 10 main films, there is only so much that one can do both title-wise and story-wise, but it’s been a success every single time. Using only either “Fast” or “Furious” along with the number that the installment is is a pretty simple recipe, and that continued for the tenth film, which just goes by Fast X. However, it seems to have gotten fans confused, not knowing whether to say “10” or “X,” given the letter is the Roman Numeral for 10. Luckily we don’t have to suffer with saying the wrong thing any longer, as Louis Leterrier revealed the truth behind the title to Empire Magazine (via SyFy), who noted,

Obviously, it makes sense that Fast X is pronounced like “Fast Ten,” and it might even be better knowing that beautiful pun is partly the reason for it. Maybe because this is the first movie in the franchise to use Roman Numerals, or perhaps “X” just rolls off the tongue better for some people, but I get where saying the letter instead of the number feels better. Now I just need to hear someone official actually say it, so it’s truly validated. Otherwise, I feel that people will still be using “X,” which really wouldn’t be all that bad if it came with its own car pun.

Coincidentally, as people debate over how to pronounce Fast X’s title, Louis Leterrier teased that a “war” is coming in the new Fast movie. Alliances will have to be made, sides will be chosen, and casualties will be insurmountable, so it’s definitely something you won’t want to miss. And with the Fast X cast looking as great as ever, it shouldn’t disappoint. With just one more movie left in the main franchise after Fast X, seeing what stories it sets up to wrap the beloved franchise will be something else to look forward to, as well as just what they name the final film.

Meanwhile, Fast X is bringing in familiar faces and new faces like Jason Momoa on a Harley. It will also include a cameo from Paul Walker’s daughter, Meadow Walker, making it yet another emotional installment, but it was a “blessing” to have the  young Walker on set, according to Michelle Rodriguez. It will be intriguing to see what brings her to the Fast & Furious world and how she will likely honor her late father, who was a brother to the entire cast.

Fast X is the beginning of the end of a long-running franchise, and seeing how it closes out will be yet another thing to keep an eye out for. So make sure you don’t miss the release of Fast X when it hits theaters on May 19 as part of the 2023 movies schedule!

Justin Lin’s abrupt departure from Fast X left devoted Fast & Furious fans shocked, and rumors of behind-the-scenes drama between him and franchise star Vin Diesel didn’t calm the fervor. Soon, the sudden turmoil subsided as the penultimate installment announced that Clash of the Titans filmmaker Louis Leterrier would take over for Lin. Of course, fans have wondered what it was like for Leterrier to step in and fill Lin’s shoes. After completing the film, the director of the upcoming Fast X revealed how he jumped into the role so suddenly.

Even though the Transporter 2 director was fresh to the car-themed franchise, he was welcomed by the Fast X cast and crew for bringing something new to the penultimate film. Leterrier had been an admirer of the Fast & Furious film series so he brought a wealth of knowledge to the tenth film. This impressed Vin Diesel enough to win his approval immediately. While the transition appeared to go smoothly, the filmmaker spilled to Total Film (via CBR) that taking over from Lin didn’t come easy.

Louis Leterrier was clearly prepared to straighten out any mess before hopping in the director’s chair. Of course, the The Takedown director was tossed into the lion’s den as the tenth installment was only days into production. He wasn’t only tasked with getting things back on track but taking over the F9 director’s vision and putting his stamp on the franchise’s conclusion. However, he seemed enthused to join the franchise as both a filmmaker and a fan. Hopefully his love for the decades-long franchise will translate to Dom Toretto and his crew's road to their final showdown.

Louis Leterrier has let his fan flag fly, as he’s been giving fellow & and Furious fans small tidbits here and there since joining Fast X. Without getting specific, the director did reveal that Charlize Theron’s Cipher is on the loose after F9, and the introduction of Jason Momoa’s vengeful Dante Reyes will unleash war as the fast-paced film series edges toward its finale. Of course, those revelations rose the stakes as seen in the epic Super Bowl trailer. Leterrier has done his part in hyping up the villain’s connection to Dom.

While Justin Lin won’t direct the final Fast & Furious films, he will remain a producer on Fast X, in addition to co-writing the film’s script. The film will feature Dom and his crew along with some returning familiar faces. Along with the addition of Momoa, Oscar winners Brie Larson and Rita Moreno joined the cast as new ally Tess and the Torettos’ grandmother, respectively.  Fortunately, fans won’t have to wait much longer for Leterrier’s vision, as the tenth installment will finally hit theaters on May 19.

In the meantime, get ready for Fast X by re-watching prior installments on streaming platforms. You rent/buy The Fast and the Furious, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Fast & Furious, Fast Five and The Fate of the Furious through an Amazon Prime Video subscription. Get a Hulu subscription to watch Fast & Furious 6. You can watch The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift and Furious 7 with an active Peacock subscription, and don’t forget to catch F9 through an HBO Max subscription.

There’s a new villain on the Fast & Furious block, and he’s being played by Aquaman and Dune actor Jason Momoa. As was revealed earlier this month in the first Fast X trailer, Momoa was cast as Dante Reyes, the son of Hernan Reyes, the late main antagonist from 2011’s Fast Five. Dante is now out for revenge in Fast X, and director Louis Leterrier has joined in on hyping up Momoa’s character, as well as touched on his connection to Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto.

Shortly after the Fast X trailer premiered, Louis Leterrier opened up about why Jason Momoa’s character was connected to Fast Five, noting that how there’s a “price for justice” and a “price to Dom’s choices,” and Dante Reyes exemplifies that. Leterrier more recently described Dante as “total chaos” to Total Film and talked about how “obsessed” the character is with Dom. In his word:

Family has been the driving theme (pun fully intended) of the Fast & Furious franchise since the beginning, and as we hit the tenth installment in the main film series, Dom has assembled a large lineup of people who will have his back no matter what. The downside is that with so many people he cares about, that just gives Dante Reyes more people to target. As Louis Leterrier revealed, Dante has extensively studied Vin Diesel’s character and the people in his tight-knit circle, so he knows those weak points to hit. Jason Statham’s Deckard Shaw followed a similar course of action in Furious 7 when he “killed” Han (he didn’t actually die), but now Deckard’s one of the good guys. 

It’s too soon to tell where Dante Reyes will stack up in the hierarchy of Fast & Furious villains, but going off what we’ve seen so far, he’s not lacking for flair and has the resources to put the hurt on Dominic Toretto and his crew. What hasn’t been clarified yet is if Dante is working alone in Fast X or if he’s in cahoots with Charlize Theron’s Cipher, who was introduced in The Fate of the Furious, but has been causing trouble in this world as far back as Fast & Furious 6. It also hasn’t been confirmed yet if Momoa will be back for Fast & Furious 11, the final entry in the main film series, or if we’ll only see him cause trouble in this one movie.

