In action movie icon news, Jean Claude Van Damme revealed in a recent interview that Vin Diesel wasn't interested in having him appear in one of the Fast & Furious films.
via: Complex
“They want me in Fast and Furious,” Van Damme recalled to The Telegraph, to which Diesel allegedly said, “No, I don’t want him.”
It’s unknown which film in the two-plus decade franchise he was being considered for.
Diesel, who has been credited as a producer on every entry in the Fast and Furious franchise since 2009’s Fast & Furious, has been known to treat these movies as his baby—and he’s developed a reputation as a helicopter parent. The only film he did not produce was Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw, the spinoff starring Jason Statham and Dwayne Johnson.
Johnson announced earlier this year that he and Diesel “put all the past behind us” after his character Luke Hobbs appeared in a Fast X mid-credits scene. The wrestler-turned-actor famously aired out their feud when he referred to certain members of the cast as “candy asses” before showing his appreciation for everyone in the film, except for Diesel.
Diesel mentioned in May that a women-led Fast and Furious film was among several spinoffs in the works. He also publicly floated the idea of turning the two-part Fast X finale into a trilogy, a move seemingly done with the studio’s approval.
Even though the Fast and Furious series has proven to be a money-making machine over its two-plus decade run, as Ludacris once pointed out, the franchise may have shown signs of gearing down with its latest installment. Fast X earned $704 million worldwide at the box office, well below its fairly consistent $1 billion mark.
While this box office haul is good for a majority of films, it may not be good enough for a Fast and Furious movie or a franchise suddenly planning a trilogy swan song and a number of spinoffs afterwards.
Maybe JCVD experienced something similar to Dwayne Johnson where Vin didn't want to be upstaged? However, he did appear in one of the Expendables films as a villain and in my opinion was okay in the role.
In my opinion the best villain I've seen in a F&F franchise was Joaquim de Almeida who played Hernan Reyes, Jason Momoa as his son Dante Reyes, and Jason Statham as Deckard Shaw, the latter who ended up becoming sort of part of "the family." I really can't see JCVD fitting in as a F&F villain.
As for the female-led F&F spin-off, I am definitele here for that since the women are usually wasted in the films. Now they'll always find a way to throw in a fight scene for Michelle Rodriguez, but I am a fan of female action stars.
As for the trilogy idea I don't think that should happen since Fast X underperformed at the box office. While the films tend to do pretty well overseas it seems like mainstream American audiences are over the franchise.
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