It’s a rare moment for the forward-thinkingworld builder.
“I don’t reflect enough,” admits Diesel, 53, weeks later over the phone.
It’s easy to wonder if any franchise has ever come farther.
Vin Diesel and John Cena.Mark Leibowitz for EW
Forget the jokes and the recentJurassic Park-Fastcrossover memes for a second.
Not a bad start for a film finally hitting stateside on June 25.
Still, no one saw this coming.
Vin Diesel and John Cena.Mark Leibowitz for EW
Even so, “we always feel like we have to earn it,” Diesel says.
“I’ve been given a second chance at the movies who the hell gets a first chance?”
says Cena, who has gone from hoping film audiences could see past his WWE persona to embracing it.
It’s part of who I am.
Cena’s relationship withFaststarted as a fan.
The two highest-profile wrestlers-turned-actors faced off in 2012 and 2013 as the headlining match at Wrestlemania.
Jakob (John Cena) and Dom (Vin Diesel) in ‘F9.'.Giles Keyte/Universal Pictures
But Cena’s fate in theFast & Furiousmay have been sealed in an unlikely place.
AMarch 2018 interviewbetween this reporter and Cena veered into his favorite franchise.
“That, for me, would be a dream.”
John Cena.Mark Leibowitz for EW
(Want a good drinking game?
Take a sip of Corona every time we orFastuse the word “family.")
“It was a very interesting concept,” says Diesel of Lin’s pitch.
Vin Diesel.Mark Leibowitz for EW
“Even the person that is the spokesman for brotherhood could have a broken brotherhood in the past.”
But Diesel always viewed the introduction of a new Toretto as being more about fatherhood than brotherhood.
“The next thought was just pure 100 percent fear,” admits Lin, 49.
“Like, holy crap, how are we going to [cast] this?”
“Going into this millennium, it ended up being something that was a godsend.
You could literally have cast anybody to be my brother there’s no stretch too far.
However, only one man ever was in serious consideration.
Lin immediately called Diesel to tell him they had to connect.
He wasn’t prepared for what happened next.
Walker is also the reason why Diesel named his daughter Pauline.
“There’s no bigger message than that.
I had no other way to explain it.
“It’s really difficult to conceptualize something like that,” he explains.
There are now tremendous expectations set on your shoulders and that’s the way I like it.”
“The last name alone is going to make viewers around the world ask questions.”
Luckily, he had the No.
“It’s like one of those serial killer movies,” the director says with a laugh.
The filmmaker behind some of the most belovedFasts, including the universally recognizedNo.
1Fast Five(thinkAvengersmeetsOcean’s Eleven, but with the Rock), also promises thatF9is the best yet.
“I always compare everything to WWE, and that would be like face-to-face with the Rock.
There’s no denying that Dom Toretto is an iconic character and that was really special.
That’s a main event at WrestleMania.”
“That has never been brought up in a Stanislavski book, or mentioned at Actors Studio.
You do a movie, you let the character go, you find a new character.
It’s like when Paul used to say how much he loved being called Brian.
And maybe in thisFastuniverse, as complicated as it is, life is a little simpler.”
But amid miracle resurrections and evil long-lost brothers is the most out-of-this-world plot point.
Well, it turns out Lin was listening.
“Then I had this Cheshire grin on my face.
Like it’s so bold and blatantly outrageous.
And you go, ‘No, no, no, no, no!’
And then you go, ‘Wait a minute, maybe, yes, yes, yes, yes!’
I was like, ‘If we pull it off, we’ll pull it off.
And if not, we tried.'”
Cena has the same thought process about Jakob’s future post-F9.
The wait for the verdict has been longer than anyone could have expected.
And then the world shut down.
(“Movies!")
“The theatrical experience is critical.
Like Diesel, Cena believesF9"symbolizes what going to the movies is all about.”
Diesel says 10 is always what he and Walker talked about ending on.
“It’s bittersweet,” admits Diesel, “but every book needs its last chapter.”
Motion and still photography by Mark Leibowitz for EW.