We’ll get the full scope of what Jason Momoa’s Dante Reyes is capable of when Fast X comes out on May 19. Don’t forget to watch F9 ahead of time with your HBO Max subscription to refresh your memory on where things we’re left off, and take a look through the other 2023 new movie releases.

The first trailer for Fast X has finally arrived, and with it came some welcome information about Jason Momoa’s villainous character, Dante. In the preview, it was revealed that Dante was present for the events of Fast Five, as he had some kind of relationship with that movie’s main antagonist, Joaquim de Almeida’s Hernan Reyes. Now Louis Leterrier, who took over as Fast X’s director after Justin Lin left the production, has shared why Momoa’s character is connected to the 2011 Fast & Furious entry.

While breaking down the first Fast X trailer with Total Film, Louis Leterrier shared that Fast Five is his favorite Fast & Furious movie, which resulted him thinking ‘What if, what if, what if?' when he started working on this latest installment. From there, Leterrier talked about how there’s “price to justice” and a “price to Dom’s life choices, in order to take that darkness from the world,” resulting in a “domino effect.” He continued:

Louis Leterrier then said that this “felt like a very strong thematic direction to start the movie,” indicating that Fast X will begin with revisiting the Fast Five climax, but this time see it from Dante’s perspective. As the Fast X trailer showed, Dante was on hand to witness Dominic Toretto and his crew stealing the vault containing Hernan Reyes’ money, and he was the one driving the car carrying Reyes when the drug lord chased after the protagonists to get his loot back. The car chase ended with Dante, Reyes and the car’s other occupants being knocked off that bridge, and while Dante made it out alive, Reyes was soon after executed by Dwayne Johnson’s Luke Hobbs as retribution for killing his fellow DEA agents.

When asked about Dante’s connection to Hernan Reyes, Louis Leterrier confirmed that they were indeed “family,” clarifying that the former is the latter’s son. As for what Jason Momoa brings to the table for Fast X, Leterrier first summarized it as “chaos,” then elaborated:

Dante clearly has an axe to grind with Dominic Toretto and will go to any lengths to exact revenge, including kidnapping his son, Brian Marcos, who’s now being played by Leo Abelo Perry. But Dante isn’t the only villain in Fast X, as Charlize Theron’s Cipher is also back in play. It remains to be seen if Dante and Cipher are allied somehow or will separately antagonize the movie’s protagonists. Assuming Dante sticks around for Fast 11, the final entry in the main Fast & Furious film series, it’ll also be interested how he’s tied to the mysterious adversary who’s promoting AI and driverless cars, a character Vin Diesel would like Robert Downey Jr. to play.

We’ll learn more about what Dante’s deal is when Fast X premieres in theaters on May 19. Use your HBO Max subscription to stream F9 so you’re caught up to speed before the next movie’s arrival.

Fast & Furious fans have been living their lives a quarter mile at a time ever since the franchise launched in 2001, but like any journey, our time in The Fast Saga is coming to an end. This summer’s Fast X is the penultimate entry in the main Fast & Furious film series, and you best believe that things will end with a bang for Dominic Toretto and his crew. As Fast X director Louis Leterrier teased, this 2023 new movie release will unleash “war” on the protagonists.

Although specific plot details concerning Fast X are still being secret, we do have a sense of the danger that awaits, namely that along with Charlize Theron’s Cipher still being on the loose, we’ll be introduced to Jason Momoa’s villainous character, Dante. Evidently whatever sinister machinations these two are cooking up will result in the biggest conflict in the Fast & Furious world yet. As Louis Leterrier put it:

While the original plan was for Justin Lin, who’d directed five other Fast & Furious movies, to helm Fast X, he exited one week into principal photography due to “creative differences.” Louis Leterrier was tapped as his replacement shortly thereafter, having previously collaborated with Universal Pictures on The Incredible Hulk, and the rest of shooting happened seemingly without any other issues. The first Fast X trailer is dropping tomorrow, February 9, two days ahead of the Super Bowl, but beforehand, Leterrier spoke with Empire about the high stakes at play in this next round of car-centric action.

Of course, as longtime fans of the Fast & Furious franchise know, allegiances can change in a snap, with bad guys frequently becoming allies and good guys occasionally turning to the dark side. That won’t be any different in Fast X, with Louis Leterrier saying the following about how the team dynamics will change:

Without any official footage to look at yet, it’s hard to say which of the core group of heroes in Fast X’s cast will find themselves working against the people they’ve called family for years, nor can we predict which of the people still established as bad guys will turn to the light. Still, after more than two decades of entertaining audiences, the Fast & Furious franchise needs to find new ways to keep people on their toes. Along with familiar faces like Michelle Rodriguez, Tyrese Gibson, Ludacris and Jordana Brewster all returning, Fast X is bringing in plenty of other newcomers to join Jason Momoa, including Brie Larson, Alan Ritchson and Rita Moreno. It’s also been rumored that Gal Gadot might be back as Gisele Yashar, who was thought to have died in Fast & Furious 6.

Fast X races into theaters on May 19. Keep visiting CinemaBlend for more information on what it has in store for fans, and use your HBO Max subscription to rewatch F9 so you’re caught up to speed before the next installment.

On April 26, fans of the Fast & Furious franchise were hit with surprising news: director Justin Lin had exited Fast X just a week after principal photography began. Naturally Universal Pictures couldn’t waste anytime finding someone to replace Lin on the next Fast & Furious movie (especially given how much money it might be costing the studio), and word’s come in that this individual has been found. This also happens as rumors swirl around Lin’s reasoning for leaving the next adventure starring Vin Diesel’s Dominic Toretto and his family.

Let’s start off with the directorial update: Louis Leterrier has reportedly been lined up to fill Justin Lin’s shoes on Fast X. Leterrier is no stranger to action/blockbuster filming, having previously helmed Unleashed, Transporter 2 (starring Jason Statham, who plays Deckard Shaw in the Fast & Furious saga), The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans, as well as worked on the TV shows The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance and Lupin. Variety shared that Leterrier “beat out numerous candidates for the job,” and schedules are being figured out so he can come aboard Fast X.

So assuming a deal is finalized, we can count on Louis Leterrier to take over the directorial reins on Fast X. It’s also a good bet he might do the same for Fast & Furious 11 given that that the two projects are shooting back-to-back, although I won’t rule out the possibility that Universal might look for another director to handle concluding the main Fast & Furious film series, especially if the back-to-back plan ends up being scrapped. Regardless, by joining Fast X, this means Leterrier will have two movies coming out in 2023, as he also helmed the live-action animated comedy Strays starring Will Ferrell, Jamie Fox, Will Forte, Randall Park and Isla Fisher.

As for why Justin Lin exited Fast X as its director (he’s still involved as a producer), this was initially attributed to “creative differences,” an all-too common reason used when creative minds depart from a project. However, according to a source who spoke with The New York Daily News, franchise star Vin Diesel is the reason for Lin’s departure, with this anonymous individual claiming that the Dominic Toretto actor “shows up late to set. He doesn’t know his lines. And he shows up out of shape.” The only way we’ll know for sure if this is true is if Lin someday explains his reasoning for deciding to step away from Fast X, but this wouldn’t be the first time there’s been some behind-the-scenes drama involving Diesel on the Fast & Furious franchise; just look at his feud with Dwayne Johnson.

Following Justin Lin’s Fast X exit, the movie’s main unit paused filming, while second unit continued filming in the United Kingdom. Once everything is properly arranged with Louis Leterrier, principal photography can get back on track. Had Lin remained on Fast X, this would have been his sixth time directing a Fast & Furious movie, having first worked on 2006’s Tokyo Drift and later helming 2009’s Fast & Furious, 2011’s Fast Five, 2013’s Fast & Furious 6 and last year’s F9. No plot details for Fast X have been revealed yet, but along with plenty of familiar Fast & Furious faces joining Vin Diesel on this next ride filled with crazy car stunts and explosions, Jason Momoa has been tapped to play a villain, and Daniela Melchior and Brie Larson have joined in undisclosed roles.

Fast X races into theaters on May 19, 2023. CinemaBlend will continue providing coverage on how its progressing, but in the meantime, check out the 2022 movie releases to plan your moviegoing experiences later in the year accordingly.

Bright, the Will Smith and Joel Edgerton-headlined urban fantasy, first released in 2017 on Netflix to mixed reviews. All the same, a rumored Bright 2 has been in the works for several years now but seemed to have fallen into production purgatory.

Now, according to Deadline, Bright 2 may still have legs. Netflix is reportedly in talks with Louis Leterrier to direct the fantasy sequel with Will Smith and Joel Edgerton returning as the odd, crime-fighting couple.

As you may recall, Bright was directed by David Ayer and written by Max Landis but, this time, Bright 2 has been written by David Ayer and Evan Spiliotopoulos, with a rewrite from T.S. Nowlin. David Ayer will stay on as a producer, but is currently busy with other projects like Warner Bros.' Dirty Dozen, which is why Louis Leterrier is in talks to direct.

Louis Letterier is best known for working on The Incredible Hulk, starring Edward Norton, as well as the magical, heist film Now You See Me. However, he more recently put his talents to use on Netflix’s The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Despite the critical reviews being less than stellar, Bright still found favor with Netflix’s audience, bringing in strong viewership for the streamer, which is why Bright 2 is still in the pipeline. However, last year it was reported that the sequel was being put on hold indefinitely due to Will Smith’s schedule.

The only other update on the project came earlier this year from David Ayer, who said the project was “still in development” and is a “great opportunity to explore the world more.” That was hopeful news indicating that something would be coming, but didn’t give us much to go on. Now of course, it seems things are headed in a positive direction.

Set in an alternate reality where elves, orcs, and humans co-exist in the modern world, Bright follows two police officers, Daryl Ward (Will Smith) and Nick Jakoby (Joel Edgerton) as they try to overcome their differences as a human and an orc while stumbling upon news that evil creatures are trying to resurrect an ancient dark lord. Bright is a decent buddy cop movie, but its social commentary and subtext isn't always the most subtle, which may have taken some viewers out of the film.

As previously alluded to, Bright created something of an interesting divide between audiences and critics, with audiences loving it and critics mostly panning it. But whether you loved it or hated it, everyone can find joy in Screen Junkie’s Honest Trailers take, which hilariously showcased everything wrong with the movie.

Now that Bright 2 is taking more steps forward, we’ll be sure to keep you updated as the project continues to progress. Until then, you can revisit or check out Bright for the first time on Netflix now.

In his new film Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, writer/director Luc Besson will be introducing audiences to more than a hundred new and different alien species, brought to life with a mix of practical effects, performance capture, and digital magic. What you probably won't notice, however, is that Besson got a few of his filmmaker friends to play some of these special extraterrestrial characters -- including Incredible Hulk and Transporter series director Louis Leterrier as a member of the species Kortan Dahuk (which you can get your first look at below).

I had the pleasure of learning all about the Kortan Dahuk and Louis Leterrier's part when I had the amazing opportunity recently to visit the edit bay for Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets and sit down one-on-one with Luc Besson to talk about his newest film. After screening an early look at the debut trailer that will be dropping this Thursday (it will totally blow your mind), I was taken to a small workstation where I got to see a breakdown of how the director and his team have brought his aliens to life -- from Leterrier's performance on set to the finished version you see above. Besson made special note of the way that Leterrier shifted his weight while walking -- accentuating the species' non-human physiology -- and expressed real pride in the beautiful orange and blue coloration.

But if you think that's the extent of the information that I learned about the Kortan Dahuk, you couldn't possibly be more wrong.

As part of building the world of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, which is based on the beloved French comic series by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières, Luc Besson went as far as to actually create a 600-page bible that answers practically any question that anyone may have about the universe that has been constructed. This includes intimate details about every alien species that exists in the film, even if they only appear on screen for a moment. Because of this, I not only walked away from the edit bay with knowledge of how Besson went about bringing the Kortan Dahuk to life, but also a two-page fact sheet that has everything you could want to know about the species.

While there is far too much information to all be spelled out here, the story of the Kortan Dahuk is actually really beautiful -- even if we don't wind up learning anything about it within the runtime of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets. The orange and blue aliens hail from a planet known as Kas-ônar, which is 5,000 lightyears away from Earth and has three suns that produce stunning sunsets and colorful winds. Being from a planet of such incredible splendor, the Kortan Dahuk have a powerful appreciation for art, and their entire society is "organized around the quest for harmony and beauty." It's this cultural mission that actually makes the Kortan Dahuk known as one of the best traveled species in the universe, as there is a rich history of them going from system to system searching out new cultures.

It's this part of the Kortan Dahuk history that's particularly significant for humans, as they were actually the first extraterrestrials to make contact with the people of Earth. The peaceful nature of the aliens has led to a peaceful relationship with humanity, and this extends to their coexistence -- alongside many, many other aliens -- in the intergalactic city of Alpha (which is the City Of A Thousand Planets mentioned in the title). In Alpha, the Kortan Dahuk exist as influential ambassadors and important figures -- which means that we may be seeing a good amount of them on screen as we watch Valerian (Dane DeHaan) and Laureline (Cara Delevingne) fulfill their duties as special operatives and maintain order in the universe.

A devoted fan of the source material who has been working on the live-action adaptation for years, Luc Besson is building something incredibly epic and detailed in the making of Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets, and based on what I've seen and heard, it looks like he's putting together something special. You're all definitely going to want to tune in when the first trailer for the sci-fi blockbuster drops this Thursday, but also be on the lookout for more from my interview with Luc Besson!

Valerian And The City Of A Thousand Planets arrives in theaters on July 21, 2017.

Over the weekend, Vin Diesel talked about how he plans to deliver one more trilogy of Fast and Furious movies. For fans of a franchise that has only gotten better with age, that’s great news, and with talk of Fast and Furious 8 ramping up, we can’t help but turn our attention to that film. We know that James Wan, who helmed the billion-plus-dollar Furious 7, won’t be back for more, nor will franchise rejuvenator Justin Lin, who has taken over the latest Star Trek film. As such, we’re left to wonder who will take the reins, and we have a few suggestions should anyone in a position of authority care to listen.

Chad Stahelski and David Leitch

Cards on the table, John Wick was my favorite movie of last year, and one of the best action movies in recent memory. Co-directors Chad Stahelski and David Leitch have a background in stunt work that shines through in every scene, and that would help lend an air of gritty realism to the fight scenes that pepper the Fast and Furious films. They’re also no novices when it comes to high-octane car chases and pulling off awesome practical stunts, so they might be the perfect fit for Furious 8.

Vin Diesel

No one individual is more invested in Fast and Furious than star Vin Diesel. Though he’s most known as an action actor, it wouldn’t the first time he’s been behind the camera as well. In 1997 he wrote, directed, and starred in the feature length drama Strays, and he has directed a handful of shorts. One of these, 2009’s Los Bandoleros, is a quick look at what his Dominic Toretto character was up to during the time he was absent from the franchise. Fans love him and would go ape shit for this, so maybe now is the time.

Scott Waugh

Based on the popular video games, Need for Speed wasn’t a great movie, but one thing it did have going for it were fantastic car-based action scenes courtesy of director Scott Waugh. An homage to badass low-budget car movies of the 1970s, Waugh filled the entire movie with pulse pounding chase scenes from literally one coast to the other with a collection of cars that range from classic American muscle to the most exotic roadsters you can imagine.

Lexi Alexander

Lexi Alexander hasn’t directed a feature film since 2010, though she’s best known for 2008’s Punisher: War Zone and 2005’s Green Street Hooligans. She’s shown herself capable of delivering big time action, and for a franchise that prides itself on diversity, now might be the perfect opportunity to hand the reins over to a female action director who has all the tools necessary to crush it. It doesn’t hurt that Alexander was a world champion kickboxer, so just imagine how badass the fight scenes could be.

Courtney Solomon

Courtney Solomon is far and away the longest shot on this list. And honestly, I included the Dungeons & Dragons director for a single shot. 2013’s Getaway was critically reviled, but there is one mind-blowing shot that almost redeemed the whole damn thing. Solomon and stunt drivers illegally took to the Bulgarian streets to get a single uninterrupted POV shot of a car blasting through the early morning streets at 100 miles per hour, inches away from chaos and destruction. You won’t find a single more exciting shot anywhere, and I’d be game to see what he can do with Fast and Furious sized resources.

Louis Leterrier

French director Louis Leterrier has helmed massive blockbuster spectacles, like The Incredible Hulk and the Clash of the Titans remake, but he also has a background with car chase-centric actioners as well, having directed both The Transporter and The Transporter 2. One of Luc Besson’s numerous protégés, Leterrier has proven repeatedly that he has all of the tools necessary to pull off a Fast and Furious movie, and it might be worth someone at Universal giving him a call. Hell, he already has a working relationship with Jason Statham.

Jaume Collet-Serra

Starting off in low-budget horror like House of Wax and The Orphan, Jaume Collet-Serra has shown himself proficient at turning out solid, if not terribly remarkable middle-tier action movies like Unknown, Non-Stop, and his best film to date, Run All Night (all three of those with Liam Neeson). Now might be the perfect time for him to take a step up in scope and scale and bring some of his gritty action chops to the glossy Fast and Furious realm.

Baltasar Kormakur

Icelandic director Baltasar Kormakur is currently scaling the box office with his mountain climbing drama Everest, but has all the upside you want for a Fast and Furious movie. His 2 Guns was a surprisingly good action-heavy crime story, as well as being full of humor and legitimate connections between characters, all of which are hallmarks of the Vin Diesel-fronted franchise. He has a handle on the scope, scale, action, and character that one of these films needs, and the Contraband director might be a name to look at for Furious 8.

Adam Wingard

When James Wan was announced as the director of Furious 7, it was a surprise since he came from a background in low-budget horror. Prolific indie horror director Adam Wingard comes from a similar place, but the You’re Next and The Guest director also has a similar upside. He makes super engaging films with a unique flair, taking genre conventions and toying with them, and that could be a touch welcome in the Fast and Furious world as each film attempts to avoid becoming a stale rehash of what came before. So far they’ve been able to do that, partially because of filmmakers who bring something new to the table.

Kim Jee-woon

Korean director Kim Jee-woon has a wildly eclectic resume, from moody horror (A Tale of Two Sisters) to gonzo western (The Good, The Bad, The Weird) to revenge (I Saw the Devil) and gangster drama (A Bittersweet Life). His most known commodity is his English-language debut, the underrated The Last Stand with Arnold Schwarzenegger, but it has cars, action, humor, and heart, everything a Fast and Furious movie needs. He also has an out of this world bag of tricks to draw from as a filmmaker, and he could deliver something truly special and spectacular.

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This summer we saw an egregious number of blockbuster flops, including Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger, M. Night Shyamalan's After Earth and Robert Schwentke's R.I.P.D., but there was at least one bit surprise hit: Louis Leterrier's Now You See Me. Featuring an exciting ensemble cast that included Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, Mélanie Laurent, Morgan Freeman, and Michael Caine, the film wound up making nearly $300 million at the global box office - which is a big deal for a movie that was only made for $75 million. Despite this success it was still a rather big surprise when it was revealed earlier this month that the film will be getting a sequel. And now it's been confirmed who will be the director behind it.

Speaking with Coming Soon at a press day for the upcoming Blu-ray/DVD release of Now You See Me, Leterrier has revealed that he has been hired to direct the untitled sequel (will it be called Now You Don't?). What's more the filmmaker has already begun starting to develop the film's story and structure. Said the filmmaker,

While Summit is looking to move forward with the sequel, however, Leterrier says that he may actually direct a different film before he hops back into the world of magic. The director is attached to a project called G, a sci-fi film where the world has stopped spinning and gravity has been eliminated, but that's not necessarily the project that he would take on next.

In the same interview, the filmmaker also revealed that Blu-ray/DVD of Now You See Me will include a scene that wasn't included in the theatrical cut of the film and will actually help set up the story for the sequel. Asked why the sequence wasn't included in the big screen version, Leterrier explained,

Now You See Me will be out on Blu-ray and DVD on September 3rd, and you can watch the trailer for the film below.

Lately, there’s been a strange trend of magician centered-movies emerging. 2013 has already seen three: Oz: The Great and Powerful, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and Now You See Me. Some have been hits (Oz with $234 million domestic); Some were major misses (Wonderstone with a meager $22 million domestic). But apparently Hollywood knows how to spot a mark, as the last of these has been steadily gaining momentum internationally. THR reports Lionsgate has begun planning for a sequel to Now You See Me as the sleight of hand heist movie’s overseas numbers bypassed its domestic gross.

Despite having big budget tent pole releases like The Lone Ranger, Pacific Rim and Fast & Furious 6 as its competition, the mid-range thriller that cost $75 million to produce has become a sleeper hit, earning $115 million domestically and $117 million abroad. While these figures are no doubt worth bragging about, the film still has yet to open in Australia, Japan, or China, a market so big it can make or break movies. The small studio is confidant that after its theatrical release in this trio of nations, Now You See Me will ultimately make more than $150 million in it foreign box office. To Lionsgate this is practically a mandate to continue the story of slick thieves and magicians.

Now You See Me stars Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco, and Woody Harrelson as The Four Horsemen, a quartet of wild and gifted stage magicians who dazzle and delight crowds by brilliantly pulling off bank robberies during a show and then distributing the booty among the ecstatic audience members. Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent played their antagonists, a FBI agent and an Interpol detective charged with discovering how the group’s hocus pocus made for the seemingly perfect crime. Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman also co-starred in the Louis Leterrier-directed adventure.

When the movie opened in the US last May, critics complained that the plotlines set up didn’t satisfyingly resolve. Some speculated this was a lame ploy to allow for an easy sequel and it appears they may have been right. Despite what Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer think, critics are rarely to blame for a movie’s flopping. It is clear that despite mostly negative reviews Now You See Me found an appreciative audience worldwide, reflected in its impressive box office and enviable CinemaScore of A-. For all those who enjoyed this caper, Lionsgate promises Now You See Me 2 will leap into production in 2014. Though it’s currently unknown who will pen the project, or which of its cast will return.

Check out the trailer below, and in comments tell us where you hope the sequel will lead.

Though movie productions have been faking New York City locations for decades, there are a few things you simply can't fake. Like an abandoned building that's become a legendary graffiti hub, painted over by countless artists and preserved by devoted caretakers. Or views of Manhattan from the top of the building where your characters will pull off their climactic stunt. Or the 7 train rumbling by in the background, loud and chaotic but all part of the charm you get when you sign up for New York City.

On a chilly night in Long Island CIty, Queens last spring, the production of Now You See Me had set up at the iconic 5 Pointz, where the magicians at the center of the story were ready to pull off their big climactic illusion. With a crowd gathered below them, and both an FBI agent (Mark Ruffalo) and an Interpol agent (Melanie Laurent) hot on their tail, the Four Horsemen-- played by Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco and Woody Harrelson-- were standing on the roof of 5 Pointz and commanding the crowd. Or were they? As the crowd looked up in awe, Ruffalo's character was led in the opposite direction by Laurent's, each of them trying to stay ahead of the magicians who had eluded them all this time. Were they on the roof, or was that another illusion? Would the magicians and Robin Hood-like thieves be caught in the end?

Nobody on the set was telling-- that's the nature of a set visit, where you see one piece of a very large puzzle that will only make sense in context. But in the night spent at 5 Pointz, watching director Louis Leterrier manage 650 extras and tossing his actors right into the middle of them, we saw a film about something that might sound ridiculous-- a bunch of magicians who rob banks and share their profits with the audience-- turning into something thrilling. Leterrier, who has made The Incredible Hulk and Clash of the Titans, says that Now You See Me is his small movie, and operating on an estimated $70 million budget with limited CGI, it's a good bit smaller than his last two films. But as he stood on set, describing shoots in Las Vegas and New Orleans, using the crowd on Bourbon Street as free extras and inventing new shots inside an elevator shaft, it's clear that "small" for Louis Leterrier is still a pretty damn big spectacle.

Truthfully, it was hard to tell just how much spectacle that would be on the ground at 5 Pointz, especially with Leterrier and producer Bobby Cohen both being deliberately cagey about what they would reveal (asked why the Four Horsemen were robbing banks to begin with, Cohen said "I'd rather not tell you.") Leterrier revealed that some of the graffiti at 5 Pointz had been altered-- with permission of course-- so that it would be able to change as part of the magic trick, but of course we couldn't see that happen. As the extras looked up at the roof over and over again, they were supposed to be seeing the 4 Horsemen… who weren't there (their scenes had been shot earlier). And though the set was littered with fake money as part of the trick, nobody would reveal if the Horsemen were successful or not, or if Ruffalo finally succeeded in catching the magicians who had been eluding him across several cities.

At the same time, there were bits of verisimilitude all over the place, like the 7 train that rumbled overhead (Leterrier seemed practically giddy that he had gotten the subway "for free" instead of having to create it in CGI), or the warehouse next door that was crammed full of the iconic quilted food carts that rattle into Manhattan every morning. Before the production set up shop in 5 Pointz they had no idea the warehouse was there, but quickly incorporated the setting into a foot chase scene. As Cohen told us, "That's the kind of thing that you say, if you had written it that way, and said "Yeah, we should go and order 25 of those carts," somehow it would never quite look right."

Talking to the cast and crew on Now You See Me was a bit like spending time with a magician, watching them seem to reveal their entire hand-- Leterrier happily showed us footage on his monitor, and Ruffalo talked about the seductive power of magicians-- only to come back with 10 times as many secrets. Of course, that misdirection is all part of the plan, even for the audiences who wind up buying tickets.. "If we've done it right, I think that the whole movie should work as a trick," Cohen told us. So while we didn't come away with the method behind the magic, or even how Dave Franco got so good at tossing cards he was able to slice a banana in half with one from across the room, we were able to talk to the cast and crew about the practicalities of shooting a film in four different cities, about pulling one over on the audience, about honoring the spirit of magic and about the unexpected Zombieland reunion that happens when you cast Jesse Eisenberg and Woody Harrelson together.

You can read excerpts from our on-set conversation with Leterrier below, and come back later today for what we learned from Eisenberg, Fisher and Ruffalo. Check out the film's trailer first (you can see a lot of 5 Pointz graffiti in there), and look for Now You See Me in theaters on May 31.

NOW YOU SEE ME DIRECTOR LOUIS LETERRIER

What are we going to see specifically tonight? What are you filming?

We are doing the moment when all the cops have converged on the last show. They know where the magicians are, they’re a little ahead of them, they’ve always been behind them, but now they’re ahead, and they will arrest them. There’s a moment when one group of cops is going where the show is, and Melanie Laurent stops Mark Ruffalo and says, “Come the other way, trust me, come this way, I’ll show you, towards this crappy pushcart, this food cart thing, that’s where they are, that’s where we can stop them, that’s where we can come ahead.” And he has that moment where he hesitates, and he’s like, should I trust her? Because they’ve been trying to work together, but sometimes she was — it’s two people working together for the first time, being attracted or being mistrusting and everything. So that’s the moment where really, it’s the crossroads between, do I go with these guys and keep my job, or do I risk losing it all and go with her?

How do you deal with the trains when they’re going overhead?

Oh it’s fine, the trains have been great. It’s free. We have a scene on Bourbon Street where Mark Ruffalo chases them, and we’re like, okay we need extras. We can only afford whatever, like two hundred. And I was like, with the AD, let’s go on Friday night and shoot on Bourbon Street. So we had twenty thousand free extras. And we have, you know, free trains. We did some amazing shots the other day with the helicopter with the trains. It’s amazing. People will see that, and that’s the thing, people will be like, “Visual effects.” I’m like, “No, that’s real, that’s real, let’s find a real location, that’s real.” No, it’s fine, you do that and then you loop.

Why was this location so perfect for the scene?

Because visually, we wanted a place where thousands of people could converge, New York in the background, several floors, a maze. That’s what I was looking for. It’s a cat and mouse game that ends up in this location. You’ll see afterwards in the 4D projection, there’ll be helicopters flying around with spotlights and the spotlights will shine on the building, almost doing an X-ray transparency thing where you’ll see the magicians running around and the cops chasing them. All that stuff will be projected onto the building. This is a great building, this is unbelievable.

Did you recreate some of this on a soundstage?

No, actually, it’s all here. We didn’t do a lot of soundstage. We built an apartment just because it’s easier to film fly away walls and everything, but our thing was, let’s shoot on location as much as possible. So we went to New Orleans, you know, for the tax incentives, yes, but I said, well, it’s New Orleans. It’s magic and voodoo and all that stuff, so let’s really embrace New Orleans for what it is. So we shot New Orleans for New Orleans, we’re shooting New York for New York, Vegas we’re going next week, and then Paris at the end. So yeah, we’re going to the real places. We’re shooting in real places.

It looks like you're trying to capture a lot of stuff in-camera instead of relying on CGI.

Yeah, absolutely. I’m trying to get as much as possible real stuff. Then afterwards we’ll do crowd replications. It’s not crazy visual effects, it’s crowd replications and stuff like that. There’s no full CG shot. Again, it’s putting stuff together, putting elements together. But I still try to get the stuff. Like the rig we have upside down. Yesterday we did a shot — I’ll try to find it — but we did the most amazing shot ever. It’s called a basket cam, we invented this. Literally, it’s a camera, a seamless 235 camera, going up a shaft with people, with a SWAT team running up. It’s as low-tech as possible, but it looks like a visual effects shot. I’ve done it before in Hulk, but it was a full visual effect. This time, I was like, “No no, let’s do it for real, I know how we do it, we do it for real.”

What was it about this project that said, I need to make this?

I was looking for a great script. And then the vision comes afterwards. But I don’t want to have just the title or universe, I wanted a great script with a great story, some great twists, some great characters. I was looking for it, looking for it, looking for it, and then I found this amazing script. It’s been written and enhanced, but it was already amazing in the beginning. So I was like, “This is it, this is for me.” And really, I’ve always loved magic and been a great admirer of magic, but respectful and fearing magic, because I was like, oh, I don’t just understand how you guys do it. And what I love about this script is that it’s very respectful of the art of magic but also gives you a little bit of a peek behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz curtain, a little bit. Not too much, but that’s what I want.

We’ve seen other movies like The Prestige that tried to show magic, and audiences sometimes are like, “Well, it’s all a special effect.” So how do you deal with that aspect of today’s film-going world?

By having the actors doing it for real. You met [magic consultant] David Kwong yesterday, he’s a magician, and the actors have been doing the real deal, training and the real stuff. Obviously they cannot do everything, but the magic they’re doing is very real. Dave Franco has become amazing at throwing cards. He can take a card and throw it across the room. You met Steve Pope, the stunt guy, he slit his eye, above his eye, with a card across an entire theater. They really got amazing at it. And Woody has been training with this mentalist called Keith Barry. I don’t know if you know him, he has a TV show on Discovery. And really has been that close to hypnotizing people. But you know, hypnosis is very tough, mentalism is very tough, because you can actually make somebody go down, and if you don’t know how to bring them out, you can actually really be in trouble.

? What was the one magic trick that was most difficult to film?

?The card tricks are tough. We had some very complex stuff. We really had some very complex technical stuff, like mirrors. Sometimes, literally, the crew didn’t know what they were shooting. I knew ’cause I was like, this will be used to do this. But sometimes we’re inside a mirror, upside-down, reversed, and the guy on the crane was like, I don’t know where I’m at. Just take the wheels.

How would you say the project has changed or developed since you first signed on?

It’s become a little bit bigger, but not so much. I started like, oh, this is my small one, and then it became a little bit bigger just because the magic became bigger. Jesse Eisenberg as the leader of a magic group — that changed the whole dynamic as the script was written. The script was written for a David Blaine character, a guy wearing a T-shirt, in the original script, hitting on women and doing all this stuff. Jesse coming in was very different. So that’s one change, I guess, but it’s by meeting people, not me saying, “I want to do that.” Meeting people, and seeing that that would be the dynamic I wanted. Again, it was very healthy; the development process was very healthy on this one. It was a great script, then we get a great cast, then we rewrite the script for that cast, and then we build it up from there, starting with visual effects and stunts, finding locations, finding this kind of location, costumes, everything.

You're shooting with anamorphic film, even as a lot of people are going digital. What inspires you to stick with film?

I’ve always shot on film, or we shot on anamorphic lenses. Actually, these lenses that you see are very old, very old lenses, they’re like 40 years old. I feel like digital right now is getting better, because of the new camera that came out, it’s called the Alexa Studio, so now it’s really good. But three months ago when we started this movie, this camera didn’t exist. And I thought that without this camera, the image I would get would be too digital, too crisp. I mean, we’re shooting every format on this movie. We’re shooting digital. You weren’t here the other day, but the helicopter was shooting Alexa, we’re shooting with 5Ds, we’re shooting with GoPros, I’m shooting tons of formats. But the main format is film, 35 and anamorphic, just because of these reasons. Because it’s a film for me, it’s a feature film.

Mark Ruffalo and Melanie Laurent have both directed movies. Did that make them easier to work with?

They take direction easy. And when they see me, they’re like, “Oh, I know what he’s feeling.” Like the first shot of the day when the sun is rising. Or “Oh, I still have sixteen shots in a day.” Morgan Freeman has directed a lot of movies, so he knows exactly. Great actors are so easy to direct. It’s like they’re big 747s that you just have to move left and right, and I don’t really need to direct. I need to put them in the right costume, with the right haircut, in the right location, and with the right actor to act with. My job is almost done at this point, because I’ve found the perfect — it’s like cooking, it’s like cuisine. You cannot make a great dish with bad ingredients. I have great ingredients, and I’m putting them together. That’s all I’m doing.

What's the tone of the movie. People were mentioning Sneakers, Ocean’s Eleven. What are you thinking for the tone of the film and did you ask the cast to maybe watch any films, or did you watch any films before starting?

Yeah, obviously I watched Sneakers, Ocean’s Eleven, Usual Suspects, and all these movies, these heist movies. But for me, the movies I was giving my actors were more like French movies, just for the filming stuff, French movies. There’s a movie actually Melanie is in, called The Beat My Heart Skipped, it’s an unbelievable movie. It’s a remake, actually, of an American movie, James Toback’s Fingers. But there’s a levity about the camerawork that is really inspiring. I was talking to actors, I was like, here is how my camera is going to interact with you. You will be free, and I will capture moments, but it’s not going to be about the camera.

Because I was afraid they’d be like, ugh, the guy from Clash of the Titans is trying to direct me to say these big lines, and it’s going to be terrible. But I was like, “No no no, I’ve done these big movies, but really what I’m trying to do with this one is really to put you in the right mind or space, and then capture these great moments. Put a great group together and capture these little moments. I’m not trying to impose my style on a new film, like it’s just my toy. I’m not interested in this.” So that’s what I show them. It didn’t really have anything to do with the movie or the tone. Yeah, this movie, the tone is funny. All these people, they’re fast. Everybody’s having a great time, off-camera but on-camera too. It’s really fun, fast. It feels stupid to say that, but it really is like a thrill ride. It’s really fun and fast. The movie starts first heist seven minutes into the movie, and then you go in and never stop.

The upcoming film from Clash of the Titans director Louis Leterrier may still sound a little goofy, but it's seeking some big talent to possibly add some legitimacy. According to Variety Leterrier is working to cast Jesse Eisenberg, Jake Gyllenhaal and Melanie Laurent in Now You See Me, a heist film about magicians who "pull off daring bank heists during their performances, showering the profits on their audience."Yeah, I have no idea how that would work either, but the idea of seeing Jesse Eisenberg trying to do it is so bizarre I can't help but want to see it.

Eisenberg is only in early negotiations for the lead part, while Gyllenhaal and Laurent only have offers, which they could easily turn down. When we first wrote about his project back in February we had heard that the central characters would in fact be the FBI investigators tracking down the rogue magicians, which means we'll probably see Eisenberg only solving crimes, not pulling a rabbit plus 50 gold bars out of a hat. Disappointing? Sure. But it sounds like there will be plenty more craziness to be entertained by in the movie, which Leterrier has planned as his post-Titans film.

While Gyllenhaal has been known to seek out these kind of action-y roles, and Laurent is so new in her career no choice could be seen as unexpected, Eisenberg seems to be really stretching here. Sure, he did a little action in Zombieland and will be doing it again in 30 Minutes or Less this summer, but since his Oscar-nominated role in The Social Network he's seemed to be leaning a little more eggheady, filming Woody Allen's new film in Rome this summer and considering a reunion with his Squid and the Whale director Noah Baumbach. But hey, he's young and has a lot of newfound starpower-- why not chase down expert magicians in the company of Jake Gyllenhaal?

It's not secret that I'm a fan of Louis Leterrier's The Incredible Hulk. While certainly not a perfect movie, it did a fine job handling the character and featured strong performances from Edward Norton, Tim Roth and William Hurt. After making only $134 million domestically on a $150 million budget and recasting the lead for The Avengers, however, it's unlikely that we will ever see a continuation of the film's storyline, which would have involved Samuel Sterns, played by Tim Blake Nelson, turning into The Leader, one of Hulk's greatest foes. But that doesn't mean that Nelson has stopped hoping.

The Playlist recently spoke with the actor/director who confirmed that he does have a contract to make more movies under the Marvel banner and would love the chance to play the villain. "It’s a question as to whether they’ll make more movies, which was the [original] intention, or whether they’ll take a fresh start with the villains," Nelson said. Another hurdle is the fact that Mark Ruffalo has replaced Norton in the role of Bruce Banner, meaning that any future movies would likely continue with a new story and abandon Nelson. Ruffalo recently suggested that there could be another solo film for the character in the works, but wasn't pressed as to how Leterrier's film would fit in.

Because the next Hulk film would come out after Joss Whedon's The Avengers, it's hard to imagine that they would reboot the character entirely (though I suppose they could get away with it by calling it a prequel). On that note, should they decide to give Hulk another shot at a lone effort, they should continue on with the established path and give Nelson a chance to show off what he can do.

With its atrocious 3D and truly hilarious dialogue-- "Calm your storm!"-- Clash of the Titans seemed like a ready-made cult classic and nothing more when it hit theaters in early April. Lo and behold, the movie has gone on to gross $162 domestically, and Warner Bros. still thinks a sequel is a good idea. We heard in late April that the second film would be moving forward without Louis Leterrier as a director, and now The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Jonathan Liebesman, a director you've probably never heard of, is first in line for the job.

Liebesman is largely an unknown quantity now because his only feature directing credits are either tiny-- Darkness Falls, The Killing Room-- or schlocky-- the Texas Chainsaw Massacre remake. The movie that is likely to get him the Clash job is Battle: Los Angeles, a Sony project that hits theaters in March of next year, and is a large-scale action movie about a military unit fighting a mysterious alien invasion. I visited that set in December and, knowing nothing about Liebesman beforehand, was impressed by his clear hunger to do good work in Hollywood, and the level of commitment he had to making an action movie that would distinguish itself from the rest. Sony has repaid Liebesman's dedication by moving the film from a planning February release to a prime March slot-- it's likely they've screened footage and liked what they saw.

The LA Times says Clash 2 will film quickly, not just because they want to cash in on the first one but because Sam Worthington will probably be shooting Avatar 2 next year. I have no idea if that information is based on something the LA Times knows and we don't or just basic conjecture based on James Cameron's endless hints, but either way it's interesting. Liebesman could find himself shooting Clash 2 as early as next January, before Battle: Los Angeles hits theaters and potentially explains why he's qualified for the job. Really, if Liebesman brings some level of passion to the project and the 3D isn't complete garbage this time, we could be looking at a sequel that's better than the original-- however low a bar that is to cross.

Clash of the Titans 2 is moving forward but director Louis Leterrier isn’t moving forward with it. Deadline says Sam Worthington and pretty much everyone else who was still alive at the end of the film will be back for Clash of the Titans 2, but Letterier will leave and get some sort of vague exec producer credit instead.

This makes a lot of sense since many of the movie’s story and special effects failures can be laid at Leterrier’s feet. Except word is that the parting was mutual and that Warner Bros. isn’t looking for someone else because Leterrier sucked. The movie made a lot of money, so maybe they choose not to acknowledge that it had problems. Still at some point, someone at WB had to actually watch the movie, didn’t they? They can’t be blind. Changing directors can only make the sequel better and increase the chances that it’ll make enough money to warrant another one.

You've met the X-Men, you love The Incredible Hulk, and you just can't seem to get enough of that red and gold Iron Man. But what about Ant Man, Dazzler, Cable, or Abraxas? The ungodly amount of lesser known Marvel heroes and villains have been overshadowed by their blockbuster big brothers, until now.

CHUD has it that the comic powerhouse is working on big plans to make little movies about these smaller-time characters. The films, since they won't be pulling quite as large of an audience, will only be budgeted $20 to $40 million each, at least $100 million less than budgets on films like Wolverine. Not only will this bring sidelined characters into the public eye, but with less money involved, up and coming actors and directors will have an easier chance to break into the enormous universe that is Marvel.

The one thing CHUD seemed to forget about is that with a tinier budget, the films will be less focused on action and thusly more focused on the one thing movies like Wolverine and Spider-Man 3 seem to neglect: character. It's easy to make a $150 million dollar movie blow up real good, but the real story is in the characters, and that's a focus that everyone but Jon Favreau, Matthew Vaughn and Louis Letterier seem to have forgotten. These lower budgets will force down the effects budget and make room for script writers who can actually make a believable character out of something unbelievable. There's a seemingly endless library of stories in the Marvel library; this initiative will help get those made in hopefully a more impressive fashion than what Fox and Sony have been doing.

For a comparison, look at what District 9 did for a mere $30 million versus what G.I. Joe did for $145 million more than that. Making great movies isn't about having a lot of money, it's about having someone behind the camera who knows how to tell a story and make us fall in love with characters along the way. Marvel hasn't announced which superhero or villain they're going to take on first, but we'll keep our eyes open for any news that will whet your little comic nerd appetite.

All you comic pros sound off in the comments below and argue about which characters you'd like to see and why.

Louis Leterrier, quite possibly the world's friendliest Frenchman in addition to being the director of The Incredible Hulk and the upcoming Clash of the Titans, has made it clear for months now that he'd really, really like to direct The Avengers in case anyone feels like giving him the job. He recently confirmed that he's on the shortlist for the job, so now to give himself an edge he's back on the case while promoting Clash.

Leterrier told MTV a bit about his ideas for the film, which "all starts with the ensemble. You have to find the way to enter the movie through the cast." Pretty obvious, really, especially given that The Avengers would consist of actors cast for other superhero films, all assembled for a monster project that, at this point, still doesn't seem all that feasible. Would you want to be the guy to tell Robert Downey Jr. and Ed Norton that they have to take a backseat to Chris Hemsworth for this one scene?

It honestly seems pretty unlikely that Leterrier will get the job, since even he admits that he's "at the bottom of the shortlist" for Avengers. But hey, more power to the guy for going after what he wants-- even if that means we constantly have to report on director possibilities that will never happen.

Back in early January, Louis Leterrier practically begged for the position of director on the upcoming Avengers film. As he told MTV at the time, "I hope they don't find a director before I'm available, because I'd love to take a crack at [Avengers]. It's just an amazing universe, and to have everybody involved." Well, he best start clearing his schedule, because he may just get his chance.

AICN recently spoke with Leterrier, who is currently touring for the upcoming Clash of the Titans, and revealed that he is in fact on the shortlist of directors to make the film. Said the filmmaker:

The Incredible Hulk certainly doesn't get the credit it deserves, particularly in comparison to the 2003 Ang Lee disaster. Marvel may very well study Clash of the Titans intensely before ruling Leterrier out, so fans should probably keep an eye on critic's opinion. Good to know we have another race to look at now that Cap's casting out of the way.

I still have a hard time picturing exactly how an Avengers movie will play out. There's so many stars to line up-- Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, either Edward Norton or Eric Bana (though, come on, probably Edward Norton), and whoever winds up playing Captain America and Ant-Man-- and so many director egos to deal with. Jon Favreau has already ruled out directing the film, but Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier is still blatantly gunning for the job.

Talking to MTV Leterrier said "I hope they don't find a director before I'm available, because I'd love to take a crack at [Avengers]. It's just an amazing universe, and to have everybody involved..." In an interesting sign of humility, though, Leterrier admitted he probably shouldn't be the first choice: "Jon Favreau would've been the best director to do this thing, but now that he's a producing, I'd love to be able to work with him and continue what I started with Hulk and what he started with 'Iron Man' and we do it together and continue that universe."

Leterrier has Clash of the Titans coming out this spring, of course, and that movie's giant cast and extensive effects may be the best audition possible for the Avengers job. But he'll have competition once the Thor and Captain America movies-- and presumably Ant-Man at some point?-- get going. If Kenneth Branagh, say, turns in a great Thor, he might be a better bet than the Transporter guy. But if Leterrier wants to keep fighting for it, it probably won't hurt his chances.

I guess it's becoming standard for anyone directing a Marvel movie to be asked about taking over on The Avengers. Jon Favreau shrugged off the question during the Iron Man 2 panel at Comic Con, and now The Incredible Hulk director Louis Leterrier is grappling with it in The LA Times.

And actually, the idea he has for making the Avengers movie is a pretty good one:

Leterrier talks lots, lots more about the Marvel universe in the article, including joking about getting kicked out of France if he took on the Captain America project. But it's the Avengers-in-installments idea that I really like, even if it seems unlikely that Marvel would be willing to take the risk of saturating a summer so thoroughly.

If Gemma Arterton weren't already the luckiest girl in the world for getting a one-night stand with Daniel Craig before meeting her end in Quantum of Solace, she's now working on Clash of the Titans and playing Sam Worthington's love interest, demi-goddess Io. It may be a while before the British actress can establish herself as a star in her own right, but at least she's got some excellent male companionship in the meantime.

Now we've got our first look at Arterton in the film, thanks to her fansite Gemma Arterton Online. Wrapped in a giant shawl and staring out to sea, she brings to mind Odysseus' Penelope, though I hope she gets to be a bigger part of the action than the woman who waited years and years for her husband to come back from battling mythical creatures. I'm also imagining that there's some rockin' battle gear underneath that shawl, because if you're going to have the Worthington male eye candy, Arterton must follow. Anyway, check out a larger version of the photo above here.